Chapter 7
The sound of the alarm clock brought the human back to the reality from the dreamland. It took him a while to process where he is and what is he supposed to do. First thoughts were still floating around the dream: 'Death... Why do I wake up thinking about such positive things? It's not the perfect way to start a day, I need to find something better. What do I do today? Oh... right, there is school. Well that is only marginally better but it will have to do.' David thought to himself while getting up and actually chuckled at his internal monologue - he never did it back home. He went to the bathroom, glad that Amber didn't wake up yet so he did not have to wait for her to come out. He learned fast that a vixen can spend surprisingly large amounts of time in the bathroom preparing herself for the day.
While human was taking a shower someone else in the house was waking up, and unlike him, Amber actually had some good sleep this night. Her dreams were much more cheerful due to the fact that all of them had David displaying affection to her one way or another. After waking up she tried to go back to the dream for a while. She wanted to feel warmth of David's body once again and taste his lips even if it was not real. Unfortunately sound of opening and closing doors in the corridor along with human saying that the bathroom is free now did not allow her to do that. Soon enough they were eating breakfast together. After a short while Amber froze in place staring at the human with sandwich halfway between her and the plate. Quickly her blank expression couple with a stare that would make a stone statue nervous caught his attention.
"Amber, wake up! You had whole night to sleep." David tried to snap her out of the daydream.
Amber blinked several times, looked around and shook her head. "Oh, sorry. I think I dozed off. I think I have not woken up entirely" Vixen said reassuringly, in the end she couldn't tell him what really went through her mind! She was slowly suspecting that she may be becoming obsessed about the human.
"I think I noticed" a smirk appeared on his face just for a second "I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't get the food all over yourself. I don't think you need to spend another hour in the bathroom." A smile appeared on humans face quickly disappearing under a obviously-fake annoyed expression.
"Hey! It doesn't take me that long!" Amber upset face didn't last even halfway through the sentence.
"Yeah, keep deluding yourself." Neither of them managed to keep a straight face and bursted into laughter.
'Awww, that what I love him for. But then again, the same could be say about anything he does, I just can't help it. If only I knew he feels the same... No! This is not the time and place to daydream! It's not helping at best!' Amber thought.
Still, while they were laughing she took a opportunity and briefly hugged the human taking advantage of sitting right next to him without showing too much of a effort (at least that's what she was thinking).
"So, do you have any idea what today assembly will be about? I wasn't able to figure it out." David asked.
"Oh, right. You didn't have the opportunity to learn our history yet. Today is the day that 37 years ago the biggest and longest war we have ever experienced in our history started. I'm sure teachers will say much more about it than I know, but the day the peace treaty was signed is much more celebrated - it marks the start of the peacetime after all." Amber explained.
"Wow, that's really recent history. I didn't know that."
"I think you just read the part about the assembly taking part instead of a lunch break and the school day being shortened. Didn't you?"
"Maybe I did." And again a cute smile following these words made the vixen melt inside.
What followed was pretty uneventful first half of the day - some lessons, followed by the assembly with the head teacher speech that seemed way too long. David was happy to have a opportunity to learn something about some of the more recent parts of the history here. Although when he heard others calling the war in question "last war" he couldn't shake the feeling that expecting peace to last forever is very naive considering how the civilization seemed to be more developed than back home. Human also noticed how part of the speech about respect towards other that are different was targeted towards his situation here (half of the hall turning their gaze towards him made it even more obvious).
While leaving the school, human found another 'friendly' note in his locker: "YOU DON'T DESERVE TO STAY AMONG US, GO BACK TO WHERE YOU'VE COME FROM" Human chuckled a bit - he thought how nice it would be to be able to go back. Not for anything or anyone specific, just to be back somewhere 'normal', and live among humans again. Although the more he thought about it, the clearer the fact that here is his new home became, which made him both sad and hopeful for the future at the same time. But now more present question is not where he belongs, but rather who is sending him those messages - not that he wanted to do anything about it, just to know who to avoid.
'On the subject of others, I think I should try to make some friends here. The only person I know something more about than the name itself is Amber.' David thought to himself. Friends are always good to have, especially in a situation like this.
A few moments of pushing through the crowded corridors later the human was standing in front of the school. Everybody finished at the same time today, so there was more students there than usual. After looking around and not seeing Amber he moved to the side and decided to wait for her. They already had "their place" where one would usually wait for the other after the classes, so missing each others in the mass of other students was less likely.
David leaned against the pillar where they would meet with Amber and waited. Soon, a familiar tiger appeared near him. 'That is the guy I sit next to during some classes. Nick - he's a nice guy. Hell, if I want to make some friends I need to start talking to others.' Human thought to himself. "Hey Nick!"
"Oh, hey David!" Tiger recognized him and even seemed happy to talk with someone.
"Who are you waiting for?"
"For the rest of the basketball team - Andrew has birthday today and is getting us lunch. That's the tradition." He laughed and put up one of those big smiles he was known from in school.
"Wow, I didn't know you were part of it."
"Probably because you didn't ask. And what about you?"
"Waiting for Amber to go back home, nothing special."
"She is a cute girl that's for sure." Even bigger smile suggested that he actually thinks that way. "I see the rest of the team is already on the other side of the road. I have to get going if I want to catch up to them. Say hello to Amber for me." With that tiger rushed into the crowd and disappeared.
While David was still looking at the place Nick was before disappearing into the crowd someone tapped his shoulder. If was Amber, who finally managed to get out of the school building.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, I just couldn't get through to the exits." She apologized, seeming genuinely worried about being so late.
"No problem, just don't try to give me a heart attack next time, k?"
"I'll try." Her facial expression eased up. Amber loved the way the human always lightened up the mood whenever she felt even a bit low.
"I hope so!" He kept up the play for a while longer. "Also Nick said hi, unfortunately he had to go."
"The tiger?"
"Yes, do you know him?"
"Kind of. It's nice of him. He usually hangs out with the rest of his team and doesn't talk to anyone else. He's one of the "popular" guys, just for being in the basketball team."
"A off-topic question, but is he any good at it?"
"I don't know, and honestly I couldn't care less. I don't like sport all that much." They both exchanged smiles.
"So now we try to make our way home, away from this madness here, right?" Human asked.
"Yeah, but well..." Amber turned her gaze towards the ground.
"What is it?" He asked
"How about not going straight home? We could eat lunch somewhere in town. What do you think?" Amber asked, still not being able to shift her eyes anywhere close to the human.
"Only if you know some good place because I certainly don't."
"Well yeah, I have a place in mind."
"Awesome, its settled than" David happily agreed - not eating at home or school was a welcome change, not that food was bad in either.
"Thank you." Amber simply responded and managed to finally look the human in the eyes
"It's nothing." he said and flashed a reassuring smile. "So where are we heading?"
"You'll see." She said while grabbing his hand and pulling him along through the crowd.
Once they left the mass of students behind Amber realized that she is still holding humans hand. It was more of a natural thing to do since they were pretty close and she wanted to avoid getting split-up in the crowd, but now a wave of emotions came over her. Shocked at her action and a bit confused she let go of the human immediately (since there was no reason not to let go and Amber wanted her feelings to stay hidden from David as long as possible) and started nervously fiddling with her ears.
The sudden change in behavior did not go unnoticed by human, but he decided against addressing, trying to fix the atmosphere a little he asked:
"Is it far from here?"
"Wha... No, we're almost halfway there." Amber was thankful that David did not bring up her actions.
"Ok, I'm just curious as to where are we going."
"You'll find out soon enough - trust me, you will like it."
"Can you at least tell me what type of food are we getting?"
"It's a surprise." Vixen said with a cheeky smile. "Just wait for it."
After a short while they reached their destination. It was a small restaurant that did not look very special. Despite it being very close to crowded areas of the city it there were little to no customers there. While David knew that usually the more customers a restaurant has the better it is he didn't say anything and trusted vixens judgment.
They walked in and took a seat near a window, a bit to the side. The waiter seemed a bit surprised and shocked to see a human, but for the most part he managed to treat him like a normal customer - he walked up to the table, handed out the cards and left saying that he will return to take their order.
David looked at the dishes and, after some time trying to find anything that would sound familiar he said:
"Umm, Amber, I don't know any of those things. Could you help me choose something, you know, eatable?"
She raised her head from above the card. "Sure, I will be glad to." She mentally kicked herself for maybe coming of to strong. "Do you have any preferences?"
"No, not really - I'm going to trust your judgment on this one."
"I'm going to order the same thing for you as I do for myself, it's very good."
"I hope so." Both of them exchanged smiles.
Soon the waiter showed up again - Amber ordered a dish that David had trouble saying the name of, not even mentioning imagining how it looks or tastes."
For a couple of minutes they just chatted about their respective schooldays - complaining about boring lessons and such. When the waiter came for the third time to bring them food he finally managed not to stare at the human, but in all honesty he was used to it by now. Surprisingly the food was something similar to Chinese food.
"So, how is?" Vixen asked after they ate for a while, wondering if she made the right choice.
"I must admit, this is beyond great!"
"I'm glad you like it. Honestly it was quite a gamble, not everyone likes this kind of food."
"I'd say it paid off." Human said and flashed a smile. "What was your clue that I might like it?"
"Honestly? I was looking at some old tales about humans, I found something on their tastes and decided to go with it."
"Wow, I did not expect that." he laughed "It's both amazing and scary how much there is about humans in your legends."
"Yeah, it makes me wonder what else could be real from those. What do you think?"
"From what I read, no. I'd rather have everything else stay fiction. Another race claiming to own this place? No thank you very much."
They shared a sincere laugh and continued to eat mostly in silence. For a while David was thinking about the possibility of the "outsiders" existing, but he quickly diminished it as being too ridiculous.
After they finished eating and left the restaurant Amber started:
"Well, since neither of us has anything to do for school I was thinking... that taking a little detour on our way back might be a good idea, how about that?"
"Sure, we can do that, especially after you bribed me with a very good lunch,"
"Awesome, I need to take you places more often than."
"In that case it might stop working." They both chuckled. "So, where will the detour take us?"
"Not far, we're going to that old playground near my, or rather our, house." Amber emphasized 'our' maybe a bit too much - she tried to let the human knows that he is playing a big role in her life, but it came out very forced.
Most of the walk was silent, sometimes interrupted by occasional comments about the recent meal or weather. When they both reached the playground it was as empty and silent as the last time. Human and the vixen sat on a bench.
"You know, I think I may start coming here more often again, but for a different reason than before." Amber said, staring at the clouds.
"Why do I feel that I'm involved." David tried to sound desperate but it did not work all too well.
Vixen laughed and turned her head towards him. "I think you will manage it somehow, besides I have a suspicion that you will enjoy it at least a little bit."
"Nah, you're wrong." Said David while leaning back on the bench with a wide smile.
Amber carefully shifted herself a bit closer to the human, and noticing that he has his eyes closed with a content expression on his face, decided to make a move and placed her hand of his. "Thanks for coming here with me." She said and squeezed David's hand gently.
"That's... ughh... not a problem." Human was surprised with what just happened, he was not expecting something like this. Despite the first shock he did not pull his hand out immediately - he responded with the same gesture almost automatically.
They maintained eye contact for what seemed like eternity, and then broke it at the same time. They stared straight ahead trying to avoid each other's gazes, but still held their hands.
"I... I'm happy that you are here, when we first met i was going through a though period." Amber spoke silently, almost whispering. Human looked at her but she was still looking straight ahead.
"Yeah, I remember you crying when we first met."
"Well my life was falling apart, or at least I thought so. Actually I don't know what would have happened if we did not run into each other, maybe I would not be alive by now."
"Don't say that..." A gentle squeeze from David made Amber look at him. Her eyes were starting to well up with tears.
"And I want to say thank you for everything, for..." Vixen wanted to finish but she couldn't, all the built up sadness form last two or so weeks overflew her causing her to break up into tears. There was so much going wrong for her recently, and yet she could find comfort with a mythical creature, a human that started to mean a lot to her. It was all just too much, she closed buried her face in her hands and cried. She felt David reaching around her, pulling her into an embrace. She Put her arms around his neck and pushed her face into his it trying to somehow get closer to him. "I'm... I'm sorry." she muttered.
"It's ok, there is nothing to be sorry about." David responded and placed a hand on Amber's head. They stayed like that for a while. Soon vixen started to calm down. When she stopped crying human tired to pull away from the embrace.
"Please, just a bit longer." Amber whispered.
David complied without a word. He rubbed Amber's back slowly, giving her time to calm down entirely. Soon enough vixen slowly pulled back, her paws fingers lingered around human's neck, she starred deeply into his eyes and whispered "Thank you."
"You're welcome." David made a warm smile and responded. "Amber, I think we should go back home now."
"You're right, it's getting quite late." Said amber noticing the sun low above the houses.
Without any other word they both got up and slowly walked home. The streets were surprisingly empty for this time of day. Soon they were home, both a little tired after all that happened. Amber asked David to stay with her for a while because she wanted to talk about something. Vixen felt as she needed to tell him some things that he might not have known - mostly about losing her father who worked as a policeman and one day after leaving the station after finishing service never got home and no evidence was ever found. While the human never asked about her father, he suspected that something surely is not right here, but he didn't ask because it could be a touchy subject. She explained what exactly happened to her on the day they first met. Amber emphasized the fact that David probably saved her life - she was considering suicide at that time, which now, even for her seems stupid.
After telling all this to the human Amber finally felt completely calm. She got all those issues off her chest. "Thank you once more for listening, I needed it."
"No problem, I'm glad to help."
"You know, it still feels a bit strange living with a human. Not in any negative way, it's just that... it's uncommon to say the least. And actually being so... close to each other, unbelievable." The last sentence barely made it out of her throat, now the nervousness and shyness took over - she was unable to push herself to day those three words. The memory of the last time she got turned down was still fresh in her mind and considering what human said before it could end the same way.
"Yeah, it's almost scary how everything changed in my life and how fast I adjusted to it." A halfhearted chuckle was forced to cheer up the mood a bit.
"But we can count on each other and that makes it all better. Oh wow, look how late it is!" In fact they spent most of the evening and a part of a night talking. A yawn from human emphasized the late hour.
"And tomorrow's is a school day. Ehh..." A sigh best expressed their enthusiasm with having to get up early tomorrow. "Well I guess it would be better not to sleep during classes." With that David stood up and started going towards his room.
Amber quickly caught up to him and grabbed his hand. "Can..." She forced herself to look straight into his eyes despite wanting to stare at her feet. "Can I get a goodnight hug?" She tilted her head slightly sideways and smiled.
"Sure thing." David responded with a smile and pulled her closer. Amber inhaled deeply, taking in his smell. The hug lasted for a short while before human pulled back. "I'm beat now, see you tomorrow." With those words he walked up the stairs and disappeared from vixen's vision.
"Goodnight David." She muttered mostly to herself, suspecting that he does not hear her as the only response she got was the sound of running water in the bathroom. "I love you." She whispered.
Later Amber had trouble falling asleep. Someone once said that opportunities that were wasted hurt the most, he was right. Amber could not forgive herself not saying what she wanted to day to David. She was thinking about how many times she could have done that during the day but she did not. Memories of his scent and warmth of his body did not help either.
She knew it was probably bad idea, but she could not help it. She moved her paw lower and lover and gasped letting out a silent call to her imaginary lover "David, I waited so long for this..."