I never much cared about the sun before. Not even during winter, and I specially never much cared about it during the summer. Now, I was finding it surprisingly pleasant while I sat on the table in the diminutive backward my house had. You couldn’t stretch your arms width wise, and you could also not take more than perhaps ten steps before reaching a wall when walking its length, but it was still very useful for hanging clothes to dry. That was the task I had completed, the final one I had until dinner, the lunch being the leftovers from the previous day.

“Haah, this sucks.”

The sun felt warm and nice on my face as I leaned my head back with my eyes closed, but I still felt unsatisfied. Today marked a week since I was forced into seclusion inside my house. The left side of my cheek was still bruised and there was a huge scab on my lip, so I suspected it’d be another week until I was free to leave the house without people calling the police on my innocent dad. And I was sick and tired of it. I wanted to go for a walk.

“…I wonder what she’s doing right now…”

My dear friend, Abby, was most likely checking out an apartment with her father. Apparently, the old lady renting the place took pity on them when her dad gave her a brief explanation about their situation and she’d let them stay immediately at the place even before signing any contract. It sounded like a nice place too, although she didn’t give me much details about it. It almost felt like she was trying to keep secrets from me.

“…It’s whatever…”

It wasn’t. I was extremely bothered by all that secrecy. Whether it was because of the huge mess that came out of her doing the same last time, or me just being petty, I don’t know. Either way, I hated feeling like that.

“What should I do for dinner?” I asked myself to push those feelings aside.

The air was cool, but the clothes I was wearing, the scent of fresh laundry, and the sunlight were making me cozy enough that I started to feel drowsy and closed my eyes, feeling as if my mind and body were both getting heavier and drifting away.

Some time later, amidst me half dreaming about roasted meat and some nice, hot vegetable soup, I seemed to feel my right leg extra heavy, like there was now a weight on my thigh. It could be just my leg getting numb from the hard edge of the table, or me starting to really falling asleep, or something, so I didn’t pay it any mind, but then I also noticed a new scent. It seemed to be shampoo, perhaps. It was nice smelling, although perhaps a bit too sweet for my taste. And last I checked, dreams don’t come with smells.

That’s weird.

I squinted a single eye. Then, I opened both, puzzled at what I was seeing.

Sitting by me, on an empty gas bottle we still had around, was Abby. She had come, walked in front of me and sat down with me only noticing her when she planted her chin on my leg. Assuming I wasn’t having a very vivid dreaming, of course.

“Meow.”

“Erm… hi?”

“…Are you perhaps thinking that you’re imagining things?”

“That’s crossing my mind, yes.”

She took one of my hands and separated the index from the rest. She then gave it a tiny bite, not strong enough to hurt, but enough to confirm I wasn’t seeing things after all.

“I missed you so much,” she told me with glittering eyes as she played with my hand.

I stood up and squeezed her head against my stomach.

“You smell so nice,” she hummed.

I chuckled and put a bit of distance between our bodies but still holding her by the shoulders.

“How did you even get inside?”

“Papa Stan let me in.”

“Oh, he’s home? Wait… ‘Papa Stan’? What?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to steal him from you. I just really like your dad, that’s all.”

“Huh… erm, ok.”

Was it really? I mean, the two were close and he treated her the same way he treated me, but… calling him that wasn’t going a tad too far? It sounded… dirty? It most definitely was weird to call a friend’s dad that.

“And he let me in because I called him asking if he was home.”

That confused me deeply. Why call him and ask if he was home? What about me?

“…Hehe. Are you getting jelly?”

“…No.”

“Hehe, yes you are. I called him because I wanted to surprise you.”

“Oh… I see…”

“…Surprise!” she quietly cheered.

I was feeling so stupid for not having seen right through her. It was so obvious now that she had told me. And why she told me in that particular way. Still, she was taking too much delight from her teasing.

“Ah! Before I forget, he told me to warn you that it will probably rain this afternoon, so you shouldn’t leave the clothes hanging outside.”

“…”

I blinked at her before looking behind me. What a huge pain to be told that after already having gone through all that work.

“I’ll help!” she said, getting up and walking over to the hanging clothes.

My first thought was telling her not to since some of the clothes were my dad’s underwear, but that proved unnecessary. Instead, I watched deeply amused, and admittedly a bit vengefully from her previous teasing, while she tried her best to reach out to the springs holding the clothes in place.

Seeing how futile it was to stretch her whole body and getting on the very tips of her toes like some sort of ballerina housemaid, she turned, planted her hands on the hips, stuck her chest out proudly and made a proclamation with an unwavering smile.

“I’ll hold the basket!”

As it most likely was her intention, I started laughing at such unmoving positivity. Only she could make me laugh like that while I was feeling so annoyed.

Once we had collected everything at the sound of her merry humming, we took them inside to the living room. There, she asked what followed.

I took out a rope from a drawer and tied one end to a hooked nail on one side of the room and connected it to the opposite nail, all so I could leave everything hanging a second time.

“Could you open that window?” I asked.

“Won’t the cold get inside?” she asked while moving to do as I asked her.

“The draft will help them dry faster,” I explained. “Besides, don’t you think it’s colder in here than outside?”

“Well…”

She didn’t say it, but I knew she agreed with me. There was no denying it. If you were to leave a glass of water on the living room table and another one on the table I was sitting outside, the first would freeze sooner than the latter. I’m exaggerating of course, the house wasn’t that much of a freezer, but you get the idea.

“What’s next?” she asked while looking around, once I came from getting the back door open for an improved air circulation.

“Now it’s all done.”

“Oh, ok. Nice.”

She looked around, taking in the sight that it was the fruit of our labour. It’d be nice if we had a drier, but those were expensive and a bit of rope, sun and wind were practically free, so we had to make do. I was just glad she didn’t crack any jokes about my underwear in exposition to anyone coming in. I mean, not that it ultimately mattered. She was the only person that’d come around anyway.

Still, things were feeling a bit awkward now. Not for her, she was enjoying the mood. The way she was so intensely staring at me after she was done looking around was leading me to believe she was expecting something.

“You know, I really, really, missed you.”

So, that’s what she was going for? Truth be told, I felt a bit bad for not having told her I had missed her too on the first time she said it. Not that I couldn’t do anything about it now.

“I… I missed you too,” I stammered. A lot I then added, somehow.

“Really?” she teased, rotating her body and leaning one side one me, giving me a look full of mischief. “Somehow, I find it hard to believe.”

“W-what!? Why!?” I asked, completely falling into her trap, and knowing full well it was what she was aiming for.

“You’re not blushing nearly as much as you should.”

She wanted me even more embarrassed? Somehow that was… well, super embarrassing.

“Hehe, there it is,” she giggled, poking my face on the safe side. “Now, say it again.”

“…I missed you too…”

She arched an eyebrow, still not happy with my words.

“…A lot… I, erm… missed you a lot.”

She was happy now, hugging me in the process. I hugged her back, tightening my hold until she let out one of her “happy Abby” noises. It was a moany squeaky, so to speak.

“Your heart is making such a nice sound,” she hummed, adjusting her head so she could hear it even if just a tiny bit better. That was completely unnecessary if you’d ask me. My heart was feeling like a jackhammer at that point.

“A-Abby,” I pleaded.

She took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

“Sorry for being so sudden, but can I stay over tonight? I haven’t been sleeping that well lately.”

I had noticed dark circles under her eyes. They were hard to miss as she looked like a panda.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

And even if she didn’t have any of that, I still wouldn’t refuse her after being apart for so long.

“Thanks, you’re the best. I just hope I won’t wake you up.”

“Are you having that many nightmares?” I asked, reminding myself of our talks over the phone during the past week.

“Mmh-hmm. Dad says I should go to therapy.”

“…What do you think?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing.”

We broke apart our hold and stared at each other’s eyes while I thought things over.

“I think it might be a good idea, but… I’d like to hear your thoughts on the matter first.”

She looked at her feet for a few moments before looking up again.

“I don’t wanna. I’d have to go rummage through bad memories if I did, and I don’t want that. I only want to forget any of that happening, move on with my life and fill my head with good memories of us together. With everyone.”

After hearing that, my heart and mind were pulling me towards opposing directions. My heart told me to go with her opinion and let her try and forget all the bad stuff and be happy with her newfound freedom. My mind however told me it was a short-sighted idea and that doing so would bring more pain in the long run.

“I’m sorry,” she suddenly said, looking down again.

“What for?”

“For burdening you with my problems again.”

“…Didn’t we promise we’d tell when something is bothering us?”

“Well… yeah, but…”

I reached out to one of her hands, startling her a bit and causing her to look up.

“Let’s try your way for a while. If it doesn’t work, you can always try therapy, right? And… I’m here too, so…”

Her face twitched as her eyes welled up with tears. When she dove back into my arms, I held and patted her gently as she sobbed. I might have a visible scar for my whole life from her mother, but she had so many more invisible ones that I’d be sure to do my best to help heal. She deserved that, and a lot more, after all she’d been through.

◊◊◊

Waking up, all huddled up in her embrace, with her breathing hitting my forehead was one of the nicest things I had ever experienced. I smiled from ear to ear and snuggled more into her embrace. She let out a moan and pulled me closer too, seemingly mumbling something in the process.

“Are you awake?”

She gave me no answer, meaning she had done her previous actions still in her deep sleep.

I wasn’t too bothered by not being able to chat with her right then. We could do that after breakfast. For now, I’d enjoy my time until the alarm began ringing.

“Beep! Beep! Beep!”

And of course, my luck being always a cruel mistress, the alarm started ringing right away.

She was the one reaching out, since it was her phone, and my back was turned to the bedside table. She turned it off, but she went back to holding me dearly, resolute in going back to sleep with me warming her up.

“Violet,” I hushed, almost singing, “I need to get up to go to school.”

She moaned a protest and tightened her grip on me even more.

I pushed my head out of the covers, our faces now levelled.

“I need to go to school so we can have material for you to study, remember?”

“…Mmh-hmm.”

“…Can I go now? We can cuddle all you want after I come back.”

Her arms grew slightly limp after a few moments, and I managed to slip out of her hold.

Brr! Why’s her room so cold!?

I was thinking that while I was changing. Maybe the fact I stripped first and began putting on my school uniform later wasn’t that good of an idea. Even more so due to what happened next.

“V-Violet!?”

When I was just about to button up my shirt, she came up from behind and hugged me, her hands having grown cold in the short time that had passed, and now were on my bare skin.

“Mmh, so warm,” she mumbled as she rested her head on top of mine.

“Haah, gee. I’m almost naked, don’t you see?” I patiently scolded her while I took her hands to guide her back to bed. “Stay in bed—Woah!”

I dropped her, but she dragged me along. I think she got startled when her calves hit the side of the bed, so she lost her balance and grabbed me once she fell. Now, I was on top of her, scantily clad, and with one of her hands firmly… lower than where my waist was. There was a bounce when we dropped, and I was pushed forward and slightly to the side, so, perhaps in a panic of me slipping and falling, she instinctively grabbed me, her hands ending up lower than where they initially were as a result. Not only that, she also looked me up and down.

At least she was now fully awake. And as red as she possibly could. So was I, as a matter of fact.

“S-sorry!” she stammered.

“I-It’s fine… erm… just take me out for a coffee later.”

“Erm, w-what? What does that mean?”

“It’s… It’s a joke. As in… take me on a date before… never mind.”

“R-right… I got it…”

“…”

“…”

“…Your hand… please?”

Seriously, my luck. I wasn’t against her touching me like that. I was cursing my luck because that was nowhere near to how I’d have wanted it to happen. That joke I made? I was only half joking. It’d be nice if she came and invited me out someday.

Pfft, yeah. Once Hell freezes over.

Shy as she was, that would never happen, even if she ever came to be interested in me in that way by some sort of miracle.

“I’ll go get breakfast ready,” she said rapidly as she got up and left.

Being left alone was both relieving and annoying. I wasn’t sure what I wanted her to say or do if she stayed, but her leaving irked me, nonetheless.

“Are you mad?” she asked once I sat at the table where she had placed my food once I walked in.

“No, I’m not.”

“Really? Because, if you are… I’m very sorry.”

“What? Are you two arguing as soon as you wake up?”

And because one bad thing usually comes followed by another, Stan also came to have breakfast, making this “argument” even more unnecessarily complicated.

“We aren’t arguing,” I contested. “We are just… I don’t know… being awkward?”

I direct my stare to her. She twisted a bit of her apron between her hands.

“I guess…” her voice drifted.

“…Look, it was an accident and I know how bad you are at waking up. Seriously, I’ll be over it as soon as you stop looking so guilty.”

“…Ok. I’m over it now.”

She didn’t seem to, but oh well.

“Why are you even having that conversation?”

“For reasons,” she said, shooting a glare at him.

He rose his hands in surrender, but with a smile of satisfaction for having annoyed his daughter. He then asked if he could now use the kitchen. She reached out and grabbed a plate with another two slices of toast and sat in front of me.

Briefly, our eyes met, and I offered her a smile. She answered back with a flustered one.

Despite all the hassle we had, waking up to her was still the highest point of my day.

Monday, eight-thirty. Math class.

While I was, quite unexpectedly, received with clamour from my classmates, things soured when I had to explain what had happened to us and when would Violet come back.

“I got sick, and Violet is out of town.”

I messed up, of course. It was supposed to be the other way around. Was there anyone in class whose parent’s worked at the same place as Stan? That could be a huge problem.

“Violet is?”

“Yeah. She’s at a relative’s place.”

Hopefully that salvaged the situation. I’d have to remember and tell Violet of the change in our fib. And her house was actually her dad’s house, so I wasn’t exactly lying, was I?

“What are you all congregating there for!? Go back to your seats!”

Ah yes. Mr. “I-can’t-retire-soon-enough”. How dearly I had not missed you.

Those still standing hurried back to their seats, the human curtain that hid me from our teacher dissolving in a scurrying mass of teenagers.

“Ah! Miss Gardener. I’m so glad that you finally decided to join us,” the old crone croaked with a wry smile. “And what about that friend of yours?”

I had no doubt in my mind he took some sort of pleasure from his nastiness. That much was clear by his expression and mannerism as he pointed to the empty seat by my side with his wrinkled, bony finger.

“It will take her some more time to get back, sir.”

“Humph. Tell her not to bother. A girl like her and skipping classes like this… She’ll clearly have to repeat the year.”

I wondered, briefly, if my dad still had enough money to get me out of trouble from caving in his skull with my chair, but decided not to.

Let’s not stoop down to that woman’s level…

“Are you willing to make a bet?”

“A bet?” he asked, intrigued by my snarky attitude. “What sort of bet?”

“Let’s say she can get an eighteen next test. How about you apologise to her for having said that?”

He scoffed and shook his shoulders. Surprisingly, no rattling sound came from his bones.

“As if she could. Don’t bother me with your childish antics.”

“Scared?”

He stared at me, almost livid. I wasn’t particularly scared. I’ve had way worse and from someone who’d have beaten me up as soon as I had opened my mouth. Besides, I was beyond mad at him for dicing my best friend and the girl I liked.

He threatened me with disciplinary action, something I’d love to see once I explained my dad why he had been called to school, but not rocking the boat any further was the wiser choice.

After that, the day was normal. So mind-numbingly normal.

As I boarded the bus to go back to her place, I wondered how I had managed to endure it during all those years before I met Violet.

Oh, right.

I skipped class any chance I got.

“Ah, welcome back! How was—”

“Boot camp time!” I cut her off as I dragged her deeper inside, after she opened the door for me.

“W-wait! Hold on! What happened?”

I told her what had happened at school while I prepared her desk for an intense study session. I hated studying, but this time, it was personal.

I sat her down once everything was ready, and sat on her lap, placing one arm around me, the other ready for writing.

“But Abby, that’s impossible for me!” she cried out.

“That’s what he thinks! Let’s show that dried up husk what we can do together!”

“But Abby, I—”

“No buts! You’ve already got an average of sixteen! If we get you confident enough in your math skills, I’m sure we can get you almost a perfect twenty in our next test!”

“…You really think so?”

“Would I have done any of this if I didn’t?”

“…Thank you.”

“…You’re welcome…”

It’s fantastic how much I mellowed down once she gave me an appreciative smile. It just wasn’t fair how much she could mess with my head just by being her.

“…Fufu, what?”

“Nothing,” I mumbled. “You just looked super cute right now.”

“D-did I?”

“Mmh-hmm… I’m dead serious.”

“I… I see… fufu…”

Her embarrassed giggles were music to my ears. However…

“Study! We have to study!” I said, slapping the materials we had on display.”

“R-right.”

“Be sure to ask many questions!”

“I will!”

“And don’t worry about me repeating the same thing! I’ll say it as many times as you need!”

“Right!”

We both leaned forward, and I had just opened my mouth while pointing at one of the many pages when she cut me off before I could put the first word out.

“Could I just go use the toilet first?”

“Can’t it wait?”

“I was about to go when you arrived...”

We got up and she left, along with most of our fiery spirit.

There were still about two months before any test, so we didn’t need to be so gung-ho, but it was still a bit of a letdown.