supernova

57

At twenty-five, I'm definitely too old for leggings. I learned that a couple years back when I saw all the women my age wearing pants.

I got rid of them but had shoved my favorite pair into the back of my closet, too attached to let go.

I understood why we stop wearing leggings as we get older, because the older we get, the colder we get.

I touched the soft cotton of my leggings as I decided on a pair of dark grey jeans. I quickly put on a fitted long sleeved periwinkle v-neck shirt and get a light jacket to go with it. I still hated puffy jackets because I felt suffocated in them.

Atlas was going to be here in ten minutes to pick me up. I quickly filled up a bottle of water and got my purse.

"Have fun," Amukta yawned as she walked down the stairs.

"I'll tell you everything when I'm home."

"If you come home," She chucked and I tried to give her a look but ended up laughing with her.

"He's here," I looked out the window as I walked out the door. "Bye!" I faintly heard her say 'bye' back as I closed the door and ran in the cold as snow shoving itself into my face forced me to pull up my hood.

"Hi!" I breathed out as I got into his car.

"Hey, what if I pretended that the car was unlocked just to see you suffer in the cold?" He teased.

"I'd call you and asshole and a sadist," I brightly responded. He turned up the heating on my seat as I shivered.

"You'd call me an asshole no matter what I did," He stuck his tongue out at me like a high schooler and then gave me a cheesy smile.

"Of course! Beautiful alliteration, by the way. Atlas the Awful Asshole."

"Oh, and Arabella the Atrocious. Just atrocious, by the way." I bit back a laugh.

"So, where are we going to eat?" I changed the topic as my stomach made a noise.

"Brunch at this restaurant," He pointed his head towards the GPS and I searched up the place. There was a lot of wood and plants and the reviews were all high and mainly had nice things to say.

"It's kinda far though? What are we doing afterwards?" I asked. I loved schedules. I needed to know how to plan things out; it was so hard for me to keep myself entertained or busy without a To-Do list or a schedule.

"We'll figure something out," He winked at me. "We're both smart people. We'll just use our brains and google and find something to do."

"You mean I'll use my brain and you'll use google," I returned his sweet smile.

"If it works, go ahead and use it. I have nothing against you using it if it's there, of course." I was more likely to have a brain than for him to have cellular or wifi connection. "I think you'd like Chicago." He casually changed the topic.

"The city or the suburbs?" I asked.

"Both. You would like the suburbs but you'd also love the city. I think you'd love living there if it wasn't for the high property taxes."

"Why?" I was curious.

"The food, the pizza, easy back and forth between the city and the suburbs. I think it would give you the balance of peace and party that you want," He didn't look off the road, but his fingers grip on the wheel tightened.

"I think you'd like Venice, or anywhere with visitable history. You seem like the type to prefer museums to resorts," I observed.

"I think that we all need balance. I love museums, but I also love resorts. It just depends on where I'm going and how long. I want to Chicago for a summer with home friends, we got an internship together. I loved it there, but it's hard to know if you could settle down somewhere when you're brain is in the traveling mindset. At that point, everywhere seems movable." Atlas smiled at the road as he talked about Chicago.