“You seem pleased”, Catherine comments almost immediately as I enter our dorm. I do definitely feel like I am glowing. “I had a wonderful date.” I can see she is in her usual spot, lounging on the sofa, “Wasn’t it not…?” she inquires. “Yes.” “And it was…?” “Yes.” “Huh, well grats I guess. So what happened?” She sits up and aligns herself better for a conversation. I still feel giddy, I quickly jump into the adjacent sofa, “She took me to the park nearby, we first went to Shinobazu Pond and it’s so pretty, the flowers were all in bloom, I think it was her first time being there too, and then there was zoo Catherine, with animals of all sorts, I saw a panda bear! It was so adorable I never knew a bear could look like that. There were monkeys, an elephant, they had otters, Catherine, Otters!” Oh god they were so cute and they were so close to us. Catherine blinks, how is she not impressed? “Cool?” “They had Otters.” “Umm, right that’s cool sorry I wasn’t prepared for you, Claire, an adult to lose her shit over going to a zoo.” Why I never… “Of course I would love to go see a zoo, who wouldn't? The animals were cute, or majestic. They had a tiger, it was so big…” Catherine laughs, “That’s great really, sorry you're right. I think. It’s just easy to get jaded over the simple things.” “There is nothing simple about a zoo, Catherine.” She just chuckles, “It’s relative, don’t worry about it, how was the rest of the day?” “We got lunch there and then we went back to her room, she finally showed me a video game for the first time.” Catherine’s face scrunches, clearly unimpressed with that prospect, “Really?” “It was lovely Catherine!” “Okay, okay, what game did she show you?” “Persona 5.” Catherine snorts, “What a nerd.” “Catherine!” “Sorry, she is, it’s just funny.” “I wanted to see it for so long now, she has been telling me about them our entire life and I finally got to see what she was talking about. It's ridiculous how much I couldn’t even picture what it was like. She even let me play it myself!” Catherine nods, not laughing anymore but she still has a silly smirk on her face, “So you had fun?” “Yes.” “Good, wow,” she says quietly to herself, “Anything else happened?” Yes “I don’t know if I should say…” “Oh come on Claire, you have to say now, what did you do?” She is curious now. “Hmm, what makes you think I did something?” “Really?” She raised her brow, “You act like I haven’t had to listen to you two for the last week, girl you are thirsty.” Excuse me? “Thirsty?” “Like Rae is a tall drink of water and you are dying in a desert.” “Oh…” “Am I wrong?” She isn't. If I could drink deep of Rae— CLAIRE! Not now! “Fine yes… I kissed her… a lot.” I know I have the silliest smile on my face right now but I can’t help it. I kissed Rae. I kissed my wife. I kissed my newly anointed girlfriend. “Damn you had a mission girl.” I can’t help but giggle. “Soooo what? You two are dating now? Again?” “Yes, she walked me home and we talked about it, she wants this too, she just doesn’t want to be public about it.” “Makes sense. I’m happy for you.” Catherine looks happy for me, proud of me. “Thanks Catherine.” This is perfect, Everything is going right. We are together again, I can make her happy, I can make sure this life is a good one. Like our last one. I don’t know how that future will play out yet, I still have so much to understand about how this world works but I can do this. I can make sure our life is perfect.