11

It's been a few days since Ed's passing, but I don't think the pain has gotten any better. Each day is a reminder that he's no longer with us, that I cannot visit him at the weekends to play his favorite card game, and gossip about the nurses.

Daniella and Soph have been doing a wonderful job of keeping me entertained, and focusing on work has helped too.

"Are you sure you're ready for tomorrow?"

"Don't worry about it," I groan, this is the 5th time she has asked that. "I'm not a child."

"I didn't say that," Daniella sighs, looking back at the road in front of her. She's taking me to a natural park just on the outskirts of the city, it's one I've been to before multiple times but it's her first time seeing it. "Funerals are hard for everybody."

"I know, but I'll be fine. Do you really think I'll run away crying in this weather?"

She smiles, shaking her head. "You do know that we'll be walking a lot today, right?"

"The things I do out of love," I sigh dramatically. "But I must warn you, it really isn't that interesting, completely not worth the walk."

"It's a lake, Anna, I don't expect it to be interesting."

"I mean, for someone that doesn't know how to swim you seem pretty excited about it," I joked.

"I am intrigued by the ducks, and very funny but we'll be renting a boat."

At this point we could already see the blue of the lake in the distance, this scenery always reminds me of the times Soph and I would come to camp with my dad when we were younger, it's one of my happiest memories — but it was still not worth the walk.

"We should camp here someday," I say looking back at her concentrated profile. "Do you like camping?"

"It's been a long time," she chuckles, the kind of chuckle old people always do before telling us about their time. "I did really like it as a kid but I don't think I would be able to tolerate the awkward sleeping nowadays."

"Old lady."

"I'm not the one worried about a 20-minute walk."

"But at least I can stay up past midnight."

"I can stay up past midnight."

"Only when you want something from me," I raise my eyebrows as she looks briefly at me, slightly rolling her eyes.

"My point exactly, I can stay up past midnight, I just don't want to. And may I remind you, you're the one that can't stay awake through a full-length movie, that you chose."

"Ok, fine, you win. I'm the old lady at 19," I groan. "That reminds me, your birthday is coming up soon."

"Can't wait," she deadpans.

"How will you celebrate it? Do you have anything planned?"

"Not really. We can just have dinner at my house, my mom and your dad, you can invite Soph too."

"Will you invite Sonia? You two have been meeting up a lot, I thought you were suspicious of her."

"You have to keep your enemies close, although I don't really see her as an enemy," she hums. "I will invite her, she already knows about us anyway."

"So you want her to see you as a friend, so there's less of a chance she'll snitch."

"Precisely."

"Or..."

"Or?"

"You actually see her as a friend, you're like me, you like old people," I tease her. "You always look up to that Monday coffee to keep up with the gossip, don't think I forgot you used to gossip about me with Mr. Olson."

"Look, it's not my fault you were such a shitty student."

"Not denying you see her as a friend, cute. And correction — the only person that made your miserable teacher days slightly less boring. If it weren't for me and Soph, teachers would have nothing to gossip about."

"Fair, you were a chaotic good, we talked about that missing plate for days trying to figure out who took it."

"Did you snitch on me?"

"No, but at the end, it was pretty obvious it could only have been you."

"I still have it."

"It was expensive, you're lucky they just let it pass."

"They'd never get a confession out of me anyways." She simply shakes her head, trying to contain a smile.

We were driving right beside the lake and the parking lot was coming into view. By the number of cars, I can already tell it's packed with people, which shouldn't be surprising given we're in the dry desert in the middle of July, this place must be heaven for those that can't go to a beach.

It took us a while to find a place to park that was close to the entrance, my insistence, we'll be walking enough already.

"Damn, I forgot my sunglasses," I say as I rummage through my bag, the moment Daniella turns off the engine.

"I made a bet with your dad that you'd forget something, well we tried but no one wanted to vote in your favor," she jokes. "But to your luck, I think I have an extra pair inside my glove compartment."

Indeed, when I opened it, there it was, neatly placed into its case. But the sunglasses weren't the only thing that caught my eye. I pick the pack of cigarettes holding them up so she can see them, it's practically full, maybe only missing three or four sticks.

"Have you been smoking behind my back?" I tease her.

"I haven't smoked since that day at Homecoming," she says, picking them up. "I completely forgot they were still there, I'll throw them away."

"When you were oh so jealous."

"I wasn't jealous," she groans, not really looking me in the eye.

"Oh?"

"I was just trying to deal with the fact I was feeling any kind of attraction towards a student, well, trying to deny it mostly."

"And then you proceeded to dance with said student."

"Said student was very annoying and pushy."

"Well, you definitely enjoyed it."

She simply rolls her eyes in an amused manner, as I move towards her to give her a long peck on the lips.

"Still doesn't explain why you had these with you at the time."

"I used to be a moderate smoker, I quit a few years ago, I still used to smoke every now and then when I was stressed though."

"Do you still smoke when stressed?"

"No, I quitted it entirely now."

"Why? Because I said I didn't like it?" I ask in a teasing tone.

I was just joking but I notice a faint blush slowly rising to her cheeks, but she's quick to dismiss it.

"Let's get going before more people start showing up," she says, already opening her door, leaving me behind.

After picking up our bags, which were filled mainly with food, we started our walk. The first 5 to 10 minutes were the hardest, I had just left the comfort of the car's AC but surprisingly, the walk itself wasn't that bad. Daniella's presence definitely helped.

To our luck there weren't many people walking near us, giving us a chance to hold hands whilst we walked, which also helped me boost up.

"Ah, I can already see the boats," I say, getting a little bit too excited that it's almost over. "You know how to drive them right?"

"Sure," she says simply. "It can't be that hard."

"I hope so, you're the one with the life in danger here."

"You'll save me," she says teasingly, pulling me closer.

"I'll try my best but I'm not sure I'll be able to hold you, we'll both die."

"How useless of you."

"You're the one that doesn't know how to swim, and *you'*re **the one that wants the boat, ungrateful," I scoff, pushing her away.

The line for the boat rental was immense but totally worth it, the boat is big enough to fit 2 or 3 more people and it has a really nice shade.

"This is nice," Daniella says, analyzing the control panel. A staff member has briefly explained it to us but given the number of people still waiting in line, it really wasn't that explanatory.

"Can I drive it?"

"Now more than ever my life is at risk, do you really want an answer to that question?"

"Ok, that's fair."

Daniella actually got the hang of it fairly easily, and we were soon alone in the deep middle of the lake, where she just let it float to join me at the bow of the boat.

"Look, you can see the fishes."

"Where are the ducks?" she asks, trying not to give away how excited she is to see them.

"They normally only hang at the shore, here's too deep, we can check them out later tho."

"It's ok, we have time. Are you hungry?"

"I'm always hungry," I smirk. "But I want a kiss first." She's quick to hold my chin with one of her hands, bringing my face closer to hers in a long and slow kiss. "You're not very slick Daniella, I know why you wanted to rent this boat so bad," I say in a teasing tone, still brushing my lips against hers.

"For privacy, why else," she says in the same teasing tone, closing the almost nonexistent distance between our lips once again. "Let's eat."

The day was amazing, I actually got to drive the boat for a while, and surprisingly everything went well — the boat didn't flip or anything and Daniella is traumatised but alive, that's a win for me.

At the end of the day, after returning the boat we got to see the ducks swimming at the shore, and even though Daniella was trying her hardest, it's pretty obvious that she has a soft stop for them, and all animals to be honest. I'm pretty sure her phone has at least a hundred pictures of all the animals we've encountered today alone.

"You're only taking pictures of the ducks, you should take pictures of us too, to keep as memories."

"The pictures of the ducks are also a way to remember today."

"How about us and the ducks?"

She simply lifts up her arm inviting me in while holding her phone up. For once, the very first picture came out perfect. We stood centered on the screen with the lake and the ducks in the background, the sun just about to set.

"One more," she says, holding her phone up again, this time she holds my face up, kissing me softly on the lips. This one came out just as beautiful, our very first intimate picture. "Let's go home."