Bitter (wlw) (teacherxstudent)

twenty-seven

The next days were pretty much the same, between exams, studying at home or in Sam's office, and sleeping at Sam's place. So nothing too exciting, but being with her made everything more pleasant.

Little things like her bringing me coffee in bed in the morning, helping me to deal with exam anxiety and letting me stay in her office when I wanted, made everyday better.

And since it had been a stressful few days for her too, I made sure our evenings were as relaxing as possible by doing stuff I knew she found calming, like making tea for the two of us and snuggling on the couch reading a book or watching something that didn't require too much concentration.

The week went by in a less challenging way than I thought, and on Saturday Sam took me out for dinner as she'd said she would.

Something I really appreciated was that she'd made a reservation in the kind of place she probably knew I really liked, rather than what she might have regarded as a dinner date restaurant.

It was a small vegan restaurant a few blocks from where we lived, with an incredibly cozy and colorful atmosphere and lit candles on each table.

"I love it here!" I excitedly told Sam as a waiter showed us our table.

"I knew you would" she said, sitting down while not letting go of my hand.

She'd let me do her make-up for the occasion, and not to be too modest but I was proud of myself for how well I'd managed to make her already stunning eyes look even more good.

And she'd also waited for me to finish the look to decide her outfit for the evening, so she could perfectly match it. She indeed was able to do that, wearing a silk navy-blue vest top and a lighter shade pants.

While I just went with a classic sweater over a white-collared shirt and jeans, which was what most of my style consisted of during the coldest months.

"How are you not cold right now? Your hands are freezing" I asked, still confused about Sam's relation with the cold weather.

"How many times do I have to tell you that my hands are often cold, but that doesn't mean I am?" she laughed.

"I don't know, it's confusing"

"Not to me" she shrugged, taking a sip of wine from her glass.

I was happy to see that throughout the evening that was the only glass she'd gone through. But I wasn't sure whether she'd appreciate a comment about it or not.

"I'm not saying I didn't think vegan food could be this good, but damn, this food is better than I imagined it would be" she said as she took the last bite of the desert we'd shared.

"It really is" I giggled. "We should come back here sometime"

"For sure" she smiled, soon after attracting a waiter's attention to ask for the check. "You wanna go back home or go for a walk somewhere? The park we went to for our kind of first date is like five minutes away, if you want"

"I mean...I have to get up quite early tomorrow. But I wouldn't mind a walk"

I hadn't really told anyone yet but I'd continued my search for a job after first mentioning it to Sam, and I was able to get a job interview at a coffee shop nearby campus.

"Why do you have to get up early?"

"I, uhm, I have a job interview at a coffee shop"

"You do?" she confusedly asked.

"Yeah"

"That's great! Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I didn't wanna tell anyone in case it went terribly and ended up making a fool of myself" I said, laughing as hearing it aloud made me realize how stupid it sounded.