Overlap

Chapter 122: Aquatic Garden

<11/08/2018 - 20:00 | Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta, GA, USA>

Motivated by the many promises I made to myself and Lumina, my next great journey brought me all the way out here in the middle of Atlanta, reaching the entrance of the famous Georgia Aquarium.

Fish can be an interesting species to look at, especially when neither one of us are used to seeing them. This goes double for Lumina, someone who has never had the opportunity to see most aquatic life up close and personal, even when she did have her clairvoyance. The closest we ever got so far was watching those videos in the nature documentaries on Netflix, which are fascinating in their own right. Even with that said, nothing beats the real deal.

After making it inside with Lumina in tow and a strong connection to support, I thought back to the last time I was here at the aquarium. I was here once as a kid, a very long time ago shortly after the completion of my purge.

Why did I not mention it before? Obviously, I didn't think highly of my last visit to the aquarium. It was fascinating even back then, but ultimately uninteresting in the overall matrix that was my life. Of course, Lumina was never with me that time either, so I categorized the event as too boring to think back to.

It wasn't hard to come up with the idea though. After all, I was actually in Atlanta only about a month ago from now, though I'll save that story for the next chapter. You might be wondering why I keep jumping back and forward on the timestamps often, but it's not really intentional. It's important to keep in mind that we don't remember days and timestamps. We remember moments, moments we make special for ourselves.

Anyway, now that I'm here all over again, this entire visit means so much more; it's an entirely different experience despite the place not changing even a little, and unlike before, my senses were sharpened by the reason for us being here, my heart pounding despite my attempts to keep myself calm. After all, I'm not here with anyone but myself and Lumina, just the two of us.

"Where should we start? How long do you think we'll be here? It's so awesome you got to come out this way Reed."

This is the reason I came to the Aquarium. I wasn't all too interested in seeing a few fish, but after learning that Lumina knew so little about marine life, combined with the idea that just bringing her here without my family can technically count as a romantic date, nothing could stop me from putting the gears into motion. Though, unlike how I normally feel at the start of our many dates, even I knew I was a little bit nervous. "I'm going to play it by ear... Just give me a minute." I tried to level my breathing some more, taking nice and slow breaths, synchronizing my senses with her. Although, the very attempt reveled my current emotions to her.

"What? Are you really all nervous right now? I don't know whether to be surprised or flattered."

"Can't say I understand why." Even with today, I was confident I wasn't doing anything wrong. Maybe it was because I worried that I wouldn't be able to create enough magic to our loving moment as I would want to, or maybe it was because I was more self-conscious today about how I looked than any other day. Understanding why I was nervous even a little wasn't possible right now. What I didn't expect was how sweet Lumina was about it.

"Awh! It's so cute that you still get nervous around me... Time to get over it though. I already told you a thousand times that you look amazing. You clean up real nice when taking me out to places. Plus, I want to see some fish! Pick a direction! Onward march!"

The excitement in her voice instantly soothed what tiny concerns I had. Seeing Lumina this full of spirit and energy proved I was doing or saying all the right things. Even I looked at myself and thought it was cute, but she's right; I can't let it slow me down. It's freezing cold outside, making the connection strong. But at any moment, our connection can be ruined by other factors, such as a surprise headache. Every moment counts. "Right. Let's get to it then."