unknown number ʳᵃⁿᵇᵒᵒ

10

"come on! you're so slow."

"i didn't know that this date would involve running. if i did i wouldn't have worn jeans!"

coraline laughed, turning around to grab ranboo's hand before taking off again. the sound of the bustling streets in downtown rochester faded away as the two ran further into the trail. once the river came into view, she finally slowed down her pace and smiled wide. she pointed excitedly at the bench that sat in front of the river bank.

"look! i knew it!" coraline still held the tall boy's hand. the feeling of the two's fingers intertwined sent electricity through her arm.

"d-ducks?" ranboo breathed out, astonished at the amount of aquatic birds that were scattered around the river.

"yeah! its the end of winter, so they all just came back from migrating. i knew that they'd be here."

she dragged ranboo to the bench, and sat down. with a smile, she opened the brown paper bag and took out the two pastries that sat inside. she passed the lemon bread to her date and kept the donut in her hand.

"i dont think ive ever been back here." he spoke softly as he unwrapped his bread.

"really?" coraline bit into her donut hastily, "i used to come here all the time with my dad when i was younger."

ranboo just nodded, looking out to the sea of ducks that swarmed the river bank. the date was coming to a close, they had already spent hours together. the nervous feeling that coraline had before 12 o'clock came back. she liked him. probably too much. the feeling that the boy gave her was indescribable. she felt it just a month or two into talking to him, and it only progressed to be more extreme.

"you never told me how you felt."

ranboo looked to her, shocked at the sudden break in the comfortable silence, "what do you mean?"

"you know i like you... how do you feel about me?," coraline's eyes were glued to her old, torn up shoes. "do you like me?"

the sound of him swallowing his breath added to the ever worsening tension. both of their stomached felt as if they were tied into infinitive knots. the longer he took to answer the more her nerves built upon themselves.

"yeah." he breathed out, finally.

"yeah?"

"yeah."

smiles soon painted onto both of their faces. ranboo's white teeth peeking out behind his lips, and coraline's slightly yellowed ones doing the same. the feeling of nervousness dissipated into butterflies of excitement. nothing else was needed to be said or done. they were happy. they were so happy and that was all they needed to feel in the moment. the phantom ache in coraline's legs subsided for once without the need for recreational drug use.

normally, people seal their love with kisses and whispers of sweet nothings, but that wasn't needed. the lighthearted quacks of the ducks made them comfortable with the light touch of coraline's head against ranboo's shoulder and nothing more.

(this chapter is in fact heavily based off of the time my sister and i went to downtown rochester and sat by a bunch of ducks. it was very fun.

my sister is on the right and im on the left!

heres all da ducks

thank u :) )