My Universe

21: “So technically, everyone isn’t whipped for me.”

The atmosphere grew awkwardly silent as the raven refused to meet the gaze of the woman across her. It was not in that mood minutes ago; in fact, it was almost the opposite. Like a horse running in full speed until it came to an abrupt stop because of a deep hole that made it think whether to jump over it to reach the other side or not, the situation was similar to that as the raven was thinking how to escape from another nerve-racking situation.

Before that happened, Winter was angry at Aster for following her from behind without approaching her like a stalker as the brunette tried to explain her side for it, which did not work because no excuse could make the raven calm down unless the excuse was Aster being mute and having a broken leg; that would make the raven transform into a fire dragon and crush all of her bones in fury, knowing well that the excuse would be a blatant lie.

“You see, I was just curious where you were going with a notebook like you’re a tourist exploring around the street that you’ve been living in for more than a year already,” Aster started as she clasped her hands together and hoped that the latter would stay calm while she explains. “I thought that you might call the cops on me so yeah.”

None of the things that the hazel-eyed woman stated changed anything as the glare that the gray-eyed woman had directed toward her became even deadlier, making the taller woman flash a small awkward smile while looking away and ignoring the tiny sweat pores that were forming on her temples.

“So, you planned on continuing to stalk me if not for the possibility of me calling the cops?” Winter spoke in a calm voice that she succeeded in controlling.

“Well, no. It’s not like that. I’m sorry, okay? I admit that I was an asshole for that.” The brunette pouted as she used the puppy eyes on the latter.

The raven did not say anything for a while and just continued glaring at the taller woman, who would blink three times every five seconds without taking her gaze away from her. It did not take long for the two women who were just staring and standing across each other until Winter could not help but let out a chuckle because of how undeniably adorable Aster was being. The corners of the brunette’s lips immediately stretched into a grin as she watched her lose the frown on her face.

“Okay, fine. I’ll forgive you, only because you looked like an actual dog,” the raven said after recovering from her laughter.

“Dogs are cute. I’ll take that as a compliment.” The taller woman grinned confidently before her attention diverted to the notebook that the latter was holding. “What’s in the notebook, by the way?”

“It’s nothing. I just like holding it while taking a walk.” Looking away while hiding the notebook behind her just made her more intrigued as she took a step forward, making the raven take a step back.

“Hmm, really? Can I have a peek. We’re not walking at the moment.” The brunette shrugged as she walked closer to her while reaching her arms to grab the notebook.

“I said no. Go away.” Winter groaned as she furrowed her eyebrows while walking backward and keeping her notebook away from the reach of the taller woman.

“Oh, come on. I won’t laugh or anything if I see something cringe in there,” Aster replied as she continued to keep taking steps forward toward her while attempting to grab it from her though the shorter woman happened to be quick in hiding them on her back.

The two women went on as both of them were stubborn to not give what the other wanted. Like little kids with a girl wanting to play with the other’s toy and the other one being selfish, the both of them were bickering about a notebook in the narrow alleyway. They were fortunate that the day was a busy one for people to not bother paying attention to the squabble between them in the alleyway among the natural noises.

Until it led to a cliché scenario that seemed to be taken from a romance drama.

As Winter kept taking steps backward without looking at her way, she did not notice the wall behind her until she felt her back kiss the wall which gave the latter the chance to get what she wanted. Aster flashed a mischievous smirk as she placed both of her hands on each of her side to trap her. Their close proximity made them able to feel each other’s breaths hitting their faces.

Strawberry—specifically, strawberry-flavored chewy candy was what Aster’s breath smelled like from Winter’s point of view that seemed to be something that Winter would unconsciously keep in her mind for the rest of her life.

“A-are you not going to get off?” Winter managed to speak while looking at her silver necklace.

“Hmm, I will if you let me—” A certain sound made the brunette not continue her sentence as she slightly furrowed her eyebrows in surprise.

The raven had her mouth ajar as she slowly raised her head to meet the light brown eyes of the taller woman before she felt her blood rushing up to her cheeks. A smile of amusement crept up the face of Aster as she dropped her arms to her sides and took a few steps back to give space and freedom to the latter. While the brunette was enjoying the situation, the raven badly wanted to be eaten by the ground at that moment that she was chanting prayers to be buried alive in her mind.

“We should go have lunch together.” Aster grinned as she buried her hands in her jacket pockets.

“Yes, yes. That’s a good idea,” Winter said with no pause as she walked away after immediately with her head hung low.

Knowing that the raven was deeply in embarrassment for having her stomach suddenly growl at that supposed-to-be-romance-film-scene-imitation, the brunette just could not be in any more delight to see the latter suffer.

“So, what do you want to eat?” Aster asked with a playful smile plastered on her face as she caught up with the latter.

“I’m craving for carbonara at the moment,” Winter answered with no hesitation as she kept her eyes to the direction that they were going to because she knew that the taller woman had a teasing smile on her face, which would just make her annoyed.

“Hmm, okay.” The brunette let out a chuckle as she lightly shook her head.

Aster was unsure whether the more hilarious part was the fact that Winter just proved another fact that she was not Summer or the fact that Winter did not even notice that she was blowing up her cover by mentioning her craving that happened to be one of the dishes that Summer disliked. Either way, the brunette decided to not speak about it as she clasped her hands together and placed them on the back of her head while they continued to head toward a small cheap pasta restaurant that they happened to see across the street.

The aroma of different kinds of pasta greeted them as they stepped inside which triggered the rumbling of the raven’s stomach even more, though she was lucky because the music from the speakers along the chatters made it inaudible. Even though it was just a cheap restaurant, the interior did not look shabby as it still looked nice with its simple designs and people could already expect that the dishes were the ones that were keeping the reputation and sales up.

The two women sat across each other at a vacant table on the corner of the restaurant after having their orders taken at the counter as they sat there in silence while the raven roamed her eyes around the place to avoid having an awkward staring contest with the latter, who had been shamelessly staring at her as soon as they took their seats.

“So, what were you doing before deciding to be a stalker?” The raven cleared her throat as she turned to meet the calm hazel orbs of the woman across her. Sometimes her stares just made her feel shivers on her back for a split second.

“I was about to go grab early lunch,” the brunette answered with a friendly smile on her face to look apologetic even though she did not look like it. “It’s a good thing I did follow you because I don’t have to eat lunch like a loner now.”

“What do you mean ‘loner’? Everyone’s literally whipped for you.” Winter scoffed before taking a sip on the cold water that the waiter provided for them.

“You’re not. So technically, everyone isn’t whipped for me.” Aster nodded as if she just said the cleverest thing in the world.

The raven could never know what goes on in the head of the brunette as she decided to just roll her eyes and not give a reply. Their food arrived shortly after as none of them cared about anything else except for the pasta that was served on the table right in front of them. Winter almost drooled at the sight of the creamy pasta that still had smoke elevating from it while the delicious aroma entered her nostrils. At that moment, she almost squealed in excitement to dig if not for the people that were surrounded by her.

“Enjoy.”

Without wasting a second, the raven took her fork and twirled the noodles with it to bring to her mouth while the brunette across her just watched her do so in amusement like she was watching an entertaining sitcom live in front of her. Though of course, Winter just had to end up burning her tongue for forgetting that the dish was still hot.

“Calm down, tiger. We have a lot of time and no one’s going to take your food away from you.” Aster chuckled as she leaned forward to wipe the cream that got on the corner of Winter’s lips with a napkin.

The raven froze on her spot as she watched the brunette casually wipe her mouth while flashbacks of Claire automatically played in her mind like it was déjà vu. When she was done, Aster leaned back to her seat and refilled her glass with cold water from the pitcher even though her glass was not even half empty yet.

Winter decided to not say anything about it as she just drank the cold water in big gulps to relieve the pain in her tongue that she almost forgot because of the lowkey sweet moment which made her feel bittersweet nostalgia.

“Thanks, I guess. I’ll slow down and not act like an animal who hasn’t eaten in years.” Winter cleared her throat as she slowly blew on her pasta to cool it down before eating it.

Aster let out a chuckle before shaking her head and continuing to eat her food as well.

They got to move on from what happened as they got engrossed to the delicious meal that they were having to the point that Winter wished that Hana and Tina were there so they could come back to that restaurant with just the three of them together, knowing that her best friends would certainly love the carbonara as well.

“So, anyway,” Aster started after drinking her water to digest half of the pasta that she had consumed.

“Hmm?” Winter hummed before drinking her water too.

“What really is in the notebook, Fakey Summer?”

The raven choked on her drink when she heard the nickname that the brunette just came up with, which made her look at her in surprise though an amused smile did not fail to appear on her face. At that point, Winter was assuming that Aster enjoyed every suffering that she was experiencing while being a nice person at the same time.