The Tree in the Forest

Chapter Twenty

                                      ~~~

  Today was Karkat's birthday. You were trying to get him something, but you'd never been very good at gift-giving. You tried to think of something he'd like.

  You thought about a movie, but you didn't go through his massive collection to try and find a romcom he doesn't have. That's probably impossible.

  You were walking aimlessly around the city, looking in windows to see if anything Karkat liked was for sale. You haven't seen anything yet.

You keep looking at windows for what feels like a good hour before you give up. You only had a few hours left, and if you can't find something in time, you won't have anything to give him.

Maybe you could just take him on a date or something. You'd recently gotten a summer job, so you had some money to pay for dinner with. That'll have to work.

  You felt awful about not being able to buy him something. You felt like he deserved it and you wanted to be able to give him everything he was worthy of and more. But you can't.

  You walk into the floral shop on the corner and looked at what they had. His favorite flowers were chrysanthemums, but you'd sneak some roses in there, too, if you could.

When you walked into the shop, the bell on the door rang clearly. It smelled nice in the store compared to the scent of car exhaust outside.

"Hello!" A cheery voice said. You looked up to see a woman in a dark green apron smiling at you. She had long ginger hair that was all tied back with a ponytail holder.

"Hey," You replied calmly, searching the store for chrysanthemums. You didn't want to have to ask.

"Are you looking for anything in particular? I'm Meulin, by the way," She asked. You rubbed the back of your neck and said that you needed some help. You told her about wanting to find chrysanthemums, but you didn't know what they even looked like.

Muelin, whom you felt was lying about her name, led you over to a shelf while telling you about how chrysanthemums represented loyalty and devoted love. You didn't know all these different flowers could mean so many things.

She handed you a bouquet of what you guessed were the flowers you were looking for with some other flowers you didn't know about mixed in.

"So, will that be all?" She asked happily. She was a very cheery girl, that was for sure.

"Uh, yeah." You said. You pulled out your wallet and paid the amount due. She waved to you as you left and you waved back as well as you could.

Now you just needed to figure out somewhere nice to go eat dinner at and pick up Karkat. This is so much harder without a phone, and in 2013, you basically needed one to survive. Sadly, you don't own one and neither does Karkat. That will be your next investment; a phone.

You know Karkat had been saving up for one. It's hard for him to work because of his chemotherapy treatments, but Kanaya let him come over and help out at the clothing store she works at part time. The employers were happy to take him in and let him man the cash register.

You looked at the restaurants that you passed by on your way to the bus stop. You decided to take him to a nice restaurant called Vinoteca Poscol. You'd been there once before with Bro, Rose, and Roxy and it was delicious. Of course, that had been a couple months ago.

  You only then realized that you were wearing your shitty clothes that you wore every day. You can't take him on a date like this. Ugh, you're all over the place today!

  You speed halfway across the northwestern part of Houston, knocking in to a few people along the way. You finally found a random clothes store and looked for a simple button-up. That's dressy enough.

  You bought a light grey one and quickly put it on. You left your t-shirt on under it to save you the trouble of having to find somewhere to leave it.

  When you left the store, the clerk giggled a bit at how desperate you were to get to all of these places in time.

  You hoped you'd have enough money to pay for dinner and a bus ticket. If you didn't, then all of your plans were ruined and you ran all over Houston for nothing.

  You caught a bus to his street and quickly got on. You tapped your foot the whole way, scared that you weren't going to get there in time.

  When you got there, you sped off the bus, thanking the driver and running down the street. You were going to get there, whether your body liked it or not. It wasn't your body's decision anyway.

  You knocked on the door quickly when you got there, trying not to ruin the flowers in your hand under the pressure of your death grip. Don't fuck this up. Don't fuck this up.

  Cameron answered the door. He looked at you strangely, but seemed to catch on as soon as he noticed the bouquet in your hands.

  "Karkat, Dave's here for you," He called back into the living room. Karkat walked over to the door and Cameron left to let you two talk. You were blushing and so was he.

  "Oh, hey," He smiled a little. You handed him the flowers, grinning anxiously. Karkat looked almost sheepish when he took them in his own hands.

  "Hey," You said back. Karkat looked at you, seemingly confused. He didn't know why you were all dressed up and handing him the flowers on such short notice.

"Uh, Dave, why are you dressed like that? What's going on?" He said after he went to go put the flowers in a vase. It wasn't in a concerned tone, but was more of a confused and bashful one.

"Well, Karkat, since it's your birthday, I decided to take you out. To a pretty nice restaurant, too," You smiled. His eyes lit up in realization.

"Oh! Uh, well I'd need to get dressed for that," He laughed. You beamed at him when he told you to wait while he got dressed.

  You waited just on the inside of the door. Cameron gave you a small smile and a nod. At least he approved, which was good.

  Karkat came out in something similar to what you were wearing except his jeans were black and his shirt was dark grey. His wig seemed a little more styled, too.

  "After you," You teased, bowing just a little. He smirked and walked out the door.

  "Why thank you, kind sir." He chuckled a little.

  And then you were on your way.

                                       ~~~
Yes, boys, date. Do it.

Vinoteca Poscol is a real place that's pretty close to Midtown (which is around where I put Dave and Karkat's houses) Look it up. I'm very thorough.

But I just love how Dave was like "gotTA MAKE IT PERFECT." Because that is precious. He's so worried about making Karkat happy and it warms me.

Anyway, there's not much to say (as always)

Bye!

~Ghostie