Abby was moaning softly as we hugged and kissed, not looking like she wanted to let go anytime soon, but we were already breaking the rules, and keeping on tempting fate was perhaps not the wisest idea. Plus, Mathilda was just next door. I wasn’t worried about the noise, I was worried that, if we were to get caught with me on top of Abby, there could be no plausible deniability about what was happening.

She made it very hard for me to let go and sit on the opposite end, pouting as I pulled away, but once she saw me extend my arms towards her as an invitation, she was back to acting bubbly.

“You know, we just proved them right,” Abby chuckled after she rested her back on me as she raised a leg over the thick layer of foam covering the hot water of the bathtub.

“Haah, and we were doing so well.”

Getting out of bed so early on a Saturday was hell, but a necessary evil to be able to go on this school trip. It was my first time going to a big city, so that alone got me a bit excited. Then, there were the places we were going to visit: an art museum on the first day, and a natural history museum on the next. The only thing souring the experience was the smug looks Vanessa gave us. Yeah, yeah, we won’t be sleeping together tonight, big deal.

“With a personality like yours, that will happen your whole life”, how about that? I’d avoid conflict as much as possible, but she was tempting me to tell her those words.

Anyway, I had the impression that life in the big city wasn’t all cranked out to what I thought it would. Far too many people—more than what I had expected, and traffic was far more chaotic than I could have imagined, and the air quality was... not even worth attaching the word “quality” to it.

My first impression was an unending line of stuck traffic upon arrival and the smell of the exhaust permeating inside the bus through the AC. It was seeing that infinite line of cars that I understood why Abby kept telling me to keep drinking water to the bare minimum. Yes, the bus did have a bathroom, but if I didn’t wash it, I didn’t trust it. It was already bad enough having to use the ones at school.

The art museum was also a bit of a letdown. Sort of. The façade, I mean. It was too normal if you get me. Super symmetrical, with a nice brick-red colour and white windows and doors. It was a nice building, but I was expecting something more... exotic. Windows and doors of awkward angles, maybe even curving a little, stuff like that. Something that looked like out of an impressionist painting, perhaps? Or maybe it’s like Abby said and I just had my expectations set too high.

Its contents were still very impressive, nonetheless. I’m still not a hundred per cent sure that Abby was fully joking when she told me that I should tell her if any of the paintings got my attention so she could get it for our future living room. She wasn’t that rich, was she?

“Honey, put that leg down before you catch a cold,” I told her while using my own leg to pull hers down after seeing that she kept it out of the water for longer than I thought she would.

“Hehe, mine now!” she giggled as she made sure I wouldn’t be able to set my leg loose from her hold.

“Was that your plan all along?”

She smiled and stuck out her tongue, the cheeky girl. Since she was so cheeky, she wouldn’t mind if I pinched and played with them, would she?

“Having fun?” she asked as I wiggled her face around.

“How come they are so soft?”

She shrugged and turned to her side, curling herself and snuggling against me, resting her forehead against my jaw and shutting her eyes once she was settled. I thought that was a brilliant idea and decided to do the same while still thinking about cheeks. Mine felt disappointing when I did the same as I had done to her. They barely stretched when pinched.

“This is super nice,” Abby moaned in a sweet voice.

“Mmh-hmm... maybe having a bathtub in our future place isn’t such a bad idea after all.”

“Told you so. We could get a special tray and have some snacks and a cold drink as we soak together in warm water.”

That sure sounded dreamy, specialty now that my tiredness was setting in, along with how cosy I was feeling in the tub with Abby. I was almost asleep when I heard a quiet thud on the side.

Opening my eyes, I caught a glimpse of Mathilda’s head as she sat with her back against the tub.

“W-what are you doing?!” I asked as I furled my legs, needlessly trying to cover myself more when the palm-deep foam covered everything already.

“Seriously, what are you doing?” Abby asked far more calmly than me as she rubbed her eyes, having been woken up by my motion and voice.

“You said I could join when I asked,” Mathilda answered, looking back at us genuinely confused.

At that mention, I vaguely remembered hearing her asking that. At least she didn’t mean to get inside with us.

“She knows she’d get in a lot of trouble if she got naked and inside too,” Abby said with a glare towards our friend.

“Like you never saw me naked in the locker room!”

“...”

“...”

“...Seriously!? Not even a peek!?”

Why would we, and why would I? Ignoring the fact that I was already taken, Mathilda wasn’t even my type. Abby was thinking the same thing, I’m sure.

This stupid back and forth aside, this situation was all shades of wrong.

She did point out that, if someone came inside and found us three sitting there, chatting, they’d think it’s weird, but wouldn’t raise any protests.

“We should bottle some of that water before sending it down the drain!” she then declared without any sort of segway.

“Huh!?”

“Yeah, there are people on the internet that’d pay a fortune just to have a sample of this water!”

That was... well, horrifying is one way to put it. I wanted to think that was just one of her dirty jokes and nothing more, but Abby chimed in and confirmed that, despite bottling it being a joke, there were in fact people who’d pay for our water.

I was still processing it when Mathilda clapped and said it was time for a girls’ talk. Abby got a bit excited by that suggestion, saying that a field trip without it wasn’t a field trip at all.

About how much of an exaggeration that was, I have no idea. There had been some field trips in my past, but none that I had gone on. School trips mean forming groups, which mean dealing with people, which mean old me had to socialise with people she didn’t care about at all.

“You two kiss a lot, right?” Mathilda asked, going straight to what she wanted to know. “Could you spare any tips? More precisely, how do I set the mood for that?”

“You and Stephen haven’t kissed yet?”

“We have, but... only four times.”

How long would it take them until they lose count? With me and Abby, it was a matter of days.

Still, she’s worried about setting a mood for kissing? They’ve been dating for a month now, four times is plenty good, at least from what I remember from my last year's research.

We heard the door to the room unlock and the door being flung open and shut. Someone in high heels had walked in. Abby and I couldn’t see who it was, but we had a pretty good guess, while Mathilda could actually see the person. She even called out to her.

“What the hell are you three doing!?” our homeroom teacher asked once she saw us three gathered in the bathroom in such a fashion.

“There’s no spa in the hotel, so we decided to improvise,” Mathilda said super nonchalantly. “Don’t worry, I’ve been here from the moment they got in the water. Besides hugging, they’ve been chatting with me about love stuff. More importantly, why did you come in without even knocking?”

She didn’t get an answer right away, only further questions. How long had we been in there, what have we been doing, what have we been talking about, stuff like that. We left Mathilda to take care of answering while we tried to act just as normally as Mathilda lied through her teeth. I don’t think I could even form a coherent sentence. Abby would, but not me, oh no. I was in a mix of ice running through my veins and burning in shame.

“Haah, I see I’ve been lied to,” she sighed once she was satisfied with her interrogation, making my heart sink in my chest. “I was told those two were left alone and that Abby hadn’t left in more than half an hour.”

Our homeroom teacher had either accepted everything told to her as true or had chosen that over the possible alternative of there being three girls in the bathroom with the two confirmed homosexuals naked and tightly packed together. I know which one I’d pick if I were in her place. Mathilda coming in had been a blessing in disguise.

“Before you go, wanna soak up your feet in the water?” Mathilda asked. “There’s no way they aren’t hurting after a whole day in those.”

My back and feet were sore, and I had been wearing comfortable footwear all day, I couldn’t even imagine how her feet felt like after being stuck in high heels for that long. Her heels were on the shallower side, but still.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

She refused, of course, but then Mathilda started playing her mind games.

Our teacher’s roommate was known to be a nag and had been hovering over her all day. Our teacher told us something, then, that other teacher would come, repeat the exact same thing, and add some more—useless and strict—rules. Once she was done, looked at our teacher like she saying that was how it was done. Finally, Mathilda offered the argument that she could simply say she gave us a good earful for the ten minutes she could stay with us relaxing her sore feet in peace and quiet.

That last part was what got her convinced.

“Vanessa is right in one thing: you girls are a bad influence,” said the pant-less adult who had taken them off along with her shoes once she saw that she couldn’t fold them enough to not get them wet. She was reclining on the chair she had brought inside the bathroom and went as far as unbuttoning her shirt and fanning herself with the flaps the loose shirt formed.

“Hehe, welcome to the gang.”

This is a dream. I either fell asleep or bumped my head while making out with Abby.

The situation was too painful to be a dream and me staying asleep. As for the latter alternative... yeah, on second thought, I preferred my current situation.

Bonking my head, lose consciousness on top of my girlfriend, getting Abby into a panic, calling the teachers to call an ambulance, then explain what we were doing and how it all happened?

Things went full circle. From relaxed to complete chaos to me stop caring at all. I had a friend sitting by me while my girl and I were closely packed together in our birthday suits, and now, a teacher with her feet in the water in which we were soaking. What of it? It’s not what I had idealised my night to be, but these were the cards I was dealt, get over it, me.

I squeezed my girlfriend close until I heard a happy noise and rested my head on hers, closing my eyes with a long, slow sigh after taking in the scent of her hair.

“So? What were you three talking about before I came in?” our teacher asked, still with her head folded backwards.

“Right, as you know, Stephen and I are dating and—”

“You two are?” our teacher interrupted, finally lifting her head up.

The expression Mathilda was making was pitiful. She held the same smile as when she said Stephen and her were a thing, but her eyes looked like they were about to cry. What’s more, I have the feeling she wanted to brag about her relationship, not having it questioned.

“I guess we don’t look like a couple, huh?” she said in a monotone as she looked at the bubbles on the opposite side Abby and I were. “It’s not like we act like a couple in public. Of course, people will be surprised when they hear that we are a couple. We’ve only been a couple for a few months after all.”

With how many times she was saying “couple” it felt like she was trying to convince herself of that. Abby was telling Mathilda about the same I was thinking, minus the part about Mathilda trying to convince herself. We had no doubts they were a couple because we could see it in the way they looked at each other and how they interacted, but we also had the advantage of spending a lot of time with them. And it’s not like Abby and I were a prime example of what a couple is or should be, so it’s not like everyone has to act the way we do.

“I’ll say,” our teacher said with a cruel smile forming on her face. “Tere’s a good reason why you two girls are known as the ‘morronic couple’.”

“Huh!?”

“Hehe! Hear that babe? We are famous in school.”

“Not in a good way! In fact, I’d prefer if we weren’t famous at all!”

“Pfft, ah-haha!”

Our teacher further jabbed me by saying that we should act more reserved if I didn’t want to attract that kind of attention, but she just didn’t understand how easy it was to fawn over Abby and vice-versa. It’s not like we didn’t try to act more reserved, but before we knew it, we found ourselves all over each other. Not kissing though. Well, not lip-to-lip at least.

“You two kiss a lot, don’t you?” Mathilda asked again. This time, there was no follow-up question.

“Well, yeah. We do spend a lot of time together after all.”

I don’t think time has anything to do with it, but that only occurred to me after I nodded. As an example, Abby’s parent also spent a lot of time together, and I simply couldn’t picture them kissing once, not even at the beginning of their relationship.

Abby and I were, for all it’s worth, a “morronic couple”. If the shoe fits, right?

“Any tips you can give me?”

“Besides practice and paying attention to your partner, not really.”

“No, I mean... to kiss more often. To make it feel more natural.”

Our teacher cleared her throat and was retracting her legs as she excused herself, but Mathilda pinned her down and told her she wanted the opinion of a grown-up too.

“I’m your teacher!” she cried out. “I’m not supposed to be teaching you that kind of stuff!”

“Please, I’m worried about this! Besides, you have your knees bare, so don’t try to act dignified now.”

Why is it that everyone in my life has at least one loose screw? Abby still manages to surprise me, but I’m already used to it, but Mathilda? She really needs to reel it in.

“...I’ll hear you out but, I won’t give any advice if I find it inappropriate.”

“Thanks, teach! I’ll massage your feet as compensation!”

“You really are aiming to get me fired, aren’t you?” she retorted as she pulled her feet as far away from Mathilda as she could.

While those two had that conversation, I deliberated about my answer. I had it mostly delineated from before, but I’d like a bit more details about what exactly was bothering her.

“Violet? What should I do?”

And now I was being singled out? Why?

Because you’re the shy one of the group, dummy.

“Erm, just go for it when you feel like it before your thoughts have time to catch up to what’s going on.”

At the start, that had been my main hindrance. Once I started doing it, it became progressively easier to the point that, now, I didn’t even think about it after the fact.

“But... what about setting the mood?”

“Sometimes, the kissing is what sets the mood, so don’t worry too much about it,” Abby said, me nodding along. “Like my wifey said, just go for it if you feel like it. I would right now, but...”

“H-huh!?”

“Pfft, hehe. Don’t worry, I won’t. I really, really would like one though.”

Hearing her say that also made me want to give her one too, but our teacher told us not to and to put our hands where she could see them. Abby gasped and almost disappeared under the white the moment I let go of her waist before I managed to grab her again. She had to put her arms around my neck while I kept an arm around her with the hand under the armpit, otherwise, she’d slide and sink. My other hand was on her shoulder with a thumb going back and forth until Abby decided she wanted me to scratch behind her ear.

This wasn’t what our teacher wanted, but I think that, somehow, seeing how pleased Abby was with my ear rubbing convinced her that we were been innocent enough. I wonder if she was also thinking that Abby was looking a lot more like a pet than an actual girlfriend.

I wonder how Oliver is doing...

“What about you, teach? What’s your advice?” Mathilda asked.

“...Don’t worry too much about this and neglect your studies,” she answered, taking her feet out of the water. It was so obvious she was trying to act as she thought a teacher should then when what she really meant to say was that Mathilda shouldn’t worry and that things would be ok. Regardless of her intentions, we knew well what she really meant. “I’ll be going now, but not before you Abby and Violet get out of there and dressed.”

“You’ll have to give us privacy then because I’m not letting anyone see my wifey’s birthday suit,” Abby said, squeezing my neck.

“I’ll take care of that,” Mathilda assured us as she linked arms with our teacher and not once allowing her to argue back.

Abby had to get up first before I could, but she was acting very reluctant. She kept rubbing her nose on my neck and jaw, smooching me on occasion. I asked her what the matter was.

She was already feeling lonely, and she’d have liked doing it one more time before we got out. The best I could do was give her the kiss I was burning up to give her. I kept kissing Abby as I made her get up so we wouldn’t rouse suspicions from taking too long in getting out. We then got dressed, and that was it, we got out of the bathroom with me drying the bit of hair she had gotten wet when she slipped in.

Our teacher had gotten dressed too and gave us an approving look before bidding us good night.

“Before you go, thank you for letting me and Violet stay like that. It meant a lot to us.”

“Just be sure to keep things tamer than then,” she told us with her hand on the doorknob.

As she was leaving, she was grumbling something. I didn’t quite get it, but Abby said she had mentioned Vanessa. Was she going to talk to her now? If I had to hazard a guess, Vanessa had been the one telling on us, so now it was her turn to get a visit from our teacher.

From behind us came a giggle. Mathilda was looking all lovestruck as she stared at her phone.

“Stephen sent me a text,” she told us as she swayed side to side, showing us the phone screen that we couldn’t read clearly from her movement. “He says he’s going to play some games with the boys and wishes me a good night in case I fall asleep first.”

Yeah, I don’t see why she was worrying so much before. Maybe Vanessa is right in saying that Abby and I were a bad influence.

“By the way girls, did something happen between you two?”

Was she asking in general, or about the time we spent alone in the bathroom?

My doubt was clarified by Mathilda adding that Abby had been referring to me as “wifey” lately.

“We aren’t engaged, if that’s what you mean,” I told her. “Not yet anyway.”

“Hehe, yeah. Yet.”

She was beaming with curiosity, but honestly, I wouldn’t tell her about the talk we had. Not tonight. I worried that she’d use it to further compare her relationship with ours.

“It kinda fits, doesn’t it?” Abby asked her, hugging my arm.

“Question: if—when you get married, what will you do about last names?”

Was there a need to do anything about it? And why was she so excited about it?

“Is it that fun to talk about this kind of stuff?” I asked her.

“It is when it’s about you two,” she told me firmly.

Right, she finds us interesting. I remember her telling us about it before the last summer break.

“If Violet isn’t against it, I’d like to take her last name,” Abby said as she sat in her usual spot.

I told her that wasn’t necessary. As an alternative, she joked about tattooing on one of her butt cheeks “Property of Violet Evergreen.” I immediately and strongly disagreed with that. There’s no way I’d ever let her tattoo that kind of nonsense. Besides, if she did that, I’d have to do it too.

“How about tattooing the ring finger?” Mathilda asked.

That raised some questions in my mind. What would we do about the rings? How expensive is a ring? While my opinions about tattoos are a bit complicated, having a tattoo ring has its advantages, but how pricey would that be as an alternative?

“...Babe, calm down. I can see smoke start coming out of your ears.”

“Ah, sorry!”

“Frankly, you... Ever since Valentine’s you’ve been like that.”

It’s surprising how I’m still surprised by having her see right through me.

I asked why she hadn’t told me about it sooner, but she simply laughed and said that it made her happy to see me being so serious about it.

“...You already made plans about getting married, huh?”

The cat was out of the bag, so we admitted to it. Mathilda bragged about her relationship, now it was our turn.

“Well, this sucks,” Mathilda said with her arms crossed. “I want to be the bride’s maid, but there’s only one of me.”

Another thing for me to worry about, great. First, I should check if that was something civil marriages needed. As far as I was aware, we only needed two witnesses to sign the paper to make it official. All my worries until now have been how to ask the question, where I should ask, when exactly, and what guarantees I could provide Abby for the future.

“Well, I should be going now,” Abby told us as she got up. “Matilda, see if she doesn’t burn a fuse and doesn’t get too lonely until I come back tomorrow.”

“Bye, see you tomorrow,” Mathilda told Abby while covering her eyes. How nice of her.

It was a short kiss that Abby and I shared, and then I followed her with my eyes, them lingering on the door even after she had left.

“Butt or boobs?”

“Huh!?”

“Do you prefer butts or boobs?”

“Oh, give me a break!” I told her as I tossed my pillow at Mathilda.

True to Abby’s request, Mathilda was seemingly intent on keeping me too busy with her shenanigans to miss Abby too much or fill my head with worries. Thank goodness I now had friends to go on a school trip with.