100 reasons to love our lives

Picnic with sudden friends

Will

”Well, you are early.“
I inspected my boyfriend, trying to sound chill, but my giddy smile betrayed me.
”I always am early, Solace. You should know that by now.“ Nico smiled back at me, but he managed to actually look relaxed.
”But now, I am early. How can you be earlier?“, I asked, giving up the attempt to be cool. Instead, I pouted and batted my eyelashes at him, enjoying his flustered reaction.
”My room is scary“, he just muttered, stepping closer to me.

That took the wind out of my flirty sails.

”I don't want to talk about it“, he added fastly, ”not yet, at least.“
”A-alright“, I gave in, and then put on my smile again. ”I'm super hungry. Let's see if we can find something to eat here?“
”Where should we start searching?“, he asked. ”Can your stomach coincidentally sense food somewhere?“
”No, but my nose can.“

Playfully I took a deep breath, and my heart filled with joy as he cracked up over that. ”Of course“, he giggled, ”so, what does your almighty nose tell us?“
I looked around to check if anybody was around. Strangely enough, where we stood, nobody else was to be seen.

”It tells me...“
My wonderful boyfriend squealed surprisedly as I kissed him, our lips connecting in a short, but passionate encounter.

”Oh, and we should start in that direction.“ I pointed to a little archway. ”Maybe we'll find some former citizens there.“
”A very good idea, really“, he gasped with widened eyes, and I couldn't suppress a gleeful chuckle. ”I know, right?“, I teased him and took his hand. ”Now, let's go. I'm really hungry.“
”I know“, he stated, and my cheeks blushed hopelessly. ”Great“, I said anyway, and still with our hands locked, we approached the archway.

Now we found people.
At the inner courtyard, the world suddenly seemed loud and busy. Students walked around little advertising stands, advocates declared how good their clubs were, lazier people relaxed on colorful blankets, some just hurried over the yard, hoping to not get spoken to. Nico subconsciously got closer to me, his clear, dark eyes soaking in the view. ”It's... I don't know what it is“, he said, and I needed to chuckle. ”The word you searched for is beautiful“, I helped him, approaching the stands. ”Where people want to buy supporters, there's food“, I philosophized as I felt his hesitation.
”That's not true“, Nico objected, but then frowned in second thought. ”Not always, at least.“

”I already smell the waffles“, I said, my stomach joyfully growling. Actually, I hadn't been that hungry, I just wanted to shift Nico's focus to something harmless. But now, smelling the delicate scent, my body automatically sent the command to find food. ”They sell waffles at a school?“, Nico muttered, more to himself, but I answered anyway: ”This is a college, sweetheart. Meaning: we are free people except we learn something.“
”I see“, he said slowly. ”I'm sorry, but I don't trust learning institutions when it comes to diets.“
Now I was the one to laugh at his dry humor. ”Completely understandable“, I chuckled. ”Well, then it's time to rebuild your trust“, I joked. ”I think I'm going to try the Vegan Waffles over there. How about you?“
”I'll just eat something from yours“, he quickly decided.
”Are you afraid?“, I teased him, but then ordered a waffle with chocolate cream.
”Thank you for contributing to the Vegan society“, the salesman said.
”You're welcome“, I said and got moving.

”How is Vegan dough even supposed to work?“, Nico asked. I shrugged and said: ”Let's see.“ Then I bit into the waffle.