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That restaurant was the best in town, it was very expensive and fancy, with renowned and well-known chefs, a live show as a side dish and free entry.
It had been a few months since that couple had gone out together as a date, and it was no secret to either of them that they liked each other romantically. They were Hollyberry, the wonderful woman who drank her wine as if it were water, savoring every drop with her taste buds.
In front of her was Pitaya, tapping their nails on the table for minutes on end, they was sulking, resting their head on their left hand, they was not disinterested in the date, quite the opposite: they was picked up at home, received flowers, was complimented a lot, and could count on one hand the number of times they could have kissed that night.
This didn't frustrate them, they wasn't the best at relationships and they was only there to understand their heart, after so many times it had beaten hard, so many times they had felt weak and submissive, they was beginning to understand more and more, however, something was wrong...
If there was a word for it, it would be called exhaustion.
"My dear, why are you in a bad mood?" The woman asked quietly, the show hadn't even started, it was even new to see Hollyberry talking at all.
She was so beautiful. She was wearing a white dress with huge sleeves, almost covering her hands that had countless rings. Her makeup was impeccable, even though it was simple, her natural beauty was still visible. Her hair was in a bun with flowers, there were so many fragments in one person, it was a shower of beauty.
Pitaya diverted their mind, now the focus was on the conversation.
"I'm not in a bad mood," They replied.
"No? I can swear I can see a hole in the table from all the time you've been tapping your nails. The polish is so pretty, be careful!" She refills the glass, it was already the third bottle.
Pitaya glanced at their own nails to see if they were really good, they painted them in a hurry, even though people advised they to paint them to relax.
They shifted their cold gaze to the plate of appetizers, they were breads with some loose ingredients, like cheese, raw beef fillet, fish, coriander...
"Can we order now?" They comes back with a posture. "We've been here for twenty minutesss and you've turned down two waitersss"
"I thought you weren't hungry! You told me you'd eaten, my dear"
"That wasss three hoursss ago, we ssspent more time in the houssse than in the ressstaurant!" They explained themself quickly, not shouting much, but everything seemed inaudible to his companion's ears.
"Calm down, calm down! Speak a little slowly or I won't understand you, Pitaya!" She laughed nervously, one of the worst insecurities of her - possible - future spouse was her tongue-tied.
They makes an embarrassed face. "I'm already hungry." They decided to rephrase the sentence.
"My love, I was telling you! You're just standing there with that grumpy face, I can't read you like that." She raises her right hand to call any waiter near them. "Even so, you seem very calm today"
"Am I?"
"Of course, I know all your expressions. I really missed you and your suspicious way of acting." Hollyberry calls the other hand, wanting some affection, ignoring all the hand-holding she had had before with Pitaya.
You were just working too much, honey." Pitaya accepts, they put their hands together on the table, the woman intertwines her fingers with pleasure.
"And you lock yourself inside the house! I was even surprised that you wanted to go out with me today, I thought you were busy with work and your baby." Holly, now refreshing her memory. "And how's the cheap copy of Pitaya?"
"Jussst eating and sssleeping... You were right when you said that in the first few weeksss they are angelsss." The woman laughs in agreement.
"Of course they are! After that it only gets better. I don't think you need a support network, looking closely at Snap I'm sure it will be calm and cheerful"
Pitaya stops in time. Something that they loved to do was just watch that woman speak, she always articulated, the way her cheeks scrunched up her eyes when she smiled was captivating. Holy shit, that woman definitely came from their dreams, everything about her was perfect.
They was thinking too much again! Maybe pregnancy messed with their hormones and their way of thinking…
“I remembered that you loved being pregnant…” they said, with a slight smile and a slightly slurred speech. “do you want to be my sssupport network?”
“Huh?” Either she didn’t understand, or she was shocked by the unexpected invitation.
Pitaya’s eyes widened when they realized how late it was. Once again, they didn’t think twice and looked away. They felt butterflies in their stomach, maybe it was heartburn… that’s it, yeah.
They couldn’t believe the embarrassment, and besides, it’s PITAYA! But for some reason, they thanked the waiter who arrived at the same second.
“Good evening, sorry for the delay! What are you ladies going to order?” It was a young red-haired woman, carrying a notepad, waiting for their orders.
“Good evening, then, I’ll have some…”
They went back to their thoughts again, their ego was half broken, they wouldn’t lie about that. To keep their memory clear, they remembered when the woman treated rhem with so much respect when they first met. She was very experienced in this pregnancy issue, her son was already an adult and she was already a grandmother. Pitaya, on the other hand, didn't even know how it had happened. They blamed their group of friends for having spent dozens of nights full of drinking and smoking for 4 months. Maybe at some point someone had cast a spell on them to make this happen. They didn't think having her as a support network was bad, but their real intentions were obvious. The mess they were having wasn't that suffocating, but every time they were together, Pitaya felt like they had always had her, and they just counted the minutes until the day ended and they could go home to take care of Snap. Hollyberry lived alone in a very famous hotel. She already had several plans to move and have her own house. Pitaya, on the other hand, lived in a small apartment. It was never spacious and never will be. So why don't they do it together? A move together would suit both of them well, if only they were in a real relationship.
"… And you, Pitaya?"
"I’ll have what ssshe ordered, thank you." Hollyberry noticed that they had tried hard not to feel embarrassed.
"Okay, your order will be here in 40 minutes. Any side dishes?"
"I’ll have another glass of wine!"
"Holly…"
".. I’ll have two bottles of water, please, but at the end. Now would you like a soda, or would you like beer, my dear?"
"Just the juice is fine"
The waiter wrote everything down. "I’ll be right back with the drinks." And then she went back to the kitchen.
Hollyberry calmly closed the menu, looking out of the corner of her eye to see Pitaya playing with the salt shaker on the table.
"No beer today?"
"I need to breassstfeed." Talking about these things was getting easier and easier.
A question mark appeared above the woman's head "Is Fire Spirit taking care of him or…"
Pitaya let out a “humpf!” in disdain. "Fire ssspirit and hisss damn boyfriend are there, they think my houssse iss a party!" They didn't hate them, but they couldn't tolerate them.
The woman laughed "They just turned 20, so young! I'm sure they only want to know about drinking, flirting and staying away from their parents, I'm sure, even without any experience of their own."
"I heard they're not even in a relationssship, I don't even know why they're alwaysss clinging to each other"
"People who really like each other like to be together, sometimes they don't even have much opportunity to say what they feel, sometimes they just want the moment to last forever. – Her words spoke openly about what they were going through, so she knew that"
Pitaya couldn't control their facial expressions, it was like an obligation to frown and squeeze their eyes tightly. Hollyberry laughed, finally touching the wine glass that was serving as decoration on the table.
"You know, I don't think this idea of being the support network is a bad idea..."
Pitaya returned with their surprised expression, a little more controlled than last time. Their heart was beating strongly little by little, they felt like looking away to every corner, their mind was as messed up as the butterflies in their stomach.
They couldn't take it anymore, they covered their face with their hands in embarrassment, what did that mean? Was it just a support network or was she thinking about other things?
"It'sss not like that, I wasss jusst joking..." They smiled at the end.
"But seriously, I would love to help you with that. You are such a good person to be around, I really like you, Pitaya. - Every word that came out of his mouth, Pitaya stared more expressively"
"You're drunk, for sure"
"No way, I can easily drink 10 bottles! All I want to say is that you are an incredible person, having these meetings with you is one of the best things that happens in my month, picking you up, seeing how handsome you look in a suit, seeing how soft and flufly your hair is getting, seeing how much you started to care about Snap and this new step in your life, having to pay your bill, I love everything about you"
Her statement was like a shot, Pitaya was discredited, they couldn't say anything, much less react in a different way. So many emotions that appeared out of nowhere in their chest, they couldn't identify so gratifying, but they knew it was a deep happiness with a lot of anxiety.
They took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
"You're...making my heart beat fassst…!" - Hollyberry smiled with such charm.
"You always leave me like this, always."
"You're the one who leaves me like this…" They tried hard not to preach on a single word. "… with your enthusiastic way, with your happiness that feels like the sun burning my skin on any given morning, you'll always be there without me asking, and that's so… so passionate."
Hollyberry listened with a little more smile, now feeling the nervousness growing in her belly more strongly, it was a feeling she hadn't felt blossom in a long time.
"You're the only persson who has left me like this, truly confusssed. I feel ssso different by your ssside, and that comfortsss me so much, even though I don't have you in my armsss forever. I alwaysss feel something genuine, I just want to ssspend the rest of my yearsss with you and... I just wisssh that at some point we... could..."
"I want that too." She brings her body a little closer so that her warm hands reach the other's cold hands. The touch was gentler than anything she felt. "Do you think that looking at that little pretty face there I don't feel like kissing you?"
Pitaya's world explodes.
"Even more so when you decide to put on lipstick, I really have to hold myself back from kissing you, because I still wondered if you really wanted th-"
"YES!" - They shouts loudly, all the tables around who had been listening from beginning to end turn to look at what was happening. - I want it, I want it more than anything. - They didn't feel even a hint of shame saying any of that.
Hollyberry didn't feel anything negative either, she smiled even more, proud of the two of them. It was another step that they could take together and she would make sure of it. She squeezed those hands as if she couldn't hold any more, it was true happiness blossoming between the two of them at that moment.