Bitter (wlw) (teacherxstudent)

eighty-four

"Yeah. And I kind of enjoy it anyway" I said.

"Exactly, you'll be fine. We really should get up"

"I don't want to" I clinged to her.

"I'll make pancakes"

"Oh. Really?"

"Yeah. You just said today is a special occasion"

"Okay, then. Thank you" I smiled, moving so I could properly kiss her. "Call me when they're ready"

"You sure you won't fall asleep again in the meantime?"

"I'll try not to"

"Fine" she laughed, kissing me again before she got up.

Even when she'd walked out of the room, the smile on my lips never faded. I was feeling extremely grateful for Sam, and for how my life had been turning out in general.

I was really enjoying college, all my new classes were topics I was actually interested in and I was eager to learn about. Me and Mei had also gotten to know a bunch of new people in the course and we actually started to hang out with them outside class too, which was great.

I'd been lucky with my new job too, and it turned out working in a bookshop was less stressful than in a cafè. A job where I barely had to interact with people was more ideal for someone as introverted as me. And the staff was made of really nice and kind people. They'd all been working there for a long time but everyone was welcoming and taught me everything I needed to know with great enthusiasm.

I hadn't heard from my parents ever since I'd left in August, but I didn't even feel sad about it. I felt relieved, more than anything. Which I knew wasn't probably a good thing, but I couldn't really blame myself. As much as I sometimes wished I could have a normal family I could count on, I felt loved and peaceful enough in my life at that moment.

I got up once I heard Sam calling me from the other room, and it'd been a few weeks since I couldn't help but feel happy as I walked through the apartment, realizing how much it had started to look like somewhere we were both living in, instead of Sam's place where I just spent lots of time in.

Among some technicalities like getting a larger wardrobe, I'd somehow convinced her to cover at least some of the walls with something to make it all look less boring.

There was a spot in the corridor where three pictures of us were framed next to each other. One of them was from when we'd just started dating and went to Central Park. One from when I tried to take a selfie as she struggled to make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving a month earlier, because, being English, she'd never really done anything to celebrate the holiday, but she also wanted to make sure I was able to even without having to go to my family. The last one was from London in the summer, maybe the first time we were actually able to live openly as a couple.

I often found myself stopping there to just look at the photos for a while, which also resulted in me getting completely lost in thoughts because I still sometimes couldn't believe I got so lucky.

"Don't tell me you're falling asleep again" Sam said after a while.

"Nope, sorry, I'm coming" I said, walking to the kitchen. "These pancakes smell amazing"

"Hopefully they taste as good" she chuckled, placing a plate with a stack of pancakes on the table.

"Yeah, I definitely can confirm" I nodded as I took a bite of one. "Thank you for this" I added with a smile.

"No problem, I think we deserve a treat" she shrugged, taking my hand into hers.

"I'm starting to wish you'd go out later in the morning more often now"