Like A Supernova

Chapter 10: The First Date

"You really don't have imagination huh, dumbass"

Carol scoffed, as we began to walk down the curb, hand in hand.
We decided that for the first thing to do was a "trial date" to see if we somehow, in some way, we could have synergy outside of sex.

Unsurprisingly, we didn't have none.

"Oh c'mon give me a break, what do you want to do princess? Go do Disneyland or some? I ain't got time for that. There was a new movie I wanted to-"

"Oh as if that was fun huh? And what would the name of the film be?" She cut me off, looking at her nails before glancing back at me.

"Past Lives"
"Sounds boring"

Maybe I was a fool to accept that deal, and I was starting to think that maybe it would be better for us to just stop, but then.

"Oh, look at that!"
She exclaimed loudly, grinning while pointing a finger at the glass of a library.
Was that...a manga?

"The new volume of Jujutsu Kaisen is out! Can we... Nevermind"
And almost as fast as it came, her smile vanished from her face and she sulked a bit, almost as if she wanted to hide the moment.
"You know, I was interested in seeing if they'd have a manga I was collecting a while back, so if you want we can go inside." I replied slowly, and before I knew, she was beaming in joy, almost dragging me inside.

"Really? REALLY? Oh thank you so much, baby-"

As the last word got out of her mouth, her face flushed with a red color, while she realized what she said. While in my face a grin appeared almost as fast as the red appeared.

"Forget it, dork"
"I don't think so." I said, whispering in her ear.
"Baby~"

Chucking, I entered the library, while she was looking down in complete embarrassment, still hand in hand.
I was starting to like this date, all of a sudden.
We went straight to the manga section, as she was dying to get the volume, while I was slowly looking at all of them, searching for Vagabond.

She excitedly grabbed the manga up, and started doing little jumps of joy around, and that honestly, looked really really cute.

"Finally!! I can read what happened to Me-...I'm not spoiling anything to you, right?"
"Nah, don't worry, I'm on par with the releases, don't worry."

She really was beaming, picking up volumes left and right, before a little pile formed inside her hands, while I looked at her with a smile on my face, before chuckling a little. She stopped for a second, turning her head to face me with a slight frown.

"Are you judging me, Aaron?"
"Nope, just surprised. I didn't thought of you a girl who likes manga."
"What can I say, I watched anime since I was young and my older brother gave me some manga that he liked before he went to Europe."
"You have a brother?"

She stood up, smiling. "Yeah, he's the best! He lives in Paris now, with his wife and kids! My parents are there now, to visit him. Sadly I couldn't go, but...it's ok!"
She really was beaming, before suddenly she went quiet, looking down at the mangas.

"You okay? Did I struck a bad cord?"
I asked, perplexed as to why she didn't talk anymore.
"Don't worry...hey Aaron, I have a question."

"What is it?"
"Can a girl like me really have hobbies like this?"
"Why not? I mean, it doesn't hurt anyone. All of us have hobbies that aren't common."

She slowly looked up, smiling sadly, looking at me uncertain, before I spoke up again, walking closer to her and slowly caressing her hair.

"For example, I love reading books, like this."
I turned the manga, revealing a copy of Lewis Carrol's novel "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".
"I also love staying in my room to chill instead of going to parties and drinking".

She chuckled, asking me "Oh so you weren't supposed to be at the party?"
"Exactly, I was forced basically"
She laughed, the mood softened again and her sadness seemed to go away. But why, why was she sad? What happened?

She slowly reached up, and kissed my cheek, before rushing to the counter and paying up all the volume she bought.
And as I payed myself the things I got, I found myself feeling a little...happy.

~~~<•>~~~

We were sitting on a bench in a little park, after walking around it. She was swinging her legs up and down, reading what seemed like a romance story, the title of it being "Nana".
After closing the volume, she set it aside, and she rested her head on my shoulder, looking at the sun as it was slowly setting on the horizon.

"You know...I enjoyed myself back there, Aaron."
"Really? I thought you said that I wasn't that much of an imagination this afternoon, huh Carol?"
"Oh c'mon, cut me some slack!"

She laughed, nudging me a little, before sighing softly and turning to face me.
The sun hit her eyes, making the color glow a beautiful green, like an emerald.

"...c-can you..."
"Hm? What did you say, Carol?
"N-nothing, don't worry"

She was fidgeting a bit, and after chuckling for a moment, I took her by the chin and I slowly kissed her, as some kids ooh-ed from afar.
Her lips were really soft, it seemed so goddamn perfect, she looked so...pretty. We were almost in l-

"Please...Don't leave again."

She said slowly, moving back as what seemed tears formed inside her eyes.
"What? What do you mean?"
"N-nothing! Really, nothing!"

She suddenly stood up, she grabbed her bag with the mangas, and she ran away, leaving me confused, without words, with a copy of Nana by my side.
I couldn't really understand what happened, but maybe it had something to do with her parents. But it was too soon to ask;
And I remained alone, with a single phrase that popped in my mind, after glancing at one page
while she was reading.

"I fall asleep every night holding you tight
to the good old days that drift farther away
when each morning comes".

~~~<•>~~~

Sorry it took me so long to finish this chapter, but as I'm in the last year of school, I'm really overwhelmed by homework and studying so there's that. I'll try to write more often but I won't guarantee anything.
Love you all and have a nice day❤️

Danro~