Learning to be together.

We got to the mall, parked the van in the underground lot and began to walk towards the elevator together. As we did, though, I felt something interesting coming from Fern thanks to the light connection we’d formed the other day.

We had walked holding hands at the park, but now we were simply walking side by side. I felt an itch coming from her, a desire somehow endearingly innocent and carnal at the same time. She wanted to be close, to touch me and have me touch her. I could feel it make her heart race and twist her stomach from nerves.

I could imagine her struggle. We were officially together, boyfriend and girlfriend. That meant we were allowed to touch each other, but now Fern was struggling between her desire to indulge in desires she’d been holding back and staying true to her wish to ‘not make this all about sex.’

Well, I decided not to make any decisions for her. I kept my hands to myself as we entered the elevator. I stood close to her but not so close that we’d be touching by accident. The connection goes both ways, so I tried to make myself clear without words. I wanted her. I wanted to touch her, kiss her and more. But none of that would come at the cost of her own comfort. To put it another way, the connection we shared would let her know that I wouldn’t initiate anything, but that her own advances would be welcomed. It was very much like it was for Mila, Grace, Sarah and me way back when.

We were alone in the elevator. I heard Fern let out a soft groan before she moved closer to me, enough that her shoulder touched mine, and held my hand with interlocking fingers.

I smiled and kissed her cheek, making her giggle.

“Sorry. I’m being weird, aren’t I?” she asked.

“Weird means you’re acting strange or out of the ordinary. I think not knowing what to do is perfectly normal. You don’t know my boundaries and I don’t know yours. That’s part of what I mean about us getting to know each other better.”

“I see. Then… Holding hands is okay?” she asked.

“It is. I always knew you were a pervert who was into pre-marital hand holding.”

Fern snickered and laughed. “Come on, that joke is older than the two of us combined!”

“Still made you laugh.”

I was happy to see Fern relaxing more and more, but that soon got interrupted when we got to the small ice cream shop inside the mall. We walked up to the register and Fern got all tense. Watching the girl behind the register, I took a wild guess.

“Holy crap. Fernanda?” She was a short haired brunette. Slender, small chest. Pretty, with dark brown eyes and a lot of makeup. The shock in her eyes didn’t sit right with me, though.

Fern instinctively tried to let go of my hand, but I didn’t. I held her and stood straight next to her, trying to look casual as I paid attention.

“Um… H-Hey, Mary…” Fern greeted her, smiling awkwardly. “You… work here?”

“Yeah, just over the summer,” the girl said, but soon her eyes left Fern and moved to me, eyeing me up and down with a huge grin. “Holy crap. Is he your boyfriend? When did YOU land a guy like him?”

I think I felt my eye twitch, but I don’t think it showed.

“Um… J-Just earlier? We just started going out. This is Oliver.”

I nodded. “Hello. Why is this so shocking?” I asked, despite my best judgement. We really should’ve just bought our ice cream and left. I could’ve asked Fern for details later instead of making things more awkward for her. But her tone… It just ticked me off.

“Oh, sorry, sorry. It’s just… It’s Fernanda! We were classmates throughout high school and… Well, she’s always been a bit weird.”

“...”

I smiled. “And that’s bad? I happen to like how weird she is.”

The girl was taken aback. “Oh, no, it’s not bad. Sorry, I was just surprised. Your order?”

I ordered a mint and chip cone and Fern ordered a chocolate and almonds ice cream, but in a cup instead of a cone, and they gave her the cone on top of the cone on top of the ice cream. If I’d know they would do that, I would’ve asked the same. Oh well.

We moved away from the ice cream shop and found an unoccupied bench. We sat down and started eating.

“I’m sorry. Did I make it worse?” I asked her.

Fern shook her head. “No. In fact, thank you for speaking up. Mary was… Well, she tried to be a bully in school.”

“Tried?”

“She could never stand up to people with strong personalities. She was always scared of people who talked back. I was quiet, so she started trying to bully me, but I just… ignored her.” She sighed as she took a scoop of ice cream with a tiny wooden spoon. “Still, some of the things she used to say… They kind of stuck. That guys only liked me because I had big boobs, or that there were so many other artists out there that were better than me, so why even try…”

“That all sounds like jealousy to me,” I told her.

Fern chuckled. “Right? It only makes me feel dumber that I let her get to me.”

I groaned. “And now I feel the need to prove her wrong, meaning I better not look down at your chest, like, ever. Much less touch it…”

Fern’s eyes went wide. “Oh, come on! I said I wanted to…!” She must’ve felt the sarcasm through the connection, because she stopped herself and headbutted my shoulder as I laughed.

She hid her embarrassed face against my shoulder, and soon let out a faint giggle. “Hey… I want to do dirty stuff, okay? So… Feel free to look. And to touch.”

“Same,” I told her. I pulled away just enough so that she’d have to look at me. Then I pressed my ice cream against her lips, letting her have a little surprised taste before pulling it back and leaned in to kiss her, licking the ice cream on her lips.

Fern blinked, then smiled sultrily at me. “Well, aren’t you smooth?”

“I try.”

“...Stick out your tongue,” she told me.

Curious, I did. I stuck my tongue out between my lips. Fern then scooped some of her chocolate ice cream and put it on my tongue… and then leaned forward to suck it out before I could eat it.

I was almost speechless. “...You’re an awful person.”

She giggled giddily. “Sorry. Here.”

She offered me a big spoonful of chocolate ice cream and I took it.

Gotta say, these live up to the hype.

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