This is Euphoria

-19-

ATHENA

listen to 8TEEN by khalid

"Turn... here!" I interject at the last possible moment. Kai's hands tightly grips the steering wheel. The car skids forward with a loud screech as we fly under a narrow bridge, barely making the turn by a sliver. "Sorry!"

As I live and breathe San Francisco, I eventually figured that although the Golden Gate Bridge is extraordinary, I can afford to do without the traffic. To my advantage, I discovered a few ways to reach the city without ever having to intrude the tourist swarm.

"Where are we going?" Kai bids, a hollow curiosity in his tone.

"The store," I say, "do you have any music?"

He arranges his car in a particular order. He likes his things a certain way, more accurately his way, so I don't defy the system. At least not when it comes to his car. It always smells like cologne and there's never anything in plain sight.

"Check the glove compartment," he motions. I do that, and find two separate CD cases. I pull both from their space in the compartment. Neatly labeled on the iridescent discs, one is marked London and the other San Francisco. I restrain from asking why he chooses to use this seemingly lost method instead of an auxiliary cord and drag my fingertips along the London display. "Which?"

"San Francisco," he says. I transfer it into the cd port. I ought to admit I'm thoroughly anticipating the song to begin. I've never actually heard any of the music he listens to, and I'm a curious person.

Alas a smooth beat along with a buzz and easy-going voice possess the atmosphere. There is a savory glow in the car stimulating my mind, and the music invokes an undeniable rhythm causing my fingers to tingle.

"You like R&B," I state with a grin.

"I do," he says.

"Turn here again," I warn a few meters ahead this time.

I close my eyes. The ambiance in the car is eccentric. The window is ajar undoubtedly enough to fit my whole body through, and the ideal mixture of warm air and riveting music encourage the indulgence of thrill. It's an amazing but madly frustrating feeling, to be experiencing the raw beauty of life.

"Here!" I grin widely as we arrive at the tiny shop. I jolt up, shutting the expensive car door in the process, and enthusiastically stride to the door. When I bridge the door open, a small bell chimes.

The racks overflow with bright and patterned fabrics. I absentmindedly flail my arms in delight. A hand gently wraps around my wrist and I coil around to see a charmingly entertained Kai. I drag him behind me as I flimsily shuffle through the apparel.

"What about this?" I hold up a smock-like garment decorated with triangles and other geometrical shapes.

"No, that's terrible," he objects after barely glancing at it.

"You say that about everything!" I protest. I look away to snicker, because I really am picking out horrendous things, it's worth the reaction.

"Just try and find something decent, I'm going over there," he mumbles. I smile gingerly to myself. I trek down the aisle, and by the time I reach the end of it, a large heap has accumulated in my arms.

I seek Kai in the outerwear aisle, and when his eyes catch my gatherings, all color drains from his face.

"Oh god, no," he groans helplessly.

"Just try it on," I insist. I besiege him with the pile and bounce over to the dressing rooms, sitting on the bench. He trudges over grumpily and dramatically closes the blue curtain. I wait impatiently, fidgeting with a plastic hanger.

He comes back out wearing an apricot turtleneck. It's not bad..

"It's terrible," he says. So, it's not the best. To be fair, it looked bad on the hanger too.

After many corny t-shirts and an especially terrible pullover, the pile drastically reduces to one shirt.

"Are you laughing at me?" the curtain rips open and Kai emerges in a half undone button up. This one is different from the others, it's actually deserving. Not to say the others weren't, they looked fine, honestly because everything on Kai looks great, but there's a small blue embellishment in the corner that suits his eyes.

"I wouldn't dream of it," I stand and finish arranging the shirt, "It's good. I like it."

"Orange's not my color," he says lightheartedly. I knock his shoulder. I turn to leave but his arm halts my movements.

"Here," he hands me a mustard yellow t-shirt with numerous orange logos across the chest and a pair of light-wash shorts, "they should fit."

I check the short's size and hold them up to my waist. They'll be alright. Truthfully, I'm impressed with what he picked out. It's artful.

"Ready to go?" he approaches from behind a few seconds later.

"Um," I glance around quickly, "yeah."

We reach the cash register and I fully intend to pay for myself, but I probably should have expected that Kai would pull out a twenty, because he does. I shoot him a playful glare, which he eases with a lopsided smile.

"It's a date, I pay for you," he bends his knees to whisper in my ear as we walk back to his car.

This is a date. And it's going perfect so far.

AN: hey chicas sorry i went awol for a month. this update was so long awaited. but i hope you enjoyed. thank you for your continuous support, it means the actual world to me. also if the format is weird it's because i'm writing on my computer so ye ok thank u ily. oh and ps this is a rewritten version of the old chapter nineteen because that was actual trash (if you forgot what happened then some tickling occurred)