🐼🐻Hopeless Romantic (A Grizz x Panda)

Chapter 19

"You ready?", Grizz asked, opening the front door.

"Yep", Panda responded, following him out the door.

"Do you think it'll be any different?", Grizz asked as they walked towards the trail.

"It has to be. It's summer now. I bet they have some flowers in bloom already. I hope they're hypoallergenic", Panda sighed.

"I'm sure we'll be fine. And plus they say the summer sunset is the best", Grizz pointed out.

They came to a crosswalk. They both waited to cross the street. The light turned red and they walked across. There was a sign that pointed the way in two directions they obviously followed the one that pointed right stating "Local Nature Trail".

upon reaching it they were suprised that not many people were acually on the trial, but un frojt of it's entrance.

"What's going on?", Grizz asked.

"I'll check it out", Panda said, as he pulled out his phone and looked up the location. "Apparently there's supposed to be some kind of concert going on"

"Uh, do you wanna see it?", Grizz asked awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

"Nah. Not really. Like you said this trail is our thing. I really wanna go through with this"

"Well, let's go then", Grizz enthused. 

The sun was already setting, painting the sky a bright orange. Grizz looked over to see Panda smiling, looking around at the birds above and the rustling of bushes beside them. It felt good to see Panda actually smile again. 

"Uh, Grizz. I'm really glad we could do this", Panda smiled.

"Me too", Grizz chuckled.

They came up to a fork in the trail. There was two paths.

"Which one should we take Pan?", Grizz asked.

"We took the left path last time. I think we should take the right", Panda decided. 

They took the right, as panda suggested, and the trail was very peaceful. There weren't any bird calls or bush rustling, but there was an undeniable sense of peace and calmness. As they walked forward they were surprised to find the bushes thinned out a bit and were replaced with black gates. To their surprise, the land sloped upwards and led up to a cliff like area.

"Wow", Panda marveled.

It was a flat area, closed off by a beautiful black gate with vine and plant designs. Upon going towards that edge they realized that gate protected anyone from straight up falling a long, long way. It dawned on them they had traversed up to the top of a hill. They could see everything from the treetops to the edge of the city.

Grizz tapped Panda's shoulder and he turned to see the setting sun. It really was just as pretty as before. 

"Panda, take a look around here", Grizz whispered in his ear.

Panda did and he realized that there was a bench up here along with a few tables and chairs. He looked extra closely and noticed that not only were there lampposts but there lights strung up above the tables and benches.

"Oh, hello",  a voice made both of them jump.

A man came around the corner, most likely from a part of a trail past all of this. He was a bit tall, dark skin and wearing a blue shirt with jean shorts. "Not many people come up this far anymore"

"Uh, why not?", Panda asked nervously.

"People mainly come for just the nature and the occasional concert or festival. My grandfather told me that back in the day couples would come up here to just enjoy the ambiance. When night rolled around the place would illuminate with lights, so did the path leading back to the entrance. They still turn on the lights, but it's a shame not many people come up here anymore", he sighed.

"Yeah..", Grizz agreed. "But can't you like tell people about this place"

"Yeah, but you can only reach so many people when you're just one person advertising", he shrugged. "I would appreciate it if you could like spread the word using like social media or something. I think combined we could do it"

"Uh", Panda hesitated. 

"Sure!", Grizz smiled, ignoring the look Panda shot him.

"Great! My name's Mike by the way!", he greeted. He checked his phone and he looked up at the both of them. "And here come the lights"

As soon as he said that the whole place lit up. There were 5 lampposts surrounding the place. The lights strung up looked like stars come to Earth. How could no one come here anymore? From the scenery, to the sunset to the lighting there's no reason to not know about this.

"This is amazing.We'll make sure people know about it",Panda promised.

"Thanks, I appreciate it", Mike said as he turned around and left back down the trail.

Panda took a picture of the place and the two headed back home.

Later that night

The two climbed in bed and stared at the ceiling.

'We're gonna have to get on again..", Grizz sighed.

"I know", Panda whispered.

"You don't have to if you don't want to", Grizz offered.

"No, I want to...but you know...It's gonna be hard", Panda said, referring to the thing they had told each other they wouldn't use again.

"Look, we'll talk about it in the morning..", Grizz yawned.

"Alright..", Panda said as he rolled over and went to bed.