[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/9CmaR1H.png[/img]
[sub]Featuring [@Hey Im Jordan]
A [color=33f4f1][b]Puzzle[/b][/color] [color=ffff66][b]Buddies[/b][/color]
At the Captain Cuddles Friday night date night[/sub][/center][hr][indent][indent][color=33f4f1][b]“This isn’t crosswords in homeroom, but it’ll work for the night.”[/b][/color] Adriana said, looking up from the puzzle pieces that they had laid out on the booth table in front of them, with plates of food in the center. She and Erika had forgot their crossword puzzles, but the puzzle buddies were not to be deterred, not by something like that. They had just mentioned to Ty their plight, and he’d produced a couple of jigsaw puzzles from the back, with no clear explanation for why he had them.. not that the buddies were complaining. [color=33f4f1][b]“After we finish the puzzle and the food, we can just head back to my place and close the night out, if you want.”[/b][/color] Adriana wasn’t even trying to be coy, mostly because she knew, if she was [i]too[/i] coy, then Erika wouldn’t get it.

Some people might have gotten bored of Captain Cuddles even with all the amenities and the good pizza but some people weren’t Erika Morales. Even before she was dating the volleyball captain - something that sometimes she still felt was like a crazy dream until she remembered she didn’t fuck with hallucinogenics so it had to be real - Erika was at Captain Cuddles damn near five nights a week. What? It was good when high and Erika was nothing if not often under the influence. But since Athena came into her life she still got high, but in more moderation. Erika couldn’t be a good girlfriend if she was blitzed every time they hung out. Now when Erika came to Captain Cuddles on date nights she and Athena were given the biggest table so they could work on their puzzles together and because it was near the back of the dining section so the could totally make out without disturbing others. 

[color=FFFF66][b]“Wait, are your parents home? Cuz, like, do they have, like...ear plugs? Also is it cool if I stay over? My mom’s being a total [i]zorra[/i] just because I got a C on a pop quiz.”[/b][/color] Erika took a sip from her straw, the Puzzle Buddies shared one drink with a pitcher because it was cute and Erika really liked reminding herself that she was dating the hottest, in her opinion - the only one that mattered - girl in school by doing cute gestures. So she was a softie and a burnout, so what. [color=FFFF66][b]“We should, like, find the corner pieces first.”[/b][/color]

[color=33f4f1][b]“Nah, my parents are out, and you can totally stay over. You can always stay over, you know that,”[/b][/color] Erika said, smiling over at her girlfriend. She reached under the table and squeezed her knee, taking a sip from her own straw. She looked at the puzzle laid out in front of them and nodded her agreement. Of course, before they found all the pieces, Adriana had to finish something. It was one of her tiny little pet peeves… all of the pieces had to be flipped over the right way so she could see the picture, or it just didn’t work. [color=33f4f1][b]“Here, help me flip them over? I like to see the picture,”[/b][/color] of course, Erika already knew that. In a lot of ways, Erika was the best girlfriend that Adriana could have asked for… especially when compared to her competition.

[color=FFFF66][b]“Right on, beb.”[/b][/color] Erika had a habit of calling ‘Thena ‘beb’ instead of ‘babe’. Erika thought it was cute since just ‘babe’ was so...played out. Beb was just cute and stuff and sure Erika might have overdone it on the affection but that was just a byproduct of her being enamored. They were like Romeo and Juliet only without the suicide and weird family dynamics and stuff...so they weren’t actually like Romeo and Juliet but Erika never claimed to be an expert at literature. [color=FFFF66][b]“I’ll make you breakfast. Unless I’m sleeping, then you gotta, like...wake me. I promise not to burn the eggs this time. I’ve been practicing.”[/b][/color] Erika helped in flipping over the pieces; it wasn’t how she typically solved a jigsaw but it wasn’t about her method but their method and this was ‘Thena’s preference. It had its benefits, of course, compared to Erika’s method of just placing the corners and flipping pieces as she picked them up. 

[color=FFFF66][b]“You know the first puzzle I ever did was how I got a hundred percent on a test? Like...the puzzle was like seventy five pieces and a map of the states and I did the puzzle every day faster and faster and I just, like...learned all the states...and in alphabetical order. Still know ‘em too. I’m, like, basically a genius, got me a photographic memory.”[/b][/color] Erika was busily flipping over pieces with one hand while lightly pinching Adriana’s under the table. [color=FFFF66][b]“...How many pieces is this?”[/b][/color]

At least she’d been practicing. The last time she’d come over and tried to make breakfast, it hadn’t ended well… it had almost ended in a call to the fire department, but the end result was instead her entire family leaving the house for a day while it aired out. Adriana wasn’t even sure how her parents were still okay with the relationship after that stunt, but… Erika was back in the next day. Athena locked their fingers together underneath the table and frowned. [color=33f4f1][b]“500, I think? Is that too many pieces? It’s the Golden Gate Bridge.”[/b][/color] Adriana replied, smiling.

[color=33f4f1][b]“I’ll help with the eggs, just in case. Don’t worry, it’ll be cuter if we wear matching aprons!”[/b][/color] Adriana swept the issue of the eggs under the rug, setting it up so they could work together. [color=33f4f1][b]“Do you really have a photographic memory? I didn’t know that.”[/b][/color] She was always learning new things about her girlfriend!

[color=FFFF66][b]“Nah, it’s the perfect number. Cuz we’re doing it together and that’s perfect.”[/b][/color] If her friends were there they probably would’ve been laughing at Erika over lines like that but fuck them, they were the ones that said she had no chance with someone like Athena what with her basically being like...prep jock royalty or whatever. Plus Erika knew stuff like that at least got a pity chuckle and smile and if she wasn’t down with weed she’d get high on her girlfriend’s smiles. [color=FFFF66][b]“Didja know the bridge started construction in...1933? It was kind of a big deal, like a weird celebration, thousands of people showed up for it. It took four years to build. It’s probably, like, the most famous bridge in the world.”[/b][/color] 

Erik realized she had been talking about a bridge which was probably the world’s lamest talking point this side of like...the weather. [color=FFFF66][b]“Sorry. I read it in a book once, like for a report on Art Deco. That kinda stuff interests me...like...history...you know? It’s like...cool? Like...knowing what people did before now...except for all the, like...death and war and stuff. I dunno if I have a photographic memory but I, like...really like history. Like did you know we’ve been going out for six months? I think, like...they’re gonna put us in the history books under like...famous couples or something.”[/b][/color] 

Athena had a feeling Erika was just trying to seem smart for her, and when she dropped the fact about when construction on the bridge had begun. It was part of the reason why she was so attracted to her — Erika tried so hard and made Athena feel like she was the most important girl in the world. Not that Erika had to try that hard anymore, Athena was head over heels in love with her. Athena squeezed her hand under the table and even snuggled up into Erika’s side a little bit as she looked at the puzzle, messing around with the pieces.

[color=33f4f1][b]“Yeah, I think they will too.”[/b][/color] Athena whispered into Erika’s ear, before she put a kiss on Erika’s cheek, and moved one of Erika’s arms so it wrapped around the volleyball queen’s shoulder, and Athena got comfortable in her girlfriend’s arm, [color=33f4f1][b]“history is your favorite subject, huh? I’ll keep that in mind.”[/b][/color] After she spoke, she held up a closed hand, and opened it up — revealing the four corner pieces.

[color=33f4f1][b]“Ta da.”[/b][/color]

If Athena had expected Erika to focus on the puzzle now she would be sorely mistaken. Of course Erika would do her best but right now her mind was on her own cheek and the fact that her girlfriend was really cuddly. It was a good thought process and one she would happily focus on. [color=FFFF66][b]“Sharp eyes, Shorts, that’s why you’re the captain.”[/b][/color] The nickname ‘Shorts’ seemed fairly self explanatory. It had been one article of clothing Athena had been wearing when Erika first saw her - the same day she walked up, asked her out, and scored a date. It wasn’t the shorts Erika fell for, but the person who filled them out. [color=FFFF66][b]“Of course, like, we’re one arm down so our puzzle might take longer. I’m game if you are, got nowhere else I wanna be right now.”[/b][/color] 

[color=33f4f1][b]“That’s no problem… at all.”[/b][/color] Athena replied, snuggling deeper into Erika’s grasph. She had been a little worried about it when she’d first agreed to go out with the stoner girl — after all, she wasn’t [i]exactly[/i] in Athena’s ‘group,’ so to speak, but she had been ever grateful that she’d agreed. Erika was perfect in almost every way! She was sweet, caring, interesting… she was just a little slow at times. But that was just the weed fog, and Athena couldn’t judge her on that — she liked to smoke herself. [color=33f4f1][b]“If we don’t finish it, we can just take it home. With the pizza.”[/b][/color]

 [color=FFFF66][b]“Isn’t the puzzle, like ...property of Captain Cuddles? Shit, I didn’t know the volleyball queen was down with theft. I got a bad girl over here. Get you some prison tats and a shaved head! You’d still look good, though, like, for real.”[/b][/color] As Erika spoke in her jovial ,teasing manner, she gave Athena’s arm a squeeze so her girlfriend could feel the subtle rhythms in her body as she spoke. Like they were on the same wavelength.  [color=FFFF66][b]“I’ve taken so much pizza home cuz like...sometimes if you ask people they’ll just give you slices they don’t eat and I’m, like, on a budget cuz my mom won’t give me an allowance or nothing so, like, it’s real cool when people let you snag a slice. I’d eat pizza cold, you know. Like...shit’s good. But weirdly it’s not, like, one of my craving foods? Like when I get real munchy I fuck with quesadillas and, like, good-ass nachos like from a gas station with the gooey cheese and chili that comes from like a push button?”[/b][/color] 

It was only then that Erika realized she was ranting again and just flat stopped talking for a moment.  [color=FFFF66][b]“Sorry, beb…”[/b][/color]

Athena shook her head as Erika apologized. The truth was, she liked listening to the rants that Erika had. The way she spoke, and the cadence she had… it was cute and sweet, and she got so [i]excited[/i] about things that it was hard to be anything but happy when she spoke like that. [color=33f4f1][b]“It’s fine, that’s why I always buy you the buffet so you can get as much pizza as you want for our little dates.”[/b][/color] Athena said, stealing another kiss on the cheek. She would bring the puzzle back! It wasn’t like she was [i]really[/i] stealing. Just… borrowing for an extended period of time.

 [color=FFFF66][b]“And that’s why when I start, like, earning and not just pooling allowance and stuff I’m gonna treat you to, like, the best day ever. Like, something so good it’d make, like...everyone jealous of you for having such an awesome girlfriend.”[/b][/color] It was nice to have dreams, goals, and for Erika, who never had much of either, it was easy to promise. With the way she spoke it was almost as if she was trying to convince herself of the possibility rather than believing it fully. If nothing else she was earnest in her words even if they were nothing more than a hopeful pipe dream.  [color=FFFF66][b]“But until then you’re just gonna have to settle for hanging out and cuddling and kissing and sex and shit. And me supporting the shit out of you at games. But I promise, one day, like, your friends won’t have to think I’m, like, not worthy of you or whatever. Shit, Elon Musk smoked and he’s like...a smart guy I think so if he can do it, I can do it. Except I’ll do it better because I won’t be an asshole and I’ll be doing it for someone I love and shit. Yeah. You’ll see.”[/b][/color] 

[color=33f4f1][b]“I know you will, beb.”[/b][/color] And with that simple declaration, Athena leaned over, and kissed Erika softly and lovingly on the lips.[/indent][/indent]