Lemonade~
This chapter my editor gave me the word. If you guys have any thing you'd like to see let me know. Cheers! 3 -SH
What did she put in this basket? I thought to myself as I towed the heavy brown wicker basket. She hadn't let me peek inside the basket to see what she had packed for our picnic. When I tried to open it she had smacked my hand away and told me to shoo and she would finish packing everything. I just had to carry everything. She had been so excited when I had brought up the idea that we should get out of the house for lunch and maybe have a picnic. I had to hold back a chuckle at her reaction.
"Can we really go on a picnic?" she asked looking up at me with excited eyes, reminding me of a child when you tell them that you're taking them to their favorite place in the world.
"Why not?" I shrugged, "It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow and neither of us have jobs set up. A day off would be good for both of."
After that she worked all night and most of the morning putting together a picnic basket for us. I wasn't allowed in the kitchen at all, it was all supposed to be a surprise. Various sweets smells drifted from the kitchen all night. She hadn't even come to bed the night prior, leaving me to assume she slept in the kitchen.
It was a beautiful spring day in Magnolia. The sun was high in the sky not a cloud to be seen, but it wasn't unbearably hot. There was even a gentle breeze that made the freshly bloomed flowers in the clearing dance with the tall green grass. Pink, yellows, purples and oranges blended in bunches together among the grass. When the breeze stopped the smell of fresh flowers and honeysuckles could be detected in the crisp air.
Erza was a few steps ahead of me searching for the "perfect spot."
The look on her face as she scouted for this spot brought an idiotic grin to my face. She always tried to make things perfect.
She suddenly stopped putting her hands on her hips and nodded before twirling towards me, making her white dress twirl around her knees. Her red long red hair whipped around her face blowing gently in the breeze. There was a triumphant sparkle in her brown eyes.
"This will be the best spot," she said nodding with a huge smile on her face as she tucked her hair behind her ears, "The grass isn't too high and we're just far away enough so that there won't be any noise from the city."
Like our own little bubble, I thought to myself. She was right I couldn't hear any noises from the nearby city and the grass was about to my mid calf. There was a medium sized patch of just green grass, ideal for the blanket to go that was surround by the same flowers we'd walked by earlier.
"Looks good," I approved setting down the heavy basket with a thud. What had she put in there?
Before I could even think about helping her, she had the basket out of my reach and was throwing a blue blanket at me to lay out.
I laid the blanket down and sat down waiting for her to join me.
She sat across from me and started to set out the contents of the basket. Plates, cups, sandwiches, bowls of fruit, salad and what looked like a pitcher of lemonade came out.
"You made all this?" I stared at the array of food items that seemed to just keep coming out of the basket. Fresh bread and some kind of red dip, chopped vegetables, jello and pudding joined the set.
"Yep, it's all homemade even the lemonade," Erza said proudly. She had worked really hard on all of it and it showed.
"It looks great," I praised, my mouth watering at the sight of it all. I hadn't realized how hungry I was from the walk.
"Oh and," she added a light pink dusting appearing on her cheeks before going back into the basket and pulling out a large chocolate cake, my absolute favorite.
"I made this, it took a few tries, I hope I got it right," she said fidgeting with her fingers.
"It looks amazing," I assured her, leaning over to peck her on the cheek, "It all is perfect. Thank you."
She blushed a deep shade of red and quickly poured us both a large glass of lemonade. Quickly thrusting it into my hands.
"I'm don't know about you but I'm thirsty after that walk," Erza squeaked biting at her bottom lip like she always did when she was nervous or embarrassed.
Chuckling, I lifted my glass to my lips and took a big gulp of the lemonade enjoying the feeling of the cool liquid going down my throat. It was mid swallow that I realized something was off about the taste of the lemonade. Something was missing from it. After I finished swallowing I realized the sugar was missing from the lemonade.
"Does the lemonade taste a little too bitter to you?" Ezra asked starting to look worried.
"Nope it tastes perfect to me," I shook my head.
She let out a sigh of relief and she smiled again handing me a plate.
There was no way I was going to be the one to ruin that smile over some sugarless lemonade.