TWENTY-THREE

♥Lucille♥

As of yesterday, we started classes two months ago. November has begun, meaning the temperature will be on a steep decline from here. Woo. New England.

It also means there will be snow. Which is pretty cool in terms of the aesthetic and the whole idea of it, but when you grow up in the Northern parts of the world, you know how awful it really is.

Some years the first snowfall is as early as October. Or as late as December. But then it consistently manages to last until March and April. And then it's still always cold. And then May hits and you can't even leave the house in pants because it's too hot.

Though, Thanksgiving break is soon. My parents are deciding not to host Thanksgiving on actual Thanksgiving. Rather, the weekend before, on the 22nd. We'll drive up there the night before on the 21st.

I'm really excited for Kiara to meet my family. I think she has a positive opinion on it as well. Maybe not excitement, per se, but she hasn't complained or expressed much worry.

Additionally, in two weeks, on the 15th, Saturday, I have made plans for us. Kiara doesn't know yet, but I'm so excited. I will be taking her out to dinner, and then we're going to see SIX. The cast is coming to one of the theaters in Boston, and the tickets weren't actually that bad price-wise.

Now, I was disappointed to learn that it is a history-based musical, but this is not about me. Plus, I'm pretty sure I recall Kiara mentioning it a few times, so I think she likes it.

I've listened to the soundtrack and the songs aren't too bad. Don't Lose Your Head, however, has been stuck in my head and I have to suppress the urge to hum or sing it. Kiara can't find out. It needs to be a complete surprise.

Aghhhh, I can't wait.

♥♥♥

It's time. It's finally time.

I'm genuinely so excited for this date. I may not be benefiting directly from seeing a musical, but I'm sure Kiara will be.

We're walking from the parking garage to an allegedly really good Italian restaurant. I already made us reservations, but they're a little later than I'd like them to be. The show starts at 7 PM, so we probably want to be done no later than 6:30. Crunch time, I know. How irresponsible.

The reservations are for 4:45 though, so I suppose we do have around an hour to eat if we get our food around 5.

"Why are we in such a hurry? Don't they wait at least an hour before canceling reservations?" Kiara asks, matching my quick pace.

"Yes, but I have other things planned... Also it's freezing out here." Both things are true. It's only 13°F outside.

"Okay..." She nods.

We eventually make it to the restaurant and are guided to our table. There's a vase with a few oleander flowers in the center per my request. She mentioned them being her favorite. Whoever I had been speaking to on the phone about it was hesitant, considering they're lethal to ingest, but I paid their concern away.

"Did you coordinate this?" Kiara asks, gesturing to the flowers.

"Perhaps..." I open up my menu. This is going to be a very hard decision. I love all Italian food.

"You're the best..." She begins to look through her menu as well, biting back a grin.

I end up ordering a chicken alfredo with penne. I don't hear what Kiara orders, but when the waitress finally returns with our food, I see that it looks good.

I decide I'm going to drop a casual hint as we're eating. "What would you say your top five musicals are?"

She quirks an eyebrow. "Random... But... I dunno, that's a hard question... Ride The Cyclone is really good. Heathers is impossible not to love. The Prom is about lesbians! Chicago is a good one. SIX is another iconic one. Phantom of The Opera!" She lists.

"That was six." I acknowledge, though I think it was intentional.

"I know..." She winks. This is a good sign. SIX was the fifth one she mentioned and she made a reference. This is good. I just hope she's not expecting anything. "However, now that you've brought it up, I'm gonna keep listing more off. Be More Chill is pretty funny and the music is really good, Hamilton is a given, gotta love Beetlejuice, Dear Evan Hansen is pretty relatable. Book of Mormon, Hadestown, Spring Awakening," She continues to name more and more. I'm pretty sure she's just saying what comes to mind, but I listen. I have never heard of majority of them, but I'm sure she'll introduce me.

Then we just talk for a solid hour. We finish our food pretty quick, but become distracted by each other. We decide against ordering dessert since our total is already nearly $200, plus we gotta get to the theater soon. God, I can't wait to tell her.

I pay the bill and we head out. We need to walk to the theater, which really sucks. Seeing me shiver, though, Kiara wraps an arm around my shoulders. I lean into her.

"So where are we even headed?" She asks, just followed my lead.

"You'll see..."

It's dark outside, the sidewalk only illuminated by the street lights. It's kinda peaceful though. I was expecting to see more people.

"Please tell me, I'm dying here." Kiara pleads yet again.

"No! Not yet." I snort. Ugh, it's so embarrassing when I do that.

She lets out an over-exaggerated sigh. Like I do sometimes. "Fine..." She trails off,looking up at the sky. I do too, noticing it's begun to snow. No fucking way.

"It's snowing." I mutter. We both stop walking for a moment, watching it fall slowly.

"I noticed." She says, her voice laced with sarcasm.

"Shut up." I nudge her in the arm.

"It came pretty late this year." She acknowledges.

"Yeah. I noticed." I counter.

"Oh, fuck off." She nudges me in the arm this time. We both laugh. This is a really nice moment, no matter how much I hate snow. I guess this makes snow a little bit better.

We start walking again, her arm finding its way back around my shoulders. "You know," She says. "Maybe, I'm biased since you're the one treating me, but this might be my favorite date of ours yet."

"Really? I've only taken you to dinner." So far...

"Well, clearly you have something bigger planned, and I tend to have a major recency bias, but yeah." She smiles down at me.

We're almost at the theater, our hair speckled white from the snow. "We're almost there..." I comment.

"Almost as in this street, or like five minutes?"

"This street." I say as we turn. She starts looking around to see where we could possibly be headed. It's just a few buildings down. "On the right..."

I see her squinting her eyes, trying to read the signs, then she must spot it. "Is it the theater? Are you taking me to see a play?" Excitement is evident in her voice.

"Mhm..."

"Oh my god, you are literally the best—what are we seeing?!"

"Okay, so I'm sure you know this, but sometimes Broadway casts travel to other cities..." I trail off for dramatic effect.

"Lucille..."

"So, I got us tickets to see SIX!" We stop right in front of the theater as I tell her.

Her jaw is dropped and I think she's tearing up. "Wait, wait, wait—like the actual Broadway cast?!"

"Mhm." I nod my head, grinning.

She pulls me in for a tight hug. "Oh my god... I..." She pulls back. "I took you to an arcade! And a shitty fair! And you... Holy shit." She has a dumbfounded look on her face. Utter happiness.

I give her a moment to process. I was not expecting her reaction to be at this extent, but I'm glad it's positive.

"How much did this cost you? The dinner was almost $200 wasn't it?!"

"Don't worry about it. I like treating you. Plus, my dad actually endorsed the idea and he's the one I get my money from."

"How long have you been planning this?" She asks, running a hand through her hair. Her hand seems to get caught in the dampness of the snowflakes.

"First got the idea in October..."

"You... You are amazing." She huffs out a laugh. "I literally l—" She cuts herself off. "Wow."

Maybe I'm reading too far into it, but in my head she was just about to say I love you. I'm not going to mention it. She stopped herself before she actually said it, but it feels good knowing the idea may have crossed her mind.

"We should get inside before we freeze to death." That seems to remind her of the ever-falling snow. I'm so glad we wore jackets.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

As we enter the theater, she seems to be practically shaking with excitement. If this is her reaction here, I can't imagine how she'd react to getting to see a show on an actual Broadway stage. I'll have to do that some day in the future...

♥♥♥

Another one of the things I adore about Kiara is the look on her face she gets when she talks about something she's passionate about.

We're leaving the theater now. It was actually pretty good. According to Kiara, the full cast was there. No understudies. Which is apparently very lucky.

She's ranting on and on about her favorite parts, and how life-changing this was, et cetera. It definitely did not have the same impact on me, but I'm getting my own amount of glee from Kiara's eagerness.

It's still snowing. I don't think it's been going for the past 2-3 hours considering there isn't too much on the ground, but it's certainly inconvenient.

Kiara stops talking and walking suddenly, pivoting on her heels to face me. "Can I kiss you?" She asks abruptly, taking both my hands in each of hers.

A small laugh escapes my throat. "Yeah. Sure."

I go up on my toes to meet her height and our lips interlock naturally. I won't deny that we have become accustomed to kissing one another. It's practically instinct now.

Her hands move up to cup my face, and I hold her arms.

After a moment or so, she pulls back, but presses our foreheads together. "Thank you." She mutters quietly and then pulls away fully, but she doesn't let go. "Really. Thank you."

I smile softly at her. I'm not sure if this is a you're welcome situation, or a no problem situation, or even a situation that requires an actual response.

She draws a long breath, sliding her hands back down to mine. She laces our fingers together and we just stand like that. Snow falls all around us (we're probably going to catch a cold now) and we just stay.

Eventually, we realize we definitely need to get back to the parking garage and that frostbite is a possibility, but—like what seems to be always now—I have no complaints.

A/N: this chapter has 1776 words. this is so american of me. Also, TWO CHAPTERS AND THE EPILOGUE LEFT!!!