𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝙱𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚗

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 3: 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜

I woke up to the sun beaming from my window onto my sleepy face, squinting a bit before opening eyes and shielding my face with my hand. I grumbled a bit and sat up, rubbing my eyes. I grabbed my phone and checked the day, it was Saturday. I decided to take a walk, it was such a nice day who wouldn't want to take a walk.

I pulled on a shirt and some sweatpants, feeling Salem nuzzle into my legs and meowing me a good morning. I smiled. "I haven't forgotten about your breakfast, love." I headed into the kitchen and grabbed a can of cat food, heading towards his bowl and putting it inside. I did what I usually did and stood by his side until he finished, once he was finished I went to the fridge and opened it grabbing some water.

I leaned against the counter and checked my instagram. The same as I do each morning. This time I got a new follow request from an account I never recognized, I accepted it and not to long after I got a message.

'Hey its Dante, the one in your first morning class, I found your account and I was wondering if you wanted to do something today?'

Totally not creepy at all, I raised an eyebrow and just replied.

'Oh really? Alright sure, Any ideas on where to go?'

He replied almost immediately.

'We could go to the park! I know it's childish but I think it'll but fun. It's such a nice day to go.'

I had to agree with him on that, I think my inner child would like that a lot.

'Sure, what time?'

'How does 10:30 sound?'

'Sounds good to me, see you there'

I placed my phone in my back pocket and looked in the mirror. I thought what I had on looked fine, so I went ahead and put on some tennis shoes and went to the door, grabbing my keys as well. Salem jumped and sat on the counter, meowing. I looked at him and pet his head. Salem seemed more needy then before.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon." I said with a slight grin, turning and leaving out the door. I stopped in my tracks when the sudden thought came.

'Maybe I should wear my hematite ring'

I thought for a moment, it could help me see if Dante's intentions with me are pure. I turned back and walked back in the condo, going into my bedroom and into the jewelry box where laid a bunch of evil eye necklaces, bracelets, a row of hematite rings, and other things. I grabbed one and replaced one of the gold rings I had with it. I then sped walked out of the house again, locking it behind me.

I checked my phone, 10:20. The park wasn't too far from me, I had time. I walked down the stairs and onto the side walk, heading down to the park. I arrived not to long and checked my phone again. 10:28. Dante should be here soon.

"Jackson!" I heard a voice and looked up, it was Dante. Speak of the devil. I grinned at him. "Good morning, Love."

Dante blushed but turned away and skipped towards the slide. "How'd you sleep?" He asked, I followed behind him with my hands in my pockets.

"I slept really good, how about you?" I replied, watching him climb up the bars and sitting down at the top of the slide.

"I slept really good!" He replied as he went down the slide with a small. "Weeee!" It made me chuckle, he was so adorable. How could his intentions be bad? I kinda felt bad wearing this hematite ring. I looked at my hand and saw the ring was still in tacked, I checked it for cracks, and chips. Nothing.

I put my hand back in my pocket. I was very spiritual and my intuition usually helped me pick and choose my friends which is why I didn't have many. Dante was so childlike, I watched him become a true child while running towards the swings.

"Uhm.. Jackson?" He looked at me hesitantly. "Hmm..?" I hummed deeply. His face slightly turned red. "Can you.. push me?"

I smiled and walked behind him. "Of course, love." I began to push him, watching him progressively get higher until I stepped from behind him when I felt like he had been pushed enough. I watched him swing on the swing, he looked so happy. I wondered if he had a childhood.

I was interrupted by his voice again. "Wanna go get slushees?" He couldn't get anymore childish than this. "Sure."

I watched him slow down and jump off the swing, looking at me as we both started walking towards the gas station. We made conversation, I got to know him a bit more of what he liked. I enjoyed getting to know people, made me feel closer to them.

I instinctively checked my ring again. Still nothing.

I then decided to stop looking at it, we headed into the gas station and went straight to the slushees. I watched him pick cherry, I decided to get Blue raspberry since it was my favorite. He walked over to the candy section and grabbed some other things sour patch kids, monster, air heads, and some other sound things. I tilted my head. What was he making?

"What are you gonna do with all that?" I asked, he looked at me. "You've never done this before?" I shook my head in response. "It's called battery acid, it's basically a mix of some sour things in a slushee." I was taken back a bit. "Really?" He nodded with a smile. "Wanna try?" I shook my head and chuckled. "No thanks, that's gonna fuck up my teeth."

He giggled. "Suit yourself." We headed to the cash register and paid for our things, heading out back to the park while talking. I noticed how feminine his voice was which made me question if he was a guy or not, I noticed how his hair was shaggy and mostly covered his eyes. The sun was beaming on us and I wondered if he put on sunscreen since he was way lighter than me skin tone wise, he was white.

We sat on the park bench and drank our slushees, making small talk as we did. "Jackson?" I looked up and at him. "Hm?" I hummed.

"I uhm.. want to tell you something, but I feel like it's too early." I knew exactly where this was going and I could but cut it off right now, but I decided to let him keep going. "It's alright, just tell me." He hesitated before looking at his drink.

"I..I think I like you." Bingo, I knew that was coming. I was quiet for a moment before answering. "That's sweet but, we only just met. And this is the first time we hung out. I think you're rushing it." I was pretty blunt and straight forward with it. I stood up.

"I think it's time for me to head home, it's getting late." Dante nodded slowly. "Yeah uhm.. sorry, I'll see you later sometime then?" He put up a fake smile that I could see through. I nodded and grinned at him. "See you." I waved before walking off and leaving him at the bench.

I headed back to my condo, thinking to myself. How can you like someone after like three interactions? Is that even possible? I thought and walked up the stairs and into the condo, being greeted by Salem. "Hey there." I said, making my way to the bathroom. I turned on the shower and stripped of my clothes, putting my phone on the counter.

I grabbed a bonnet and put my dreads inside of it, soon stepping into the shower. I scrubbed my body well and washed the soap off my body, I stayed in there for a long while before turning off the shower and getting out.

I grabbed a towel and dried myself, I heard my phone vibrate and seen I had gotten a message from instagram. I opened it and saw it was from Dante.

'Hey, I'm sorry about earlier. I hope I didn't make things awkward between us.'

I thought for a moment before replying.

'Not at all, don't worry about it.'

I dried myself down once more before walking out of the bathroom and towards the bedroom, grabbing some boxers and putting them on. I took the bonnet off and set it down, Putting on some sweatpants and letting out a long sigh.

Salem jumped on my bed and looked at me, I made my way towards the bed and laid down, gently petting him. He purred and laid down beside me. His purring made me quite sleepy, I closed my eyes and drifted off.