NOVEL NEXT Chapter 25: Green
I make my way towards the bench and sit down so I can watch my surroundings a bit.
The trees, some still green, gently swaying side to side in the wind. Losing the occasional leaf along the way. The park being very quiet, apart from the occasional cyclists in the distance, no one really passes by.
-What a shame, people should really go out a bit more when it’s such good weather outside. Not that I can really blame them though. Just a week ago I wouldn’t have voluntarily gone outside either. Such is the power of feeling comfy in your body…-
I gently touch the cat-shaped silver ring on my choker and smile to myself.
-Thanks Granny and Veanya... Now that I think about it, wasn’t Granny the person who proposed to start praying to Veanya? What if…-
“Sorry for the wait, Amicia.” Sam’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts. “Hope you didn’t have to wait for that long.”
I look at the time on my phone. “Not really. Only had to wait 15 minutes… How did you shower that fast?”
“Trade secret.” Sam puts her index finger in front of her mouth and winks.
I laugh “Want to go somewhere?”
“If it’s the same for you I’d like to stay here for a while, I’m pretty exhausted from the game.” she plops herself down next to me, a little too far away for my liking.
“That’s fine.” I say while I shuffle closer to her on the bench. Her body tenses up, clearly betraying her surprise. “Is it not okay?” I ask, looking up into her eyes.
“Ah! No no! Go ahead!” She blushes furiously.
I rest my head on her shoulder. “Payback for that sudden kiss you gave me earlier.”
“I guess we’re even then.” She smiles as her body relaxes. “I just hope my teammates don’t pass by.”
“Oh? Embarrassed to be seen together with me?”
“Not at all, they saw me kiss you already…..” She pauses, “It’s just that they are going to start teasing you as well, or tell you even more embarrassing stories about me…”
“About escapades with other girls?”
She laughs, “More like about me being a useless lesbian. You’re actually the first girl I’ve had the guts to ask out…”
I look back over to her to see she’s clearly blushing again. “I’m glad you did.” I smile, making her blush even more obvious.
“T-thanks again for defending me by the way.”
“No problem, those douches were being incredibly rude. What the heck were they thinking, talking trash about something like that. It’s none of their bloody business!” The moment I think back about it, the anger starts flowing back, but it immediately dissipates as Sam massages my right shoulder with her hand. -Oh Goddess, that feels so good. AMICIA, WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T START PURRING!-
“Uh, Amicia, what was that?”
-Oh heck, I did it.- I fake a cough. “Sorry, I got phlegm in my throat.
“Oh, I hope it’s nothing bad, it’s not because of that sickness you had, right?”
“Ah no, no. It’s totally unrelated.” I smile.
“That’s good... So you don’t want to know?”
“Know about what?”
“About my leg...”
“You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to, Sam.” I take my head off her shoulder and look into her eyes.
“Don’t you think it’s strange? People always look weird at me when they first find out, and..” Her voice gets a bit shaky.
“Sam.” I interrupt her. “To me you are, and will always be, Sam, the cool girl I literally and figuratively fell for. Do you have an amazingly cool looking leg? Sure! But that doesn’t take anything away from you Sam. You are just different from ‘normal people’, but what is normality, really?”
Sam looks a bit shocked. Maybe I overdid it a little?
“What’s wrong?”
“D-did you just confess to me?”
-Oh.-
I blush, “I guess I did, but if it wasn’t clear I like you, you probably should buy some glasses or something. I don’t pu-, I mean, rest my head on any girl's shoulder, y’know?”
She laughs. “I guess that’s true.”
“But if you want to tell me, that’s fine too. I don’t mind either way.”
“Well the story isn’t that special really…” I start listening to her attentively. “When I was in my second year of high-school I got involved in a car accident on our way to a basketball game, it was pretty bad and the docbots had to amputate my leg to save my life. At first, I had to go through life with older prosthetic technology since my parents didn’t have that much money. So basketball was out of the question. On top of that people in my school were pretty shit about it too, my class was fine, but the others…”
“Kids are cruel to people who are different…”
She nods. “Well, then one day someone found out I was immensely into basketball and donated money specifically so I could get prosthetics that allowed me to play again.”
“Oh? Do you know who it was?”
“No, they said she preferred to be anonymous, the only thing I know is that it was an elderly lady.”
-Huh. It must be a coincidence, right?-
“But anyway, that’s my story.”
“Thanks for telling me.” I give her a quick hug
“No problem, I wanted to tell you earlier, but I ran into Thomas so I kinda forgot.”
“You derp.” I use my advantageous hugging position to poke her side.
“Teehee.” Sam sticks out her tongue. “Anyway, I’m getting a bit hungry, do you want to get some take-away and eat it at my place?”
It is getting pretty late, while those bitterballen were yummy, I was already in the mood for some more food. “Yesshh, if that’s alright with your parents of course!”
“I will text them, but it should be fine.” She takes out her phone and sends them a message. It only takes a couple of seconds for her notification sound to alert us of a reply.
“Wow, that was fast.”
“Yeah, my mom always keeps her phone on her. Just in case.”
“Oh, and what’s the verdict?”
“She says it’s okay, as long as we bring some for them as well.” she laughs.
“So what do you want to get?”
“I’m thinking of Chinese actually. I really have a craving for some sweet & sour chicken with fried rice.”
“Hmm... I ate Asian two days ago, but it’s fine.”
“Are you sure? We can always go somewhere else.”
“No, no, really, it’s fine. For me it’s actually longer ago than two days, even though it’s only been two days ago…”
“Huh?” Sam has a really confused look on her face.
“Well, I’ve been playing Turn of Destiny again, and everytime we go in there, it feels like we spend three days in it.”
“Oh, so for you it feels like it’s eight days ago?”
“Five actually, but that’s because we only played yesterday.” I smile.
“Wow, I have a really hard time trying to imagine how that would feel like.”
“Yeah, it really messes with your brain a little. First time I woke up after playing the game, the first moments were in complete slow motion because of the difference in time-flow.”
“So, it works kind of similar to me looking at you making the whole world slow down because of your pure cuteness?” She winks.
“Maybe a bit.” I nuzzle her cheek and stand up.
Sam does the same and offers me her hand which I gladly accept.
She pulls me a bit closer and gives me a kiss on my cheek.
-Why is it always my cheek?-
“I’m so glad I met you, Amic…” Her eyes go open wide as I interrupt her sentence with a full on kiss on her lips. This is the first time I’ve ever kissed someone, but with Sam it just feels so natural, so right. She pulls me even closer to her, making her body press against mine and embraces me with her toned arms. She makes me feel so safe, it’s like she can make this kitten melt into a puddle in an instant.
Sadly the kiss eventually comes to an end.
“Wow. That was amazing.” Sam gasps for air. “I didn’t expect that at all.”
“I’m glad you liked it.” I wink. “Anyway, now, food. All this flirting made me even more hungry. And I can’t eat you... W-wait that sounded wrong.”
Sam bites her lip as her face turns red “H-haha, sure thing, let’s go.”
We start walking hand in hand towards the closest Chinese restaurant while I quickly shoot a message to my sister that I will be home a bit later than expected.
-Hmmm. What should I order?-