Morningside Cuesta and i'll love you forever if i ever love at all

Adeline finds herself focused more on his laughter than his words and even though he’s telling her something she may otherwise been embarrassed over, she has a wide smile on her face. Deep, bellowing laughter that can only come from the bottom of his chest warms her ears but eventually she wrinkles her nose as he continues. The recall of memory is hazing, colors filling in as he speaks but the edges are fuzzy and she isn’t sure she can think of anything else without holding his hand along the way.

Memories of him are frequent, even if they are vague. A presence that simply has always been there, like Steady or the distant feeling of her parents, that she can’t put a pinpoint in the beginning. This gives her that advantage but a sinking feeling that he hasn’t always been there surfaces for a moment. He had a whole life before coming to the mountain that she has never inquired about before (I don’t think?) and he’s only given her tidbits here and there. But it is now that they exist, that they are friends and whatever happened before isn’t something she’s sure she needs.

Fondly, she inches closer so that she can nip at a flailing leg from his laughter.