Boy vs. Girl ✔️

•XXIX•

wow it's nobody's birthday/global holiday and i'm still publishing

this ones dedicated to you, swiftiebunny, who was the first one who thought me writing was good for anyone's mental stability

•••

Our courtyard wasn't really a magnificently landscaped garden; it was just a puddle that barely passed for a pond surrounded by weeds and picnic tables alike. Most people chose to eat inside so that they could protect themselves from the unnaturally vicious pigeons still flying around and the biting winter air. Asher seemed to have thought of both difficulties, however, with a pronounced line of breadcrumbs near a faraway tree and a space heater connected to an unintelligible source.

He was seated on a picnic table directly in the center, his back turned to me. His hands were in his head in obvious frustration, and I almost chuckled when I realized that I could use this to my advantage.

A nearby duck was looking at me with curiosity, and my eyes widened as my brain wrapped itself around a plan. I approached the duck carefully, scooping it up into my arms gently. Surprisingly, it remained quiet as I neared Asher. Maybe it understood the importance of my prank.

I highly doubted it, but it didn't hurt to delude myself, did it?

I carefully placed the duck on Asher's head, keeping my hands on the duck's frame so it wouldn't get hurt by Asher's flailing limbs.

"What the fuck?" Asher yelled out, swatting at his head. By that point, the duck was already waddling away.

"I think the appropriate reaction would be: 'what the duck'?" I corrected him, a smirk creeping onto my face.

"Kara, there's something seriously wrong with you," Asher told me, shaking his head.

"Why thank you," I grinned, gasping sharply as he pulled me down into his lap. I couldn't stop laughing uncontrollably, a suitable defense mechanism from freezing up at the feel of his chest against my body. Asher looked at me incredulously, a smile creeping onto the corner of his lips. Leaning forward, my fingers pinched at the nonexistent fat of his cheeks, cooing at him as if he were a baby.

"I think we need to take you to a sanitarium," Asher deadpanned, unimpressed.

"Or we can just enjoy the lovely picnic you've set up for us?" I suggested, watching his unchanging expression. "And the nature around us... the plants, the fresh suburb air, the ducks."

I burst out laughing again, and this time, Asher couldn't help but join me. After we had both relatively sobered up, Asher set me down near him, looking at me with a very serious visage.

"Okay, I, uh, brought you here to talk," Asher informed, scratching the back of his neck carefully. My playful expression dropped too, as I bit my lip with uncertainty. "Not about that. Just about us."

He shifted to face me, his body close enough so that I could feel the warmth of skin against mine.

"I really like you, Kara. And I want to be here for you. For as long as you want me to be," he gushed, his voice thick with emotion. I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off by continuing. "I like the way you laugh. The way you never give up. The way you look at me. I like everything about you, even the things you don't. So this is me asking you: will you be my girlfriend?"

I could feel tears build up as his words flooded my brain, my thoughts attempting to circle around an adequate answer. But all I could manage was a shaky nod with an even shakier word.

"Yes."

•••

Boy: 19 Girl: 19

i actually suck so much at endings sorry for this
it's been like two years but we're done
thank you for sticking with this story :)