LIGHTNOVELONLINE 23: Afternoon Meandering
Without too much of an itinerary left before dinner, Astrid—with a firm grasp on Valencia’s hand—spent the afternoon meandering around the city. Asking Valencia to explain any notable landmarks, parks, or buildings they walked past, Astrid just followed her whims as they wandered between the city’s rings.
There was a park running the length of the street where couples, groups of friends, and single people laid out picnic blankets to eat, sunbathe, or hang out. There were cafes, small grocery shops, farmer’s markets, bookstores, and art galleries!
Astrid with her head on a swivel, had managed to spot a ton of building types... which... was pretty cool? If “building types” was even a thing?
Her and Valencia’s old town had no farmer’s markets, and art galleries were about as common as birds laying golden eggs.
That meant they didn’t exist.
Which did lead Astrid and Valencia to have quite a few scrapped date ideas...
Passing another small park surrounding a fountain with a statue on top, Astrid checked the time as she squeezed Valencia’s hand. “When’s your dinner reservation?”
“In about fifteen minutes,” Valencia peeked over and checked the time on Astrid’s phone. “Want to start walking over now? We’ve wandered quite far from where the restaurant is.”
“Sounds good!” Astrid smiled as she gave Valencia a side hug. “Lead the way, Cia!”
“So enthusiastic,” Valencia teased as she kept Astrid trapped in the embrace for a few moments longer. “Did you know I love you?”
“What’s with the sudden affection? Are you sick?” Astrid laughed, pressing a hand against Valencia’s forehead. “I did know though. I love you too, Cia.”
Stare.
With Valencia giving her a faint squint of annoyance, Astrid couldn’t help but laugh a little more before leaning in to give Valencia an affectionate kiss on the cheek. Squeezing Valencia further into the hug, Astrid stood on her toes to touch noses with Valencia. “Better now?”
“... Yeah, I just felt really thankful for a moment.” Valencia coughed, before leaning into Astrid’s ear. “But, I’ll just make sure you pay me back in full later tonight, hmm?”
“I-... uhm... uh... s-sure... I’l... I’ll try my best...” Astrid blushed as her hands began a frantic dance trying to express a variety of emotions impossible to convey through movement alone.
Smiling as she kept her arm around Astrid’s waist, Valencia enjoyed the show for a few moments more before releasing Astrid. It was just a light tease, who knew it’d have such a powerful effect?
It was just a big shame those envious and annoyed glares from the pedestrians walking by were beginning to get on her nerves... Otherwise, she’d have kept teasing Astrid.
Astrid, on the other hand, took a few deep breaths to recover from Valencia’s surprise attack. Suggestive lines were hard to resist against! Didn’t Cia have a sense of shame?
With her face still hot, Astrid stared at the ground as she grabbed onto Valencia’s hand. “Let’s... Let’s just go...”
Getting a cheery nod from Valencia, Astrid laced her fingers with Valencia’s and kept a tight grasp on her hand as they began to walk towards the restaurant.
With Valencia leading through twisting side streets, bridges, and main plazas, Astrid recovered bit by bit until they came to a large park on the outermost ring of the city. Following along behind Valencia, Astrid just nodded along as Valencia checked them in for their reservation.
The park itself wasn’t by the water’s edge, but, standing in the right areas, Astrid could tell they were still close because of the faint sea breeze blowing through her hair.
“Don’t trip, my dear,” Valencia’s voice interrupted Astrid’s thoughts as they began ascending the stairs while following behind a waiter. “This place is quite nice. Though, because it’s just the two of us and because I wanted us to have a view of the park down below, I didn’t get one of the private booths.”
Nodding along, Astrid’s eyes wandered and explored the second floor of this restaurant. Built out of wood, the restaurant had a bit of an aged... weathered feel to it. Its position, though, kept it out of the ocean breeze.
Plus, even the non-private booth seats were nice. Unlike the first floor which seemed jam-packed to the absolute max with chairs and tables, the second floor was... almost lonely.
With the wall facing the park open, a gentle coolness filled the restaurant as the sun began to set. Against the wooden railing sat tables with sizable spaces between each to give customers a little more privacy during their conversations.
Plus, heat lamps dotted the second floor, with at least one next to each table to provide the customers with warmth once night came.
Taking a seat at their table, Astrid tried to hide the faint crestfallen look from appearing on her face as she had to detach from Valencia.
“I’ll return with a set of menus, young misses,” the waiter bowed, before disappearing like a gust of wind.
Blinking her thoughts away, Astrid propped her chin up with one hand while reaching over the table with the other to lace her fingers once more with Valencia’s. “This place is nice...”
“It is, isn’t it?” Valencia laughed as she copied Astrid’s pose to stare at the park down below. “I think the performances really start around half an hour from now.”
“What type of performances?” Astrid’s eyes flickered, energy beginning to burn once more to dispel her previous melancholy.
Squeezing Astrid’s hand, Valencia uncrossed and recrossed her legs to shift into a more comfortable position while leaning forward. “Acrobatics... juggling... the like. You’ll just have to wait and see, okay? I assure you, it’ll be special. There’s a special group performing tonight, I think it’s made up of students from that academy we saw earlier today.”
With the waiter leaving a pair of normal menus plus a drink menu on their table, Astrid turned to say a quick “Thank you!” before perusing the menu. “I see, so like... A famous school group! I’m looking forward to it!”
“Well, we can always entertain ourselves with our own conversation should the group be boring,” Valencia reassured as she floated the menu up in front of herself to keep holding hands with Astrid.
“Mhm,” Astrid nodded without a reaction to Valencia’s use of power.
Feeling better herself, even Astrid used just the faintest amount of her power as a flashlight to illuminate the menu under the half-dark lighting of the store.
Feeling a few gazes from nearby tables gawking at her and Valencia’s complete disregard to the usual ‘save your energy and powers for emergencies’ attitude, Astrid shrugged them off.
After all, a young lady had to protect her eyes!
Those people probably just didn’t understand the dangers of eye strain as one got older!
The sun was setting and the restaurant hadn’t turned on all their evening lights yet!
Using her powers for their secondary illumination effect here was definitely an ‘extremely necessary’ situation!
