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“Alright, here we are!”
Holly took her hands away from Ross’s eyes, revealing where she had brought him. They were in a small, grassy field, dotted with vibrant wildflowers like pale purple foxgloves, crimson poppies, and warm yellow daisies. Complimented with the wonderful azure sky with puffy white clouds slowly drifting across, it was truly a beautiful sight to behold. It was certainly the perfect picnic spot Even Ross, who was not particularly masculine but certainly not effeminate (he considered flowers somewhat feminine), was dazzled by the sight. His mouth opened into a small o-shape, yet no noise escaped.
After a moment, he finally spoke. “Holly, this is really, really pretty. God… I’m kind of stunned, honestly? How did you find this place?” He turned to her, his pale blue eyes sparkling with wonderment and curiosity.
Holly giggled, seeing the look in his eyes. “I told a friend that I wanted to take you out, because you haven’t had a day off in forever while still being in California and I wanted to spend some one-on-one time with you, and she recommended this valley. I drove over here the other day and I agreed with her that it was really beautiful. I figured you’d like it and it turns out I was right.” Her bubbly voice was accented by a faint hint of smugness. “I have stuff for a picnic in the car, let’s go get it.”
They strolled over to their car and the pink-haired woman unlocked the trunk, revealing its contents that she had kept hidden from Ross—she had wanted this to be a surprise, and it obviously was. Ross graciously insisted on taking everything out of the car, even though the ‘everything’ was just a blue-and-white plaid picnic cloth and a basket filled with food.
“I’ll get it,” he said. “You took all the trouble of arranging this; I might as well do something.”
“Oh, why thank you, kind gentlemen! What a gracious sacrifice, wasting precious muscle strength in order to feed the two of us!” Ross looked over at his wife and she had a shit-eating grin on her face.
“Shut up before I change my mind,” retorted the Australian, although he was clearly amused, with a smirk on his face and amusement present in his voice. He picked the two things up—“Geez, are we eating bricks or something?” asked Ross, as the basket was heavier than he expected—walking back over to a spot about the estimated size of the quilt where there weren’t as many flowers prevalent. He didn’t want to squash any, after all. Laying the blanket down, the two settled down as they set down the basket.
Opening the basket, the two were greeted with an array of faint yet pleasant aromas. Two chicken salad sandwiches—the chicken appeared to be fresh rather than that gross canned crap—crackers and a jar of Nutella, two small mixed fruit containers, and… were those brownies?
“Oh my god, Holly, are those your freaking amazing brownies? They smell so good!” said the man gleefully. Decadent and moist, filled with fudge, tasted like Jesus himself made them…
“Yep! I know you love them, and to be completely honest I’m a fan of them too. I figured since we both adore them, I might as well make some.” Holly started pulling everything out of the basket while she said this. Once everything was laid out and a couple paper plates were quickly snatched from the car—Ross hadn’t noticed them initially—and they started eating.
The sandwiches tasted decent, and it was clear that Holly had actually made chicken rather than using the canned stuff. In between her first bites she would dunk a cracker into the Nutella, but at one point scowled, complaining that “chicken salad and chocolate hazelnut don’t at all mix.” Once they had finished eating Ross had decided that now was a perfect time to draw obscene, sloppy drawings on some of the crackers using Nutella.
“Ross, don’t draw a dick on the cracker!” Holly yelled in between fits of laughter. Ross seemed to consider this for about half a second before he continued to draw a dick on the cracker. The pink-haired woman slapped him lightly on the shoulder. “You fucking idiot, I love you.”
Ross snorted. “Nerd.”
“Hey, you were the one that proposed!”
“Sorry, what did you say? I don’t listen to nerds.”
“I’m leaving you.”
“Nooo, don’t, I was just kidding!”
“And so was I! …nerd.”
“Oh no. You do not use my disgusting, obscene insults. You did not just do that.”
“Fuckin’ weeb.” Holly was again trying to hold back spurts of laughter, her face red with effort. The Australian huffed, putting his hands on his hips, unamused but obviously not serious.
“I’ll have you know—“ He was cut off by Holly dipping her finger into the jar of Nutella and swiping it on the tip of his nose. “Hey! Rude!”
At this point she was doubled over by fits of giggles. She was having an amazing time, and Ross was too, but he refused to admit it in the presence of a rude, annoying little dork.
Once Holly calmed down and Ross was done with his fake display of fury, the two finally dived into the brownies. Both taking huge bites, they moaned as the soft, chewy dessert hit their tongues.
“This is so good,” they said in almost synchrony. The two scarfed them down and were done within two minutes, saying ‘fuck it’ to the prospect of savoring them. Mumbling something about how fantastic of a cook Holly was, Ross fell back onto the picnic blanket; however, his head and neck hit the flowers instead. Just then, Holly had an idea. Grabbing a fistful of assorted-color daisies, her quick, nimble fingers began to form something that didn’t look like much, but quickly turned into a vibrant flower crown. With Ross still collapsed on the ground, she had time to weave another, this time out of poppies.
“Ross, get your head out of the flowers for a sec,” she said—he complied, and a moment later he had a flower crown made of daisies resting on top of his head, as well as a picture snapped of him wearing it before he could take it off. Much to his wife’s surprise, however, he didn’t remove it and instead kept it on.
“This is super cute,” he admitted while Holly was adjusting her poppy crown on her own head. “I love it. Thanks.”
“You know what I love?”
“Hm?
She leaned over to Ross and placed a kiss on his cheek.
“You.”
“Aw, thanks. I love you too… nerd.”