Just two more days and the best summer holidays of my life would begin. That wasn’t all that hard of an achievement when my previous summers were mostly me staying home or trying to do some work.

Last year, I began working as a waitress, but now I was thinking about quitting. I had Abby now, after all.

“Are you working tonight again?” she asked as she passed me the ball.

Our PE teacher told class to do whatever we wanted since it was the last day of that specific class. Abby and I took to practicing volleyball passes as that was the one sport I was semi-competent. Abby’s little hops with her arms extended were lovely to watch too.

“I am.”

“When do you think you’ll be coming home?”

“Hmm… probably late again.”

“I see.”

I should quit. My manager kept bothering me about my lip scar. It “gives a bad impression to the costumers,” he would say. What costumers he was referring to? Maybe the flies buzzing around my head as I stood around doing nothing else other than dying of boredom.

“You don’t need to wait up for me.”

“No, I’ll wait. I like greeting you at the door.”

She was so sweet. What did I do to deserve her?

I grabbed the ball, my arms having grown tired, and nodded Abby to come sit with me.

I felt a bump from behind. She had wrapped her arms around me and was smiling as I looked back.

I shrugged and kept walking. It was awkward, but the distance we had to walk to the corner of the gym and have a wall as a backrest was short, so I saw no point telling her to let go. I felt it was too stuffy, though. Summer is pain. I’d much prefer if it was cold all year round than being boiled alive in my own sweat.

Mmh, the wall feels cool.

If only I had something as refreshing on my forehead as I sat on the corner too.

“What should I prepare for you?” she asked, continuing our conversation while she placed her legs perpendicularly on my lap as she sat on the other side of the corner, us effectively forming a triangle.

“Anything is fine.”

“That so? I seem to remember a certain person telling me she can’t work with vagueness like that.”

“…You can put some of the leftover chicken from dinner in some bread along with whatever else you find in the kitchen.”

That satisfied her.

I placed a hand on her legs and moved it about, from her ankle to her knee. It felt prickly and sticky.

“…I need to shave them,” she said, shyly retracting them, folding the legs to the side farthest from me.

“Why not wax them?” I asked without thinking.

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

“Not really. Then again, I’m used to it.”

“I see… so you do wax them.”

She began drawing circles with the tip of her index on the floor. She was getting ready to ask me something outrageous, I gathered.

“Could you teach me how to do it?”

Or maybe not.

“If that’s what you want.”

“Yeah… I want them to be as soft as possible for… summer.”

I felt like it wasn’t for summer the real reason. Number one, we would now touch almost every day each other’s body, and number two, there was that pause and glance at me.

While it was nice having her taking such care to please me, I still didn’t want Abby to simply do things just for the sake of me.

“No, erm, I want to give it a try… my legs can feel very itchy at times, especially when wearing pants, plus sometimes there are cuts and ingrown hair. Do you have the same problem?”

I explained her I didn’t have those issues, but the skin would be very sensitive for a day or two. I was telling her about the process when a third wheel joined in.

“Personally, I pluck them,” Mathilda said. At least I thought that was her name. She sat in a position equidistant to us both. “Although, that has its own set of problems.”

I stared at her, unsure about what to say. Abby too seemed slightly displeased to have someone intrude in our conversation.

“Are you talking about depilation because you’re planning on going to the pool?”

“No, we are just talking,” said Abby.

I still had to gather courage and invite her for that.

“Violet would benefit from going,” the interloper commented with a nod. “She has lovely skin, but a bit more colour would only make her look even better.”

“Erm… t-thanks?”

Abby moved a bit closer to me. I don’t think it was as much for emotional support as it was to mark her territory.

“Do you use sunblock?”

“Y-yeah… otherwise I’d get sunburnt when outside.”

“So, that’s why you’re still wearing pants and a jacket.”

I was feeling shy from having so much attention on me, so it was now me scooting over to Abby. We weren’t touching yet, but there was only a palm’s width between our shoulders.

“…Fufu, you two look so cute together,” she giggled, pointing at us.

“T-thanks, but we aren’t dating,” Abby said, leaning towards the opposite side I sat.

“Ah, I didn’t mean to insinuate anything. I just really thing you two look cute together. You know, with one being shorter and peppier, while the other is taller and more serious. Although, I get the feeling that when it’s just the two of you, Violet isn’t as serious as she looks. In fact, I’d say she can get very clingy and sweet.”

That was her feeling, and the way I was blushing was her confirmation.

“Aww, not I feel like I ended up intruding when I only wanted to chat with someone while my friends finish their stupid game. Sorry for that,” she said, standing up and offering her hand for us to shake. “Let’s meet up during summer break to hang out, the three of us, hmm? It will be fun.”

“Erm, sure,” Abby said.

I wasn’t too sure if it would be fun to have a third wheel. If we were in school? It was a maybe. Outside of it though? No. That was our time together, just the two of us.

“She said we should hang out, but she didn’t give us her contact.”

“I have it.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I… hmm… you’re not jealous.”

“Erm, why should I?”

Because the girl I liked had some other girl’s phone number when she likes girls and also me back? Before I knew how Abby felt, I’m sure my insecurities would kick in and make me jealous, but knowing how she liked me removed them. I’d even argue that I was now more confident in myself.

Abby, however, seemed slightly disappointed I wasn’t. She was so troublesome at times.

“…Maybe I’m a bit jealous, yes,” I lied, the embarrassment I felt selling it as truth.

“I only have it for emergencies and stuff, nothing else,” she explained.

“I see… yeah, that makes sense.”

She had no idea I liked her back, so maybe seeing me getting jealous over stupid stuff like this made her happy? It seemed like it.

“Violet?” she asked, smiling and placing her shoulder against mine.

“Yes?” I asked, pulling her waist and closing the gap between us completely.

“You weren’t jealous at all, were you?”

I should have expected for Abby to see right through me, yet there I was, red as a tomato after she caught me.

“Hehe, silly. Doing stuff like that just to make me smile.”

“S-shut up.”

“I will… If you hold my hand.”

“But… I’m already holding your waist.”

“Hand,” she repeated, wriggling the fingers of the hand on her lap.

We had our legs bent, blocking the view, and were sat far away from the rest of our class, so I gave in to her request.

Urgh, this feels so stuffy.

It also felt very nice, so I held for as long as I could until I couldn’t bear with it any longer.

“Violet! Violet!” she called out, slightly behind me.

“Yes, yes, that’s my name! What is it?”

“Kitty cat!”

She was pointing at a scrawny little thing in a small cardboard box by the wayside. It was dark grey with darker stripes, a big head with big ears and eyes fixed on the girl crouching in front of it.

“Abandoned, huh?”

“Yeah… Poor thing, don’t you think?”

Indeed it was. It was a shame how someone had the heart to abandon it.

“Can we keep it?”

“Huh!?”

“Please?”

“Abby, look… the thing is…”

“Please?”

It was hard enough to have her plead with her puppy eyes, but it became impossible once the darn thing let out the most affection starved meow it could possibly do.

“Haah, for starters, what do you mean “we”? It has to stay in one of our houses.”

“Yours, actually. My building forbids pets.”

So, I’ll have to be the one taking care of it.

“But Violet, since we practically live together, it’s basically as if it was us adopting it! And I’ll help! I’ll pay for the food! And the sand for his toilet! And the vet too!”

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“…Haah, why do you even want it so much?”

“Because… He’s kinda like us, isn’t he? He’s lonely and doesn’t have his mummy.”

“…”

That girl, she had a way to pull my heartstrings.

“It’s a boy?”

“Yup. See?”

She picked it up in a way which allowed me to confirm it. Yup, it was a boy, all right.

“…Haah, fine. Let me check with dad first,” I told her, taking out my phone.

“Sure, I’m ok with it,” was his answer.

Abby was delighted with the news, and so was I in a way.

When we got home, dad was already there with a plastic bag.

“Just to be safe, let’s spray it with this.”

Abby asked what it was. Flee spray.

He took it outside while we checked what else was in the bag. He had gone and gotten all we needed. We were checking the receipt when we heard dad’s voice. Had he been scratched? We thought that, and rushed outside. Once there, we saw the cat struggling and meowing on one of his hands while he looked down to his feet, some expletive words being tossed around.

He had white trousers on, but the area around his ankles was covered in a black moving mass.

“Its body weight was practically flees!” he cried out, giving it another spray. It was bit of an overstatement, but it appeared it wasn’t that far from the truth.

“Abby, to the shower! Now!” I told her, guessing he had passed some of them to her.

“Here! Take it with you and give it a bath while you’re at it,” my father told her.

With her showering and her clothes in the washer, I crumbled on the couch, feeling exhausted by the heat and what had transpired.

“Want a cold one?” dad asked, now wearing shorts.

“Dad, I’m sixteen.”

“So? I had my first beer at your age.”

“…”

I extended a hand. I had just a sip, a very small one. Only a drop, really. Honestly, it wasn’t that bad. In fact, I found it kinda pleasant. I did like bitter things after all. If I were Abby on the other hand, I’m guessing my face would have imploded into my mouth. That’d be fun to watch.

“Hmm… I can’t wait to turn eighteen.”

Sitting with Abby on the couch after a long day, open a bottle of wine and drink it with her while we talk about our jobs. Well, I’d complain about my job and Abby about how boring classes in university were. She’d probably drink juice too. For some reason, I couldn’t quite picture her drinking alcoholic beverages. Would she be ok without me to make her company in classes? I mean, she would, but her assiduity before we met wasn’t exemplar, so the future got me worried.

“There, it’s your turn to take care of our child.”

We weren’t even dating and we already had a baby? Great.

I took it out of her hands, noticing how fluffy and hot he felt to the touch, but also…

“Abby, put on some clothes,” I told her.

“Violet, please. Your dad sees me as his daughter, and the towel doesn’t show more than what he’s used to see.”

“I don’t care, that’s not clothing. And what if it gets caught on something and drops?”

“Urgh, fine.”

“Meow.”

“Right, the cat.”

Things would get messier for me wouldn’t they?

I popped open one of the cans of cat food and set the bowl destined for him on the floor. As I crouched with the miniature cat crying around me in anticipation as he smelled the food, I was faced with a dilemma. How much food was too little and too much?

The can didn’t say anything, but it was a very small can, and not only wouldn’t he shut up, but he was also starting to climb my skirt and scratching my legs, so I deposited the whole can on the bowl. The way he jumped on the food was sad. How long had it been since he last ate?

“…Kinda reminds me of her.”

“Hehe, because I’m small, cute and needy?” she asked from behind me. I’d have turned and smacked heads with Abby hadn’t I noticed her breath hitting my ear. She had put on one of my shirts that hid her bottoms.

Just to confirm, I asked her if she put on some shorts or something. Her answer was flipping the bottom of the shirt, confirming she had indeed gotten properly dressed.

“Ok then… And to answer your question, you both are gluttons too.”

“Humph. Your food is just that good,” she puffed, straightening up. “Listen, we have to figure out a name. Ideas?”

I never had to name anything, but remembering his olive eyes, the name Oliver came to mind. Is that being original, or is it being lazy? I guess it doesn’t matter in the end, only that she liked the idea, and thus, the small fur ball was baptised Oliver.

“Violet! Let’s watch a horror movie next time you have a night free!” she said, immediately after giving her approval of the name.

“Huh!? Where did that come from?”

“Come on! It’s going to be fun!”

“Nuh-huh. Every time we do, I have to walk you to the bathroom during the night because you can’t go alone nor sleep.”

“That happened only once!” she protested. True, it happened only that first time we had a sleepover. It still didn’t sway my opinion on the matter. You can look cool while I cuddle with you in fear, she then hummed, like that was a great argument.

“Pass.”

“Oh come on! At least make a pause like you do when you’re considering my stupid suggestions!”

“…Pass.”

“Tsk. Meanie. What if it’s a dark comedy?”

“Oh, he ate everything!”

“Don’t ignore me!”

I normally wouldn’t, but I was in the mood for teasing her.

Oliver was licking his whiskers with a haste I assumed meant he liked the food. He now also had a huge belly mounted on a skinny frame, making it look weird. I did give him too much food.

“You gave him too much food,” Abby echoed my thoughts. “Although, he looks like he’d eat more if we gave him.”

“He had to take after you, huh?”

She looked at me, at first serious, but an enamoured grin began forming on her face as she crouched by me and rested her head sideways on her knees.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said with a shrug. “I was just thinking something really nice.”

It felt like a trap, her not specifying what it was that she was thinking, so I didn’t ask despite feeling very curious. I had an inkling of an idea from her expression, but Abby being Abby, I could be completely sidelined by some other reason I wasn’t expecting.

“Did it scratch you?” I asked, referring to the bath she gave him.

“Nope, he’s a very well-behaved boy.”

She picked him up and held it to her chest. He started purring and kneading her bust.

“Hehe. He had to take after you, hmm?” she said, giving me a mischievous smile.

“A-Abby,” I whined.

She pulled me by the shoulder and smooched my burning cheek.

“Come back home early tonight, and I’ll let you do the same he’s doing,” she whispered before standing up and walking away.

“…Haah, that girl…” I sighed, taking my glasses off and hiding my face on my knees.

If she was bold enough to tell me that kind of stuff, why not just confess already!?

It’s fine! It’s fine, you have all Summer to confess to her yourself.

That Summer would be the one in my life I’d feel the most heat, and it sure wouldn’t be from the air temperature.

◊◊◊

I never was very patient. I wasn’t patient at all when it came to waiting for Violet to get back home.

Without her there, I was like a puppy, sitting at the door, waiting for her owner to come back. Not that I actually sat at the door, I wasn’t that dependent on Violet’s company. No, my usual waiting spot was on the couch, watching something to try and keep the boredom at bay, mostly unsuccessful. And the heat of the house… It was hard to believe that just a few months ago we’d be freezing in there. Even I, who never was bothered by the temperature, had to admit, it was a bit extreme.

The fact I was feeling all icky from sweat shortly after having taken a shower wasn’t helping the time to go by faster, but even worse, she was late.

A very common occurrence, sadly and probably illegally, but a common occurrence, nonetheless. This time I was feeling on edge because it was approaching half an hour beyond her, now normal, arriving time. Just a few more minutes and it’d be a quarter past midnight.

I tried calling for the third time, but she wasn’t answering, raising my concerns even further. I was about to get up and get Stan when someone started struggling with opening the front door.

I got up and checked on it.

“You didn’t have to wait for me,” Violet said once she shut the door and turned around, seeing me walking down the corridor towards her. She was slightly slumping, and had a very tired, irritated expression.

“I was worried. Why didn’t you answer the phone?”

“You did? Sorry, I had it in silence,” she explained while unceremoniously kicking her shoes to the side before taking it out of her pants’ pocket. “Didn’t you read my text?”

“Nope, and I’ve been staring at it all—”

“Haah, never mind. I thought I sent it, but I must have misclicked.”

She showed me said text. It was a short message, but one which would have helped me feel more at ease with her tardiness. And despite Violet telling me in said text she’d be late and for me not to wait for her, I wouldn’t do the latter anyway. Being there to greet her at arrival was one of my privileges and pleasures.

And speaking of which…

“Well, I’m just glad you’re finally home,” I told her, getting on the tips of my toes while pulling her down by the shoulders to kiss her face.

Once I got my heels down, I noticed she was clinging to my clothes. She was doing her usual expression of being in deep thought about something while staring directly at my eyes.

“Erm… can we sit down for a moment before we go anywhere else?” she asked, dragging her voice, sounding a bit coarse all of a sudden.

“Sure,” I told her, feeling a bit unnerved by her strange request.

I watched her turn around and dropping her body down, sitting very ungracefully on the floor. She tapped the space between her legs where she wished for me to sit.

This was all very unusual for her to do. Sitting at the entrance, kicking her shoes off instead of setting them aside neatly, having a fight with the door to open it. Something must have happened at work for her to be this upset.

“Could you hold these for me?” she asked when I sat, handing me her glasses.

With nothing on her face that could hurt me or get bent, she pressed her face on the back of my head, taking a deep breath and letting out a deep sigh as she wrapped tightly my waist.

“You smell nice,” she told me, her voice coming out muffled.

“Thanks. I showered again after you left.”

“I see. I should get one too.”

“…By the way, my hair has been getting long, hasn’t it? Do you think I should have it trimmed down a bit?”

It took her some time to do anything, but when she did, it was combing my hair with her fingers.

“I think so. It’d be fluffier that way.”

“Hehe, ok. I’ll go to the hairdresser then. Same length as before?”

“…Don’t cut your hair just because of me,” she told me, leaning over so we’d be face to face.

“I’m not. Hearing you saying you like my hair fluffier makes me happy, so…”

“…I see…”

She wasn’t blushing nearly half as much as I’d have liked when she got back to hiding her face, but she was starting to get into a better mood.

“…I got yelled at by my manager twice, and from a client too.”

“Oh? Why?” I asked, placing my hands over hers.

“…My manager wants me to wear lipstick to hide the scar. He practically asked if I was stupid for not wearing it already.”

“Well… why don’t you wear it and save yourself the hassle?”

That was, after all, what she’d normally do. Avoid things that are trouble. The exception being me, of course.

She got a bit mad at me for even asking that, showing it by her body tensing up and the look she gave me.

“Why should I?”

I swallowed hard under that question.

She shouldn’t. It was a scar she was very proud of, and in my opinion, not so noticeable that it warranted hiding it from sight.

“I’m not saying you should,” I told her while caressing her lip. “Please, don’t be mad at me.”

My plea dissolved her anger, and she got back to being very tender, holding my hand as she kissed the back of it while apologising for her outburst.

“And the second time and the client?”

“Doesn’t matter now,” she said with a shrug. “The guest forgot to ask for his steak to be well done and got upset at me for it. Then, the manager joined in.”

“Wait, he yelled at you in from of a client?”

“Yeah. Never mind that, I’m done talking about today.”

“Sure thing miss. Anything else you wish to talk about?”

She leaned to the side again, our eyes meeting. She was again in deep thought, but the way she was slightly blushing promised me something good was about to happen.

She began by smooching my temple very gingerly, testing the waters. When I smiled back at her and leaned my head in an offering way, she got more serious with her osculation.

“Pfft, hehe! Violet, no,” I hushed giggly while she was kissing my neck, giving me tickles, and her hands starting to get frisky. “I’m all sweaty and we are way too much in the open.”

“I don’t care,” she hushed back, her breath tickling my ear. “And the stairs for my dad’s bedroom creek like crazy during the summer.”

Maybe having teased her with promises of groping me once she got back from work wasn’t that good of an idea. She might have been thinking it over and over in her head for the past four hours and now was a bit too into it. Not that I was against it. Not at all.

“Ah! Ah-ahaha, no, don’t nibble my neck! All right, we are stopping here,” I told her while pulling her hands away from under my top. “I don’t think we should be doing this sort of thing here with me making so much noise with my laughter. Plus, we still have school tomorrow—rather, today, and you still have to eat, shower and get ready for bed.”

“Haah, fine.”

She said the words, but she wasn’t doing the action. She simply stayed slumped over my back, reluctant to move.

“…We can continue in bed.”

“…We better not.”

“Pfft, hehe. Yeah. We better not.”

“…Thanks for waiting for me. And cheering me up.”

“Don’t mention it. You do the same for me every time I need it too.”

After this little exchange, we didn’t talk much besides short phrases about the food I made for her, telling one another what one would be doing while the other did something else, and then we bid each other a good night.

During all that time, I watched her closely. Her long, unenergetic and uncoordinated moves, her uncertain step, the way she was practically falling asleep while eating the sandwich I prepared for her, and her unwavering stoicism as she striped down to her panties and got in bed without a single blush or hesitation. She was completely burned out of any energy. I had seen her tired many time. Too many, in fact. And that made me make a decision.

She was incredibly hard to get out of bed in the morning when she was well rested. The way Violet was presenting herself that night, it’d be impossible to get her out and about unless I dragged her. So, I decided I wouldn’t.

It was the last day of school, who cared if we missed it? No one, and she’d get some much-needed sleep.

Morning came, I woke up a bit before her alarm went off, and set my hand hovering over it as I started my countdown. The thing didn’t even had a chance of ringing. With that part of the mission completed, I proceeded to get us two water bottles from the fridge. Even with the fan on, her room was too hot, and with how much we sweated during the night, we always woke up parched. Now I only had to wait for her to wake up naturally.

I laid on my side facing her, elbow bent and hand supporting my head as I watched her sleep.

My Violet was a peaceful sleeper, but not exactly a pretty one. Her hair was all tangled up and sticking to her face, making her look like that girl from the movie in which she comes out of the television after you put a cursed tape rolling. Terrifying, and yet, I still found her beautiful.

Twelve hours after we got to bed, she finally woke up.

She moaned, stretched her body in a very lazy fashion and rubbed her eyes after noticing me staring.

“Abby, I told you already. Don’t watch me sleep.”

“Hehe, but it’s so peaceful.”

“Haah, even so. Come here.”

She was either still half asleep, or she had indeed grown bolder the past few weeks as she was pulling me for a tight hug straight out of the gates.

“What time is it?” she asked after downing almost half of the two-litre bottle I had handed her.

“There’s still time if you want to sleep some more.”

“Hmm… I’d rather chat with you then.”

“Hehe, that so? About what?” I asked while trying to tame the mess that was her morning hair.

“Erm, dunno. What did you dream about?”

“Me? Erm… I forgot. You?”

“I, erm… I forgot too.”

I didn’t forget, and I had the hunch she hadn’t either. I just couldn’t tell her what I had dreamt about us doing. If she had the same kind of dream as me, I didn’t know for sure, but she was looking a bit flushed. It could very well just be an embarrassing but still rated for all ages dream since we are talking about her.

You know the problem about lies? It’s that, eventually, the truth comes out.

After some more banter about inconsequential stuff, she had the need to use the toilet. That was when she noticed the time.

“Ah! We are so late! Hold up… You lied!?”

“I had to, otherwise you’d drag your carcass to school, wouldn’t you?”

“…Well…”

She wanted to argue, but she knew it was true what I said about her stubbornness and all that water she had previously drank was making her do a weird dance which involved rubbing her knees together until sparks flew out while she bouncing up and down. For how long had she been holding it in, just because she didn’t want to get up?

I was completely taken by surprise when she kinda lunged at me, setting her hands over mine as I held my body up on the bed and gave me a quick peck to the cheek.

“Just this time,” she blurted before shuffling her way out of the bedroom.

It looked like I was forgiven and our summer began a bit earlier, and oh, what a summer it would be!