Abby and I decided to go for a picnic at the park since the day was so nice. In our basket we had some tea, some sandwiches, and a bit of cake. Not too much food since we were only two, and we had a good lunch.

We were under the shade of the tree, conversing about some nonsense, laughing and joking around when we suddenly got very serious, staring at each other.

“You’re so pretty,” she told me, leaning a bit closer.

I giggled in embarrassment and looked away for a bit before leaning a bit closer too since there was no one around.

“I still think you’re prettier.”

She giggled cutely and closed her eyes. I leaned closer and closer until our lips met. It was a long, sweet kiss that devolved in me pulling her closer until I was hugging her while she straddled my lap. I began using my tongue in our kiss after we tumbled to the side. I had just unbuttoned her shorts when I jolted awake.

“Morning, sleepy head,” she croaked right to my face.

I raised my head and inspected our surroundings. We weren’t at a park, but in her bedroom. The position we were in was exactly the same from my dream, but that’s where the similarities ended.

I can’t wait to finish going through puberty!

I got on my back and rubbed my face while Abby adjusted her position, so her head was now on my chest, close to my neck.

That was the second night in a row that we slept together, and we’d most likely sleep together again that night. After the huge argument we had, could anyone blame us? She even wrote and showed me some stuff about her past. Not big stuff, but enough for it to be challenging for her and a show of commitment.

“Abby, don’t talk,” I reminded her while letting out a long sigh.

The need for her to not talk in the past few days showed me how much I had become used to hearing her talk and pester me. I couldn’t wait for her to be able to talk again so we could have a conversation after we both woke up.

We still talked though, only she’d have to write somewhere. When we were in bed or on the couch, she’d normally use my belly and her finger as writing material.

We had a short talk before I dragged my carcass out of the bed.

While in the middle of changing, I felt like I was being observed. Looking back, I managed to catch a glimpse of her averting her gaze.

On one hand, I had now changed so many times with her around, I wasn’t too bothered if she saw me naked. Well, at least if I had my panties on, at the very least. On the other, any time after having woken up from that dream, I grew conscious of her all over again.

I can’t believe I keep having those dreams.

It was all so stupid. Sure, she was probably the cutest girl I knew, and I had a soft spot for cute stuff, but still…

And to be clear, I didn’t oppose to same sex couples, but me doing it with her was a line I didn’t think about ever crossing because I believed I should have my first with someone I loved, and so should she. I loved her with all my heart, but so far at least, the love I had for her was as a friend, and the same could be said about her towards me, no matter what wild dreams I’d have with her.

“Abby, it’s ok if you look but don’t stare,” I ended up telling her.

She did the opposite of what I told her by immediately fixating all her attention to my chest.

“T-they are a bit swollen,” I said, trying to hide them.

She shook her head vehemently and got out of bed, phone in hand.

“Your period was two weeks ago.”

“H-how do you know that!?”

“I just noticed it one day and kept it in mind. It’s normal between friends.”

“…You say that, but I don’t know yours.”

“We are synced now.”

“I… didn’t need to know that…”

She looked a bit sad by my words. Was it wrong of me wanting to keep some private things private?

“Regardless, your boobs got bigger!! Yay!”

“Please don’t say ‘boobs’. I don’t have any of that.”

“You do now. Aren’t your bra’s too tight though?”

“Y-yes. Yes, they are.”

I wasn’t going to admit to her there were days when I’d go around without wearing one. It’d squeeze me, chafe, and if the nipples got itchy, they’d drive me insane.

“Not wearing any, huh?”

“I-I am! Most of the times!”

How was it that she was so perceptive on those occasions? Was I that easy to read, or did she have a sixth sense for stuff that’d leave me mortified?

“We need to buy you new ones.”

“We?”

“Yup. You’ll need help picking the right size, believe me.”

She looked serious about it. I didn’t know the first thing about bra sizes other than I had been a double A for years.

“Do you think we can squeeze that between my two shifts?”

She gave me a thumbs up. I guessed we were settled then.

I was expecting I’d get embarrassed while the two of us looked for underwear for me, but I also thought it’d be better than what I’d be put through at my workplace.

Four tables, all with couples—the fullest the house had been for a long time—each couple representing one type of relationship. There was the calm and collected couple, the one that was still figuring out how to be around the other person, the lovey-dovey couple… and the couple who needed a room.

“Urgh, the youth these days… No offence, kiddo.”

“None taken.”

The person I was paired with working today, Margaret, was a thirty-something years old woman, I believe. I liked working with her, she understood when she could talk with me, and when to leave me alone.

“I wonder if I looked like that to the people my current age when I was younger,” she thought out loud, before letting out a chuckle. “I might have, now that I think of it. Teenagers and young adults can get a bit lost in their feelings when in a relationship, you know?”

“I, erm…”

She gave me a quick glance and got all she needed to know from the brief glimpse of my face. I also liked that about her.

“How’s school?”

I was surprised by her inquire. My school life had never been brought up, and even if it did, it was so boring that I was sure it’d be a one-time question, never to be asked again.

Still, it got me distracted from the… slobber exchange from the table at the centre, so I answered honestly. She kept nodding as I spoke, giving me time to keep talking when I made a stop to either think, or make sure the manager wasn’t watching us chatting.

“And you’re managing doing all of that while also working?”

“Yes… somehow. A friend is helping me with studying, and with the homework during recess.”

“Your friend does that for you? She—it’s a girl, right? She must really like you to do that every day.”

My face got warm. It wasn’t a lie what she said, though.

Abby hated studying as much as I hated social events, but she had been putting up with it every day for a month and a half. I felt bad about it. She was doing something she hated for my sake while not getting much in return. And I didn’t think this because I didn’t recognise all the support and care I gave her, but… I wasn’t doing that as frequently as she helped me, only when she was feeling down. I wished there was something more I could do for her, but I never had friends, much less someone who needed me like she did. I couldn’t fathom what more I could do besides thanking her, but I also worried that, by saying “thank you” so frequently for the exact same thing, those words would lose all their meaning.

“…How about getting her a present?”

“Erm, I beg your pardon?”

“If you’re feeling bad about your friend helping you every day, how about getting them something nice?”

Was I that easy to read that even Margaret could see right through me?

“Something nice…? Like what?”

She shrugged and smiled discreetly.

It looked like I’d have to figure it out by myself. And just as well, I found. If it was to be a present from me, I shouldn’t half-ass it and get her something somebody told me to. Even more so since it’d be my first present to my first friend.

The doorbell chimed, putting us both back to our professional mannerisms. Mine lasted only until I saw who walked in.

“You,” she growled, standing by her Abby’s dad and now ex-husband. The person who tormented my friend for all of her life, and still managed to do so, despite being away.

“Let’s all calm down. No need to raise a fuss,” Mr. Will intervened, getting in between us two. “We can always go to another place.”

“No we can’t, William,” she spat. She said his name with such disdain, I could feel physical pain in sympathy for Abby’s dad. “Our clients are about to get here, we can’t just change plans at the last minute. She’s the one that has to go.”

“Oh, I’m fine with that.”

Everyone looked at me in a fraction of a second.

“You are?”, Mr. Will asked, dumbfounded.

“Yes. I’ve got plans with Abby, and I’m working tonight, so we weren’t going to have much time to be together.”

The sour face she was making was such a sweet sight to behold.

“You’ve made plans with my daughter? Today?”

I stared her dead in the eye before answering “yes”.

She could try and hit me for all I cared. I’d take that if it meant digging and twist an emotional knife in her chest. Abby was free from her authority, and seeing that was driving her insane.

“…I’ll call the manager,” Margaret said, understanding how bad the situation was. It was a good thing she was around too, otherwise I’d have to leave those two alone to tear at each other, Mr. Will would leave me and her alone, or she’d go to the manager, probably managing to get me fired. All were bad, but the middle one would be the worse for me and Abby. I don’t think she’d ever forgive herself for causing me to get hurt a second time “because of her”.

The manager came, I stood on the sideline while the adults talked things through, and once a decision was made, I was approached by the manager and Mr. Will.

“You’re free for the day, miss Evergreen,” my manager said.

Stolen story; please report.

“I’m sorry, the whole day?”

“Mr. and Ms. Gardener will be coming back for dinner tonight, so Ms. Gardener… asked that you be dispensed from working tonight too.

“Oh…”

You mean to tell me, I could spend the day away from seeing stupid couples acting stupid because it was this stupid day and have fun with Abby? Great!

Mr. Will accompanied me outside, his hand over my shoulders, like he wanted to shield me from his ex-wife.

Before going out through the door, I turned to face him, as he appeared to want to tell me something.

“Sorry about all this Violet. It seems like you’re always getting dragged into Abby’s family life.”

“N-no! It’s fine, really!”

“It’s not. You shouldn’t have to always come and get caught in the crossfire, or called to put out fires.”

But wasn’t that what friends were for? Maybe I was getting too involved, but who else would? I couldn’t leave Abby alone to deal with all this.

I was looking away while thinking this stuff when something caught my eye walking up the street.

“Abby?”

He followed my gaze, through the window and down the street. She was still a bit too far to see her face, but that way of walking was undeniable.

“What’s she doing here?” he wondered under his breath.

“She must have had the idea of coming pick me up,” I whispered back, shooting a glance at her mother. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

I grabbed my coat and rushed outside. Abby saw me and began waving as she sped up, prompting me to go into a deeper stress. Fortunately, I was born with long legs, so I managed to shorten the distance enough that she couldn’t clearly see who was inside.

“Hi there!” she greeted, cheerful as ever. “I wasn’t expecting you to leave early today.”

“Y-yeah, I… there’s not many clients, so they sent me home.”

“…Are you ok?”

“Y-yes. I’m just surprised to see you.”

“Hehe, well… surprise!”

That smile she was showing me… that was why I got so involved.

“…If you stare at me like that, I’ll blush,” she said, already getting a bit red around the cheeks.

“Like that”? How exactly am I looking at her?

“Erm, your smile…”

“Hmm? What about it? Ah! Do I have something stuck on my teeth?”

“N-no! What I mean is… erm…”

“…It’s nice?”

“…Pretty.”

She went into a giggling fit as she clasped my shirt and rubbed her face on my chest, too embarrassed to show it to me. She wasn’t the only one feeling that way, to be frank, although that’s not surprising.

“Shall we go?” I asked, once she calmed down.

“We shall.”

She got by my side, still facing the restaurant.

“Let’s go the other way… through the park.”

“Oh, nice idea!”

Phew. My poor heart.

Out of instinct, I reached out and entangled my fingers with hers. I only noticed that after she clung to my arm, holding it against her chest with her free hand.

I looked back, but quickly realised how much I didn’t care if her mother saw us, even if today’s date would give her the wrong idea. In fact… her getting the wrong idea and going absolutely crazy about it made it better. Was I a bad person?

“Hey! Are you listening?”

“Hmm? Sorry, I was thinking about something.”

“And what is that?”

“…It doesn’t matter. And don’t talk too much, your throat isn’t fully healed yet.”

“But I miss our talks!”

“By the way, I’m also released from working tonight.”

“Rea—Argh!”

She got too excited and raised her voice, hurting her throat and prompting a coughing fit, much to my consternation. Before anyone getting the wrong idea of us being a couple, maybe they should mistake us for mother and daughter or sisters due to how much I fussed about her.

She managed to stay relatively quiet until we got to the mall. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of couples there, making me feel self-conscious about how we were clinging to each other. I also noticed how many couples of our age help hands the same way Abby and I did. Were we doing it wrong this whole time?

I asked Abby to let my arm go to use my phone. I was so bothered by it, I had to look it up.

“Interlocking fingers shows a deeper connection, and that you’re more connected emotionally and physically at that moment. It can also mean that you both crave for a deeper connection and intimacy.”

“…”

“Why are you blushing so hard?” she asked, trying to take a peek.

“I-it’s n-nothing!” I told her, shoving my phone back in my pocket.

“You know, if you’re going to get embarrassed, it should only be because of me.”

The reason why I was in such state was because of us, so it was Abby-adjacent.

We wish for more intimacy?! How!?

We held hands, clung to each other so tightly it was hard to breath at times, sometimes we exchanged smooches, she played with my hand when we sat together, and speaking of which, we often had her sitting on my lap or between my legs. There wasn’t much more we could do before breaking barriers and crossing lines, right?

“Hey! Pay attention to me!” she demanded.

“Sorry, were you saying something?”

“…Humph!”

She didn’t seem to be playing this time. She was pouting and not looking at my direction, no matter what I did or said.

“Come on… I’m sorry,” I told her, rubbing my thumb on the back of her hand.

That showed some success, so I kept doing it. Eventually, she began looking towards my side. To our hands, to be exact.

“I’ll buy you a jelly filled donut.”

“…Ok, I forgive you,” she moaned, going back to clinging to my arm. “But stop ignoring me.”

If she was going to act this needy, it’d be hard. Whenever she acted needy, she looked extra cute, like, you guessed it, a tiny animal wishing for treats and attention.

“I’m sorry. Today my head is filled with stuff.”

“When is it not?”

I chuckled and gave her a little bump. I was going to follow it with today they are silly, but that was pointless. Many times, that was exactly what my worries were.

“…Hey, wanna visit some stores since we’ve got the time after all?”

“What about the… you know.”

“That we can do later. We never really did much shopping together, did we?”

“Hehe, ok. Sounds like fun.”

I’d let her lead the way. I was curious to see what stores she was interested in, and what sort of stuff she liked buying.

At first, we were only window-shopping, but I noticed the cadence of her walk change when we passed in front of a specific one.

“Do you wanna check it?” I asked.

She acted very reserved, something I found very weird. The way she shook her head told me she was holding back.

“Come on, let’s check it.”

She was reluctant, looking down as I pulled her along.

I wasn’t getting why she was acting that way. The store had a lot of plushies and some more cute items on the shelves. I didn’t pay much attention to them, I was more interested in studying Abby. Every once in a while she’d throw a glance at two shelves in particular.

One had animal themed caps made of crochet, of many colours. Some had round ears, others pointy, others still, long. Two things they had in common were: they all had eyes and whiskers.

The other shelf was the one I first noticed when coming inside with the animal plushies.

“You like them?” I asked.

“…Kinda, I guess…”

“…”

Why was she acting this way? She was fine a minute ago. I asked her exactly that, and after some uncertainty…

“Isn’t this too childish?”

Was that it? What was the problem of her liking plushies and stuff?”

“I like this kind of stuff,” I told her.

“You do?”

“Yeah. I don’t think I’d buy it, but they sure are cute. And I like cute stuff.”

“…”

She faltered, but finally made up her mind and let me go completely to crouch in front of the shelf, hugging her knees as she looked at the assortment of animal-themed toys.

I crouched by her, watching what she’d do next.

She picked a plushie of a blue seal with darker dots on the back and a cream belly.

“I had to throw away all of my plushies last year,” she told me, looking at the toy she held and moving a flipper like it was waving.

Now that she mentioned it, her room at her old house felt very sterile. If I added stuffed toys here and there, that room would have felt more like… well, “her”.

“Do you like that one?”

“…I guess…”

I reached out and held the toy with one hand, while the other rested on a shoulder. “May I?” I asked.

She gave me permission, and I held it gently as I got up and walked to the cashier.

“Violet? What are you doing?”

“I’m buying it for you.”

“Wha—? No! You don’t have to!”

“But I want to. I… I already had made plans to buy you a gift today.”

She looked like she was holding back tears, but she also seemed to be beyond happy.

We were given a bag, but she walked out of the store holding the thing, moving the flippers around with a complicated face.

I began wondering if it had been a good idea after all until she touched noses with it, gave it a hug, and latched on me like after putting it carefully in the bag.

“I’ll take very good care of it.”

She had so many things repressed, it seemed like there was no end to it. But I’d be patient. I’d wait for the day when she could finally smile with no dark clouds hanging over her.

The store clerk at the store where we’d be getting new bras for me came back with a measuring tape after being told we didn’t know what size I was.

“Should I measure you, or can your friend do it?”

Abby looked at me, nudging me to answer.

“Erm… my friend, erm…” I stammered, barely audibly.

I still couldn’t take my clothes off in front of other people, only Abby, and even with her, it was a hurdle. But why was I feeling even more self-conscious than normal? She saw me naked countless times these past weeks, months even, so what was the problem?

For starters, she’ll get to know your size.

So what? It’s not like she’d remember it next morning, right?

Actually… yeah, she would.

“Raise your arms a bit. Now lower them. Breath normally. Ok, now, align the tape with your nipples. Breath normally again. Ok, done.”

She did it so fast, I barely had time to register what was going on, and I didn’t have time to ask her anything either because she just left me alone in the dressing room as soon as the tape unwrapped from my body. I understood she was being conscientious of my feelings, but I’d feel better if she had acted more casually.

Once I was presentable, I opened the curtain and walked out.

Abby was standing with her back turned and only gave me a quick glance before looking away again.

“Sorry for touching them,” she said in a low voice.

“Erm… you touched them?”

“Yeah… when I measured your band size.”

I thought about it, but the only thing that came to mind was the back of her hand slightly brushing my chest when she wrapped the tape around me. Even that didn’t constitute an issue for me, so much so that I didn’t even notice until she called attention to it.

“It’s not like I didn’t expect some touching since you had to measure me. It’s totally fine.”

“But…”

“…But?”

“…Nothing… You’re right…”

It didn’t look like nothing, but I’d let the matter go for now. The day was long and she had shared another traumatic even a few minutes ago.

“So, erm… what size?”

“…You moved one size up.”

“Oh… nice.”

It was a weird thing to feel proud of, but that’s how I felt anyway. And even if it stopped growing, I’d still be happy with it. Mum didn’t seem to have had a particularly big chest too, so wishing to have a big bust would be naive.

Fufu. I’m growing to be just like mum.

“Are you that happy?”

“Huh!? Is it showing?”

“From ear to ear.”

“It’s just… Looking more like mum makes me kinda happy.”

“…I see.”

Maybe I shouldn’t have said that to someone with such a bad relationship with her own mother.

“I wish I could have met her. If she was anything like you, I’m sure we’d get along.”

“…Yeah. I’m sure you would.”

It would be another person giving her love and support. But since she wasn’t around, I’d have to work double time.

“We should visit her again one of these days,” she told me while grabbing my hand.

“You want to come with me next time?”

She nodded.

Maybe mum would enjoy me bringing my friend when I visited her grave next time. That, and hearing Abby tell her about us having fun.