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She hugged her jacket tightly to her body. "Why exactly are we here?"
Jeremiah spins on his heel, that goofy, lopsided grin being glued to his face. "According to my research, Fall-Fest is your favorite annual activity here in Vermont."
"Did my mom tell you that?"
He shrugs, taking her hand. "She may have aided in my long hours."
With a soft smile, she laughs in disbelief as they begin weaving through the crowd. The scent of apple cider lingers, filling her nose and warming her up. Nala gets a new boost of energy when she sees the basketball setup.
She'd drag Jeremiah along and make him play, and he'd win her a brand new stuffy: Perry the Parakeet. She promised that with a new stuffy comes a new custody agreement.
The yellow lights burn brightly on their contrasting skin tones. In his eyes, she's nothing but perfection.
After getting cotton candy, they walk side by side, finding peace amongst their thorns.
"Do you remember our first dance together?" Jeremiah speaks through cotton candy, words muffled.
"You mean the absolutely amazing prom you threw me? How could I forget," She smiles. "What about it?"
He shrugs. "Everything was so perfect back then. Sometimes, I have these moments where I get stuck in memories," he explains. "They feel really vivid, like I'm actually there again."
Nala hums. "And you're scared to come back to reality because that means it's over, no more good times and people you love."
"Finch got lonely without you, you know? I couldn't sleep for weeks."
"But it was warranted," she counters. "The consequence for everything you did."
His head hangs low like the day on the quad. "And it doesn't change how much I still love you, Nala."
How much I still love you, he said. She heard it with her own ears, read his lips with her own two eyes. And even though it was supposed to feel good, a small part of her was screaming for her to take several steps back.
She doesn't.
"You have every reason to hate me, but you also have every reason to see where all of this takes us," he says. "We gotta make sure there's nothing left between us."
After writing off their kiss as a spur of the moment encounter, that she was sad and she didn't know what else to do with all her emotions? If only the little Sayorra knew.
