Miles x Nora: the difficulty of tramping through the countryside with your ex while the whole world is madly in love with spring
This had to be the worst idea she had ever considered. Joining this quest was insane and she knew it. Why did Charlie have to be so hard to say no to? Nora was trying not to hate the girl but it was so hard.
Maybe if they had been doing this in the winter it wouldn’t be so bad. Except of course, finding shelter and sharing body heat to keep warm. That would be bad. But nothing could be worse than spring.
Something about spring did something to people. Every village was either having a festival or gearing up for one. Even the hefty taxes they had to pay didn’t dampen people’s spirits. Children gathered flowers, stalls were decked with the best wares, and love seemed to be on everyone’s mind. It was so disgusting. It was like those old Bachannal stories were hovering on everyone’s mind.
Miles had taken her one of those village festivals back when they were together. It was back in the good days. When it had felt like spring all the time. They had dressed in simple clothes, no uniforms or insignias. Miles hadn’t shaved in a while which gave him a good crop of stubble and his usually neat hair was artfully roughed up. Nora had literally let her hair down for the day and put on one of her favorite dresses. They had barely recognized themselves in the mirror.
Together they sneaked out early in the morning and went to a village Nora couldn’t even remember the name of. They ate the local food and danced the local dances and Nora even had flowers braided into her hair. They had spent the entire day laughing. As evening came on, they found a nice wide field and made love while the moon rose.
It was all very cliched and romantic. Not something Nora wanted to remember. Even though the world seemed determined to remind her of it.
That night Miles sat next to her at the fire when Charlie and Aaron were asleep. “You need something?” she asked.
“Not really, just couldn’t sleep.”
“There’s whiskey in my bag somewhere.”
“And then I’ll wake up with a hangover.”
Nora snorted. “I have never in my life seen you wake with a hangover. And you drink like a dying man.”
“Fair point,” Miles nodded. “That village we passed today. Think they were have some sort of celebration.”
“Spring is here,” Nora reminded him. “Most people like that time of year.”
“We are not most people.”
“Do you practice that in the mirror when you wake up?”
“I don’t have a mirror.”
Nora rolled her eyes. “Is there actually something you want?”
“Just to talk is all. Did you see Charlie’s face at that stuff they had out?”
“She’s still a girl, Miles. Festivals are a big thing to her.”
“Yeah.” Miles was silent for a beat. “Didn’t you go to one of those?”
“We did.”
“Yeah we did. That was a good time, wasn’t it?”
Nora wasn’t sure how to answer so she answered honestly. “Yeah it was pretty good.”
“We should do something like that again. After this.”
Now that was a statement she wasn’t expecting. “We’ll see,” she said. The last time she let him do this it ended badly. Hence being stuck in the countryside and hating every minute of it. “We’ll take Charlie along.”
“We could,” Miles nodded. “Or you know...not. Just be us.”
“MIles are you asking me out?”
“I’m not entirely sure.”
“Go to sleep MIles.”