I ate my bit of scone as the girls chatted with Miss Ayana and leaned against Kensey. It felt weird, being here like this, with such low stakes. Even at Missy's house, the sleepovers felt like we were all on the edge of a knife, all trying to outplay each other. I missed Marissa, but there was no denying that she made people nervous. She even made me nervous still, despite how much I wanted to see her. Kensey shifted behind me and the pillow we were on rocked, sending me falling over backwards into her lap. She frowned at me and gently sat me back up.
"I still don't think it's fair that you get to eat regular sized food..." she said "I've never felt as sick in my life after that pizza..."
"I honestly don't know how I don't get sick..." I said, taking another bite of the warm, crumbly pastry "Maybe you just have to get used to it? Have a little here and there, and you'll get used to it?"
"Is that what you did?" she asked
"I don't think so..." I said "I had a little bit of tortilla, then like a week later I had a whole plate of homemade mandu. I got sick on the mandu, but... only a little, a stomachache, really."
She sighed. "Well, I don't know if I want to risk it..."
"That's fair..." I said, nodding "So I'm guessing Quince got you the good stuff then?"
"She did, yeah!" Kensey said, smiling "I got to pick them out, too."
"What did I do?" Quince said, leaning over
"Honey, let them be, they were having a conversation." Ayana said with a small frown
"No, it's fine." Kensey said "Uh, we were just talking about food, and the stuff me and Quince got for me earlier."
"Yeah, I got all the good stuff." Quince bragged "I even got like, ice cream and soda and chips and stuff, all tiny sized."
"I'll be eating well, that's for sure!" Kensey said, pushing her smile bigger and putting on her chipper voice
Ayana narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at the rest of the girls. "Are you all going to be getting back in the hot tub after this?"
"Yeah, duh." Quince said "We were barely in it before the scones were done."
"Thank you for the scones, by the way." Henri said "They are very good."
"Mm, yes, thank you!" Tracy said "I love the hint of maple in them, it really works!"
Ayana smiled widely "I'm so glad you girls like them! They're Q's favorite, so I've perfected the recipe over the years. Now, I see Kensey isn't eating, would it be alright if I took her to Quince's room so she can make some food? It's about dinner time, and I'd hate for her to be hungry."
"Oh, uh... well, she had lunch a while ago, uh..." Quince said "I guess, yeah, just bring her back after so we can hang out."
"I'll come too, and keep you company." I told Kensey
"I- you should- mm..." Henri started, then looked at Ayana "Just please be careful with Amber, Miss Ayana. She is very fragile."
"Of course, of course!" she said, and held her hands out for us to climb in. She nodded to the girls, and carefully walked back to the house with us in her palms, her steps measured and slow. Once we were in the kitchen she carefully set us down on the countertop of the island and sat on a stool next to us.
"Ok, girls, I wanted to talk to you about what's going on, especially with Quince, is that ok?" she asked politely
"What do you 'mean what's going on'?" Kensey asked "Is something happening?"
"I just know that Quince dove into guardianship quickly, and maybe didn't think through the ramifications of taking care of a person all the way first." Ayana said "I wanted to talk to you two about it and see if there's anything I can do to make the situation easier for you both."
"I mean, Quince is getting better." I said "Like, she's improved a lot over the past few days alone."
"I'm concerned she doesn't see Kensey as a responsibility, but rather as a..." Ayana trailed off, looking uncomfortable
"...A toy?" Kensey offered
"That... may be accurate, it just feels so hurtful to say." Ayana said, shaking her head
"Well... If it helps, I think Quince sees her more like a pet or a something. She saw her as a toy at first for sure, but she's learning." I said
"I don't think that having her see Kensey as a pet is altogether any better than having her see her as a toy, Amber." Ayana sighed
"I'm not too worried about it, Miss Ayana..." Kensey said "As long as she takes care of me, I'll be ok, even if I'm a pet. I hated the idea, but.. seeing her buy stuff for me and find things to dress me in, and seeing how enamored she is with me... I could be doing a lot worse than Quince."
"It's not about if things could be worse, it's about if they could be better." Ayana said gently "I don't care if Quince is in the top five percent of caretakers, if she's not treating you with respect and care, and as a person, she needs to get better."
"How do you propose you do that?" I asked "It took Marissa dating me before she really started seeing me as an equal, and even then she's very insistent that she's the one in charge."
"Marissa is... dating you?" Ayana asked, shocked "I... wasn't aware she was a... well, I'm not saying I didn't suspect, but I'm shocked Vivian is allowing it."
"Vivian?" I asked
"Miss Lund, Marissa's mother." she explained
"I think they're trying to keep it a secret, ma'am." Kensey said "Miss Lund wants to use us to make vaccines, she'd never approve."
"That sounds like her..." Ayana murmured "The woman is colder than a snow cone on Pluto..."
She shook her head "As for how I want to get Q to see you as a person... I'll do my best to gently remind her, but if you don't mind, I'd really like to lead by example."
"What do you mean?" Kensey asked
"I mean I want to spend time with you myself." Ayana explained "You're not that much younger than me, if we could be friends and do activities together as equals, I think Quince would start seeing you as less of a 'pet' and more of 'a lady I'm caring for'."
"That... could work." I said, nodding "Quince is pretty easily influenced, so I could see that getting through to her."
"I- well... What kinds of things would you want to do together?" Kensey asked "I'm too small to do much."
"I could show you how to bake, or we could use the spa, or even just sit with tea and chat, it doesn't have to be anything special." Ayana said
"I... I think I'd love that, actually." Kensey said "It sounds like it'd be very humanizing for me..."
"Ok, lovely!" Ayana said with a smile "I'll find some good activities, and I'll start 'borrowing' you from Quince to spend time with me next week, sound good?"
Kensey nodded "I look forward to it, Miss Ayana, thank you for caring about me."
Ayana scooped us up into her hands again carefully as she stood up "Oh, please, just Ayana is fine, now let's get you girls some dinner!"
We made our way through the house, the tall ceilings and wide hallways making me feel even smaller than usual. I looked at the paintings on the walls as we passed; they were nice, more grounded and realistic than the odd looking ones Marissa had in her room, but they lacked something, too. I was an artist at heart, and the art filling Quince's home felt... manufactured. Produced by an artist to make a painting, not to make art. I wondered if they'd been picked by an interior designer, or if they'd been selected personally by Ayana or Cal.
Stopping in front of a fancy door, Ayana swung it open, revealing a much fancier room than Marissa's. Where Marissa had a large simple bed with a headboard and nothing else, Quince had a four poster bed with hanging drapes and thick sheets, where Marissa had a large TV in front of a sofa, Quince's took up most of one wall across from a row of recliners, and where Marissa had a couple shelves with personal items on them, Quince's shelves were covered in the oddest collection of vinyl figures and expensive looking statuettes I'd ever seen. Even the desk Ayana carried us over to was a hardwood rolltop with carvings all over it. A box was sitting on the desk, just small enough that the desk could be closed over it, and as Ayana lowered us into it, I saw that it was a tiny studio apartment.
It was nice, I felt the heated floors as soon as I touched the ground, and there was a big fridge and kitchen to one side, with the bed and TV on the other. There was a pathway to get to the front door, with cubbies on either side. The bathroom and the closet, I guessed. Kensey made her way to the fridge and pulled out a couple packs of food, waving them at me.
"Do you want one?" she asked
"Well, we're at different compression rates, so... Maybe I guess? It'll be fine, I'm sure. I can eat regular food in moderation after all." I said
"It's got to be better to eat a 90% compressed meal than a 0% compressed one, though." she pointed out
"Yeah, true. Hey, can I try some of the chips?" I asked "I was curious about that."
She pulled open a cabinet and got out a bag of barbecue chips and handed them to me "I haven't tried them yet, but it's nice that they still make junk food for us."
I tore the bag open and pulled out a chip. It was giant, and it was a lot thicker than the ones I was used to, but taking a bite proved it was just as crunchy and flavorful as the ones I liked when I was full sized. I crunched on the chips while we waited, and Kensey tried a couple as well, the chips looking much more at home in her larger hands. Finally the 'oven' dinged, and Kensey pulled our meals out. She'd made us both a kind of mushroom soup with a side of bean... things? It was pretty good, the lumps of fake mushroom were chewy and savory, and the bean things were salty and mushy, just the way I liked them. Kensey put our dishes in her sink and folded up the chips to put away and looked around the room, smiling slightly.
"I feel... kind of domestic right now, honestly." she said "It's not really too much different than how things were before I compressed, I could get used to living like this."
"I'm glad to hear that!" Ayana said, peering down at us, making me jump. She'd been out of sight, but from how quickly she showed up once we were done, I guessed she'd still been in the room waiting on us.
"Thank you for taking us up here!" I said "Would you mind taking us back to the hot tub? I want to get cozy again."
"I'll bring you two down there, but please remember to wait thirty minutes before getting in, ok?" she said, raising an eyebrow
We agreed, and before long, we were back by the side of the hot tub, the other girls already in the big one.
"Thank you Miss Ayana!" I said to her as she set us down and went to leave
"No problem Amber, be safe!" she called, and waved to us as she walked off.
"Did you eat, Amber?" Henri said, looking at me
"We both did, we had soup." Kensey said "And some chips, too."
Henri nodded and looked pensive "I... did not see much food for you in your house when I picked your stuff up, Amber. Just one pack in your freezer. I suppose I will need to go out tomorrow and get you some food..."
"It's really expensive, can you afford it?" Quince asked
"I... have a little money." she said "We lost most of the money from the crowdfund due to refund requests, and I had to refund it out of my personal accounts while we waited to get the situation resolved, so I'm a little low."
"So... I can't stay with you all week, you don't have any food, right?" I said hopefully
"You really want to get back to Marissa, huh?" Tracy said softly
"I just-" I glanced at Henri "I honestly just prefer it when she's taking care of me."
"I want to do a good job of taking care of you, Klein Fee..." Henri said, sounding hurt "I so try..."
"You know my problems with you 'taking care of me', Henri." I said, folding my arms
"Is this drama?" Tracy asked "Did she do something bad?"
"We are on a truce right now, I do not want to talk about it." Henri said sadly
"...Amber?" Tracy asked, prompting me
"Yeah, no. Truce. If I told you what was going on, it'd be breaking the truce. Just know that I really, really want to get back to Marissa." I said
"I will be better, Amber. I promise." Henri said solemnly
"Jesus, way to ruin the mood..." Quince said, rolling her eyes "Just... fuck, we're in a hot tub, just chill."
I nodded and looked at Kensey "Think it's been thirty minutes?"
"It's... not that big a deal." she said "I'm getting in, at least."
I climbed in after her, and after a few minutes, the awkward mood had shifted back to a more lighthearted one, and the rest of the night went by smoothly.
~~~
I woke up and popped my back, wishing I had my regular bed. The case was fine, but it really wasn't that comfortable overall, and it left me feeling slightly stiff. Henri was still curled up on her bed, and our stuff was in a pile on the floor where she'd dumped it late last night when we got in. I left my case and went over to the random pile of stuff Henri had brought me, and found my tablet, flopping down on a pile of clothes to use it for a bit. It powered up, and instantly the screen filled with notifications from Marissa. Most were her asking how I was, or asking if there was any way for me to meet up with her today instead of Monday at school, but the further I scrolled the more stressed she sounded. I frowned and skipped messaging her and just started a video call.
"Amber what the fuck?" she said urgently as soon as the call went through
"Hey, I didn't have my-"
"If you're safe, tell me the first god I used when we played Life and Times, if you're in danger, get it wrong." she snapped
I blinked, thinking back to last weekend "Uh, you were Artemis and I was a guy I can't pronounce?"
She visibly relaxed, and lay back onto her hospital bed "Gods, Amber, why didn't you respond?"
"I'm sorry, I was at Quince's house, we had a hot tub party, and I didn't think to bring my tablet..."
"You hung out with Quince without me?" she asked "Henri hung out with Quince? Willingly?"
"They fought a little, but yeah, I wanted to see Kensey and her new place."
"Gods, I was freaking out, I thought Henri had taken you to the airport... I even sent a team over, but they said there were only two life signatures at your parent's apartment, so I was assuming the worst..."
I winced "I'm so sorry, I should have messaged you about it... Me and Henri got in a fight, and we went to the party to get our minds off it."
"A fight?" she asked "About what, me?"
"Not everything is about you..." I said
She raised an eyebrow at me
"...But yeah, it was kinda about you."
"I'm guessing she still doesn't like me?" Marissa asked
"More like she was trying to be you." I explained "She thought if she tried to scare me or bully me, I'd fall in love with her, but she pushed herself too far and had a meltdown or something."
"That's a pretty good plan, if she wasn't so bad at being in charge." Marissa mused "If most other girls started taking charge of you and pushing you around, you'd fall for them instantly."
"That's not- No I wouldn't!" I said, glaring at her and blushing
"I bullied you for six years. It took a week of me playing with you for you to be ok dating me." she pointed out
"...Don't say it like that, it sounds toxic or something." I said, not looking at her face
"Oh, it is." she crooned "And that's what you love about it. It could have been anyone with a mean streak, I just got lucky~"
"Whatever." I grumbled "I see you're still in the hospital, you doing ok?"
"Yeah, they said I still have alcohol in my system somehow, I don't feel anything, and they have me hooked up to an IV so I'll be fine in a few hours I think. I'm getting out tonight though."
"That's good..." I said "I want to get back to you, I'm not enjoying it here."
"You don't like getting to see your parents?" she asked "I'd thought you'd be thrilled about that."
"I haven't seen them yet, we keep missing them. I'll see them today though. It's more just Henri, and not trusting her, and the fact that my old room is a mess now, she's not very tidy, and she made an even bigger mess last night when I was hiding from her, so it's stressful."
"Well, I have... bad news." she said "If you were actually missing I was going to call the whole thing off and call in a few more teams to track down Henri, but now that I know you're safe..."
"What? What news?" I asked, alarmed
"Not really sure how to say this, but..." Marissa's face scrunched up "...My mom is setting me up with a clinic to help my 'alcoholism'."
I felt a chill "What- what does that look like for us?"
"It's a rich people clinic. I won't lose my class B guardianship license over it or anything, nothing will be reported, and it's mostly an outpatient clinic, but I do need to stay for a few days for observation, starting tonight..."
"A few days?!" I said, alarmed "Missy, I was supposed to get back together with you tomorrow morning!"
"It's just until Wednesday, it's so they can make sure I'm not going to get withdraws or something, it's- it's hardly a problem, right? My mom even said we can all meet up for dinner at Chrysós Wednesday night to get you back to me. I think that means you'll be allowed to eat with us, too, that's huge, right? My mom is kinda opening up, that's worth a few days of Henri, isn't it?"
"I miss you though, and- I don't know what she'll do if she has me that long. It could be bad..."
"I know, I don't trust her either, I thought about asking Quince to watch you instead, but that could go even worse."
"She's not so bad." I said "Quince, I mean. She's rude and she doesn't think things through, but she's taking pretty good care of Kensey so far. It's only been a couple days though, so I'm not sure..."
"I could try and get her to take you home on Monday?" Marissa said thoughtfully "And give you back to Henri on Wednesday after her classes. That might work, would you be ok with that?"
"If that works with Henri and Quince, I'd like that." I said "I guess Henri would just drop me off at Quince's tennis match on Monday, then they could meet up again Wednesday afternoon, yeah."
"I doubt Henri will go for it, though..." Marissa said thoughtfully
"Well, she only has one more meal for me left, and no money for more, from what it sounds like." I said
"Oh, shit, really?" Marissa said "Fuck, I forgot I was supposed to get you more food tomorrow... That might make things go better, yeah. Each of your special meals is like, almost fifty dollars."
I sat bolt upright "What the fuck!?" I asked in shock
"I thought I mentioned that before?" she said "Anyway, yeah, the higher quality vegetarian stuff I get you isn't cheap."
"I... wasn't aware I cost so much to feed..." I said, feeling slightly ashamed
"It's literally not a problem." Marissa said "Honestly, I'm thinking about buying you like, candy and juice and stuff next time. I only limited your supply because I wanted you to lose weight."
"W-well, it's a lot harder than you'd think for me to lose weight, and I'm still fit, so-"
"I get it, sorry..." she said quietly "I was thinking of you as more of a doll back then. I'm not going to try and dictate your body. That's... more toxic than I'm comfortable with."
"Thanks..." I said, my face still red "Tracy was saying that class Bs look cuter than class As even with the same body shapes, because of... they can't see details or something?"
"That's one theory, yeah." Missy said "Another is that when we see a small human, our brain triggers the response we're supposed to get when we see a baby, so we associate class Bs with babies and see them as cuter as a result."
"That would explain why every other person I meet uses baby talk with me..." I muttered
"Yeah, and why I want to squeeze you so bad." Marissa snorted
"You want to squeeze babies?" I asked "Uh..."
"No- I- You know, like you see a baby and you're like 'aww I wanna poke it and pinch it' and stuff..."
"I don't think so?" I said "That might just be a you thing."
"Whatever..." she said rolling her eyes "Anyway, I'm really glad you're ok. I was honestly freaking out over here."
"I'm really sorry..." I said "I didn't forget about you, I just- I didn't have my tablet. I was missing you the whole time."
"It's... fine." she said "I just have to make a few calls, call off a h- oh, hi Henri."
A shadow fell over me, and I turned to see a groggy Henri looming over me. She mumbled something, and waved at Marissa.
"Hey, I'll give you time to wake up, but call me when you get the chance, ok?" Marissa said "I want to discuss something with you if that's ok."
"Mmm uhgh... me? Me call?" Henri muttered
"Yes, Henri, you call, Henri call Marissa." Missy said in caveman speak
Henri flipped her off and shuffled off to the bathroom, leaving me alone again.
"She's not a morning person, huh?" Marissa asked with a grin
"She's never been too keen on waking up, no..." I said, shaking my head
"Well, anyway, I gotta go call off... a guy, and I guess talk to Quince too. I'll talk to you soon? I hope?" Marissa said
"Ok, fine, I miss you, Lady M... Hugs and kisses?"
"...Mm, squeezes and bites, but same idea, yeah." she said, laughing
"I'll see you soon, Missy." I said, giving her a smile
"And I'll see you soon, Stress Toy." she said back, and hung up, still smiling.
I flopped backwards on the pile of clothes I'd been sitting on. Fuck, I had it bad, didn't I? That one fucking tease, 'stress toy', and I was practically curling my toes in anticipation of her brand of 'bullying'.
...Maybe there was something to her theory that I'd have fallen for any dom that pursued me after all....
~~~
I sat in the front pocket of Henri's cardigan as she walked through the halls of our college, the slight bouncing and swaying making me slightly nauseous. I didn't have this problem when Missy carried me around... It'd been nice to see my parents again, once Henri finished waking up and had taken me out to see them, we'd spent the whole day together, just talking and catching up on all the little life things that had happened over the last two weeks.
It'd been weird to wake up in my room again and get dressed to go to school, just like I had before all this happened, but now that I was here, it wasn't too different from being at college with Marissa. Henri had cried when she called Marissa and heard about the exchange, and she'd begged me to let her keep me the whole time, but... in the spirit of the truce, she'd let the matter go.
"Do I have to watch her matches?" Henri asked under her breath as she made her way down the stairs to the tennis courts "Or can I leave?"
"Uh, I mean, if you leave, you have less time with me, I guess." I said
"...Drat. I will stay..." she muttered, pushing open the door that lead to the fenced in area the teams played in.
I pointed across the court to the benches "Hey, there's a little umbrella, I bet that's where Kensey is, let's go sit there."
Henri sighed and carefully walked around the court to the benches and set me down next to Kensey. She had a her-sized chair with a small umbrella over it, and a bottle of something blue that she was sipping. I waved to her and made my way under the shade and sat on the bench next to the chair.
"Hey, Kay!" I said "Is Quince winning?"
"Mm, she won the first game, but this one's giving her trouble, they've been fighting over the last point for like four rounds."
"I never liked how the points worked in tennis." Henri complained "It is... frustrating. If you get to forty points, you should win, not 'get to forty and win but only if you get one more point and also have two more points than the other person at the same time'. And why do you not count points above forty as points? They call it 'advantage' and you cannot tell how many points you really got. And why do the points go fifteen, thirty, forty? Why not forty five? Why not one, two, three? The whole thing is so confusing."
"You're just salty they didn't let you join." I said, taking the bottle of blue stuff Kensey handed me
"I won my matches!" Henri complained "They were just being mean."
"You play too, then, Henri?" Kensey asked
"...No, I learned how to one year, I took lessons, but I did not make the team." she said, glaring at Quince out on the court
"It actually was just because the other girls were being mean." I said "They just didn't want her in their special club."
"Their special club being... a college tennis team that's not allowed to play against other schools?"
"Worse, a high school tennis team that's not allowed to play against other schools." I said, nodding
"Gods, these girls are so petty..." Kensey muttered
"Tell me about it." Henri grumbled "Imagine being so petty and small minded that you try to ruin a girl's life for six years just because she had a slight accent and her dad sells animal products."
"I will say, you trying to hide your accent is a lot more noticeable than the accent would be, in my opinion." Kensey said "You enunciate everything so carefully, it's... I don't know, like you're trying to prove you don't have one anymore."
"...I spent a lot of time learning this language, I will speak it with the care and effort I put into learning it." Henri said, sounding annoyed
"It's not that bad." I said, sipping my blue drink "You do sound a little formal sometimes though, nothing wrong with that."
"Miss Lund liked it at least..." Kensey said, rolling her eyes
"Do you have a problem with me being polite to the woman who could have my best friend killed, Kensey?" Henri snapped "Or do you think maybe I should be making her angry instead?"
"No, fuck, I just- you really sucked up to her is all." Kensey said "It made me uncomfortable to see you so willing to agree with her saying those horrible things."
"I guess sometimes people just have to do that, though." I said "In lots of ways, like, if a skinhead is saying shit to you about, I don't know, racist stuff, arguing could like, get you stabbed, right? You gotta just be as neutral as you can in that situation."
"I disagree, full stop." Kensey said "If a skinhead is saying shit and you don't argue back, you're just as bad as they are."
"Ok, but- Ok, so here's an example." I said "You and Quince are coming out of the mall, a skinhead starts making comments about her because she's black. He's six foot three, you're, what, seven inches? If you start arguing with him, he's going to smack you out of Q's hand and stomp on you. Do you argue with him?"
"I'd get stomped, yeah." Kensey said "I'm not going to let people talk shit, and again, if you do let people talk shit, you're complacent in what they're doing."
"That sounds dangerous..." Henri said "Isn't it better to survive or protect yourself so you can address the problems from a place of security on your own terms?"
"The shit talkers are already doing that." Kensey pointed out "Everywhere is their place of security, it's all on their terms. You have to be willing to face them on their terms and still stand up for yourself and what you believe."
"I don't know if I agree with that..." I muttered "I'm so, so fragile, I gotta protect myself."
"So if we go to the mall with Quince later and someone says shit, you'll ignore it?" Kensey asked
"It's- they won't do that, we don't have that kind of problem around here." I said "It's not a real example."
"Well it's the one you picked." Kensey said, shaking her head "Look, I understand your point of view, but protecting yourself is useless when others who can't protect themselves are still suffering."
"Now I just feel guilty for some reason." Henri said, frowning "I... I do not think I did anything wrong, but- I feel... not good about something."
"Why do you care so much about this anyway?" I asked Kensey
"My ex was a nazi." she said "I didn't know until we were already together, and I told myself I'd be able to change him, but it doesn't work like that, he just drug me down."
"Fuck..." I said "Fuck, that's gotta be rough."
"Worst part of my life. Why do you think I became an alcoholic?" she said, looking at me firmly
Quince jogged up and dropped onto the bench next to us, on the other side of Kensey from Henri and dug a sports drink out of her bag. She gulped a few mouthfuls of it and sighed contentedly.
"Damn, did you see that win? It took so fucking long, but I finally pulled it off." she bragged "I still have at least two more matches though, and I'm already tired after that one."
"We were watching!" I said "You're very good at tennis."
"Yeah, I bet you were, ass watcher." Quince said, poking me with her finger "What were you guys talking about, Henri? You look upset."
"Ah, we were discussing if we'd stand up to someone who was being racist to you at the mall later." Henri said "It was... a very tough conversation."
"...What the fuck?" Quince said "I- fuck, what?"
"It wasn't just about you, it was about if you have an obligation to protect yourself from harm, or if you have the obligation to protect others from harm." Kensey explained "You were just the example."
"Well don't use me as an example anymore, that's weird." Quince said "If someone tries any of that shit, I can take care of myself anyway. I know judo, fuck."
"It was just a debate, we didn't mean anything by it..." I said sheepishly
"I don't like to think about you guys having debates." Quince said "Y'all are lil babies, I want to think about you dressing up in cute clothes and riding in my pockets."
"They're still human beings." Henri said roughly
"Human beings that fit in my pocket, yeah." Quince said "They're adorable. Anyway, what was that about going to the mall later?"
"It was just part of the example, it was more like if we went to the mall." I said
"We can go to the mall, I don't care." she said "I need to get you food anyway, according to Marissa, and the health food shop has your stuff."
"So we'd be going to the local mall, not the one in Camden?" Kensey asked
"Yeah, I already went to the class B shop in Camden like two days ago, you don't need any more toys." Quince said "I'm down for it after my next matches, Henri, you coming?"
"I... I do not have money for the mall." she said "My savings are still tied up in the crowd funds, and my allowance doesn't come until Friday. That is why you have to take care of Amber for me, remember?"
"So? Just don't buy anything." Quince said
"That is rude, if you go to an establishment, you should buy something there." Henri said firmly
"If they don't have something you want, you shouldn't have to buy anything, that's not a rule, Henri." Kensey said
"But to plan on going to a store with the intention of not buying something?" she shook her head "That is just impolite."
"Whatever, we'll have fun without you I guess." Quince said "I'll talk to you girls later, my rest time is over, wish me luck!"
She got up and stretched her back and legs as the other player made her way over to the field. I very carefully looked at Kensey while she warmed up, refusing to give Quince the satisfaction of me admiring her form. Kensey's eyebrow quirked up as she made eye contact, and her mouth pulled into a small grin. I nodded solemnly, still looking at her as Quince finished up. She grabbed the sports drink next to me and Kensey and took a gulp, before patting Kensey on the head and jogging back to the court.
"So, I'm guessing that display has something to do with her nickname for you?" Kensey asked
"Nickname?" Henri leaned in
"Yeah, she called Amber 'ass watcher', there's a story there, I bet."
I frowned and shook my head "Just Quince being rude again. I'm allowed to watch my girlfriend play sports, it's literally not an issue."
"You like watching Marissa play sports?" Henri asked, looking thoughtful
"Yeah, she's really good, and her body is-" I stopped and looked at Henri "...If you take up sports again out of the blue, I'll know what you're doing, you know."
"I did not have any intention of hiding what I was doing, Amber." Henri said "If you can see through my plans, then that simply means you appreciate the dedication I have for you. Now, what sports do you like to watch?"
I glared at her "...Golf."
"...Ah, Well. I will do my own research I suppose." Henri said "I do have the computer with your internet history, after all."
I flushed "So help me, Henri, if you so much as check my bookmarks, I will tell the whole world about your 'fanfiction' phase."
"Oh, even if you don't tell the world, can you tell me?" Kensey said "That sounds like a fun bit of lore..."
Henri narrowed her eyes at me and bit her lip. "Ok, Amber. We're still in a truce. I will just find out what sport will win you over the hard way."
She stood up "I will be going now, I have lots of sports to sort through after all, enjoy your time with Quince."
She set the bag with my stuff in it on the bench next to us, and got up, nodding to us, and then she was gone.
"So, do you think we can get her to try log rolling?" Kensey asked "That's a sport."
"I don't want to encourage her..." I moaned "I think she forgot the meaning of the truce..."
"I'm sure it'll be fine." Kensey said "There's nothing wrong with her trying a few sports, right?"
I hadn't thought there would be any problems, but hearing it said out loud, I was starting to have my doubts...
~~~