The weather was perfect for a date. Schools should be given off on such days so that students could relax and not have to bunk classes.
Zane was waiting for Winter in front of her house. He was facing the wall, in case anyone he knew passed by and informed his teacher.
He was lost in his thoughts until someone tapped his shoulder. He turned around to see Winter standing with a bright smile. She was wearing a pretty white knee-length dress with a denim jacket over it.
"One would think we are twinning," Zane said as he was also wearing a denim jacket over his grey hoodie.
"Why, do you mind?" Winter asked innocently.
"Not at all."
Winter fidgeted a little and let out, "I'm so nervous. This is my first time skipping school for no reason."
"Ouch, I'm hurt." Zane placed a hand on his chest, pretending to be hurt, which made Winter laugh. "Is a date not a reason good enough to skip school?"
"Then, are you saying I should skip school every time I have a date?" she joked.
"If that's with me," he remarked and started walking.
Winter chuckled and started walking by his side. "Where are we going today?" she inquired.
"Let's watch a movie first. Then I'll show you around the city," he said.
"Sounds great," Winter chimed.
They talked about a few things on their way to the bus stop. They both managed to get seats when they boarded the bus. But when they saw a child and an old woman get in, they both willingly gave up their seats, which made the people around go 'aww'.
"Such a kind couple," said a woman in her early forties.
Zane and Winter both blushed but didn't bother to correct the woman and continued talking to each other. They got down in front of the theatre and walked in together.
"Which movie do you wanna watch?" Zane asked Winter, looking at the different movie posters.
"It's been a long time since I watched a romantic movie," Winter muttered.
"Okay, I'll get the tickets, and you get whatever you want to eat," Zane told her and went to buy the tickets. The crowd was fairly less since it was a working day. When he got back, he found Winter staring at the packet of candies like an innocent child. "You want them?"
"That's for kids. Wouldn't it be weird?" Winter breathed out.
"That's just so stupid. Who said such a ridiculous thing?" Zane sighed and ordered a packet of colorful candies for her.
"My mom," she responded, which made Zane halt and look at her with wide eyes.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to disrespect—" Winter interrupted him with a chuckle.
"No, it's okay. I know my mom was wrong about many things." She handed the coke and popcorn to him and took the candies in her hand. "Let's go. The movie is starting."
Winter wrapped her arms around his bicep and dragged him inside the theatre. Since there were a lot of empty seats, they sat in one of the middle rows.
The two of them stayed silent as the movie started. They shared the big popcorn bucket and candies, fully engrossed in the heartwarming romance on the screen.
"How can that girl not notice his feelings?" Winter commented, taking a sip of her coke.
"Well, it's his fault that he didn't confess yet," Zane replied.
"That's because he isn't sure about her feelings and doesn't want to burden her with his confession."
"And in her case, she's been through a lot, so she has no idea about such things."
The two of them were busy putting their theories, unaware of the familiarity between their own situations. When the female lead and male lead held hands for the first time, subconsciously Zane and Winter also ended up holding hands.
Just as the two characters were about to kiss, Zane and Winter were holding their breaths, the lights went off.
"What the fuck?" groaned a few people, muttering a series curses along with it.
"There seems to be a power outage," said someone in the hall.
"Does power outage even happen here?" Winter leaned closer to Zane.
"Well, this is my first time experiencing this in a theatre," Zane responded.
Winter clutched his arm and whispered, "You're not scared, are you, Zane? You said you didn't like closed rooms."
A smile spread across his face at her concern. "Well, it's not a closed room." After a pause, he added in a soft voice, "And you're here with me." Her heart skipped a beat at his words.
Winter opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by an announcement. "We are really sorry for the inconveniences, but the power won't be back until half an hour."
"I don't have the patience to wait that long. Let's leave," Zane suggested, and Winter nodded her head, following him outside. "Let's take the bus to—"
"Can we just walk around for a while?" Winter requested.
Looking at her puppy eyes, there's no way he could deny it. "Sure."
Winter squealed and started walking together with Zane. She always loved walking beside him and stealing glances at him occasionally. Also, there was no hurry to reach work now, neither did she have to worry about reaching home before curfew. She could just enjoy his company.
Zane explained the history behind the things that caught her eye. It almost made her doubt mathematics was his favorite subject, not history.
"What is that?" Winter pointed at a food stall, which was selling small hand-sized corn wheat tortilla topped with a filling.
"Tacos."
"Oh, this is the famous tacos I keep hearing about," she hummed.
"You have never tried it before?" Zane asked. Seeing her shake her head in denial, he urged, "You must try it out. It's one of my favorites." He dragged her to the vendor and two tacos for themselves. "You're going to love it."
"I'm sure I will." She smiled. Once she was handed over the folded tortilla, she took a bite and was blown away by its taste. "Wow, this is so good."
"You want one more?" he asked.
"Yeah, I—" Winter choked on her words as her eyes went wide like saucepans.
Zane rubbed her back in order to calm her. "Excuse me, can you give me some wat—"
"Zane, Dad," she breathed out.
"What? My dad is in his office right now, and his office is far away—" she cut him off.
"Not your dad. My dad," she squeaked, which made Zane drop the bottle of water.
"What?" He looked over his shoulder to find her grumpy dad right near them, walking around. He hurriedly pulled over his hood and ruffled her hair so that her side frame wasn't visible. "Shit, bad luck never stops following me around," he mumbled.
Zane quickly paid the vendor and took hold of Winter's hand before hiding behind a lamppost. He noticed a candy floss stall nearby and grabbed one. Just as David was walking past them, Zane pulled Winter closer by her waist and hid their faces with the big candy floss.
"Teenagers these days are so shameless, kissing in the middle of the street, instead of attending school," David commented after taking a glance at their way and turned away his head being disgusted.
Zane and Winter held their breaths as their lips were so close to each other and her dad was nearby. If they were caught, she was a dead meat. She hoped for her dad to go away as soon as possible because their position was too compromising. Unfortunately, David started eating tacos at the place they just ate.
Zane's eyes were set on her soft, inviting lips. He gulped, trying not to give in to his temptation. But when he noticed how her eyes diverted to his lips, he lost control and leaned forward a little bit, making her breath hitch in her throat.
Winter closed her eyes, waiting for his lips to brush against her. But the only thing she felt was wetness on her cheek suddenly. Her eyes fluttered open, realizing what was happening. Please tell me this is not happening right now, she begged in her head.
It was raining.
"Fuck my life," Zane cursed and pulled away from her. "We need to make a run for it," he told her and grabbed her arm before running into the nearest restaurant.
One of the waitresses handed them a towel, which he used to dry her hair first. "I can't believe it's raining when it was supposed to be a sunny day with no gloominess," he sulked, which made Winter suppress her urge to giggle.
Nothing was going according to their plan. Zane and Winter were at least expecting to have lunch in peace when an annoying existence made its appearance in front of them.
"What a coincidence, baby! I didn't expect to see you here," said a high-pitched voice which Winter managed to remember from her drunken memories.
Zane rolled his eyes and said to Winter, "Let's just ignore her." Meeting his ex with the girl he liked in present was the worst thing that could have happened that day—coincidence or not.
"How mean, babe! You can't ignore your dear Melissa," said Melissa, flipping her light brown curls over her shoulder.
"Try me," Zane uttered in a bored tone, which made Melissa smirk.
"Hey, guys, come over here," Melissa called over her female friends, who had the same bitch-like vibe as her.
Winter shifted in her seat uncomfortably, which didn't go unnoticed by Zane. He was about to speak up when Melissa cut in, "Guys, meet the most wonderful boyfriend I have ever had, Zane."
"Ex-boyfriend," he corrected. He didn't like the way she was completely ignoring Winter as if she wasn't even there. "Winter, what would you like to order—"
Melissa invited herself to sit beside Zane and wrapped her arm around his bicep; it made Winter grit her teeth. "Baby, I was wondering if you would like to get back together. I miss having you with me. I miss your hugs and kisses—"
"I'm going to the restroom," Winter said and stood up. He noticed the tears in her eyes before she left.
Zane swatted away Melissa's hand and snapped, "Stay the fuck away from me, will you?" Melissa was taken aback by his reaction. "If you miss having me around, then you shouldn't have cheated on me in the first place. Now that I have completely moved on from you and like someone else, you want me back. What am I, your toy? I have had enough of you. Go fucking play with some other guy."
"I didn't expect you to humiliate me like this, Zane," Melissa said, wiping the lone tear that escaped her eye.
"Who says it's only okay for you to humiliate others?" Zane questioned, which silenced her. "Anyway, get out of my sight." He stood up and went to look for Winter. He found her coming out of the restroom. Just as he opened his mouth to talk to her, he was cut off by Winter.
"There's no need to explain anything to me, Zane. I understand." She flashed him a smile and made her way towards their table.
Only God knew what she understood. But even if she said there was no need, he needed to explain for his satisfaction. He sat on his seat and started, "Winter, she's my past. I don't have anything to do with her, and she means nothing to me. She's just annoying me now because I was the one who dumped her for cheating on me. Besides, I only dated her for two weeks."
Winter kept her head low and nodded. "I see." Even just a minute ago, she was so angry she might have broken Melissa's fake nose if she was still here. She didn't know why she felt like that. This anger, jealousy, hurt—she had no explanation for them.
"Hey, c'mon, cheer up. Don't you just feel like laughing after we ran into so many bad lucks today?" Zane let out, which made Winter burst out laughing.
Come to think of it, there was a power outage in the theatre, they ran into her dad and his ex-girlfriend, their attempt at a kiss failed due to rain. What more awaited them? Running into their classmates? Bus breakdown?
Just like they thought, they did run into Zane's friends when they were looking around the adventure park, and their return bus broke down in the middle of the street. They could do nothing but laugh at their ridiculous fate. But in the end, all that mattered was that they both had fun with each other.
