"When we share a meal
Birds flock to witness our joy
And steal bread here."
  
  
  
         On discord, Haiku and I decided that we'd have a small picnic date by the narra tree. She'd bring sandwiches, and I'd bring sushi from the place I go buy my salmon.

I would have preferred to bring something homemade, but I'm coming to the tree after class. If I baked cookies, my friends from school would have eaten them all up.

"Lilena. Focus." A tiny crumpled piece of paper is thrown to my desk and I remember we were in the middle of a test. I avoid looking over at my classmate or my teacher might suspect me for cheating.

Anyways, that classmate of mine was probably just pulling my soul back to earth, noticing I haven't even wrote my name yet.

Too busy thinking about Haiku and our date later. I couldn't even review the evening prior to the test because I spent so much time talking to her on Discord.

"Five minutes left." The teacher announces. How long have I been lost in thought!?

There's no way I could complete forty items with the time I have left. But thankfully the test is multiple choice so I can just guess something.

If it was identification form, or fill in the blanks, then over half the test, I'd have to leave blank.

Ok self. Focus on test. Do not think about pretty haiku lady.
    
  
    
   
    
   
     
         "H-hey." I greet awkwardly, holding the bag with the sushi I bought and lifting it up.

A light blue cloth was already rested on the grass, Haiku was seated peacefully, munching on a triangular sliced sandwich. The rest were placed out, kept in aquamarine-colored containers. I have a nagging feeling she likes blue.

"Started eating already without me?" I frown.

"Aww don't worry salmon. I just got here ten-ish minutes ago. My stomach was growling so I couldn't help but take one." She says.

"Fine then" I put the bag down by the sandwiches and take the sushi out. "Do you have sushi often?"

"Not really. At home we usua- I mean I usually just end up eating bread or cooking something with whatever is at home."

I guess it's troublesome when you grow up in a dysfunctional family. But I don't want to linger on sad thoughts because I don't think Haiku wants that either.

"So you're good at cooking then?" I ask.

"Good enough." She grins. "How bout you, can you cook?"

"Err not really." And I don't take pride in not being able to cook either. But It's more like I haven't tried. Pathetic me is afraid of using a match to light the stove.

I burnt my finger the last time I lit a match.

"That's okay! When we live together, I can be the one to cook for the two of us."

"I think I'd know how to cook by then." I scratch my cheek.

I feel all silly inside when she mentions the two of us, Happy, excited. We will both be away from our disappointing families by then and enjoy our life together.

It feels like such a "supposed to be" thing to want to live a joyous and peaceful life with someone you love, yet it is so hard for many to achieve.

"I've always wanted to do this, say ahh!" Haiku takes one slice of the sandwich and attempts feeding it to me. I shyly take a bite out of it.

"Is it good?" She asks.

"Yeah." I reply after chewing.

It feels like she made it just before leaving her house. The bread was slightly toasted, still crunchy. It went well with the ham, lettuce, and tomato in the bread.

"Now you feed me the sushi!"

"You can feed yourself you know."

"Kill joy." She crosses her arms. It's not like I didn't want to feed her the sushi, I'm just- like this.

Unable to be honest with myself.

"Pleaaase."

"Fine." I take one pair of the wooden chopsticks given by the restaurant and split them. Taking a sushi and holding it up by her mouth. She isn't opening her mouth.

"What, are you waiting for me to say 'here comes the airplane' or something?"

"Sorry, I was just staring at your eyes for a bit. You know, they seem black but under the sun you can tell they're actually dark brown." She says before finally taking the sushi into her mouth.

"I think I knew that about myself."

After this painfully awkward yet sweet experience of feeding each other, we eat normally, and I share about how I probably badly failed my test earlier.

I still remember the look of disappointment on my teacher's face as she scanned my paper when I handed it over. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm going to have to take remedial in her class after this.

A flock of birds pass us by as we speak, the sound of the flapping wings grabbing our attention. One lands before us, looking at me and Haiku, and then the remaining two pieces of the sandwich.

"Aww a little birdie!" Haiku says excitedly.

The moment of exasperation is reduced to an utterly appalled look on our faces as the bird snatches the piece of bread with wow, an amazing grip for its size. And it returns to the flock, flying away.