Despite it already being the Summer holiday, Abby and I were still out and about like we were going to school. The plan was to get to Mathilda’s while it’s relatively cool and we’d stay there most of the day until the harsh sun started to set.

Abby’s previous sourness had mostly been replaced by mischief, an occasional snicker and impish grin coming out of her as we walked. I too would act the same when I saw that, feeling like I was going to get some payback.

“Almost there!” she applauded once Mathilda's home came into view.

I told Abby to go easy on her, not really meaning it, and knowing she’d never go too far.

She stuck out her tongue and, since I laughed, proceeded to make funny faces to make me laugh some more.

I was almost touching the doorbell while telling her to stop when the door was flung open.

The person I came face to face was Stephen. His hair was messy, and he looked like he had put on his clothes in a hurry. He looked shocked to see us, but not exactly surprised.

“Don’t just stand—Gah! They are already here!”

Behind him, rushing down the stairs while trying to put on her shorts was Mathilda, looking as messy as her boyfriend. Seeing her hopping on one leg while trying to make her way down the stairs without falling got me worried enough to shout at her to stop.

“Morning, girls,” Stephen told us as he rushed past us, barely giving us time to reply.

Turning back to look inside, it was just in time for Mathilda to slam the door in our faces.

As cussing and cursing came from the other side of the door, I looked at Abby. She returned my look and made a very exaggerated surprised face, her mouth forming a big “oh!” that she theatrically hid behind a hand, and her brows arched up.

Jokes aside, it had been a big surprise to catch them so red-handed. I certainly wasn’t expecting to come across such a show. I also couldn’t decide whether I should apologise for having perhaps interrupted them, or keep that to myself since Mathilda knew very well we’d be coming to her place at that hour.

“Sorry about that!” Mathilda told us after opening the door and ushering us in. She was looking more composed looks wise, but still very flustered. “I forgot to set the alarm last night and we overslept.”

“So, he did spend the night here,” I mindlessly hummed.

She returned my comment with a hummed “yes,” looking rather red around the cheeks and combing a strand of hair behind an ear. She had a shy but pleased smile that, combined with the rest, was very captivating. Still, even if I say that, it still paled in comparison with Abby. I’m sure Stephen would disagree with that assessment, as he should.

She took us to the living room and Abby and I sat on the couch opposite to Mathilda’s. I’m sure it was fine, but I still wondered for a second if it was safe sitting there.

Abby on the other hand opened my legs and sat between them, crossing her arms and legs as she glared at our friend. I had almost forgotten that she’d be pretending to be mad at Mathilda.

She clutched her knees and looked down at them, offering her most sincere apologies for having taken off my shirt. She explained that there had been no ulterior motives and only realised she had crossed a line she shouldn’t have once she saw my face after the fact. She also promised she’d never do anything like that again unless we asked for her help.

“Hmm, I guess I’ll accept your apologies,” Abby said dryly. “And if you ever do that again... I guess I’ll cut off Stephen’s thingy.”

Mathilda looked up surprised. Seeing that Abby and I were smiling with sadistic glee, she sighed and tumbled on her side.

“Haah, so you weren’t angry at all.”

“I was just a bit. And I’m dead serious, I’ll chop off Stephen’s thingy if you do anything like that again.”

“Why!?”

“Humph! You know why.”

Mathilda chuckled as her face slowly returned to the same shy expression she previously had. She sat up, entangling her fingers, pressing her hands between her knees, and hanging her head down.

“...Yesterday, he came by,” she began in a slightly nervous voice. “He told me his dad asked him to give him a hand around the workshop for the next couple of weeks and as a result, he wouldn’t have much time to spend with me, so he came by...”

She got quiet after that, but we didn’t have to hear the rest to know what had happened. Occasionally, she’d move her head and I could see her nervous smile as she reminescended what events happened last night.

“Did it hurt?”

“Abby!”

“What? It’s a legitimate question!”

I still thought it was too much, but I understood why she was asking.

Mathilda willingly answered, however, telling Abby that it had been only a little at the beginning.

“Not that you two had to worry about that, right?” she joked at the end.

Abby briefly looked up at me. I shook my head and that was the end of that topic.

“So? What did you want to talk to us about?” I asked.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter now,” Mathilda said. “I wanted to ask you for tips about how to set the mood between me and Stephen to take the next step, but it solved itself. Now, I’m more interested in knowing how your first time was.”

“Nuh-uh. No way.”

“But I answered you one question about mine!”

Abby looked up again, this time to silently say sorry to me.

If I said no again, Mathilda would never let me live it out.

“Haah... ours... was outside,” I reluctantly said.

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Out of all the things I could tell, that was the single one I felt minimally comfortable sharing.

“Yeah, the mattress broke, so we camped outside.”

“Let’s all go camping!” Mathilda shouted with a jump.

Why was I even worrying? That girl can flip around to a different subject faster than Abby.

Abby said it could be fun. We just needed to find a nice spot with plenty of shade and maybe also close to water for us to bathe and play in.

My immediate question was how expensive it’d be to get the sleeping bags, tents, and everything else.

“I think my sis has a tent we can borrow,” Mathilda said. “And since it's summer, any cheap tent should do if I’m wrong.”

“And with how hot it is, we can just get two foam mats and a sheet from home,” Abby added. “I’ll want good meat to take though. Grilled meat while camping is all that summer is about.”

And according to her, so is eating ice cream with her feet dipped in water, watching horror movies, watching her girlfriend in a bikini, hugging me while still sweaty from one of our walks, and so on. And like all of those examples, I wasn’t going to say no to her, only that I was about to start my new job and needed some time to see what my schedule would be.

“Fine by me,” Mathilda said with a shrug. “Stephen will be busy for the next two weeks anyway.”

“And Mathew?”

“Probably grinning for a new tank in his stupid game or something,” she answered in the same nonchalant manner. “Taking a break from that for a day or two is something that even he might be thankful for.”

“Sounds more like a job than a game to me.”

Mathilda nodded her agreement with me but still complimented her cousin’s drive.

When the sun began to set, we bid Mathilda farewell and set our route home. My eyes were a bit tired from watching so many movies, but I enjoyed them thoroughly. There’s something about old black-and-white movies that newer ones are missing. Maybe it’s the nostalgia they evoked despite them being from a time far before I was even born.

“Babe?”

“Yes, honey?”

“...No... Never mind.”

Never mind my foot. The face Abby was wearing told me she was mulling over something. Pushing into talking could work, but I'd try a softer approach before that.

It was still a bit stuffy, but the setting sun gave off a nice golden glow to the sky and there was a very gentle breeze, so I suggested we stop at a park before really going home. I even got us some ice cream to better cool down.

“You know... I’ve been feeling a bit jealous over Mathilda,” Abby admitted as she paused from licking her strawberry-flavoured treat.

“About what?” I asked, already having an idea.

“...Hearing that it hurt a bit to you two makes me feel like a bit of a fake. And a bit robbed too, I suppose.”

“Well, I never thought about it like that, not even once. As for you having been robbed... I don’t think you should attach so much value to something that, for me at least, only lasted for a few minutes and felt like a bit of a hindrance.”

“I know, but...”

She got quiet and resumed licking her ice cream, still staring into the emptiness as she thought. I really couldn’t offer any words that could make her change her mind, but perhaps a trip down memory lane would help her cheer up.

“...Fufu! Remember how clunky we were on our first try?” I asked.

“Pfft, hehe! Yeah,” she said, changing her focus to me with a nostalgic smile. “We kept saying sorry and bumping our heads because we thought about kissing at the same time.”

“And how you cried from how happy you were?”

“I-I wasn’t crying! And you weren’t acting much cooler than me either!”

“Fufu, yeah! I was feeling so embarrassed and worried about making weird noises.”

“...It’s been almost a year since then, huh?” Abby hummed, looking a bit happier as she hugged my arm and started giving her ice cream tiny nibbles.

Almost a year since we had our first time and made it official... that made me decide when to present her with the ring. There’d be no better day on the calendar for such an occasion.

I felt her poking my face and when I looked at Abby, she bumped her cone on my nose, leaving something for her to lick clean. Her eyes were gleaming with a mix of playfulness and infatuation.

“You’ve just come up with a nice idea, didn’t you?” she asked softly.

I had indeed come up with a nice idea, but she’d have to wait to find out. Not that I thought for even a second that she didn’t already know what had crossed my mind. I’m sure she did, so that was why she simply giggled and said she could barely wait for it.

“You know what? I might not have hurt physically then, but just thinking about how much I cried during it, that’s painfully embarrassing enough in its own way to make up for it.”

“Pfft, fufu! I still think it was adorable.”

She stuck her tongue out and got back to eating, there not being a single dark cloud hovering over her.

♥♥♥

I keep saying this, but one of the best things about Violet is how understanding and supportive she is. That made me want to move heaven and earth if that made her happy.

Just then, at the park, I didn’t have to say what was bothering me for her to pick it up and get me in a better mood. So what if my hymen had been torn by my mum’s beatings? Some other girls have that happening to them due to vigorous exercises, or even from riding a bicycle. It certainly didn’t make my first time with Violet any less special.

“Pfft, hehe.”

“Hmm? What are you laughing about?” Violet asked, sounding very drowsy.

I told her it was nothing instead of what had crossed my mind. Papa Stan and Sophie were sitting by us so telling her that I was thinking how having had our first time during winter would have been a whole other experience due to how cold her hands get.

She wasn’t convinced, but she took my answer and just rolled with it. With how sleepy she was looking, I doubted she’d remember to ask me about it again.

“Come on sleepy head, let’s go to bed,” I told her as I got up from my spot in her lap and pulled her up along with me. The teeth were brushed and we had used the toilet just a while ago, so it was straight to bed with us so she could sleep her mandatory ten hours.

“You two can now snog all you want,” I told my sister’s ear after kissing her goodnight as a farewell.

“You and I are gonna have words later,” she glared.

“I’m just saying that you should make it worth what little time you have until you need to go home.”

She twisted and turned her puckered lips, now thinking that I did have a point.

I was going to tease her more, but Violet pulled me into a hug from behind and told me to leave my sister alone.

“Humph. If my wifey says so,” I singsonged, taking the opportunity to now tease her instead.

Placing my hands over her arms so she wouldn’t let go, I walked us to “the oven”. We had left the door and window wide open with a fan on to force more air to flow through, so it wasn’t all that bad.

It’s not that bad in here,” Violet commented as she started to undress after I closed the door.

I sat on the bed to enjoy the show. With how sleepy she was, I doubted I’d get any action tonight, so I’d watch her very carefully. At least that was the plan, but I got distracted thinking about how lucky I was with her.

“What?” she asked as she approached me.

“I lucked out with you,” I told her as I kissed her tummy.

“Fufu, I wonder if it’s not the other way around,” she giggled as she hugged my head. “Need help undressing?”

I shot up my arms in the air, happy to have her pamper me while she was happy to oblige.

Once done, I hugged and pulled her into bed, us getting settled for the night. My head on her shoulder, a leg across her body and her arms around me in a gentle hug. Soon after, she was deep asleep while I enjoyed the sound and movement of her breathing.

As I idled there, I also thought about our future camping trip in the woodland surrounding part of our town. I knew a few spots, only in the periphery. I don’t think the others were more knowledgeable than me about that either, so perhaps it was a good idea to do some exploring on those days Violet was working? It’d beat just sitting around the house like a dog waiting for her master.

“Mmh,” Violet moaned, rotating her body slightly towards me and holding me tighter as she nuzzled me in her sleep.

I gave her a very gentle kiss on her lips, careful not to be one that’d wake her up, and whispered that I loved her so much, it almost hurt at times. Violet didn’t answer of course, but she tightened even more her hold of me and completely got on her side as she mumbled something that had bits sounding like “love” and my name.

“Hehe, and you say that I’m the adorable one,” I whispered as I closed my eyes to join her in dreaming. It sure would be nice if we could inhabit the same dream as we sleep.