NOVEL NEXT Chapter 26: Cartwheel
Our walk to the Chinese restaurant happens in almost complete silence. Sam and I are just enjoying each other's company without any obligation to speak. Two girls walking hand in hand, through the amazing scenery of the university park. Occasionally Sam pulls me a little bit closer or slightly squeezes my hand; she’s such a sweetheart. It only takes us ten minutes to reach the restaurant and as we enter the hostess greets us immediately.
“Welcome misses, oh Sam, Nice to see you again!”
“Hey Miss Zhou, nice to see you again as well!”
Miss Zhou looks over to me and smiles. “And is this your date?”
“H-how did you know?” Sam sputters.
She laughs and points at her hand.
“Oh, right.” Sam rubs the back of her head. “We are indeed on a date.”
I shyly nod in confirmation.
“Would the lovely couple like to have a table for two?” Miss Zhou smiles.
“Not right now, we are just going to order some take-away; my parents also want some food and I better not keep them waiting that long.”
She laughs “That’s true. But be sure to come in for a table next time though. We have some new all-you-can-eat offers that’d be a perfect fit for a dinner date.” She winks at me, making me blush quite a bit and heads over towards the counter. “So what would you like to order?”
“Hmmm. For my parents the usual and for me the fried rice with the sweet and sour fried chicken, with a little pot of curry as well please.”
“And for your lovely lady?”
I actually haven’t really figured out what I want to eat yet but what Sam ordered does sound really good. “I-I would like the same as Sam please.”
“Alright, I’ll hand over your order to the chef and bring you some complimentary snacks.”
“Thanks, Miss Zhou!” Sam thanks her as she walks off.
“You seem to know each other quite well,” I say as we go to sit down at one of the tables near the front desk.
“Yeah, my family has been close friends with hers since they moved here a couple of years ago. I also help them with delivery service from time to time to earn some extra money.”
“That’s pretty neat. She’s definitely a bit pushy though.”
Sam rubs her neck awkwardly. “Yeah, she’s a little bit too preoccupied with my love life, but she’s a good person.”
“Did she know you were gay, you know, before we walked in?”
“Oh yeah, it’s not like I try to hide it. This part of town is pretty diverse.”
“That’s nice.” I smile, but I can’t help but think back about my life with my ‘parents’. A shiver runs through my spine.
“Are you alright?” Sam asks with a concerned look on her face. Clearly that shiver was pretty obvious.
“I-I’m fine.”
Sam grabs my hand and gently squeezes it. “You know you can always tell me, right?”
“I was just thinking about the past, everything is fine now though, really.”
“That’s good.” She smiles.
My hand massage gets interrupted by Miss Zhou placing a bowl of prawn crackers in between us. The smell of which is making my mouth water almost instantly.
“Your order will be ready in ten minutes.” Miss Zhou smiles and leaves us be again.
The moment she left I immediately grab for the crackers.
“Someone’s pretty hungry.” Sam laughs.
“Leave me be, I just love seafood.” I stick out my tongue.
“Oh my god, could you be even more catlike?!” She continues laughing. But her comment does put me on guard.
“Now that I think about it, w-when we were kissing…” Sam lowers her voice. “Weren’t your canines a bit… big?”
I immediately cover my mouth and swallow the cracker I was nomming on.
“I-it’s a…. Something genetic. It runs through the family.” I really should pay more attention to what I’m doing, I just hope she didn’t feel my ears when I was rubbing my head on her.
“Oh, I see.” Sam tilts her head. Clearly not completely buying my excuse. She appears to be in deep thoughts for a minute before finally shrugging. “Ockham’s razor, I guess.”
“H-how far is your house from here?” I ask to distract her a little.
“Ah, it’s just around the corner, so we won’t have to carry the food that far!”
While we’re waiting I ask her a couple more questions about the neighborhood.
Apparently this was one of the parts of the city where the less affluent people moved in during the Great Immigration. Because of the very diverse backgrounds and nationalities it quickly became the place to be for foodies. On top of that, it also became a safe haven for people who didn’t fit in in the cis-heteronormative society. Luckily, the idea of tolerance has spread throughout most of the city over the years, even though it clearly hasn’t reached the suburbs yet…
“Here is your order!” Miss Zhou hands us a cardboard box with our food and Sam takes out her wallet to pay.
“30 euros will do.”
“Thanks for the food, Miss Zhou!” Sam smiles while she gives her a wink in return.
We leave the Chinese restaurant and head towards Sam’s home. I tried to carry the box with the food for a while but Sam noticed I was struggling so she took it from me instead. I really should work a bit on those muscles.
“I need to hand you the box back for a second Amicia.” Sam stops and hands it over.
“Why the sudden stop?”
“Because I need to grab my key, we are here, unless you want to keep walking for a bit of course..” She winks.
“Ooooh.” I quickly inspect the building, it looks similar in size to the apartment building my sister lives in but it’s clearly built a bit earlier. Perhaps in the crazy ‘20s? Architecture was never my best course, especially everything after 2000.
My thought process gets interrupted by Sam taking the box back from me. “Are you coming or are you going to admire the architecture a bit more.” She smirks.
“H-how did you...?”
“You told me you were an art student remember?”
“Oh, right! I did.” I stick out my tongue and quickly follow her inside.
“It’s on the second floor, so we don’t need to use the elevator. Could go ahead of me to open the door?” She clumsily sticks out the key from under the box.
“Sure thing!” We start heading up, me up front with Sam following close behind.
“It’s the door on the left by the way.” Sam says, anticipating my next question.
“Good think you told me otherwise we’d end up at your neighbours.”
“Yep, and they have a dog.”
“Eeeeeep.” I fake a yelp, making Sam chuckle.
I arrive at the door and masterfully open the doo…it won’t open.
“Oh, you need to like, push and turn the key at the same time.”
I try to do so but the only thing I manage to do is make a dull thud.
“Saaaam. It’s not openiiing.”
“Just try again, it just needs some practice.”
When I’m go for another push the door suddenly swings open, making me lose my balance.
“Oh sh…” I instinctively put my hands in front of me and push off with my legs to get more momentum, making me cartwheel into the hallway behind the door.
When I’m back on my feet I see Sam gasping at me with an open mouth. “Woow, that was… amazing.”
Next to her is standing the lady who opened the door for us, who I presume is Sam’s mother.
“Amicia, I presume?” She grins.
My face starts blushing immediately “Y-yes ma’am. N-nice to meet you.”
-Well, that’s one way to make a first impression, I guess.-