I do not tell Coraline about my phone.Instead, I immediately rush to the nearest electronics store, stalkers and murderers be damned, and buy a new phone. Unfortunately, this particular store only sells old brands and models, so I get a really cranky phone for my money.Because even after three hours, the backup isn’t finished yet!I think it’s Karma coming after my ass for breaking a perfectly good device in a moment of rage. I mean, there are people starving all around the world and I'm throwing iPhones around just to throw a temper tantrum. That makes me feel like a real adult, alright.So, thanks to my earlier loss of control, I am struck with some off-brand device that's taking forever to get set up. I need that email to enter the restaurant and claim the reservation.We only got one more hour to go before we need to get on the road. It’s going to take a little while to travel to Empire city, and we wanted to get there fairly early just so we wouldn’t be late because of reasons
“Hello, welcome to Helium! Do you have a reservation?” chirps the hostess.She looks pleasant enough. Coraline hooked her arm with mine and was pressed to my side, her length warm against me. She managed to lend me strength through that moment only.I smile at the hostess sunnily and decide that I was going to use every bit of charm I could muster to land us this reservation with or without a fight.Without would be welcome, though.“Yes, of course. A table for two under the name Greyson.”“Greyson, Greyson…” the hostel scrolled through the touch screen monitor in front of her. Then, she began to move her finger downwards.Her brows began to furrow, and something clenches in my heart.“Is there a problem?” I ask.“Um, yes, sir, it appears so. There isn’t a reservation logged under that name. Did you give the correct name sir?”“Um, yeah. I’m pretty sure I did,” I reply, my mind racing. I got the receipt of the reservation emailed to me, along with the reservation notice. Both of those
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, a pout firmly on my face. I can’t seem to make it go away no matter how much I tried.We’re sitting in front of one of Empire City's most popular tourist attractions, the Regal Lake. Everything in this damn city was named to have some sort of relation to royalty for some reason. Mostly, this was a factor for much joking within the campus as well as everywhere else. This particular pace is familiar to me from the time I was living in Empire city.Coraline sits next to me, my jacket wrapped around her shoulders to give her warmth. Laurent must be parked somewhere around, surely indulging in a cigarette. It’s been about half an hour since our altercation at Helium restaurant came into place. After getting the refund completed, and some more arguing with the staff, we finally managed to make it out of there. But by then, it was too late. The mood for a perfect date had been tarnished, and Coraline looked exhausted.We mumbled something at Laurent after returning t
So, our date does not end as either of us planned.We get some fried chicken from a fast-food joint near the late and invite Laurent the driver to join us, but he graciously refuses. Instead, he takes us back to the little park near the lake and watches over us from afar, giving us our space and keeping an eye on us because there’s still an unsavory character capable of murder prowling about, and we have no idea if he will strike us or not.Coraline and I have something of a good time, I think, eating out from a bucket while being sprawled over either end of a bench, listening to each other’s voices mingled with the soft lapping of waves on the shore, talking about anything and everything. Her feet are on my lap, and I gently massage the soles of her feet with the hand that’s not holding my food.It feels so nice to be able to be open with someone like this. I’ve not been a fan of reading much, but from the few stories that I have read, I’ve learned that the best kind of person to fal
The kiss starts leisurely, a flutter of lips against mine. We don’t close our eyes at once, rather, we stare into each other’s windows to the soul for a moment before our lips connect, and I wonder how I must seem in those darling eyes before her lips are on mine. I belatedly realize that she had been the one to initiate most of our kisses so far, and that’s something I wish to rectify. I want to start kissing her, but so far, it’s felt like I didn’t quite have the right yet. But not now.Now I feel like I do. And it’s an exhilarating feeling quite unlike any other.My arms slip under her frame, tall and voluptuous, and she gasps when I tug her close to me. Her front presses against mine and her hands come to cradle my face, fingertips feather-soft against the growing stubble of my cheeks. Our noses brush together as I align my face better to kiss her, and her lips open in invitation to plunge my tongue into her mouth.And I take to accept that invitation, tangling my own tongue with
The pale sun rays of the morning filter into the bedroom through the slivers of the heavy curtains hung over the windows and illuminate the warm presence that is pressed next to me.I can only stare at her, lost in admiration as I take her in.Coraline. The covers have been pulled up to her chest, and her head is pillowed by my shoulder. Her hair is in a disarray, resting all over the bedspread, luminously blonde against white. Her mouth is open slightly, and her cheek is mushed against my arm. There must just be a bit of drool dribbling from the corner of her mouth. Her makeup is smudged, a good amount smeared on the bed cover and pillowcase we seem to be sharing. It makes her look like she’d attended a Halloween party dressed up.It might not be the perfect image. But to me, she looks as beautiful as ever.I hope I’m not being too much of a creep watching her while she’s sleeping, but I can’t seem to help myself. She just looks so perfect, here by my side, and the very feel of her s
We go on more dates after that. Successful ones. And they’re slotted in each empty space of our busy schedules wherever we could find them. They’re just little dates, evenings spent in a café where we would drink coffee and talk, in the library of Clandestine city because Coraline wants to check out some new books that had arrived at the venue, or having dinner somewhere lush and extravagant because I’m coming to realize now that I might be my father’s son in this one aspect as well because I find myself wanting to treat Coraline in the most expensive way, and enjoy the experience with her. I don’t know if my father had done it with my mother, but he’d certainly done so with his wife if the old journal articles I read about them are true.Speaking of these articles, I know that my father’s wealth earned him a near-celebrity status. What I did not know was how he became the center of attention for many gossip rags in the past, when both his mistress and his wife were alive. Because it
I do not have experience with letters.In the digital age where it’s so much freakin easy just to send someone a message through some app or social media or even an email, people do not tend to send each other letters unless they’re trying to adopt some sort of quirky aesthetic to their life, be old-school or are some old companies that still believes in sending clients their bills by paper.No one really sends letters these days, in fact, I can’t remember the last time I got a letter in the mail, with stamps and an envelope and all.So, imagine my surprise when one of the members of my father’s security team comes to me as I’m walking to the door hurriedly slinging my school bag over my shoulder, knowing that I’m bound to be late for my first class if I get stalled. The blame for this tardiness lies squarely on my shoulders, of course, it does, because I’m the idiot who forgot I had class today because I was too busy with my girlfriend. The only reason I even remembered I had class w