Twisted Destiny

The morning classes mostly consist of theoretical theatrics and art theory, which is definitely not the most interesting part of the day. Luckily there was Carol and Hailey to keep me awake. Even though not that long ago I was complaining about already having to go to bed, those energy levels apparently didn’t really transfer that well over to this world or maybe my breakfast milk was making me drowsy. That's also a possibility. Cats do sleep most of the day as well. 

After class we still had an hour to kill before Sam was free for lunch so we decided to go to one of the multiple reading rooms on our campus to study up. But apparently Carol had other plans, taking a newspaper to our table. 

“Are you not going to study, Carol?” I ask her while opening my own textbook. 

“I don’t study that well during the daytime. I’m used to studying when it’s dark; it’s easier to concentrate.” 

I look over to Hailey who is also getting her textbooks out.

“I’m quite the opposite.” she smiles at me.

“It’s annoying at times when me and Hails want to meet up. In the evening I’m generally studying and during the day it’s her time.” 

“But we make it work nonetheless.”

“Mostly by both studying a bit less than we probably should.” Carol rubs the back of her head. 

“We study plenty though.” 

“Easy for you to say. Your memory isn’t leaking like a sieve.”

“You should just try to eat more fish, it’s good for your memory.” 

“I don’t think you’ll have to say that twice to her in a couple of weeks.” 

Carol and Hailey both look at me, unsure of what I meant, so I used my hands to grab my invisible ears. 

“Oooooh.” 

“Right!” Hailey starts laughing. “I guess you’re right.” 

“Hey…! I haven’t actually decided yet, you know!”

Me and Hailey continue giggling for a while which makes Carol pout quite furiously. 

 

“So, did anything interesting happen?” Hailey asks while Carol puts away the first newspaper and gets busy on the second.

“Same old, same old.” Carol turns the first page of the second newspaper. “Countries complaining about the climate accords. I don’t see how they can even do so after the Great Immigration… Are they blind? Half of France is a bloody desert for fucks sake.”

“Calm down, Carol, we know.” Hailey reassures her friend.

“I know… this just makes me angry…” 

“Understandably so.”

“Hey Hailey?” 

“Yes, Ami?” Hailey turns her attention back to me. 

“Could you explain this to me? I don’t really understand this part.” I point at a passage in my textbook and hand it over to her. 

“Hmmm. I’m not sure.” 

“Oh, I know that part!” Carol swiftly explains it to the both of us. 

“Aaaah. So that’s what it means!” 

“Yes, the book explains it in a really roundabout way. I had to look it up on the internet - I found a video that explains it a lot better.” 

“Can you send it to me later? Just in case I need to get it explained again and there’s no Carol around to do so?” I ask. 

“Definitely, I’ll put a link in the group chat.” 

“Yay.”

“There’s really videos of everything nowadays, aren’t there?” Hailey giggles.

 

Our little hour of self-study flew by in an instant. And in no time whatsoever Sam was here to come and pick me up.

“See you in the afternoon?”

Both Hailey and Carol nod. “See ya later Amicia.”

Sam waves my friends goodbye and together we walk towards our lunch spot. 

“Your faculty sure has nice reading areas. Were those beanbags in there too?” 

“Yeah! But I never use them because I always fall off.”

“They are surprisingly tiring to sit in, aren’t they?” Sam laughs. “But at least these rooms are decorated and cozy. You should see the reading rooms for the classic sciences, they are so gray sometimes you’d almost forget that colours exist.”

“I think I’ve seen one of those when I first came to campus…” 

“Mhmm. Probably, they are notoriously bad. But then again, those classic sciences students always think they are superior to everyone in university, so they kinda deserve it.”

“Did something happen Sam?” I ask because Sam looks quite annoyed. 

“Well, I’ve lost several ‘friends’ who turned into ‘science supremacists’ once they started uni. Constantly bashing other courses for not being ‘serious or necessary’. It was toxic as hell. Don’t get me wrong, science is important, but not any more important than an art student for example…”

I give her a big hug to calm her down. “I understand. But luckily you have us now.” 

“That’s true.” She smiles and returns my hug, while rubbing my back. “By the way, I got you this.” She suddenly makes a milkshake appear from behind her back. 

“Where were you hiding that!” 

“A good magician never tells her secrets.” She smirks.

“Tell me!”

“Hmm, okay, but in return I want the milkshake.” 

“That’s mean! You know I’ll never abandon the milkshake!” I hold the milkshake close to me.

“Hehe.”

 

We arrive at our spot, and sit down with our backs against the wall, facing the windows. The sky was blue and dotted with clouds - a wonderful day to be skygazing with the person you hold dearest. 

“These days are always the best.” Sam smiles as she takes a big bite out of her sandwich. “You know those days when the sky is completely blue? I kinda dislike those.” She takes another bite.

“At least we now have something to look at.” I nod along and take a bit from my salmon sandwich too. “What sandwich did you get?” 

“A martino sandwich.” She shows it to me, opening the sandwich a little so I can look inside. “It has onions, pickles, hot ketchup, a bit of hot sauce, salt, pepper, eggs, tomatoes and americain préparé. Want a bite?” With the ingredients all right in front me the smell hit me almost immediately. I could smell the spice. 

“I think I’ll sit this one out.” 

“More for me.” She winks and continues eating her sandwich. 

 

“Ah, that was so good.” Sam stretches after she puts the wrapper of her sandwich into a plastic bag, putting mine in it as well. “When’s your next lesson, sweetie?” 

“In an hour and a half.” I rest my head on her shoulder. 

“You got a pretty long break, huh?” 

“Yeah, but now I can spend more time with you.” 

“Cutie.”

“No u.” 

Sam laughs and rests her head on mine. “Mine starts 15 minutes later, so we can stay here until you need to leave.”

“Yay.” I look up and kiss her on her cheek. 

 

We stay cuddled up for a while, basking in the warm but soft autumn sun, looking out over the city and the cloudy yet blue open sky. Sam gently scratching scratching me between my ears, making me softly purr against her. 

“So after school we got the meeting with your sister and our friends?” 

“Mhmm.” I nod. 

“Cool.”

Silence fell in the halway once more, which did make me giggle a bit. 

“Something funny?” Sam smiles softly. 

“It was just the briefness of the interaction that was funny to me. Being together like this, without the need to say anything. It’s funny but also very calming at the same time.” 

“Yeah. Although, if someone were to write this into a scene for some kind of webnovel, it would probably be hard to write. Periods of silence aren’t always that easy to make interesting.”

“That’s pretty specific.” I laugh. “But I guess that’s true.”

And then, yet again, silence. Because of the silence and by being this cozy with my girlfriend, slowly but surely I started to doze off.

“Ami, don’t fall asleep, otherwise I won’t be able to wake you up in time.” 

“Just five minutes.” I jawn. 

“No, Ami, no. Don’t make me use my secret weapon.”

“What secret weapon is that?” I slip off her shoulder and put my head on her lap, with an accompanying cheeky smile. 

“This!” She suddenly starts tickling me at my waist, making me laugh uncontrollably. 

“No! S-S-Sam! Noooo. Mercy!” I roll off her lap, trying to dodge her tickles, but to no avail, she just follows me along. “Saaaaaam.” 

“Do you promise to not fall asleep?” She gives me a couple of seconds of respite.

“Maybe.” 

“Hmm, wrong answer.” 

“Nooooo!” 

Sam continues her relentless assault on my tickly spots, leaving me almost exhausted. 

“I surrender! I surrender!”

Sam smirks and stops tickling me, helping me to put my back against the wall. the opposite wall of where we started my ordeal. “Awake now?” 

“Yeah…” I sigh. “That was pretty intense.” 

“Ami…” Sam takes my chin with her right hand and lifts it slightly so I look her straight in the eyes. “I love you.” 

I blush. “I love you too.” 

At my reply she plants her lips on mine and starts kissing me. Leaving me even more out of breath than I already was.

 

Maybe I should order a martino sandwich too next time, because I really like her taste….