Sam carries me up to the stairs before she puts me down on my feet.

“Awh, already?” I pout.

“I don’t want your cute ass to fall from the stairs.” she laughs and gives me a kiss on my cheek.

“That’s fair.” we start making our way downstairs towards the smoothie stall.

“Oh, after we get you your smoothie, I need to go past my locker for a second, if you want to join me.”

I nod. “What do you need to get from it?”

“I’ve made a go bag with some spare clothes and stuff, just in case I wanted to stay at your place for a longer period.” She smiles at me.

“O-oh.” I stutter, my face glowing red. “T-that’s pretty smart.”

“I know I just stayed at your place, but with what happened today I don’t really want you to feel lonely.”

I quickly give her a hug. “Thanks Sam. You’re a great girlfriend.”

“I know.” she smirks.

“You are too smug for your own good.” I stick out my tongue.

Sam laughs. “Well, you always give me these adorable reactions when I tease you. So why would I stop?” she pats me on the head, and scratches behind one of my invisible ears.

“Waaaah. Not there, I’ll start purriiiing…”

“See what I mean?” A big grin appears on her lips.

“Meanie!”

She gives me a kiss and takes my hand. “Let’s go before I make you melt on the staircase.”

I try to fake a pout but start laughing almost immediately after.

“You dork.” Sam starts laughing as well.

We soon after arrive at the smoothie stall.

“Oh? Back already?” The lady behind the counter recognizes me.

I nod.

“Something surprised her and it fell out of her hand when she was walking over to me.”

“Awh. Poor thing.” The lady turns around and starts working on a strawberry milkshake.

“I’ll give you a discount.”

“Oh, that’s very nice of you! Thanks!” Sam enthusiastically replies.

She quickly finished the milkshake and hands it over to me while Sam pays.

“You two are a lovely couple by the way.” I notice a pride pin on her uniform.

“T-thank you. A-are you also lesbian?” I ask with a bit of hesitation.

“Oh no, but my son and his partner just got married last week. I just love seeing that glow between two people who love each other, regardless of what type of relationship it is.”

Sam nods. “That’s true.”

“I’m happy your son has a mother like you.” I smile.

The lady smiles and nods “That’s sweet of you, I just do my best to be there for them.”

“We should probably not let your other customers waiting.” Sam smiles and takes my free hand.

“Feel free to come again anytime! I’m open from eight in the morning ‘till four in the afternoon.”

“I definitely will.” I wave the nice lady goodbye and Sam does the same.

When we walk away Sam looks at me with a slightly concerned look.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing, it’s just that talking about parents right now…”

I shake my head and look up to the sky. “Ah, I see… I’m not really sad about that, I’m honestly glad that there’s decent people out there who support their children like that lady… Not everyone is as sick as my parents and I’m happy for that. Like really happy.”

Sam nods. “I understand.”

“Also, your parents are equally as awesome.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Sam gives me a hug being taking care not to push the milkshake out of my hands . “You know they care about you too right?”

“I do.” I hug her back.

“That’s good. She smiles and releases me from the hug, leading me by my hand.

“By the way, where is your locker at?”

“Ah, It’s in the gymnasium, near the dressing rooms.”

“Am I allowed to go in?”

“I don’t see why not. It’s not like a laboratory with dangerous equipment and stuff. “As long as there’s no official tournament going it’s fine and even then, partners can always visit backstage.” She winks.

“Yay!”

We make our way through the parc towards the gymnasium, a couple of people sitting around on benches. Luckily the weather is still pretty nice, although I did hear someone talking about a thunderstorm that might be coming later this week.

“Are you enjoying your milkshake?” Sam takes a corner towards a side door of the gymnasium.

I nod. “It’s really good!”

“I’m happy to hear that.” She smiles and opens the door. “My locker is basically just around the corner.”

“Oki.”

When we turn the corner I see the lockers in the distance, another girl rummaging on her knees in one of them.

The girl hears us and turn her head in our direction. “Oh, hey cap!”

Sam waves at the girl as we approach. “Hey Max, what’s up?”

“Just getting my stuff ready for afternoon practice…” She looks over to me, brushing a strand of her shoulder length brown hair out of her face. “Oh hey, you are the girl who came to watch our game!”

-Now that she said it, she does look vaguely familiar.-

“She’s the one who was joking about me drooling over my girlfriend.” Sam explains to me.

“Oooh, right, I remember now.”

“Well was I wrong?” Max grins at Sam.

“N-not really…”

“Haha. I knew it!” She laughs out loud and quickly stands up. Now that she stands up, it’s quite obvious she is taller than Sam, almost 10 centimeters if I had to take a guess. “Nice to meet you, the name is Max.” she sticks out her hand.

“I’m Amicia, nice to meet you too.” I shake her hand with a smile.

She turns her attention back to Sam. “Are you here as well for afternoon training?”

Sam shakes her head. “No, I’m taking Amicia home, something happened with one of her family members.”

“Oh…” She looks back over to me. “I’m sorry to hear that…”

“Mhmmm. It’s just really exhausting.”

“Family problems always are.” Max sighs but quickly perks up again. “At least you have a great girlfriend to keep you company, right?”

I smile. “That’s true.”

This conversation suddenly has Sam blushing furiously. Quite a difference from her smuggy attitude earlier.

Max takes out a bag from her locker and closes its door. “I’ll tell the coach where you are then.”

“Thanks Max.”

“Eh, that’s what friends are for, right.” She smiles and throws her bag over her shoulder.

“See you tomorrow then?”

“Yep! See ya.”

“Oh, Amicia, just rest a bit, I’m sure everything will turn out fine. And before I forget, if you’ve got any juicy stories about Sam, be sure to tell them to me one day.”

“Will do!” I giggle.

“Oh, traitor!”

We all start laughing as Max waves goodbye.

“She looks like a nice girl.”

“Yeah, she is, she’s a huge tease and a prankster though. But her heart is made of pure gold.”

“I can tell.”

“Anyway, let me grab my stuff, it will only take a second.” Sam opens the locker a bit further down the hallway, quickly pulls out her bag and locks it again. “By the way, have you messaged your friends yet? It might be best to let them know you aren’t coming for afternoon classes otherwise they’ll be concerned.”

“Oh right! That’s not a bad idea.”

“And could I use your phone after that? Mine kinda broke when I punched your… the dickhead.”

“Ah, I see... Do you still have all the parts?”

“I think I do, unless something jumped out if it, why?” She takes out her phone from her pocket, it’s cracked so it only works on a small part of the screen.

I hover my hands over her phone and start channeling mana into it, and as I suspected the phone slowly but surely gets restored to its original condition.

“Wow, I didn’t know you could ‘heal’ objects.”

“Only when everything I need is present, I think.”

Sam nods “It’s still cool though.”

“Please don’t make a habit of punching people with your phone though, fixing it is pretty exhausting.”

She laughs and gives me a kiss. “I will try but I won’t promise anything.”

We head out towards the train station, with my milkshake almost empty, while I send a message to Hailey and Carol to tell them I won’t be joining them in the afternoon. After that’s done I send one to my sister and Nikki as well to notify them that Sam will be staying with us for a while.

“We understand.” Nikki quickly sends back. “After what you’ve been through today it’s probably best to have someone to hold you tight :) Can you ask Sam what she would like to eat so we can go and get it after we’re done with work.”

“What would you like for dinner Sam?”

“A purrito.” She squeezes my sides.

“Oh no stop!” I start laughing out loud. “I’m serious, what do you want.”

She stops for a second, letting me catch my breath. “A real burrito would be nice, or a chicken wrap or so? It’s pretty low effort to make so I don’t inconvenience you all too much. Heck I could prepare it all if you get me the ingredients.”

“That sounds nice, I’ll let them now.”

I send Sam’s reply and quickly get an answer back. “Chicken wraps it is! We’ll bring the chicken and the veggies, could you and Sam drop by the local market to get some paprika powder and garlic? We always forget to buy those things.”

“Sure thing!” I reply.

“Thank you! See you at home.”

“So, what’s the verdict?” Sam asks while putting her own phone away as well.”

“It’s a go, we just need to stop at the store close to our apartment to get some garlic and paprika powder.”

“Alright, let’s go.” My girlfriend takes my hand and walks with me towards the tram stop.

-Actually… Paprika would also be a cute name for a kitten…-