𝙋𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙐𝙇𝙐𝙈 | 𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚 | 𝙈. 𝙊'𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙖

2| 𝙈𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙤

┅╍━━🐈‍⬛🏺💋━━╍┅

(𝙁𝙖𝙮𝙚'𝙨 𝙋𝙊𝙑)

The pier wasn't as crowded as it would've usually been on a weekday, and Faye was thankful for the unobstructed view of the Manhattan cityscape and the Hudson River at night. There was this crisp cool wind that rustled the leaves on the trees that she liked the best, it helped her think clearly. The ripples from the currents shattered the reflections of the skyscrapers on the sleek black surface of the river, making the white lights coming from the hundreds of windows twinkle like fallen stars. A boat cruised by them headed to the shore for the night.

The riverside park hadn't been on their list that night but the queue at the new restaurant that wound around the block had discouraged them. After several trips to smaller familiar restaurants and a minor detour to avoid Lieutenant Morales' patrol vehicle later, they had settled on having a little late-night riverside picnic. None of them were complaining though, the spot didn't matter as long as they had a good few hours together every two weeks.

Faye watched MJ pull out three plastic cups filled with iced drinks from a paper bag. The crumpled penguin in the Happy Penguin Café logo on the bag didn't look too happy. Vishwa quickly brought over the other boxes of food from the motorcycle and stacked them on the plastic picnic mat.

Faye picked up the cup filled with the iced chocolate coffee she had ordered and frowned at the name written on it with a black marker.

"Who's 'Page' supposed to be?" she asked, looking at MJ as he poked a straw into a cup filled with what looked like vanilla milkshake.

MJ squinted at her cup. "Pretty sure it reads Faye, the barista's a medical student. I mean she's already got the horrible handwriting down, she'll be a great doc."

"At least they got mine right this time," Vishwa said as she sat down near Faye, took her bubble tea from her, and stirred the boba pearls at the bottom with her straw. Faye caught her staring at MJ's drink like the penguin on the cup had three eyes instead of two. "I thought you didn't like milkshakes, MJ."

The slow-spreading grin on MJ's face told Faye everything she wanted to know. His brown eyes glinted with mischief as he shot Faye a knowing look.

"I don't, this is chai tea latte," MJ said in between sips.

Vishwa frowned and looked at a chuckling Faye. "I'm sorry what?"

"Chai. Tea. Latte," MJ repeated, stressing each word and adding a posh little flair at the end when he said latte.

Vishwa's eyes went wide, her voice going several octaves higher when she spoke, her gestures getting more aggravated by the second, "Chai means... okay, you know what MJ, forget it, that thing's too light to be chai. How much milk did they pour into that thing?"

She gave her bubble tea to Faye for safekeeping as she lunged for the cup in MJ's hand. The man laughed as he deftly moved the cup out of her reach. Being six foot-five meant that he didn't have to manoeuvre his arms much to keep Vishwa at bay.

"What? Hey, hey, stop that, you drink your tea and I'll drink mine, okay?" he taunted her as he held the cup over his head.

"Let me taste it."

"You won't like it."

"Of course I won't, that's exactly why you bought it, you jerk!"

"Come on Vish, why would I ever do that?"

"You always do that!"

Faye sighed, kept her drink on the ground, grabbed hold of MJ's arm and wrestled the cup out of his hands.