@Fraust
"Are you alright?" Lucas asked softly, resting his head against Melissa's gently.
"Are you alright?" Lucas asked softly, resting his head against Melissa's gently.
Sucking in a deep breath, she nodded gently as she let it out. "Y-yeah… that happens all too often."
"It's fine, don't worry. Just got worried for a second there." Lucas laughed weakly. "I really don't wanna upset you, Mel."
"It's not your fault, and just as a future warning, I've been having a lot of episodes like that lately. It really sucks." She mumbled, pulling back from his arms.
"Ah… I'll try my best not to trigger them." Lucas gently brushed the tears out of Melissa's eyes and then his own.
Melissa smiled weakly, leaning in to rest her forehead against his. “I…” Pausing, she looked around the room before finishing. “I love you.”
"I love you too, Mel… are you ready to make some lunch or do you need a minute?" Lucas asked gently.
“I… I think I need a minute.” She whispered, under her breath before pulling back.
"Alright, Mel. Just let me know when you're ready, okay?" Lucas gave her some space, content to just be a comforting presence for now.
Smiling weakly, she pulled herself up onto the free counter. "Okay, I can do that." She whispered again, trying to relax herself with deep breaths.
Lucas stood near her silently for a bit, fidgeting with his hands. "Do you want to know my breathing techniques…?" He asked softly.
Turning her head to look at him, she looked at him unsure what he had just said. "W-what?" Melissa hummed in a questioning tone.
"My… um… my breathing techniques. You know, when I'm panicking, and I… I breathe a certain way, I guess? There's a specific structure to it. It's designed to calm you down."
"Oh! I mean… yeah, that would be a good thing to know." She nodded slightly, leaning forwards just a bit. "Bestow upon me the secrets you hold."
Lucas blushed a bit and cleared his throat quietly. "Um… it's nothing special, it's just… you breathe in for four seconds, hold your breath for seven, and breathe out for eight. Then you keep doing that until you've relaxed."
"Four, seven, eight… alright that's easy enough to remember." She chirped with a soft smile. "Thanks, Lu. I'll remember that."
Lucas nodded a bit. "Yeah… it helps me, so it might help you. Only problem is that if I'm full on panicking, I need to calm down a bit before I can use it because I can't always control my breathing when I'm panicking."
"That makes sense… if you literally can't breathe, how are you suppose to control it?" She asked with a soft laugh, going quiet after that. Whatever these emotional episodes were, they needed to stop. They took way too much of her energy, draining her rather rapidly.
"Mhmm…" Lucas was quiet for another few seconds before looking up at Melissa. "Are you feeling any better, Mel?"
"Yeah… I'm assuming we're back where we started?" She asked with traces of a smile.
"Um… are we?" Lucas asked, confused. "Where did we start?" He moved a little bit closer to Melissa.
Letting out a soft sigh, she slid off the counter so her feet were on the ground. "You telling me to eat, and me trying to find excuses not to."
"Oh… Yeah, I guess so." Lucas leaned against the counter and sighed. "Surely you're hungry? And even if you're not, you should eat a little something…"
"I'm really not, but I don't want to go through the whole process again…" Caving in, Melissa looked up at him. "You win, I'll eat something."
"Thanks, Mel." Lucas hugged her and smiled softly. "What can I make you to eat?" He asked.
"You don't have to make me anything, I can get my own food." Melissa mumbled, kicking at the ground. "I don't want you to have to…"
"I don't have to. I want to. Now, what would you like to have for lunch?" Lucas repeated, looking over at Melissa.
Shaking her head, Melissa couldn't keep from smiling at him. "I'll just have the same as you." She hummed softly, folding her arms loosely over her chest.
"Alright, peanut butter sandwich it is. Did you want any jam?" He asked, pulling four pieces of bread out of the bag.
"No, I'll just skip it." Coming up behind him, she rested her chin on his shoulder carefully. "I'm fine with peanut butter."
The following keyboard controls are supported across Notebook.ai. All keyboard controls are disabled when editing a document or notebook page.