𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒 | 𝐆𝐢𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬

64| August.

64 | August.

| 3rd POV |

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

Sage hated buses.

At least the ones to New York. Normal ones are fine. But these ones? Absolutely not. Horrible. She had to sit next to a crying baby the entire time. She did not like kids.

She stepped down onto the pavement, quickly realizing she had no clue where anything was.

Sage walked out of the terminal, after a few failed attempts at asking people for directions, someone finally acknowledged her existence.

"Excuse me, ma'am? I'm so sorry, do you know where Washington Square Park is?"

"End of fifth." She replied.

"Thank you!" Sage called out.

She turned back around, her eyes darting everywhere. She walked up to someone else.

"Hi, do you know where fifth is?"

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

Sage immediately recognized him.

Jess was on a bench, a book in his hand. The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolee, if she had to guess. She had told him he should read it a while ago.

Sage carefully walked up behind him, unable to stop herself from smiling.

"Hi," she mumbled.

She watched him smile, slowly looking up at her. She fiddled with her hands, her eyes locked on him.

"How you doing?" He asked, his eyes softening when he looked at her.

"Good," she smiled. He angled his body towards hers. "How about you?" She said.

He nodded, "good."

She laughed softly, pulling her sleeves over her hands and tucking her thumbs into the holes. He tilted his head, staring at her. She was nervous. That was unusual.

"You hungry?" He asked.

"Starved." She exaggerated. "I'm slowly turning into Kurt Godel."

He smirked, "we don't want that, now do we? I know a place." He offered. She bit her lip, trying her best to suppress her smile.

He stood up, holding out his hand. She glanced at it, then back at him as she took it, intertwining their fingers.

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺

"Wow, idiot. I hate you," Sage scoffed, shoving his shoulder.

"Sorry, princess. Teasing you is what I'm best at." He smirked. She rolled her eyes, a smile pulling onto her lips.

"You know, I am fully convinced you never graduated kindergarten and just bribed your teachers with that stupid charm of yours to let you go to first grade." Sage mumbled.

"So, you think I'm charming?"

"Shut up!" She exclaimed, laughing.

His smile softened as his eyes found her arm, a sense of guilt slowly seeping into his chest.

"Your arms okay, right?" He asked.

Sage's eyes darted up to meet his, hazel on blue. She nodded, letting him grab it.

"Yeah, it sounds worse than it feels. I'm not unfamiliar with breaking bones." She said, noticing how gentle he was with her. He always was.

Her eyes found the veins on the back of his hand, her heart skipping a beat.

His eyes found hers and suddenly he was speechless. He never got used to how gorgeous she was.

"So, here's our lunch place." He said, snapping out of his trance.

"Oh, hot dogs? Fun." She smiled, looking ahead. She lightly tapped on his arm before they got up there. He looked back at her, noticing the nervous look on her face. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just um—could you-" she motioned to the stand.

He nodded, smiling softly. "What do you want on it?" She sighed, "just ketchup please, thank you."

He quickly ordered for them both, letting her stand a bit behind him. He kept his hand in hers the entire time.

"You like mustard?" She gasped, looking at him.

"Who doesn't?" He grinned.

"Normal people, like me. Mustard is horrible, you're a psychopath." She said, dead serious. He shook his head, smiling as he handed her the hotdog.

"So, uh," he paused, "how's-"

"Luke?"

He nodded, muttering a small, "yeah."

"He's okay." Sage nodded. "He went fishing." She chuckled softly. "Fishing?" Jess asked.

"Yeah. He didn't catch anything though." She explained. He smiled a bit, "probably used the wrong bait."

"There are multiple?" Sage teased.

Jess rolled his eyes. "So, he's good?" Sage nodded, back to being serious. "He's good. I can say hi for you? If you want, I mean."

"Whatever," he said, his voice soft. They began walking, Jess stopping Sage from nearly getting hit by a car just to pet a dog, then nearly running into a pole himself.

"Ha," Sage smiled. "Felt good to save you for once."

"Shut up," he rolled his eyes. "How much time you got?" He asked. "I'm guessing you'll get sick of me before five, so sometime around then."

He scoffed, "I could never get sick of you. Trust me, I wish I could." She smiled, looking down.

"Theres a record store you should check out." He explained, motioning forward. "It's run by this insane freak who's a walking encyclopedia for every punk and garage-band record ever made. Catalog numbers. He's crazy. The place is right out of High Fidelity."

"Hm, reminds me of someone." Sage teased, nudging his shoulder. "But let's go." She nodded, following him.

"Where are you going?" She asked, watching as he went over to the subway staircase.

"Subway." He replied. At her widened eyes, he smiled, grabbing her hand. "You'll like it, I promise."

"Pinky?" She asked. He nodded, "yes ma'am. Pinky promise." She sighed, "fine."

≻───── ⋆✩⋆ ─────≺