My Universe

35: “Walid Chips is my favorite potato chips too.”

It was still morning that was just about to turn afternoon yet their energy had already been drained from the exhaustion. Having two 2-hour classes in a row felt like torture as they felt like walking on an endless desert with hope to get back home without having any drop of water to quench their thirst. A portal to a dimension where food and water can be found everywhere with a cool temperature around them appearing to save their lives from the torturing desert was exactly the same as the professor deciding to end the class because he promised to eat lunch with his 9-year-old daughter.

“So, what do you plan to do now?” the brunette asked as she slung the strap of her backpack over her shoulder.

“I’m not sure. Hope that I run to her again, I guess.” The raven pushed the chair back in the desk as she followed the taller woman in heading toward the exit of the classroom.

The both of them headed out of the building as it almost felt like tasting freedom from the outside world after technically being stuck in a classroom that had all windows closed to avoid students zoning out and the coldness from the air conditioner leaving the room. Basically, all students feel that feeling of relief every day whenever they finish a class and they would never get tired of saying how they missed the fresh air from the outside even though the air in the environment had always been polluted.

There were a few stares that they were receiving as they walked together toward the exit of the campus though it was not shocking to have them look at them like that since it was the first time for them to see the two of them, who had opposite reputations. Basically, it was like seeing an angel and a devil get along with each other as if they were not supposed to be against each other. Fortunately, Winter was able to ignore them since Aster was good at distracting her from it by talking about the walnut donut that she ate once which caused her to have reddening eyes and a feeling of itchiness on every part of her body for a day. Apparently, the brunette just found out that she was allergic to tree nuts in that universe.

Suddenly, a familiar figure with short blue hair could be seen from a distance. When the raven turned to see who it was, she stopped on her tracks which made the brunette stop as well and turn to see the direction where she was looking at.

It was Iris walking and laughing with a tall man, whose arm was wrapped around her shoulders loosely. While Winter watched the two of them look sweet together, she could not help but feel a sense of jealousy with her blood beginning to boil at the sight. At that moment, all she wanted to do was to run toward them and kick the man on the abdomen back while she replaces him to walk and laugh together with the blue-haired woman.

The torture that the raven was doing to the man in her imagination ended without a proper ending when she felt an arm sling over her shoulders like how the man was doing to Iris before she got dragged toward their direction, which made her alarmed. Winter widened her eyes as she turned to Aster, who was just wearing a cheeky grin on her face while keeping her attention on the direction that they were heading toward.

The torture that the raven was doing to the man in her imagination ended without a proper ending when she felt an arm sling over her shoulders like how the man was doing to Iris before she got dragged toward their direction, which made her alarmed. Winter widened her eyes as she turned to Aster, who was just wearing a cheeky grin on her face while keeping her attention on the direction that they were heading toward.

“Iris, hey!” Aster casually greeted with a short friendly wave to the dancer.

The eyes of the dancer widened for a while as she turned to look at the two women who were walking toward her. Since she was always friendly to everyone, Iris did not hesitate to smile back as a greeting and give the brunette a high five as if they were close friends.

“Hi, Avery!” Iris replied as she turned to look at the raven next to her. Her eyes lit up as she recognized her and pointed at her with her index finger. “Hey. We’ve met in the convenience store near here yesterday, right?”

“O-oh. Yeah, we did,” Winter answered with the volume of her voice going lower. She wore a straight face while biting the inside of her cheek roughly because of frustration toward herself for stuttering like a loser that she thought she was.

“Hmm? I didn’t know you live close here.” The brunette raised her eyebrows as if she did not just hear about the story of their encounter from Winter earlier.

“Yeah, I don’t. I met up with a friend near here to hang out, so yeah.” The dancer let out a chuckle as she took a small step forward to smoothly slip out of the hold of her male friend.

“With Paula, right?” the man joined their conversation.

“Yeah, your girlfriend that I have no plans to steal.” Iris laughed.

The blood of Winter started to cool down after hearing what the blue-haired woman said as she felt relieved with the assurance that she unintentionally gave her. The raven slightly felt out of place as she felt like a different person because she was usually not that quiet to anyone before. Before everything that was currently happening happened, Winter herself knew that she was more extroverted rather than introverted as she had the ability to casually join conversations with people that she was not even close with. Though it was probably because it was her ex-girlfriend’s alternate self that was standing right in front of her as Winter was safe to say she took her breath away.

“Do y’all like buffalo wings?” Iris asked as she glanced at the two women across her. “Ryan and I are going to have them for lunch. You can join us if you want.”

A grin immediately spread across the face of the brunette as she slowly turned to look at the reaction of the raven that was next to her. It was a good thing that she learned how to hold in laughter in all kinds of situations because she almost laughed out loud when she saw how pale the face of Winter was as if her soul was sucked out of her body. Like her name itself, her face looked as pale as snow.

After their lunch together in a restaurant with a menu only full of spicy food, Aster exactly knew how much Winter could not handle spicy food as she thought about how fun it would be now that the person Winter said to purse was the one who was inviting them to eat a hot lunch together.

Since it seemed that Winter had no plans to answer because of how she looked like she completely malfunctioned, Aster decided to speak in behalf of her as well, “Yeah, we like them. We’d love to join you both for lunch.”

“That’s great!” The smile on the face of the blue-haired woman grew wider in excitement at the thought of having more company to have lunch with.

“All right. Let’s go, ladies!” Ryan took his car keys out and span it around his finger while beginning to walk toward the parking lot.

“Stay calm, okay?” the brunette whispered to the raven’s ear when the two dancers were a bit far away from them.

“How can I even do that? You know how I can’t eat spicy food!” Winter hissed at the taller woman as she went back to reality.

“I know, I know.” The taller woman chuckled as she raked her hair back with her fingers. “Just trust me, okay? I’ll help you, anyway.”

Winter was not exactly sure whether to truly trust Aster or not since she could not even figure out when she is serious or not. The brunette was difficult to read that a psychology major like her felt like she had not been studying her college course well for a year and a half. Still, it was not like the raven had a choice as she decided to give her trust to her while the both of them followed the two dancers to the parking lot where the car of the man was.

“Wait!” The raven widened her eyes when the brunette suddenly left her side and ran toward the blond.

As if Winter was not panicking with her absence by her side, Aster started to talk about how gorgeous his red sedan was as a friendship started to develop between them instantly like it was a superpower that Aster had as the social butterfly she was. Since the both of them were talking, Iris slowed down her pace as she ended up being the person next to Winter which made her feel like a statue.

“What chips did you choose?” Iris suddenly spoke beside her as she glanced at her to make her know that it was her whom she was starting a conversation with.

“Huh?” Winter dumbly responded, which made her chuckle.

“Yesterday. You were deciding which chips to get, right?” The blue-haired woman turned to look at her.

“Oh, yeah. I chose the yellow one.” The raven turned to stick her eyes on the direction they were going to while hoping that her cheeks were not red.

“Good choice. Walid Chips is my favorite potato chips too.” Iris grinned at her.

Unconsciously, a smile appeared on the face of the raven as they held eye contact for a while.

“Okay. Get in, flirts!” Ryan yelled while leaning his arm on the roof of his car.

The blue-haired raised a middle finger at him while laughing before opening the door to the backseat and letting the raven get in first like the gentlewoman that she was.

“What do y’all wanna listen to?” Ryan asked as he opened his music streaming app on his phone to connect it to the car stereo.

“Rock,” Aster suggested.

“Anything to dance to,” Iris answered.

“All right. Ballad it is!” Laughter filled the car as the man ignored the cuss words that he received for not following their suggestions just for him to proceed playing his favorite music genre.

“Where’s Paula?” the brunette asked from the passenger seat.

“She went to eat lunch with her best friend because it’s her bestie’s birthday,” Ryan simply answered while staring the engine of his car.

“Why didn’t you join?”

“Because he has a p***s,” Iris said before proceeding to laugh.

“Damn. You’re dating a woman with a misandrist best friend,” the brunette responded when she noticed how the raven did not get the context by glancing at her on the rearview mirror.

“At least I have a girlfriend.” Ryan laughed in mockery as he received glares from three women after.

“Anyway, Summer,” the blue-haired woman started as she turned to face the raven who was seated beside her.

“I heard that you aced all exams last exam. You’re cool,” Iris said with a grin on her face as she gave her a thumbs up.

“Oh, thanks.” Winter let out a fake chuckle while she was surprised to learn that Summer did that.

The whole ride had a comfortable atmosphere as the four of them got to engage in conversations that brought laughter together like they had always been close friends with each other. At first Winter felt awkward and nervous to be in the same space as Iris, though that got to fade. And it was all thanks to Aster who always included her in their conversation to make her feel comfortable and not feel lonely.