“Uh, yeah, yeah, that sounds good.” He blinked a couple of times, as if trying to clear away the surprise from my statement. I laughed and bumped a shoulder into him. His gaze rose to meet me, catching some of the sunlight and making his eyes glitter like two emerald-green jewels. The bright green shirt he had on helped enhance the colors, hypnotizing me. I wanted to lean in and kiss him, right there and then.

But he turned away from me, walking toward the entrance to the gardens, his perky bubble butt bouncing around in his tight khaki shorts. Suddenly, I wanted to do so much more than kiss him. I wanted to explore him with my tongue, burying my face in that juicy ass.

We’re going to need to talk about this friend thing between us.

I decided to file away that thought for later. A discussion about what we were to each other could be extremely beneficial or extremely detrimental. What if he decided to keep things as just friends? What if he didn’t want to make anything awkward at work between us?

What if, what if, what if…

What if I’m spending the day with my better half? What if this is just the beginning?

We walked up to the ticket counter and got our tickets, along with a map of the gardens. It was deceptively large for being located in the center of a bustling city. An entire afternoon could be spent just lazily strolling through the azalea walk, wandering across the canopy walk and admiring all the blooming roses in the rose garden. I loved spending time here with friends who came to visit from out of state, impressing them with all the natural beauty found tucked inside of our concrete jungle.

I also enjoyed bringing dates here in the past, which was exactly what this was beginning to feel like.

Before we got started on our mini-adventure, we were interrupted by a surprised ‘hey!’. We turned to see Mason holding a map in his hands, a camera dangling from his neck along with the multitude of necklaces. “Fancy seeing you two here.”

“Mason, hey there,” Noah said, offering a wide grin. Atlanta was a big city but still had the magic coincidences of a small town, making surprise meetings like these more common than somewhere like the labryinths that were New York or LA.

“I’ve been meaning to stop by,” he said, putting the map into his back pocket. I noticed his eyes wandered all over Noah, from head to toe, as if looking to make sure he was still all in one piece. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since that night. Everything ok?”

“As OK as it can be,” Noah said. He glanced at me, smile flickering a little wider. “There’s been a silver-lining to all of this mess.”