“Ashton, are you okay?” Kai asked as I wiped my eyes. “If I'm boring you to tears with my plant talk, just let me know.”
“I forgot my allergy medicine,” I confessed. “This place is amazing but a little hard on my sinuses.”
“Oh. I have allergy medicine.” Kai stopped and put a foot on a bench, then balanced their little backpack on their knee, and rummaged through it. They held out theirhand. “I have three different kinds of allergy medicine, brought to you by allergies of all sorts.”
“Thank you so much.” I picked the one that I usually took, then I grabbed Steven’s bottle of water, and washed it down. “You have allergies? Seasonal allergies, food allergies, allergies to people who talk too much?” I grinned at Steven.
He’d made up most of the conversation, though I didn’t feel left out in the slightest. I just felt like giving him a hard time, because for someone who was originally reluctant, he seemed to be enjoying himself a lot.
Though I was enjoying myself, too. A lot. Perhaps too much.
“I’m also allergic to grass, trees, and walnuts. I’m lactose intolerant, but I eat the ice cream anyway,” Kai added.
“Why is it that pretty much every lactose intolerant person I’ve ever met just eats the ice cream?” I didn’t miss the fact that Steven kept holding Kai’s hand. Kai’s nails were ocean blue and some of them had little seashell decorations.
“Because ice cream is delicious?” Steven asked. “Also, cheese.”
“Cheese is definitely delicious. So is pizza,” Kai replied.
“I like cheese too, especially grilled cheese sandwiches,” I added.
“Now I’m hungry. Let’s get a snack and a coffee,” Steven suggested, ever the bottomless pit.
“Oooh, an iced coffee would be amazing, thanks,” Kai replied.
I eyed Kai’s hand. Did I dare? I know this wasn’t a date, but we could still hold hands, right?
They were on spring break and single. Perhaps they decided to just let everything go and see what happened. I think I’d be okay with that.
I offered my arm like a gentleman. “Shall we?”
Kai linked their arm through mine. “Let's.”
We went off to the café and ordered iced coffees. Steven got a burger, I got a chicken sandwich, and Kai opted for fries.
“Do you want more?” Steven asked. “You don’t have to be a polite omega around us, we won’t tell the aunties.”
Kai laughed. “They’re always telling me to eatmore. I was going to start with this, because we passed an ice cream place and that sounded really good considering it’s such a nice day.”
“We could absolutely get ice cream after this? Oh, do you need to be back at a certain time?” I asked.
“Not unless I want to go line dancing again.” Kai laughed. “Though I should let them know if I’m not going to dinner, so they don’t worry.”
“Good thought. There’s a great pizza place that we could go to. It’s kind of like a dive bar with food. We can play foosball and air hockey,” Steven suggested.
I nodded. That was a place I liked a lot, and I could see Kai enjoying the vibes.
“I do love me some air hockey.” Kai grabbed their bag. “I’ll be right back.”
Kai left and Steven squeezed my hand.
“Isthat okay?” he asked me.
“Yes.” I’d gotten in some studying this morning and was feeling good about it.
“You know, after the meeting tomorrow, we could go to the zoo. Maybe visit the plant bar afterward?” he suggested, finishing his burger, getting mustard on his face.
Leaning over, I wiped it off. “I like that idea. But if Kai doesn’t want to, don’t push.”
