No Reason But Us

Chapter 42 : Paint Picnic

It was morning, and Oddey was in the campus garden studying before going to her class. All of a sudden, a take-out box from her favorite cafe appeared right in front of her. She got jolted a bit as she turned around. It was Gage smiling at her. "Good morrow, Juliet," he greeted and sat down beside her.

"Good morrow, my Romeo," Oddey said back.

"How sayest thou, fair madam?"

"Aye, I am merry. Wow, you are taking this Shakespearean lingo to a whole new level, so you want this to be our thing now?" She asked him.

"If you want it to be," He flirted.

"Hmm... maybe. It just made this a very sweet morning."

"Well, it'll be sweeter with cream macha, and a box of cinnamon buns." Gage took out their drink and the cinnamon bun from the paper bag.

"Oh, wow!" She was in awe at first, then became suspicious of him. "You did something, or you want something?"

"Relax, can't your Romeo do something sweet? But now that you mention it, I do want something. Are you free this Saturday?" he asked.

"Hmm... yeah, why?"

Gage had this smirk of satisfaction. "Just making sure because I'm planning for our date."

Oddey's eyes widened in delight. "So what do you have planned?"

"Hmm... you'll see soon enough. It will be special."

"Aw... Now I'm curious," Oddey responds in a flirty tone.

"Sorry, can't tell you, it wouldn't be fun if I did."

"Ugh, okay," she whined.

"You'll love it. Now, come on, let's eat this before going to class." Gage opened the box and took out two plastic forks so that he could share them with Oddey, then the couple began eating together.

Minutes later, the couple spotted Courtney walking in the distance and looking at them. The Juliet noticed that those two looked away from each other, not knowing that they had a spat, and it was about her.

---

Later, it was practice time in the theatre club. It was Gage and Courtney's time to rehearse their part. Although after their heated argument, it was affecting not only their friendship, but their acting too. Oddey watched them while working.

The two had to go over the scene ten times, which made Madame Vestia frustrated since she hoped that they would nail it that day. "Okay. Stop. Stop," She commanded. "What's with you two today? Both of your acting is off. I need the chemistry, and I want it now."

"Sorry, Madame Vestia," They apologized at the same time.

"I had a long day," Courtney claimed, then subtly turned to Gage as he just kept quiet and put his head down.

"I'm sorry, but I have a longer day than the two of you combined. Anyway, you two sit this out for today," the professor advised.

After that flop rehearsal, Oddey saw Courtney abruptly walk to another group of friends, so then she went to her Romeo to know what was going on, "Hey, is everything okay?" she asked. "You guys seem to have... friction this morning, and now it seems it's here too in your rehearsal time."

"You could say that," Gage sighed.

"Why? Are you two fighting or something?"

"Yeah," he exasperated.

"Okay... Why?"

Gage got quiet and darted to his Juliet with this blank expression on his face, "Just... something stupid," He answered, since he did not want his girlfriend to know the real reason for what the fight was about. "Anyway, don't mind her."