Not Yet Corpses. Still, We Rot.

February 14th, 2024.

Eliza looked in the mirror and she judged herself, but this time she might know why. She grabbed a pair of her dad’s black cargo pants, since they wore roughly the same sizes and she had decided to do her laundry at the worst moment known to man. She rummaged through her closet to find a mossy green sweater that had cartoon dinosaurs all over it. She knew Alain would appreciate that, with his Jurassic park obsession. Then she topped off her outfit with a buckled belt, dinosaur earrings and a necklace with a rose on it. It was valentines day after all.
Alain was stood in the flower shop in the town mall, looking around for a pretty kind of flower that would fit perfectly with today. After he had been browsing for a good while, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw someone, who couldn’t have been older than 19 stand there with a kind smile, his apron told Alain that this man must work here. “You’ve been browsing for a while now, can I help you with anything?” The guy, who looked like he came straight out of a marauders fan fiction and was, according to his name tag, named Josh, asked Alain politely. “Oh, yeah! I have a date today and I need the best flowers for someone that is like super pretty but also super smart and kind you know?” Alain said hastily, fidgeting with his hands. “In that case I would recommend heliotropes, pansies, peach and lavender colored roses. Sound good?” The man smiled, and when Alain nodded, taking Josh’s word for it, he walked over to the counter and he started assembling the bouquet for Alain. “I gave this exact bouquet to a guy on our first date, and we’ve been going strong for basically two years now, so rest assured this will work.” Josh told Alain, eyes fixated on the tape he was currently struggling with. Alain smiled, hoping he and Eliza would stay together and content like that too, whether it was because the flowers had magical powers or not.
Eliza was setting up the blanket next to silverpond, a pond at the edge of the forest, and the most beautiful spot to watch the sunset. The only reason there was nobody else there today, was because according to rumor, a kid drowned here in the nineties and now  it was haunted. That was not the case. The haunted part at least, the kid drowning did happen. Eliza started setting up the baked goods that she had spent all day making. She had also gotten some absolut vanilla, a bottle of rosé with a complicated french name that she was sure she could not pronounce, and a pack of Alain’s favorite chocolates to give to him once he got here. Now all she needed to do was wait until Alain arrived.
Alain was trying to navigate through the same forest that they had walked through on their first date, not hopelessly lost just yet, but getting very close to it. He was using google maps, but it was having a hard time finding the pathways that should lead him to silverpond. A couple of twists and turns later, Alain had finally found Eliza, who was staring into space whilst waiting for him. The way the light was hitting Eliza’s face illuminated her features to make her look truly ethereal. Alain smiled, the butterflies in his stomach forming an angry mob, ready to burst out at any second now. He walked up to Eliza with the bouquet of flowers badly concealed behind his back, a smile forming on his face. He was less jingly then usually, as he was not wearing as much jewelry, instead opting for only two small necklaces, one that his mom had given to him, and one half of a magnetic heart, the other half tucked into his pocket to give to Eliza later on. Alain walked up behind Eliza, softly putting his had upon her shoulder as to not startle her again. Eliza was snapped out of her thoughts, looking over at Alain who held out the may-or-may-not-be-magical bouquet. Eliza almost gasped, never having received flowers as a romantic gesture before. “Oh you didn’t have to..” She said, starting to tear up a little bit. Alain grinned, happy to see that he (or rather the guy from the shop) had picked out a good bouquet. He sat down next to Eliza, side hugging her as a means to say hello, whilst he admired her smile as she smelled the flowers. She put them down in the (now empty) basket that she had brought, positioning them in such a way that she could look at them all night. She’d just have to put them in water once she got home. “They’re so pretty.” She smiled in that familiar smile that Alain oh so adored. They looked into each others eyes, Alain glancing down at her lips, flustering Eliza. “I have something for you too!” She said, starting to turn an almost unhealthy shade of pink. She reached over in front of her, where she had put the chocolates she had gotten for Alain. “I know it’s not much,” Eliza began, but Alain cut her off by putting his hand on Eliza’s jaw. He traced his thumb over her soft features, effectively making Eliza’s heart jump up into her throat. He looked into her eyes, down at her lips and into her eyes again, before whispering “Can I?” Eliza nodded and Alain slowly leaned in and kissed her. Eliza’s skeleton almost jumped out of her skin and ran away, but she decided she needed her skeleton to live, so she just reciprocated the kiss, closing her eyes and leaning into Alain’s touch. Eliza, unsure of where to put them, put her hands on Alain’s waist. Alain on the other hand, placed his hands around Eliza’s neck, smoothly (absolutely not smoothly, fumbling with the clasp the entire time and severely regretting getting his nails done) fastening the other half of the necklace.
“These are my favorite” He said after pulling away, but Eliza barely registered what he said, she was usually completely flabbergasted by even the slightest hint of affection, so this was enough to make her brain turn off and on again. Alain smiled, looking deeply into her gray eyes that perfectly matched the pond they were sat beside. Once Eliza had pulled herself out of her almost trance-like state a couple seconds later, fidgeting with her newly acquired necklace, she started explaining what she had brought with her to escape the silence that had formed. “I m-made- I- ehhm, shit sorry, there’s strawberry cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, macrons b-but they look really bad, fruit salad, ehmm, sandwiches and alcohol. Oh and ehm, blueberry muffins as well.” She damned her stutter, her brain still not coping with the idea that somebody likes her enough to kiss her. Her stutter used to be way worse, earning her years of teasing and even bullying at some point. One speech therapist later though, and that stutter only returned in the worst possible moments, when he was supposed to be strong. She glanced over at Alain, who was just patiently waiting until she was done with explaining, and it seemed as if he didn’t mind Eliza’s stuttering at all. Eliza found that very hard to fathom, even though it was true.
About an hour and a whole bottle of rosé later, they had started a lengthy conversation on what was the best kind of hat a cat could wear.  This caused Alain to start editing pictures of hats onto Burnt Marshmallow. A good while later, they had to agree that even though top hats made her look incredibly sophisticated, fedoras were the best option. They gave her a kind of mysterious energy that they could both really appreciate. The rubber ducky, although not really a hat, made a nice runner-up.
As the sun was starting to go down, the two had started getting pretty tipsy, and they were laid down on the blanket, looking up into the sky. Well, Alain was looking at the sky, admiring the pretty colors that painted the vast emptiness above them. Eliza, on the other hand, was admiring Alain. She had been thinking of the kiss they had shared about two hours ago, and how she was probably horrible at kissing. She had enjoyed the kiss, but Alain had had loads of practice, she had never kissed anyone romantically, and she feared the worst. Did her breath smell? Were her lips chapped? As the alcohol was setting in though, her worries became softer, less important. She gazed upon Alain’s face, his features, some of them soft, some sharper, relaxed under the colors of the flaming sky. He looked like he could concur worlds but was in absolutely no rush to do so.  It was about 6 PM and they had finished the majority of the snacks, earning Eliza a lot of oohs and aahs from Alain, who had way more of a sweet tooth than he led on. Eliza looked back up to the sky, and she simply just enjoyed Alain’s company, listening to the sounds of the crickets conversing around them as the sky became dimmer. Alain had been thinking a little bit about the day. He liked the kiss, but he wondered if he should’ve popped some gum before getting here. Whatever. At this moment in time, he was mainly thinking about Eliza’s hand, which was just touching his. He wondered whether he should interlink their fingers. They had held hands before of course, but.. Never mind, there really wasn’t anything stopping him. He slowly wrapped his pinkie around Eliza’s, and when she did not pull her hand away, he slid his hand under hers, intertwining their fingers. Neither of them moved, neither of them spoke. They just laid there in a comfortable silence, both of them smiling in a giddy sort of way and in that moment, they were truly content.
The night had fallen, and they were still laid there, holding hands as if they had grown into one. “You see those stars?” Eliza said, pointing up into the night sky. “That’s the Winter Hexagon. It consists of the stars Rigel, Aldebaran, Capella, Procyon, Sirius, and Pollux.” Alain raised his eyebrows. “How do you know that sort of stuff?” Eliza smiled in a ‘are you dead serious right now’ kind of way. When Alain kept looking at her completely clueless, she said; “I’m becoming an astrophysicist, Alain. I’m bound to know about the stars.” Alain laughed, kind of embarrassed, but Eliza quickly joined in. “It’s kind of nice here, Just me, you, and the moon.” Alain said, before holding his free hand up to them moon like a little hand puppet. “Hey, you two should kiss!” He followed, as if the moon was talking. Eliza was relatively confused by this. Not that she didn’t want to of course. Her confused look said plenty, as Alain immediately started clarifying. “You’ve never seen asdfmovie?” Eliza shook her head. “It’s a reference, it’s from a series of skits. I’ll show you some time.” Eliza smiled, very confused still but she’ll look it up, knowing that Alain will forget. For now though, she just leaned over and gave Alain a peck on the cheek. No matter if she understood the reference or not, she was not going to pass up on this opportunity. Alain’s face flushed in that oh so familiar red color. He had not expected Eliza to kiss him, but it was a welcome surprise. “Wow, wanna take this back to my place?” He said, not mentioning that he was cold. Eliza looked down at Alain’s free hand, which was rubbing up and down his arm for warmth. “You forgot your jacket didn’t you.” Eliza cocked an eyebrow, and Alain looked away to avoid her gaze. “The moon looks so cool tonight.” He said in an attempt to change the subject. Eliza just rolled her eyes. “Let’s go to yours. Maybe we can play a game or something when we get there?”