A few days passed after that.

Sam noticed that Judy's behaviour wasn't any different from before, if anything she seemed even more hell-bent on getting close to her, but what was different was that while before it was obvious that she was making advances on her, right than she seemed concentrated on being more of a friend.

She still tried her best to get to know her, trying to spend most of their time in the shop together, but for some reason, Sam just didn't feel as if Judy was doing it from a romantic front anymore, it was more of a person trying his best to be a good friend.

For Sam, that was surprising, she felt weird at first, and of course, with Brittney still in the picture there was also worry and some stress, but then, as time passed and as she became more and more sure that this time Judy seemed more concentrated on being a friend rather than a love interest, those thoughts, stress and worry became less and less.

There was a bit of fear because Brittney had been jealous of Sam's friends before, but it was small.

She started loving spending time with Judy, finding being with her relaxing, happy and funny.

At first, she thought that it might be just Judy trying another approach after she was rejected, but with time, she became sure, there really was nothing under the surface, Judy really seemed as if she was trying to be a friend for her.

The first time she realized that she was having a bath after work, and as soon as those thoughts hit her, tears fell without her control, she didn't even know why she cried, she just did, but after she was done and looked at the mirror, she found herself smiling.

Before she knew it, Judy became an important part of her life.

She would expect to see her each time she opens the door to the shop, bring with her reminded Sam of feelings she almost forgot...

She still had worry and fear about what would Brittney think if she knew about Judy, but with each passing day they decreased by a bit, just a bit but they were decreasing.

Things went like that for a while till finally, something changed.

Sam opened the door to the shop as always, she greeted the manager who was sitting behind the counter before heading to the staffroom to change.

She didn't find Judy there but she didn't care much as there were times when Judy was late.

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Leaving the staffroom she saw the manager talking on the phone:

"...ok... No it's alright just take care of yourself... Ok, get well."

The manager turned after hanging up and looked at Sam who had a questioning expression:

"That was Judy just now, she said that she's not feeling well and that she won't be coming to work today."

"Judy..." Sam murmured to herself with a blank expression before asking worriedly:

"Ho- How is she? Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she said that it will get better soon, nothing to worry about." The manager said while patting Sam, then she added:

"I can help you today or we can ask for Alex of Robin to join us, work in the evening is easier than now, what do you think?"

"I think just us will be fine, there's no need to call them."

It wasn't the first time Sam worked alone with only her and the manager in the shop, and even though she used to find it a bit hard, she never felt anything else.

Yet, that time she felt bored and she kept on spacing out, for many times she turned her head to look at the place where Judy usually stayed, she felt that her shift that day was longer and tiering, way more than usual.

When it was finally the end of her shift, she sighed as she left the shop, while taking the first few steps out she stopped in her place hesitating for a while before sighing again and leaving with her head lowered.

For the rest of the day she found herself way less energetic than the last few days.

The next day she pushed open the door to the shop with expectations, yet she was told after asking the manager that Judy was still ill, she even told her that Judy sounded worst than the day before.

Just Judy not being there already made her on edge, after she knew that she was getting worst, she couldn't even concentrate on her job right.

This time after her shift ended, she hesitated for a long time while looking at the manager before finally sighing, turning around and leaving with a heavy heart.

She wanted to go and see Judy, she wanted to make sure that she was alright, and to show her that she cared about her.

But Brittney never liked her going to her friend's houses, and she was sure that she wouldn't accept it, Brittney had made it clear on more than one occasion that she wasn't allowed to do that, so going against her directly was quite a hard thing for to do.

So in the end she could only return home with a worried heart.

The next day when she reached the shop the first thing she did was ask the manager about Judy, she told her that she didn't even call that day.

Sam's heart skipped a beat when she heard that.

The manager said that because it was the third day and she was worried that Sam might have got tired from working on her own for the last few days, she had called Robin and asked her to come for the morning shift too, she wanted to call Alex because she was used to walking with Sam, but she knew that that girl must be still asleep or half died so she could only change her mind and call Robin.

The day soon passed, and not without Sam making a few mistakes and spacing out for most of it.

After her shift ended she headed to the door, opened it and left.

But soon the door was pushed open as she walked to the manager and asked:

"He- Hey manager... Can... Can you tell me Judy's address..."

Her voice was trembling, her hands clenched and her heart was beating fast, but her eyes showed her determination...