Why are you here?

Picnic - Part Two

AN: Hey y'all. Due to the holidays I'm putting this story on hiatus until January 20th. Sit tight!

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"Lake chocodunk is a really beautiful place- a lot of people come fishing here during the summer," Radley said as he walked alongside Radlynn, holding a picnic basket in one of his hands. "Though um- it should be quieter around this time of year. I think."

"I hope so," Radlynn murmured. "After the shopping trip I don't think I wanna talk to anyone else." She added. Radley laughed.

"Yeah-! Yeah I- don't like talking with people much..." He mumbled quietly.

"Can't blame you." Radlynn replied as the two of them stopped. Radley set down the basket and grabbed the blanket he'd been holding under his arm, unrolling it on the ground. He looked at Radlynn and smiled a little. She smiled back and sat down, glancing around the lake. It looked nice here when it wasn't crawling with troops and she wasn't in a cage.

Radley grabbed the basket and opened it, pulling out a lunchbox. "I hope these are still hot..." He mumbled as he opened it. He grabbed a plate and emptied the lunch box's contents onto it. Waffles, freshly made back at his house. They looked a little soggy, but otherwise good. Radley handed the plate to Radlynn and looked through the basket again, pulling out a bottle of syrup, a packet of chocolate chips and a cup of blueberries. "Use whatever you want," he told her. "Hopefully It's enough-"

"It's more than enough." She said reassuringly. He relaxed and smiled at her.

"Oh- good." He glanced away sheepishly, then reached into the basket to grab his own lunchbox of waffles. He glanced up for a moment and looked at Radlynn, watching her slender fingers pour syrup and sprinkle blueberries over her waffles. He shook his head to get out of his distracted thoughts and grabbed the bottle of syrup, pouring it. He ate silently, unsure of what to say to her. Was this awkward? Probably, it was definitely getting awk-

"Do you have any drinks?" Radlynn suddenly asked. He looked up at her immediately.

"Oh-! Yeah, I do." He set down his plate and reached into the basket, pulling out two flasks, a bottle of water and a carton of apple juice. Radlynn looked at him in surprise. "I um- didn't know what you wanted so I decided to just bring everything you could want." He smiled at her.

"...y'know you're probably the only person I know that would put this much effort into a picnic." Radlynn replied. "I'll take some juice."

He chuckled softly. "I guess- I just wanted it to be nice...for you." He glanced aside as he said that last part. Radlynn smiled softly at him.

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"So like-" Radlynn looked out at the lake as she spoke. "Is the chocolate there safe to drink or...?"

Radley swallowed the tea he'd been drinking and looked at her. "I mean- probably not. And it probably wouldn't taste good either."

"...I wanna try it."

Radley laughed at her. "I wouldn't recommend that." He murmured in between chuckles. Her lips curled up into a smile.

"Would you try to stop me if I did?" She asked. Radley shook his head. Radlynn grinned and stood up, walking over to the lake. He watched her in surprise. He'd assumed she was just joking. Radlynn crouched down and cupped some of the lake's water in her palms and took a sip, then promptly spat it out again. She marched back over to Radley who looked at her expectantly. "Tastes like shit." Was all she said before grabbing her glass of apple juice and chugging it back.

"PFFFFFT-" Radley burst into laughter. "I told you!" He exclaimed. He looked up at her, a small grin on his face. They fell silent, just smiling at eachother like nothing else existed in that moment.

Radlynn moved closer to him and laid her hand on his. Radley looked at her in surprise.

"I really appreciate you doing this- and...everything else you've done for me," she looked to the side. "I don't know what I would've done without you here."

"I-" his cheeks were flushed red. "It's the least I could do for you." He murmured. Her fingers curled around his hand. Lake Chocodunk felt just a little bit more beautiful that day.