Chapter 15

After writing for a while, Osmond goes to the bathroom, washes his hands, then goes to the kitchen.

"I can't go wrong with potatoes, right?"

He peels some potatoes, slices them into eights and starts boiling them. In the meantime, he blends some basil, butter, salt and sunflower seeds.

"I should make something alongside this."

Osmond washes and grates some zucchinis, drains them by hand and mixes them with flour. He blanches a few oyster mushrooms, drains them, slices them into small pieces and adds them to the zucchini mix, then checks the potatoes with a fork.

"Three more minutes."

He pours some oil into a frying pan and puts it on the stove, then drains the potatoes and returns them to the pot. After that, he forms the zucchini mix into patties, fries them, and when they're done, puts them on a plate covered with paper towels. He drinks a glass of water, then combines the potatoes with the sauce he made earlier and puts all the food he made into plastic containers. He washes his hands and goes back to his room to read. A little while later, Natalie comes back home from work.

"Honey, I'm home!"

Osmond comes out of his room.

"Hey, Nat! Let's go while the food's still warm."

"Alright, is everything ready?"

"The food's ready, I just have to slice some bread, get the forks, wrap it all up and put it in a backpack."

"And get dressed."

"I went to the bakery in this, it's fine."

"Osmond, go get dressed."

"What's the big deal?"

"Osmond."

She sends him a mean look.

"Fine, I'll change into something less casual."

"Good."

She gives him a brief kiss and smiles at him. Osmond goes to his room and changes into a white shirt and jeans, and Natalie washes her hands. Osmond comes out of his room with a blue backpack.

"It's a bit cold for a t-shirt."

"Should I put something over this?"

"Yes, you should."

He hands Natalie his backpack, goes back to his room, puts on a light jacket, and comes back out. Natalie is already packing things into the backpack. Osmond helps her.

"What about water?"

"We'll just buy some."

"Blanket?"

"Here."

They finish with the preparations and set out. After buying a bottle of water, they walk for around 20 minutes and get to the park. They see a middle aged man playing frozbee with his dog, a policeman passing by on his bike, and in the distance a few people having a picnic of their own. They find a nice spot without many people around, spread the blanket over the grass, take their shoes off and sit down.

"The weather's nice today, isn't it?"

Osmond is taking the food out of the backpack.

"Yes, it is."

"Did you offer the food?"

"Not yet."

"Then let's do it together."

"We offer this food to God, Om Tat Sat. Thank you, God, for this food." -They say in unison.

Natalie pulls a packet of wet wipes out of her purse and wipes her hands with them, then offers them to Osmond. Osmond pulls a plastic bag out of the backpack and lays it on the blanket, then wipes his hands and puts all the used wet wipes in the plastic bag. They unwrap the forks and the bread, take off the lids from the other stuff, and begin eating. Natalie feeds Osmond a piece of potato.

"It's better than I expected it to be."

"Is it?"

She puts one in her mouth.

"It's good."

"Right?"

"Yeah, the green stuff isn't too overwhelming."

"I'm glad you like it."

Osmond puts a fritter on a piece of bread and takes a bite.

"Give me some of that."

He feeds Natalie. After swallowing, she asks,

"Did you put mushrooms in these?"

"Mmhm."

"They're so soft!"

"That's because I blanched them."

"Wouldn't they just soak up the water?"

"I squeezed the water out of them afterwards."

"Huh."

They continue eating, and feeding each other in silence. After their meal, they put the containers and stuff back in the backpack. Osmond lies down and Natalie lies down next to him.

"The sky is so clear today."

"There are some clouds over there."

Natalie points towards the mountains.

"Yeah."

Osmond stares at the sky, blocking the sunlight with his hand.

"When I look at the sky like this, I can't tell how far I'm looking. It's a really weird feeling, like there's no space at all."

"Hmm… I get it."

"It sorta reminds me of God."

"How come?"

"When all those books describe God, they say He looks like a thousand suns blazing out together in the sky. Like looking at the sky, but it's all just light."

"Yeah, I get what you mean."

"And since God is beyond space, the feeling of not knowing how far I'm looking sorta fits. I think I could keep staring at this for a while if the sun wasn't there."

"Mm."

Natalie turns to Osmond and he turns to look at her.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, I'm just thinking of how much I love you."

Osmond blushes.

"Don't just say that out of nowhere."

"Does it bother you?"

"No."

"Do you love me?"

"I do. I really, really like you, and the more we hang out, the more I think I'm falling for you."

"You're gonna make me cry."

"Don't cry."

Osmond puts his hand on her chin and looks into her eyes. After a few seconds, she starts laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing, I just remembered something."

Osmond gets embarrassed.

"Don't think about that."

"Haha, how could I forget? You looked so confident at first, but then- PFFFTT!!!"

Her laughter gets stronger, and Osmond gets even more embarrassed. He curls up in a fetal position and buries his face in the blanket. With a muffled voice, he says,

"Stop laughing."

"Haha, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

After several more seconds, she stops laughing.

"Hey, Osmond."

His face is still buried in the blanket.

"What?"

"You were gonna kiss me right now, weren't you?"

"I changed my mind."

She leans over his shoulder.

"Don't you wanna give me a kiss?"

"Not anymore."

"C'mon, don't be like that."

"Leave me alone."

"You know I can't do that."

She tries to pry his hands away from his face.

"No, go away."

"C'mon, I promise I won't laugh anymore."

"I don't care, just leave me alone."

"No, let me kiss you."

"I don't want to."

"You said you stopped resisting, so why are you resisting now?"

"It's different, now stop pulling my hands and go away."

She succeeds in prying his hands away from his embarrassed face, and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. Osmond rolls over belly down, and turns his head the other way.

"Hey!"

Natalie goes back to the other side, but he turns his head away again. She forcibly rolls him belly up and restrains his arms.

"No way to run now."

He turns his head away from her. She leans in to kiss him, but he turns his head away again.

"Stop trying to kiss me!"

"I won't no matter how much you struggle."

She clamps his right arm down with her knee, then grabs his head, and kisses him. He lets out a painful moan, and she backs off.

"You're hurting me!"

"Shit, I'm sorry."

She releases his right arm and gets back on top of him.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now."

"Good."

She goes back to kissing him and he stops resisting. She slides a hand under his shirt and starts feeling him up while making out with him. He moans a bit. She pulls her hand out and starts feeling up his thighs and butt, and he moans some more. Suddenly, a policeman on a bicycle shows up.

"Excuse me!"

Natalie stops kissing Osmond, and they both look at the policeman.

"Can't you see we're a bit busy?"

"That's why I'm here, you were being a bit too busy."

"So what if we were?"

"Natalie, get off me."

"You should listen to your boyfriend."

Natalie gets off Osmond and they both sit down.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Husband, whatever."

"We're not dating yet, we're just testing out the waters."

"I couldn't care less, to me you were committing an act of public indecency."

"So what, you're gonna give us a ticket now?"

"Is this your first offence?"

"Yeah."

"Well, in that case I'll let it slide, but just this once."

"Great, now go away."

"You're being really rude, even though I decided to spare you."

"It's not a crime, is it?"

"No, but you should be nicer to people, especially law enforcers."

"What are you, my mom?"

The policeman scowls at her, then squints his eyes. After a few seconds of silence, he says,

"Are you guys on drugs?"

"What? No!"

"We really aren't."

The officer gets off his bike, comes closer to Osmond and looks him in his eyes. Osmond blushes a bit. He then looks into Natalie's eyes, and she stares him down.

"Alright, I believe you."

"Good, now go away."

"Fine, fine. Just make sure you don't overstep the law again."

"Whatever, grampa."

"How mean! I'm still in my thirties, you know?"

"Who cares, you geezer."

"I don't know how you manage with her, but I wish you luck, boy."

"Thanks, and thank you for not giving us a ticket."

"You're welcome."

The policeman turns his bike the other way and hops on.

"I'll be off now."

He starts pedaling.

"Yeah, you better run!"

"Bye, mister kind officer!"

The officer waves back. A few seconds of silence later, Natalie looks at Osmond.

"You freaking blushed at him."

"He got close and looked straight into my eyes, I got embarrassed."

"I bet you thought he was gonna kiss you."

"No, I didn't! I just got a bit embarrassed, lay off."

"Do you like men in uniforms, Oz?"

"Stop it, Natalie."

"Don't curl up on me again."

"Sh-shut up!"

"Alright, alright. Now let's continue where we left off."

She grabs him by the collar and gets closer.

"No! The cop just warned us a minute ago, we should behave ourselves. Besides, you're moving way too fast again with all that touching and feeling and stuff."

"Was it too much?"

"Yeah, I feel like if the officer didn't stop us you'd go even further, and I don't want that."

"I'm sorry, but I really, really want you, I want to do all kinds of things to you, so it's kinda hard to restrain myself."

"Do I have to remind you about the fiery nature of rajas, and how satisfying those urges only makes them stronger, while mindfully noticing them and then not fulfilling them makes them weaker?"

"You don't, we mostly read the same books, after all."

"Well, then restrain yourself."

"It's really hard, though."

"It's for the benefit of both of us, so try harder."

"Fine, I will."

"Good. Now give me another kiss, and let's go take a walk."

"Sure."

Natalie briefly kisses him.

"But I'd rather we go home, the policeman kinda ruined it for me, and I don't wanna see him again."

"Yeah, alright, just help me pack up."

They pack up everything and start walking back home.

"I'm kinda thirsty now."

"Hold on, I'll get the water."

Osmond stops, pulls his arm out of one shoulder strap and starts looking for the water.

"It's fine, I'll get it myself."

Natalie starts rummaging through his backpack and pulls out a bottle of water.

"Give me some after you're done."

"Mmhm."

She opens the bottle and starts drinking. After a few seconds, she stops, wipes her mouth, then hands the bottle to Osmond. He drinks some as well.

"Give me the bottle after you're done, I'll put it back."

Osmond stops drinking and hands her the bottle. She screws the cap back on and puts the bottle in his backpack, then closes it.

"Let's go."

They continue walking back home.