Sam yawned as she sat down at her desk. She'd only managed to get a few hours of sleep last night before the ringing of her phone tore her out of dreamland, and she was imagining Roxy wasn’t fairing much better.

What even freaked her out so much anyway? It's one thing to call me at 1 in the morning but the poor girl sounded like she was on the verge of tears!

The thought was quite troubling, but what was even more troubling was the return of a familiar scent from the previous day. This wasn’t the scent of Kimberly, who was sitting near the back of the room sporting a wonderfully purple bruise on her cheek and pointedly not looking in Sam’s direction, this was the troubling scent of rust and earth that had accompanied the torn-up corpse of a deer, deep in the woods.

It meant that the culprit was nearby.

Judging by the fact that there didn’t appear to be any large predators in the classroom as far as she could see, it was most likely that this mystery deer-killer was like her, a werewolf. The very thought of another werewolf nearby, in her territory, set her on edge to the core of her being. Sam hadn’t had much experience interacting with other members of her species outside of her old pack, but she knew enough to know that even the general presence of another werewolf nearby was enough to justify being on guard.

Werewolves are naturally territorial, much like their animal counterparts, and for the most part Dewsbury and its surrounding woodland were considered the territory of the Reed pack, Sam’s family. From what little her mother had been able to teach her before her and her father’s passing, Sam knew that her family’s bloodline was much more powerful than the average werewolf, being traceable directly back to the origin of their species as a whole, the Direwolves, and not one of the branching subspecies. This equated to not only a stronger wolf form, but also stronger a human form, as well as a much deeper connection with their wolf, being able to maintain control during a full moon where most werewolves would be forced to indulge their baser instincts.

It was for those reasons, as well as the belief that there were at least two werewolves of the Direwolf clan present in the area (those being Sam and her mother, as her father was of a different clan), that most in the werewolf community generally made a point of steering clear of the town.

If there was another werewolf in town, settling down comfortably enough to be enrolled in a school, it was likely that word of her parents death had finally spread to the wider community, and this mystery werewolf was trying to stake a claim on her territory. That was bad news. When a werewolf is looking to take someone else’s territory for themselves, the first thing they would do is go after the pack currently controlling it. That meant that it wasn’t just Sam who was in danger, anyone who she’d imprinted on was potentially in the firing line.

Sam clenched her teeth and shut her eyes, trying to focus in on the scent, aiming to pinpoint the culprit so she could take matters into her own hands before they figured out who she was and tried anything. If they figured out her identity and got a lock on her scent, it would be all too easy to trace back to her pack. She could warn Ava, Carol, and Tom, Carol’s husband, easy enough, as they already knew she was a werewolf and would understand, but Roxy? That would be a whole other conversation.

Honestly, Roxy was never even meant to join before Sam could tell her about it, but with their friendship and Sam’s ever-growing feelings for the raven-haired girl, she’d accidentally imprinted on her without realising it, making her an official member of the pack without the girl ever even knowing of its existence. Unless she wanted to admit to Roxy her true nature in order to warn her of the threat, the only thing Sam could do was try to nip it in the bud and keep it in check.

She was still struggling to get a pinpoint on the scent. Between all of the people in the classroom and the light breeze coming in through the open window, her olfactory senses were completely overloaded. She sighed. Guess there’s nothing for it then, I'll just have to hope that I can catch them before they catch me.

“Miss Reed! Pay attention!”

Oops, I guess class has already started.

—

Sam carried her tray over and sat down at the lunch table. Ross was already there, eating his lunch with an exasperated look on his face, as well as Roxy, who was currently face down on the table, snoring softly.

“Is she asleep?” Sam asked, gesturing to the girl next to her.

“Yup, completely conked out the second she sat down.” Ross shrugged.

“She say anything about why?” Sam knew that their phone call was obviously part of the reason, but she was curious to know about what her crush had been doing that led to it in the first place. Ross huffed.

“Thought you might know something, considering you’re showing off some pretty considerable eyebags of your own. You two lovebirds get up to something last night?” Ross teased. Sam did her best to ignore the jab despite the rising heat on her cheeks at the thought.

“Eh, she called me at like one in the morning sounding pretty bothered about something. Was just hoping you might know something about why.” The brown-haired boy just shrugged, looking across the table to the sleeping girl. Sam reached over and ran her hand through the other girl’s shock of black hair, gently scratching at her scalp. She shifted a bit, grumbling as she lifted her head, ready to yell at whoever it was that was bothering her nap, only to stop in her tracks when she saw Sam smiling back at her.

“Mornin’ sleepyhead. Have a nice nap?” Sam asked with a raised eyebrow, enjoying how the other girl’s face immediately turned bright red. Roxy yelped as she slapped Sam’s hand off her head.

“I was sleeping just fine, thank you very much!” She huffed, grumpily crossing her arms.

“Aww, don’t be like that, you know you’re happy to see me!” The blonde said with a wink.

Something flashed across Roxy’s face for a second and her eyes went blank. She snapped out of it and replied.

“Yeah. I am.” She agreed, smiling weakly. It was the exact same tone she had when Sam picked up her call last night. What on earth happened? Sam was about to speak up and ask about it when Leif sat down, sporting a brand new bright green hair dye job and three large tupperware containers full of what looked to be fried chicken.

“Sup, queers! Work had a bunch of leftover chicken last night and they were just gonna ditch it, so I snagged it, hope y’all like cold KFC!” She smiled brightly, opening each of the containers. “There's enough to go around, dig in!”

Everyone claimed a couple of pieces and started eating. Sam grabbed a couple of her own and started mindlessly picking the skin off of each piece, placing the remains on Roxy’s lunch tray without even thinking about it. She was so enamoured with her task and the idea of tearing into a chicken breast that she didn’t even notice the entire table grow silent.

“Sam. What the fuck.” Ross’s mildly squeaky voice broke the tense quiet. The blonde looked up to find everybody staring at her like she was insane.

“Hmm?”

“What are you doing?” The look he was giving her was so bewildered that part of her thought she might have accidentally half-shifted without realising. A quick glance down confirmed that, no, her arms weren’t covered in fur and her nails were still just nails, not claws, so that wasn’t the issue. She looked back up to study each of her friends' faces, trying to deduce what had gotten them so disturbed. Roxy finally decided to bring her into the loop.

“Y-your chicken, dude. What are you doing to it?” She looked just as confused as the rest of them, but the slight look of fond amusement behind her eyes put Sam at ease. At least whatever apparent culinary crime she’d committed had managed to pull the girl out of her funk.

“Oh! Sorry, I forgot that most people don’t do this,” Sam laughed nervously. “I really hate the grease on the skin of this stuff, but the chicken is still good, so I usually just tear off the skin and give it to someone else.” She gestured to the pile of skin that had accumulated on Roxy’s tray. The shorter girl’s eyes widened as she noticed it for the first time, picking up a piece and putting it in her mouth.

“Well fuck, if it means I get more skin then you eat however you want! That's literally the best part!” She said, playfully punching Sam in the shoulder. The blonde’s heart fluttered lightly at how quickly her best friend accepted her weird habits, and a heat found its way onto her cheeks as she gazed adoringly at the girl who was currently messily stuffing her face with chicken.

God, she’s so cute, I wish I could just kiss her. Maybe I should ask? Wait, no no no, there are so many people around! Do I really want my first kiss to be in the middle of a school cafeteria, while her face is covered in chicken grease? Actually... She is pretty adorable like this... kissing her would probably be perfect no matter where we were, her looking at me with those warm brown eyes and that soft black hair, and that utterly adorable nose! God, how am I so gay for this girl?

Sam’s incredibly unsubtle gay stupor didn’t go unnoticed by the other two residents of the table, who gave each other a smirking side-eye. Leif coughed, snapping Sam out of her very homosexual thoughts. Roxy looked up from her feast, and a light dusting of pink spread across her cheeks as she realised Sam was staring at her.

“Penny for your thoughts, blondie?” Leif asked, giving her a knowing look. Sam sputtered, face red and ears burning, realising how obvious she’d been. She was about to attempt to reply when Leif looked past her, a slightly confused look on her face. That’s when the scent hit her.

Rust and earth.

She whipped around and her mouth went dry as she was greeted by the person she’d been searching for all day. He was decently tall, although not quite as tall as herself, with broad shoulders and rough tan skin. His dark curly hair was shoulder length and hanging loose. Sam realised that she was blatantly staring, but she was far too shocked to care. Did he figure her out already?

Their eyes locked, forest green against sky blue, and he regarded her for a moment. His eyes flashed to an almost imperceptibly brighter green for a second, a show of his wolf, and Sam knew she was caught. She made sure her friends couldn’t see from the angle, and let her eyes flash red as she glared in response, a silent threat. His eyes flicked to each person at the table, and lingered on Roxy for far too long.

“Can we help you?” Sam spat out, intentionally letting a bite into her words. She could feel her friends staring at her, but she didn’t have it in her to care, not when there was a threat to her pack standing right there. He didn’t seem phased in the slightest, meeting her icy stare with a charismatic smirk.

“I’m new in town, thought I'd introduce myself. Name’s Blaine.” God, even his voice oozed charisma. This wasn’t good. “Y’all mind if I sit with you?”

Ross spoke up before Sam could refuse, inviting Blaine to the table. Despite there being a perfectly good seat on the other side of the table next to Ross and Leif, Blaine chose to sit down right next to Roxy. There was no way he didn’t know she was part of her pack at this distance, her scent would be all over the raven-haired girl.

Blaine effortlessly struck up a conversation with the other people at the table, but Sam was a bit too tense to tune in right now, nor did she want to. Her head was too full, vivid intrusive thoughts flashing across her mind, gruesome possibilities about what the other werewolf’s intentions were, and what she could possibly do about it. She would have to confront him, obviously, try to weasel out what his plans were. She was a direwolf, she was almost certainly stronger than him, she could beat him in a fight if it came to that, but she knew that just beating him might not be enough. She could threaten him, maybe? He doesn’t know anything about her, he wouldn’t know the lengths she’d go, so he might be more likely to take the threat seriously.

What if he didn’t listen, though? Would she really be able to follow through with whatever threat she made? She wouldn’t even hesitate to kill him if it meant protecting one of her pack, but she really, really didn’t want it to come to that. She'd been in fights before, but the thought of actually killing someone made her so sick that she almost threw up onto her long forgotten chicken.

God, when did it get so hot in here? The air was so stuffy it almost felt like she couldn’t breathe. The ongoing conversation at the table was suddenly all-too-loud to her extra sensitive ears, and the smell of grease wafting off the leftover chicken was causing her already nauseous stomach to turn.

She had to get out of here, had to leave, but when she tried to move she found that she couldn’t, she wouldn’t. She didn’t want to bring any attention to herself by moving. Despite this, her leg started bouncing and her hands were twitching in her lap even as she was desperately trying to make herself look smaller.

A soft, cool hand found its way into her own admittedly sweaty one. Suddenly the whole world came back into focus. The conversation was still in full swing around her, but a look to her right revealed Roxy, gorgeous, amazing Roxy, eyeing her with a look of soft concern.

Her free hand came up to the blonde’s face, and her whole body fluttered with butterflies as Roxy wiped something from her bottom lip. Sam vaguely realised it was blood from where she’d bitten through her lip without realising.

“You wanna go someplace quiet?” Her voice was soft amongst the loud din of the cafeteria, almost as if she knew that Sam would still hear her. The thought made her flush with affection, bringing with it a fond image of Roxy knowing her secret and accepting it, taking care not to overwhelm her heightened senses.

Sam tried to reply, but the words caught in her throat, so she simply nodded. Roxy lifted off her seat, followed by Sam, still holding onto her hand.

“Lunch is almost over, so we’re gonna head out. See ya.” Without waiting for a reply, the shorter girl led them out of the cafeteria and into the hall. Sam could feel Blaine eyeing them the whole way. They walked hand in hand through the silent hallways, heading towards Sam’s next class. Once they reached it, Roxy spoke up.

“What’s wrong, Sammie? You feeling okay?” the pure, unfiltered concern in her voice filled the blonde with something a bit more intense than just adoration, something that caused her heart to pound and her legs to feel weak. She immediately buried Roxy in a bone-crushing embrace before she could either impulsively kiss her or burst out crying. It was a 50/50 chance, honestly.

She sighed, breathing in the other girl’s calming scent. It cleared her speeding mind and allowed her a moment of peace to sort through her thoughts. Everything slowly fit into place. She stepped out of the embrace and pressed her lips softly against Roxy’s forehead, smirking slightly when she heard the girl’s breath hitch.

Roxy’s olive skin was once again covered in a blazing red and Sam couldn’t help but giggle a little bit.

She knew what to do.

—

He walked down the bustling hallway, moving to his next class. The blonde one –the other werewolf, he remembered- walked up to him and shoved something into his hands before continuing down the hall. It was a note.

AFTER SCHOOL. BEHIND THE GYM.

SHOW UP.

—

“So, are you and Sam a thing now?”

Roxy almost tripped over. “Wh-what? No!”

Leif just smiled back. “Are you sure? You two literally walked out of lunch hand in hand. Sure you weren’t finding a corner to go snog in?”

“She was... she was having a panic attack or something. I was trying to calm her down by holding her hand, you know how physical she is. It's not like that.” Her voice was barely audible over the din of the hallway, dozens of students rushing to their lockers, eager to head home. Leif paused for a second before replying.

“Hmm... I hope she’s okay.” The newly-minted green-haired girl frowned, before looking back up at her friend. “But still, it’s obvious you like her, why don’t you just ask her out already?”

“She doesn’t like me like that, Leif. She only sees me as a friend.” Roxy replied. Leif scoffed and stared back at her with a flat look.

“And where exactly did you hear that?” Roxy looked down.

“She said it herself. When we were in my room. She said I was her best friend. Friend.”

“Did you tell her how you feel about her?”

“No, why?”

Leif stopped walking and stepped towards the wall and out of the flow of surging teenagers, pulling Roxy with her.

“Rox. Roxy. Roxanne. I love you, but you’re an idiot. That girl is so obviously into you, it would take a blind person not to see it. ” The idea brought a hopeful blush to her cheeks, but she quickly pushed it down. False hope would get her nowhere.

“Wh-what?! No she isn’t! How would you even know?” Leif raised an eyebrow.

“That girl can’t hide her feelings for shit. You shoulda seen the way she was looking at you during lunch! I swear she was about two seconds away from just grabbing you and kissing you right there, if that new guy hadn’t shown up.”

Roxy’s mind flashed to the hallway with Sam, the gentle kiss she placed on her forehead, leaving the shorter girl so flustered she didn’t absorb a single word of the next class. She absentmindedly pressed her fingers to the spot that she swore she could still feel, two hours later, before shaking her head.

“B-but... She’s so tall! And-and strong! And pretty! what could she possibly see in me?” Leif just sighed.

“Girl, you need to work on your self-esteem. You're a straight up catch, and believe me, Sam knows it.”

Roxy grunted. “Can we talk about something else, please? My self-esteem is just fine, thank you very much.”

“You got it, Roxstar. How about that new guy, huh?”

—

Sam walked around the corner of the gym, and sure enough, Blaine was there, waiting for her. He shot her a smirk as she approached.

“So, that girl, is she part of your pack or something? Your scent was all over h-”

Sam didn’t give him time to finish, grabbing his shoulders and slamming him against the wall, eyes red and fangs bared. Adrenaline coursed through her system, burying the fear that remained after lunch deep in the pits of her stomach. There could be no misconceptions as to who was in charge here.

“If you so much as lay a finger on her, or any member of my pack, I will personally rip you in half and throw your corpse into a river.” Her voice was low and accentuated by a harsh growl that reverberated through the stone walls of the gym. To his credit, Blaine seemed largely unfazed.

“And I have no doubt that you could, blondie, what with your big direwolf muscles and everything.” his voice had an almost mocking tone to it, and Sam really wanted to wipe that stupid fucking smirk off of his face. “But rest assured, I have absolutely zero interest in going after your pack or taking your territory.”

Sam’s confusion was evident on her face. “What? Why are you here then?”

Blaine let out a laugh. “Is it really so hard to believe that I just wanted to live here? Plus, I wanted to see if the rumours about a direwolf living here were true, and judging by those eyes of yours, I would say they were right on the money,” he said. Sam let go of him and took a step back.

“Why should I believe you?” He shrugged.

“Believe what you want, I don’t care.”

Sam paused for a moment, studying the other werewolf intensely.

“Fine. But stay away from my pack. The offer to rip you in half still stands.” She said, turning away from him. He hummed, though there was a hint of annoyance in it.

“You sure I can’t at least talk to that girl with the black hair? Isn’t it a bit possessive to keep her all to yourself just because she’s in your pack? She is single, right?” That smirk was still audible in his voice and Sam’s stomach twisted. In an instant, her hand was around his throat, forcing him back against the stone. His eyes flashed brighter and he kept talking.

“That being said, isn’t it a little weird that, like, your whole pack is made up of humans? I could smell you on another girl in one of my classes as well. Like, I get it, it’s always nice to have a pet to play with, but more than one? I mean, I'm not seeing any other werewolves around here, so it’s pretty easy to put two and two together.” His tone turned aggressive the more he spoke, either unaware of the way the hand around his throat clenched tighter with every word, or uncaring of the consequences.

“Oh well, I guess you would have to make do, considering your real family were slaughtered like nothing more than swine. Imagine that! A direwolf being bested by some pathetic hu-!”

His nose shattered under her fist with a sickening crunch and fell to his knees, doubled over and cradling his face as blood fountained from between his fingers, dripping onto the grass.

“Augh, you bitch! What the hell is your-”

She cut him off again by kicking his shoulder, pushing him over onto his back. Her whole body trembled with barely contained rage, thankfully masking the cutting pain his comments instilled.

“What the hell makes you think you get to talk to me like that? This is my territory, and as long as you’re in it, you don’t get to just disrespect me because you’re frustrated that I won't let your predatory ass near one of my pack. I see what you’re trying to do and trust me, you’re barking up the wrong tree, find someone else to perv on. Don’t you dare talk about my family like you know what happened, unless you want me to break something else, and stay away from my pack!”

She kicked him again and walked off, leaving him in the dirt.

—

Roxy and Leif stepped through the doors and out into the courtyard, already full of students mingling and loitering instead of heading home. The girls walked side by side through the crowd until Leif stopped in her tracks, prompting Roxy to do the same.

“What is it?” Roxy asked.

The green-haired girl nodded her head in the direction she was looking.

“Isn’t that Sam?”

Sure enough, there was Sam, sitting on a bench, staring forlornly at the ground. Leif audibly winced.

“Whoof, that does not look good. I’m gonna leave this one to you, Rox. You know I'm terrible at that emotional stuff. Let me know if she’s alright, yeah?” Leif said, putting a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“Yeah, alright. I'll talk to you later.”

With that, Leif nodded and walked off. Roxy sucked in a breath and made her way over to Sam.

“Hey, are you alright?”

The blonde looked up with a slightly irritated, slightly sad expression on her face. Once she processed who was in front of her, the girl stood up and quickly enveloped her friend in a hug and Roxy quickly returned it. When Sam pulled back, her expression had regained much of its usual brightness, although Roxy couldn’t help but notice it was still slightly dimmer than normal.

“I am now.” She said with a smile. Roxy’s heart fluttered just a little bit. “I was actually hoping to run into you. Do you wanna come over tonight? Carol’s making spaghetti, and she always makes too much.”

“Sure! Just let me text my dad to let him know.” Roxy replied happily, pulling out her phone.

Oh my gosh she just invited me over for dinner!! Wait, no, calm down. This doesn’t mean anything. Friends invite each other over all the time.

“Who’s Carol by the way? Another sister?” The raven-haired girl asked.

“Oh, she’s my... my uhh...” Sam paused, her expression darkening slightly. “My guardian.”

Roxy knew better than to ask about the story there, so she just accepted it and moved on, trying to ignore the nagging at the back of her head, reminding her of what she saw last night.

Dewsbury, United States of America. 2007

She shook her head. Don’t need that ruining my night. It doesn’t matter, Sam’s safe, whether she’s some sort of supernatural creature or not. She’s right here.

Roxy took Sam’s hand, prompting the girl to look up.

“Let’s get going, shall we?”

—

“And here’s the basement! This is where we can hang while dinner’s cooking.”

Roxy took in the space before her. It was a cosy, medium sized room with wooden walls. There was a medallion yellow couch in the centre, facing the staircase they came in from. Under the staircase was a small flatscreen, with a DVD player and several games consoles in the cabinets below it. The back of the room behind the couch seemed to be mostly storage space, with several boxes stuffed into the corners crammed with various bits of junk.

The thing that most threw her off, however, was the absolutely huge pet bed sitting next to the couch, littered with many stuffed animals, both intact and in shreds. Roxy had seen pretty much the entire house on the tour that Sam gave her, and she was yet to see a dog of any kind.

“Wow, your dog must be massive.” The shorter girl said. Sam visibly stiffened.

“Haha yep! Do you wanna watch a movie?”

Roxy didn’t even have the energy to question the not-at-all subtle change of subject, still being exhausted from her all-nighter despite having slept through most of her classes. She just flopped onto the surprisingly comfortable couch, quickly followed by Sam, who grabbed the remote and started navigating through TV menus.

Neither girl knew what to watch, and to be honest, both were far too drained to even focus on anything, so they just threw on some random superhero movie. It followed all the predictable beats and twists and Roxy found herself nodding off about midway through. She did her best to stave it off, not wanting to pass out before the dinner that Sam’s guardian was so kindly preparing for her.

She looked over to her friend. Sam had that same forlorn thousand-yard stare as earlier, boring holes into the ground with her eyes. Roxy nudged her leg with a light kick to grab her attention. She startled and looked at Roxy, rubbing tears from her eyes.

“You okay, dude?”

Sam nodded slowly, not making eye contact. “y-yeah, I'm okay.” Her voice was rough and shaky.

Roxy shuffled over to the other girl and took her hand, resting her head on Sam’s shoulder.

“You know you don’t have to pretend around me. It's okay to not be okay sometimes.”

She ran her thumb along the back of Sam’s hand, stroking back and forth softly. Sam was silent for a moment, before a single tear rolled down her cheek, signalling the start of the waterworks. She fell into Roxy, sobbing against her chest.

“To-today w-was just s-s-so hard!” She cried.

“I know, I know. You wanna talk about it or do you just want some comfort?” Roxy whispered softly, running her hands through Sam’s thick blonde hair. Sam was silent for a moment.

“C-comfort, please.”

“Alrighty then.”

Roxy leaned back against the arm of the couch, allowing Sam to lay on top of her. The closeness of their bodies made her heartbeat skyrocket, but she reminded herself it wasn’t the time for that. Sam needed her.

She continued to stroke Sam’s head as the blonde’s cries slowly quietened into nothing. They stayed there for quite some time, barely listening to the background noise as the movie reached its climax, simply enjoying the casual physical intimacy. Roxy accidentally scratched her nails against Sam’s scalp and the taller girl twitched.

“Oop, sorry.” Roxy said, moving her hand away, only for Sam to grab it and put it back.

“Keep going, that felt nice.” The blonde’s voice was muffled against Roxy’s chest. The shorter girl giggled.

“Here, turn over, I'll give you a head massage.”

Sam did as she was told, shuffling around and laying her head back into its spot on Roxy’s chest. She looked back to Roxy, eyes red-rimmed and puffy, yet adorned with a soft smile.

It was then that Roxy realised why Sam chose to rest her head right there, and her whole face lit up with crimson. Sam seemed to immediately pick up on what the other girl was thinking, and smirked up at her. Summoning her courage, Roxy spoke.

“Getting comfy there?”

Sam shut her eyes and hummed. “What can I say? You're comfortable. Like a big pillow.”

“Mhm, sure.” Roxy pressed her fingers against Sam’s head and started kneading. She almost failed to hold back her snort when Sam’s whole body immediately went limp against her. Her head was rolling back and forth, trying to find that perfect position against Roxy’s fingers.

Sam sighed in a way that made Roxy blush. Evidently she’d found her sweet spot.

“ssscrmch.” Sam mumbled; eyes half lidded.

“Hmm?”

“ssscratch pleasse..”

Roxy obliged, scratching her nails along the girl’s scalp, and watched with great amusement as her leg started kicking out like a dog. Sam was totally blissed out, mumbling out various noises of satisfaction. The sheer intimacy of the moment was so strong that Roxy swore her heart would burst if she didn’t do something about it. She looked at Sam’s face, and her eyes inevitably flickered to her lips. Her heart started beating faster. She hadn’t even realised she’d stopped scratching until Sam shifted around again and looked up at her.

“Why’d you stop?” Her blue eyes were piercing into Roxy’s soul, completely unaware of the inner turmoil the other girl was currently experiencing.

“I.. uh.. you just..” Roxy stammered, her cheeks heating up when she realised what she had been about to do.

I was totally about to kiss her. Holy shit, I was about to kiss her!

Sam raised an amused eyebrow.

“I just…?”

Roxy pulled herself together and leaned in, planting a soft kiss on Sam’s cheek. The blonde froze.

“You just looked really cute like that, that’s all.”

A blush spread from Sam’s cheeks all across her face and down her neck. She lifted a hand and placed it over where Roxy’s lips had met her skin and an adorable grin broke out across her face. She looked like she was about to say something when a loud knock rang out from the door, startling the girls enough for Sam to fling herself off of Roxy, landing in a heap on the floor.

“Dinner’s ready!”

Roxy couldn’t remember who started giggling first, but it wasn’t long before both girls were completely incapacitated by full-bellied laughter. Eventually, wiping the tears from their eyes, they managed to pull themselves together enough to head to dinner.

Dinner itself was a light-hearted affair, and Roxy watched with adoration as Sam managed to get pasta sauce all over her face and down her uniform, much to her guardians’ dismay. After dinner (and after washing her face and changing into some clothes not doused with sauce), Sam walked Roxy home, holding her hand the entire way. They walked in comfortable silence, listening to the sounds of the woods nearby and enjoying the warm evening breeze tousling their hair.

Roxy stole a glance up at Sam. Her hair was almost glowing in the moonlight, and her eyes were closed, a gentle smile adorning her pale face. She looked the most at peace she’d been all day. A feeling of warmth washed over the shorter girl, and she smiled.

In no time at all, the two girls arrived at the Kindley household. Roxy turned to Sam, hands still intertwined.

“Well, I guess this is it.” Roxy said quietly.

“I guess it is.” Sam replied, looking away.

Neither girl made to leave. Sam took her other hand and faced her, an action that made Roxy’s heart race.

Is she...?

Sam met her eyes, dazzling blue gazing softly into warm brown, and bit her lip, as though she was considering something. Finally, she stepped closer, her hands leaving Roxy’s to cradle the raven-haired girl’s face. Roxy’s breath hitched as the blonde leant in, and before she knew it, Sam was kissing her.

Roxy’s own hands found Sam’s waist and she kissed back. Sam’s lips were unbelievably soft. She’ll admit, she’d fantasised about this moment a decent bit in the past, but those daydreams were nothing compared to the real thing. Every tiny movement of Sam’s lips sent electricity coursing through her body, making her feel like she was floating, like nothing else in the world existed apart from the girl in front of her.

Just as fast as she’d moved in, Sam backed off and separated the kiss. With a beaming smile, she turned around and jogged off back towards her house.

“Bye!”

Roxy was still too busy processing the last few minutes to reply. Her heart was racing, and a giddy smile broke out across her face. She fondly watched Sam go until she disappeared around a corner. As Roxy turned and began walking up her path, a weird feeling came over her. She frowned, looking around at the darkened street. It was empty.

There was no one around, so why did it feel like she was being watched?