Signals

Signals: Part 6 (END)

"Okay, cause I want the 20-piece nuggets and cola. Oh, and maybe a sundae too. Oh, and I'm sending myself some of those photos later."

That made Winter laugh as she followed her exit the room.

"Anything you want," she told her again.

---

Winter had been wanting to visit the theme park so Karina chose a weekend when they were both available. Having been there for a couple of hours and taken some of the rides that had shorter queues, they were walking through the park to look around. Winter was clinging onto her arm, walking so close to her that their sides were touching. She pulled away to create some distance between them.

"It's hot," she told her offhandedly.

The weather had been ridiculously humid lately and the heat was making her extremely restless and uncomfortable. The crowd was making it even worse for her.

She caught sight of Winter pouting sulkily, crossing her arm instead. Not wanting to upset her girlfriend, she pointed to a dessert place and suggested that they take a break. They took a seat and ordered some ice cream. The place was thankfully air-conditioned so Karina was feeling a lot better after a few minutes of resting there. She could tell Winter was still sulking as they ate their ice cream, so she tried to act as normal as possible around the girl. Making small talk, Winter was still replying to her, albeit in a slightly monotonous way.

Karina reached out to hold her hand over the table but with little to no emotion, Winter moved her hand away instead. With a small smile, Karina held her hand anyway.

"Baby," she called her softly because Winter was looking out the window with a pout. "I was just feeling really hot just now."

Winter didn't acknowledge her but didn't pull away her hand this time. Karina tilted her head to try and catch her eyes but her girlfriend refused to look at her.

"Does this really bother you, or are you just tired?" she asked patiently, rubbing her thumb over Winter's hand.

"It bothers me."

Karina held back a sigh, knowing that it would upset Winter more. She considered the situation. Honestly, whenever she felt hot, or when the weather was too warm, she did tend to pull away from Winter a lot and the girl usually would sulk for a while, but had never really said anything. Winter had been a lot more clingy in the past year as compared to the start of their relationship and Karina did notice it. Clingy, in a good way, of course. In fact, Karina loved that she was more affectionate. Somehow, the longer they were together, the more their love languages align.

Before Karina could think of what to say to cheer her up, Winter pulled away and stood up. "Let's go take the indoor roller coaster."

She knew the girl was brushing it off so she played along for now. Nodding, she stood up and followed her girlfriend out of the store.

As they reached the queue for the ride, it was thankfully also air-conditioned so they didn't have to wait in the hot sun. Winter was just waiting quietly, so Karina leaned her head on the girl's shoulder, not quite expecting it when Winter shrugged her away, nonchalantly moving up the line by a step and saying, "Wouldn't want you to get hot."

Surprised, it took Karina a good few seconds to comprehend it before she let out a quiet sigh. She wanted to make it up to her but there were others all around them. Winter stood in front of her, her back facing Karina. It was almost their turn so Karina chose to just go on the ride before talking to her about it.

Winter was a little more cheerful after the ride, laughing at the way Karina was freaking out the whole ride. They stood by the shade after the ride, drinking their iced tea when Karina noticed how far Winter stood away from her.