A Lover Like Him (The Perfect Lover book #2) (Espresso CRK)

Chapter 24

𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗: 𝟺

No'ones Pov

"A picnic!" Madeleine shouted enthusiastically, "Let's do that."

"A picnic?" Espresso echoed, raising an eyebrow, "For a whole day?"

"Not a whole day," Madeleine groaned, "We'd go walk around and just chat and go up to stalls in the festival before then!"

"I don't know if I have said this, but I don't prefer picnics," Espresso shivered, flinging his head back. For obvious reasons..., although some weren't that bad, "I prefer going to a quiet coffee shop or the library."

"It'll be fun," Madeleine said, nudging Espresso's sides, and winked, "We'll be far away from my siblings."

"We'd be far away from them in a library too," The mage argued, and Madeleine's grin drooped, "I don't like all the dirt and mud or children and crowds. 

"But you do like collecting plants," Madeleine reasoned, hopefully, and teasingly, "Come on, it'll be fun!"

"What are the others planning on doing today may I ask?" Espresso questioned.

"Uhh, Latte's going to a cafe with Almond, Pomegranate went off somewhere with Chocolate Mocha, Cream Puff, and Red Velvet, and Black's going to a-" Madeleine stopped in the middle of his sentence and crossed his arms, "It doesn't matter what they're doing though! I believe it's best of we did our own things."

"I didn't say we weren't going to, I simply was curious," Espresso said and rolled his eyes.

He reached out a hand and playfully swatted the Paladin's blonde locks, thinking. There was only one forest that they or other cookies could enter, but rarely any cookies did enter. 

It was wild and tangled. It was said to have weird plants or something too, but that was just rumours. If it were true, it would work in Espresso's favour. 

What was true was that it was the only public forest that was banned from being chopped down thanks to Clotted Cream's convincing argument. It was located at the east edge of the Republic, above a beach which was tiny, but the ocean beyond was huge.

It did sound intriguing enough for consideration, but a picnic and festival...

"I still refuse to go out on a picnic for dinner," Espresso said firmly, "But I don't mind wandering around like a mindless zombie and going to festival booths and stalls. Perhaps someone may even have a rare old book and doesn't realize it."

"Yesss," Madeleine hissed under his breath.

"Also we have to go to a cafe before going to the forest," Espresso added loudly, snapping his fingers to get the Paladin's attention, "Once we're in the forest, allow me to collect some samples and maybe stargaze."

"Great, I love stargazing! Let's go!" Madeleine said, flashing a blinding grin at Espresso.

Espresso giggled for a second, "Let's go then."

They called up a taxi and drove to the festival. Madeleine giddily chatted away and Espresso did his best to follow up on the conversation, though it was frustrating. How did Madeleine have the bursts of joy despite being in a strangled situation?

Perhaps I should try harder, Espresso scolded himself, Madeleine has it worse. He has two shitty parents instead of one. At least my sister loves me, but I'm positively sure that both his siblings were nasty and despicable. He has four times the crappy family members compared to me, but forty times more energy and positivity.