69.
chapter sixty-nine:
shades and a
commitment
I'll never forget.

"How do dinosaurs say good night?" 

"I don't know, good rawr?"

Serena chuckled heartily. The mere sound of it spread a smile across my lips. I swung my legs back and forth and loosened my posture so that I fell back onto the bench. It was hard, but I didn't mind. "Daijoubo?"

I peered at the girl through my fake glasses. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

She shrugged and reached over. I felt her nails graze my cheekbones before the weight was taken off my nose. "Why do you even wear these? You can't see without them?" Serena asked, gently folding the pair of glasses and pocketing them. I raised my eyebrow at that but didn't comment.

"For style, you could say."

To hide my faltering eyes behind shades, too, but she doesn't have to know that.

"Style? Doesn't seem like your style of doing things. You get me?"

I chuckled and reached for her hand. However, she snapped at my fingers and moved away. I feigned hurt. "What, I'm not allowed to hold your hand?"

"Nobody but my family and female friends are allowed to do that."

"I ain't a girl or your family, but seriously? Even I can't?"

"As I said, nope! I can add one more exception, and that would be my boyfriend or future husband!" A strange dreamy look flashed across her features, and she turned to the dark skies. After a storm, it was calm. So calm that I could hear the buzz of charter landings several floors below us.

"I did ask you the question, didn't I?"

Serena placed her hands below her chin and leaned forward. "'Be the Kalos Queen to my League Champion?' Does it make any sense?"

I blushed, running a hand through my hair. "That was the best I could come up with."

"Hmm-mhm."

Serena was rocking to the sides, still in the same posture but looking up at the skies. She let out a shuddering breath, and I realized I was keeping her in the cold for too long, given her sleeveless shirt and skirt. I inhaled. Alright. One more go.

"Serena," I whispered, and reached out a hand to push a stray lock behind her ear. She remained calm while I did so, and I sincerely hoped I wasn't imagining the faint trace of crimson across her pale cheeks. "I want to be your boyfriend."

"It should be something like, 'can you be my girlfriend?'"

"Nah!" I said in a voice that took no nonsense, one that held firm conviction. "Serena, you've got so many qualities. You're smart, pretty, kind, a grade leader, an amazing dancer. You spread smiles just by stepping a foot in the room. The list goes on!

"I, on the other hand, am simply not enough. I create problems, snap at anyone and everyone for no reason." I ran a hand through my hair in frustration, forcefully straightening some of the tangled locks. "And worse, hurt people's feelings. I'm like... the total opposite of you!

"If that's the case, I would be truly honored to be your boyfriend, girl."

Serena's lips trembled, but her true emotions were masked behind her blazing blue eyes. "You have an identity to yourself much more than those negative traits." She scooted closer and grabbed my right hand with both of hers. My gaze lowered to our intertwined fingers; she manipulated the digits precisely so that she was clasping mine tightly. Warmth flooded from her fingertips, and I blushed.

"Serena?"

She smiled softly. "Ash, I've got negative traits too. I am hypersensitive to words, easy to manipulate, and find it hard to trust anyone new. Truth be told, it's not like I trust anyone but a few with my life." I gave her a sympathetic grin. "Oh, and you're one of those I do trust, Ash."

I chuckled. "Really?"

"Yes."

If it were humanly possible, I felt my cheeks incinerate. "Damn, you got me there—"

Serena chuckled, and I felt my guts turn upside down. "Cat got your tongue? Anyways, I think everyone is a coin."

"Mhm?" I hummed, shooting her an amused look. Guess my poetries have been rubbing off on her.

"Everyone has two sides to them; one positive and the other, the pessimism. Ultimately, what path you choose defines who you are.

"Embrace your good side, Ash, and it'll return you fruits. You're a really sweet person, Ash. You care, excessively, but more than that, you feel extensively." Her grip tightened when I gulped. "And it's not bad to feel emotions. Who says guys can't break down?"

"A common misconception," I mumbled. The girl nodded earnestly.

"Exactly! It's nothing more than a misconception!"

I looked at her in amusement. How was it that she manages to lift my spirits with the simplest of words? "I will... try to become an optimist, Serena."

She cocked her head to the side in response. "Huh? You're already an optimist, what do you mean? You were the one who shaped my mindset with your infamous 'never give up till it's over'!"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, and it's just that you've put that attitude below the rest of your emotions. It shouldn't be a problem, though. I'm sure you'll be fine soon." Her soft smile was back, so I chose that moment to ask her the properly phrased version of the question I had been itching to ask her.

"Say, if I try to change for the better," I paused to look at her. The moonlight glinted off her ocean eyes beautifully, showing the swirls of a teenage dream slowly forming in her irises. "Will you take me as your boyfriend, Serena?" Gulping down the nerves, I held her gaze.

"Yes." Her whisper carried through the silent night, and that was all the permission I required. As inappropriate as it might be taken to have your first kiss under the moonlight, right after becoming each other's light of life, I didn't care; I simply shut my eyes and leaned in, waiting for the exciting feeling of being caressed by her lips to tingle my senses.

But it never came.