Chapter 36 - 40
Vance POV
We peel out of the treeline of the forest.
I pause to let her go ahead. A flamboyant picnic set up at the nose of a cliff, untouchable at this height with a godly sight of the jeweled landscape and the town set alight, warding off the darkness of night. Kelsey goes to the blankets and the forte of cushions and pillows, eyeing the selection of gourmet appetizers and the selection of alcohol decked on a long, low-lying wooden table.
"What happened to not calling people to do stuff like this for you?"
I raise an oblivious shoulder.
She shakes her head and lowers her queenly figure to the cushions. I come closer to seat myself next to her. Her gaze brushes mine for the briefest second, and my heart stumbles, skipping a beat before it slams into a frantic rhythm, racing uncontrollably. Time falters, suspended in the space between that fleeting connection and the wild surge that follows. She severs eye contact and moves to sample a taste of the heirloom tomato galette with pecorino.
"So this... romantic, date-like-setting is better than the actual festival?" she asks, chewing as she stares off into the distance, watching the vibrant town aglow with a lightscape show.
"This is not romantic." Aggravated by the heat that floods my face. "And this is not a date." Blood rushing to my head. "Just a place we came out to when we were kids like Landen said."
She nods, dusting her hands of any crumbs.
The tension coils tighter, stretching unbearably thin, suffocating the space around us. Each breath feels heavy, a struggle, as if the air itself has thickened, resisting my lungs. My chest tightens, every inhale labored, the weight of unspoken words pressing down on me, making even the slightest movement feel impossible.