Always

7 : ring

She's not okay . I don't think she can breathe properly or see straight. Her legs are bouncing up and down from anxiety, her face looks pale. She's sitting beside me with her head rested on the headrest. Think of something, you idiot.

"So, um, what's your favorite color?" I clear my throat. She looks at me like I've grown two heads. "What? It's a good question," I say, shrugging with a soft smile.It's the shittiest question to ever exist. I mean, what are we, two? Besides, I know the answer is gonna be 'black'.

"Black,"

there it is . Her whole personality screams black .

"Favorite series?"

"BROOKLYN 99." Damn .

"So, um, how come you're moving to the neighborhood?" she takes a deep breath as of preparing herself to speak

"Some fucking idiot thought that it would be a good idea to start a campfire in his apartment, which caught fire, and I lived in the penthouse above him. Long story short, the penthouse burned "

"Sounds like something I would do," I say, shrugging. She looks at me and was about to say something, but her phone rang. I pass her a water bottle, which she takes, muttering a thank you. "So when are you shifting?"

"I'm shifting tomorrow," she says , receiving a text. "Actually, scratch that, I'm shifting today," she says, looking up at me. "Well then, welcome to the neighborhood," I say, and she nods. Shocker.

We soon reach 'Auberry,' it's a famous café. Mostly celebrities visit this café since media is restricted inside for privacy purposes. Ivy and I are sitting on one side of the booth , and Felix and Celeste are in front of us . Ivy looks more anxious than ever. Even though her face is neutral, her legs are bouncing, and she's scratching the groove of her nail of her right hand which is resting on her thigh. without thinking twice, I cover her hand with mine in order to stop her from scratching it further. From the periphery, I can see her staring into my soul , but she neither says something nor tries to remove my hand.

I try to focus on Celeste, who is rambling something about how ketchups should be banned. After ten seconds, I remove my ring from my finger and quietly place it on her thumb since it's ginormous for her fingers. "Don't scratch your fingers, fidget with this instead," I whisper and she looks confused, and that is the first expression I got from her forever neutral face. Progress . Fuck yeah . Just as she opens her mouth to reply, a waiter comes to take our orders, and Celeste continues to say random things I have no idea about, and from the looks of Ivy and Felix's face, they don't either.

Ivy looks confused, her eyebrows are raised in concentration , and she's trying so hard to follow up, and I can bet my whole life on the fact that Felix isn't even trying, he's just staring at her with those lovesick eyes that scream 'I'm so in love with you.'

Soon our food arrives, and Ivy looks like she's about to make a run for the door. We both ordered salads, apparently. I did so because I'm on a diet, and I'm guessing the same for her, but I don't think she needs a diet. She's in perfect shape, but it's not my place to say. We are halfway through our meals, but she hasn't even taken a bite. I didn't mean to pry, I just noticed it. Did she not want the salad ?