Picnics and Cherry Pies

Ridley Duchannes was never a soft-spoken person; she was always dripping in confidence. She never really did show care for others, maybe except for some members of her family, especially Lena. She and Lena were more like sisters than cousins.

But now, Ridley added someone to the not-very long list of people who she actually cared and loved. And she hated it.

She hated him.

Link.

She hated it that he was the only person who could actually control her. She hated the way she felt butterflies in her stomach when he was around her. She hated that she liked it when he called her babe. And she hated the fact that she was actually in love with him.

She wasn't even aware that dark casters were capable of love. But there she was, in love with a stupid quarter Incubus.

"Where are we goin'?" She asked as she sat in the passenger sit of the Beater. Link was taking her out on a date but refused to tell her where they were headed. Awful music blasted from the stereo and she could barely hear what he said.

"That's a secret, babe" Link replied, eyes on the road

"Don't call me that, Hot Rod" She said bitterly, turning to look outside of the window as she continued to chew on her strawberry flavored bubble gum.

She noticed that they were leaving Gatlin and frowned instantly, before slight anger and confusion was visible on her face.

"I'm not even sure why I allowed you to drag me in this beat of a car" She said angrily popping her gum.

"It's cause you love me, babe" He replied, turning to face her and winked. Ridley groaned and rolled her eyes. "And don't ya dare say bad things about The Beater. Saved my life plenty of times"

"Whatever you say, Hot Rod."

Link tried to hide his smile when she didn't deny that she loved him.

After half an hour of silence, except for the awful music that Link was playing, the car was put to a stop and Link turned off the engine.

"We are here" He declared and opened the door and got out. Rid following him.

"And here is where exactly?"

She looked around and saw a beautiful picnic ground. Plants and flowers everywhere. Ridley almost smiled but tried not to, by biting on her lower lip.

"Link, why are we here?" She asked

"Thought maybe we could have a picnic date" He replied kind of scared of what she would say.

They never really did establish what their status was.

"Okay, but where's the food and other stuff?" She looked at Link

"Oh, be back in a sec" He walked back to the car and got a picnic basket from the back seat.

Ridley watched Link as he set up the picnic and smiled. When Link turned to look at Ridley and saw the smile on her face, he smiled as well when Ridley noticed she scowled immediately.

"What's so funny?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Nothin'" He said "Come here and join me already"

"I wished you could've told me where we were going" She said, sitting down on the picnic blanket "Maybe I could've wore different clothes"

It was true, wearing a short black skirt, a low cut shirt with long sleeves and heels wasn't really appropriate for a picnic.

"I like the way you dress, Rid" Link smiled offering her a slice of pie

"You better 'cause I ain't changin' for you" She took the plate and grabbed a fork from the basket in between them. She swallowed a piece and smiled cherry pie. Her favorite. "Where did you get this delicious cherry pie, Hot Rod?"

"I made it" He replied taking a sip from a plastic cup filled with root beer.

"You made this?" She asked in disbelief "I don't believe you!"

"Believe it babe" He said and Ridley didn't even scowl at the nickname. The cherry pie was too good. "With a little help from Amma but yeah, I made it"

Ridley smiled, each she's been doing a lot lately.

Both continued to eat and talk about random stuff. When they were finished and Link was packing up the paper plates and containers, Ridley watched again and thought about the situation for a moment.

She thought about Link and her feelings for him.

How he could always make her smile and how his scent that if it was someone else, would make her sick but it didn't because it was him. How his goofy self made her want to yell at the top of her lungs, with adoration.

"Ridley!" Link almost yelled and it made Rid snap back to her senses "Earth to Ridley, I've been trying to get your attention here."

"Sorry," She mumbled so quietly that Link was sure it was just his imagination.

"C'mon lets head back"

Rid nodded and got in the car with Link.

On the drive back to Ravenwood, silence lingered between them; Link didn't even play any songs from his God awful band.

When they got back to Ravenwood manor, Ridley was surprisingly quite, and Link was going mad because of it. He wasn't sure why she was being so quite, did he do something wrong?

"Are you mad at me?" He asked, couldn't contain his curiosity and the nervous feeling that was building up inside of him "Did I do something wrong? Because if I did–"

He never got to finish his sentence because Ridley's lips were suddenly on his and he couldn't help but smile into it.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and she snaked her arms around his neck, pulling their bodies closer. Time was unmeasurable between them and when oxygen started becoming a problem for them, they pulled apart.

"I had fun, Hot Rod" Ridley smiled at him, "But if you ever tell anyone, I'm gonna kill you"

Link could hear the insincerity in her threat but nodded.

"Anything for you babe"

With that, both said their goodbyes and when Ridley was in her room alone, she couldn't help but think back to the amazing picnic date and delicious cherry pie she had. And maybe the kiss with Link wasn't all that bad.

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HA~!