A ǫᴜᴀʀᴀɴᴛɪɴᴇ ʟᴏᴠᴇ sᴛᴏʀʏ

10

Location: In Lante's Car
Time: Still unknown

Q'anna

I watch as Lante opens the passenger door side for me to get in. Before I sit down I see there is a gift bag in the seat.

I turn to him. "𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠?"

"𝐼𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎, 𝐿𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒"

I move the bag and sit inside as Lante closes the door and gets in on the drivers side.

Quizzically looking at him I reach my hand in the bag and I feel a small box. I take it out and I recognize the   Shape.

"𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜"

He smiles. "𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑄 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡"

I put it down and I reach over to him for a hug. I start crying because nobody has ever done something like this aside from Chi. I was over here stressing about how I was gonna get another phone.

"𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙, 𝑛𝑜𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒!"

"𝑂𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑤𝑡𝑦, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑑 𝑑𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑠𝑠"

I laugh. I open the box and I see that it's the newest I phone the 12. He reaches into the back and hands me a phone case and AirPods to match.

I'm really at loss for words and I'm really greatfull right now. It's still a little to early for me to say if I should let my guard down with him but with time I will. Baby steps.

"𝑄 𝑖 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑢𝑝 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑦𝑎 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟, 𝑖 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑒𝑡𝑐 𝑒𝑡𝑐. 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒𝑡𝑦 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑠"

I nod. "𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑?"

He shakes his head. "𝑁𝑎ℎ 𝑚𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑢𝑝 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑦𝑎 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒"

"𝑂𝑘𝑎𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛"

He reaches for my hand and squeezes it.

He starts the car and we finally drive off.

I turn to look out the window with a slight smile on my face.

____________________________________

I don't remember when I fell asleep but it takes me a moment to realize that Lante is tapping me.

"𝐻𝑚𝑚𝑚? 𝐼𝑚 𝑢𝑝 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑?"

"𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑘-𝑓𝑖-𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡?"

"𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑤𝑖𝑐ℎ, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑘𝑒. 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒"