I was quickly getting bored as we waited so I tried to come up with some conversation to pass the time.

"What else do we need to get?"

Susan responded with a question of her own, "You mean for tonight?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Tonight and tomorrow I guess? We're going shopping again on Monday right, to stock for the trip."

Susan thought a moment then shrugged, "We don't need much right now. I guess we could stock up on booze, not that any of us really drink that much. But it doesn't go bad so it doesn't hurt to have extra on hand."

I suggested, "We could get some chips and stuff too, when we pick up the cake?"

She was about to reply when the bank manager interrupted us, "Miss Carter? We're ready now."

Susan and I followed the manager into the little vault, and I used my special key to unlock our safety deposit box. Then the manager slid out the long metal box, and led us around a corner into a little private room. She left the two of us alone in there to do our box business in private.

It was about noon on Saturday and the mall and bank were both kind of busy, but we didn't want to leave this to the last minute. Today was the eighteenth of April and we'd be leaving for our vacation in three days, so Lily asked me to come and get that silver brooch from the bank.

I'd actually been a little worried about about my demon mom lately, the last eight or ten days she almost seemed kind of moody or withdrawn. She didn't want to talk about whatever was going on though. I knew she fed a couple days ago, since I lost my appetite Thursday and yesterday. She didn't seem interested in talking at all until this morning, when she asked me to get the brooch.

She still didn't want to discuss whatever had been bothering her, but she seemed to finally be in a better mood again today which made me happy.

My curvy redheaded girlfriend watched as I set the long metal box down on the small table and opened the lid up.

Then my eyebrows crept up as I found myself staring at the contents in surprise. The black velvet box was there, but it was no longer the only thing inside. Along with the velvet box were five tightly-wrapped bundles of English money, and a few pieces of jewelry. The only thing I recognized was that gold necklace that Verothilas sent from Italy via courier.

I didn't remember putting that necklace in the safety deposit box, and I'd never seen any of the other stuff before either. As far as I knew the only time I'd been here was to put the brooch away.

"Wow," Susan commented as she picked up one of the bundles of cash. She riffled the edge of the bills with her thumb and said quietly, "This is ten thousand pounds sterling. There's fifty-thousand pounds in cash right here. That's got to be worth about a hundred thousand dollars Canadian."

I nodded slowly, "Probably stuff Lily got from Verothilas?"

"Yeah I'd assume so," Sue agreed.

I decided not to comment on the fact that I'd never seen most of that stuff before. Though I made a mental note to ask Lily about it at some point. For now I just reached in and picked up the black velvet box. I opened it and confirmed the silver brooch was still there, then closed it again and slipped it into my purse.

Sue put the bundle of cash back and I closed the lid on the deposit box, then it took a few minutes to get the bank manager's attention so we could lock it back up in the vault.

With that task complete we went on to finish up our shopping. We got a couple more cases of vodka coolers and some bottles of wine, then finished up at the grocery store. I grabbed us some bags of chips and some dip, then we went to the bakery counter to pick up Amber's birthday cake.

It wasn't anything special, we picked a vanilla confetti cake with strawberry mousse filling and white-chocolate icing. And we had 'Happy Birthday Amber' piped ontop. I sort of felt guilty that we were just buying something instead of making it for her but I didn't actually know how to bake. So if we did make it ourselves it would have come from a package and probably wouldn't have been as good.

The birthday girl was working today, but she'd be coming straight to our house after work. Actually Melissa was going to go pick her up so she wouldn't have to take the bus. For now me and Sue had Melissa's car, while our tall blonde girlfriend was at home relaxing.

With the cake and snacks and drinks and everything secured, me and Sue went out to the car and ten minutes later we were back at home.

I was excited and ready to open some coolers and get the party started, but both Melissa and Susan were there to act responsible and be the voice of reason and all that annoying stuff.

Technically we were all on vacation already, we'd all taken next week off from college and university and stuff. But we had assignments and whatever, and both my girlfriends suggested the three of us should do that while Amber was at work. Then we could cut loose after the birthday girl was here.

It wasn't nearly as much fun but I knew they were right, and I grudgingly followed them downstairs into our office. There were still several distractions though. Last weekend we went to one of those outdoor sporting supply places to do some shopping, and we had all that gear down here in the den ready to go.

We got four big double-size sleeping bags, four microfibre blankets, a set of camp cookware and some plates and cups and cutlery that were all rugged and stackable and stuff. We got a big insulated cooler for keeping drinks and food cold, and a bunch of other related gear. We even got collapsable metal sticks for roasting marshmallows and hotdogs or whatever.

Basically everything we'd need for our vacation except food and booze was there in a neat little pile ready to go.

I eventually tore my eyes off that and forced myself to stop daydreaming about it. Instead I focused on my computer and textbooks and some of the work we'd been given.

Susan and Melissa were already busy on their assignments, and the three of us worked quietly. I was still fidgety though, and managed to waste some time getting us all drinks. Cola for my girlfriends, water for me. Then an hour later I asked if anyone wanted snacks or something, but they both shushed me and Melissa told me to concentrate on the schoolwork. I pouted but I knew she was right.

Six or seven months passed as I sat chained to my desk, but eventually the clock reached half past five and my girlfriends decided that was enough work. Melissa still had to put some clothes on before she could go pick up Amber.

Me and Susan ended up chilling in the living-room while Melissa got dressed, and just before six she headed out to go get Amber. And just over a half hour later she was back with our fourth girlfriend in tow. The two of them came into the kitchen through the side door.

"Hello!" I called from the living-room. "Happy birthday Amber!"

"Happy birthday!" Susan chimed in as well.

Our girlfriends both grabbed drinks as they passed the fridge on their way through to come see us, and me and Susan took turns giving Amber birthday hugs. Then before we all sat down on the sofa Amber removed her oversized hoodie and revealed what she'd been wearing today for work.

When me and Melissa visited her store the first time I was impressed by the tight jeans and t-shirt. Today she was in heels, tights, a short skirt, and a cute blouse. Her make-up was a little less subtle too, and over-all the effect was almost dramatic.

Instead of our cute small shy blushy girlfriend, Amber looked full-on hot.

"Wow," I commented. "If you ever showed up at school looking like that, you'd have guys and girls all lining up for a chance to ask you out."

Melissa smirked, "Not to mention I think Matt's head might explode."

Amber blushed, "I doubt it. Not that I want that anyways. I just dress this way for work."

"I know," I smiled as I gave her another hug. "Sorry for teasing, but you look great."

Finally the four of us settled down together all cuddled up on the sectional. Melissa was at one end and I was at the other, with Sue and Amber in the middle.

We didn't have a fire burning yet, and it was probably getting near that time of the year where we wouldn't want to since the weather kept getting nicer. Maybe we'd change our minds as the evening wore on. And we'd definitely have campfires next week, so we didn't really need to keep doing that here.

As we all relaxed and enjoyed our drinks, Susan commented "I figured we'd be ordering sushi for dinner again, so whenever everyone's hungry just let me know."

"I could eat now," Amber replied. "I could also wait though, if nobody else is hungry yet."

I suggested, "Let's order now? It's the kind of thing we can nibble at for a while right? It doesn't matter if it's all piping hot or whatever, like it's kind of snacky isn't it?"

Melissa and Susan agreed, so Sue put in the order.

Then as we were all waiting for the food to arrive, Melissa asked Amber "So how's it feel? Your first birthday as your real self?"

"It feels pretty good," Amber replied with a smile. That faded though as she added, "My mom gave me a hard time about it though."

Susan frowned, "Oh? How so?"

Our cute brunette girlfriend shrugged, "This is the first time I haven't done the whole birthday thing at home with the family? She was trying to guilt me about that, even though we're doing that tomorrow night. It bugs me because Tracey's last two birthdays she spent with friends and mom never hassled her about it."

Amber sighed slightly as she continued, "Tracey's always been more social though, more outgoing. It's new for me, right? Actually having a group of friends, having girlfriends even? Before I was just friends with Matt, and when we were younger he'd come over and join us for my birthday. But the last two years it was just me and the family. Now suddenly I've got a life, got friends, girlfriends, people I want to spend time with? My mom's acting like I'm turning my back on her or rejecting her or something, just because I'm ready to start having a life of my own."

I was quiet for a few minutes as I found myself relating to that. Not that my mom ever complained or whatever, she's actually the one who suggested me and Melissa move out. But until I got to be Mara I didn't have any friends other than Melissa. And actually it was kind of the same for Melissa too, I was kind of her only friend as well. We were both fairly quiet and isolated, just friends with each other and spent most of our time with our families.

"What about your dad?" Melissa asked. "Or your sister? Are they acting put out that you're not at home tonight?"

"Not at all," Amber replied after a gulp of her cooler. "Tracey was disappointed that I wasn't going out clubbing or dancing or bar-hopping, that's the sort of thing she thinks we should be doing. But as far as she's concerned hanging out with friends is the right way to celebrate anything. Like I said, she was out with friends on her last two birthdays. And my dad... Actually I think he's just happy that I've got friends? He's happy that I've got a life now."

"Anyways," she stated, "I don't want to dwell on that. I'm happy to be here with all of you, so let's just focus on the good stuff."

"Agreed!" I stated, and raised my bottle in a toast before I had another gulp of my cooler.

My girlfriends did the same. We had some music playing on the sound system, there were plenty of cold drinks on hand, and soon enough we'd have some tasty food delivered. And some sushi too, but Amber and Susan enjoyed that so it was all good.

The mood was quickly picking up again, and I decided to help it along. I excused myself and went up to the bedroom, then came back down with a gift-wrapped package.

"Here you go Amber," I smiled as I gave it to her. "It's nothing too fancy, just a little something from the four of us."

There was a card of course which we'd all signed, I even added Lily's name to it.

Amber grinned as she accepted the parcel. It was lightweight, she could probably guess as soon as I handed it to her that it was clothes of some kind.

She opened the card first and as soon as she read inside we got one of her trademark blushy-grins as she said, "Aww!"

The card had a picture of a kitten on the front, and inside I wrote that it was the cutest card I could find but it still wasn't cute enough for a cutie like Amber.

Then she tore open the parcel and opened up the box to find her very own DLP t-shirt. It was black, with the logo in white.

"Thank you," Amber grinned at the three of us. "I love it! Except I'll never be able to wear it at home, my family will want to know what it means."

Melissa suggested, "Wear it on Tuesday? All four of us can wear our DLP shirts to start our vacation together."

"Yeah!" I grinned happily. "I love that idea!"

Amber and Susan agreed, and in three days the DLP would be going on holiday.

PurpleCatGirl

Can't wait to find out what happens next? Join our Patreon and get immediate access to the next chapter and more! Patrons have already read up to chapter 30 and you could too!
https://www.patreon.com/purplecatgirl