1 Sam and Judy.

"Hey, where the hell are you? I've been trying to get to you for a while now, didn't we agree to spend some time alone this evening? It was even your idea, so where the hell are you?" The furious roar of a young girl was heard from the phone.

"I'm really sorry honey, I will be there soon, just don't be mad, ok? Please wait for a bit, just a bit, please." The girl who was holding it answered in a somehow fearful tone, but if someone was to look at her, they would have noticed something unusual, even though her tone was fearful and apologetic, her face had a beautiful blinding smile, making it seem as if she wasn't meaning what she was saying at all, as if she was just saying whatever came to her mind to please the girl on the other side of the phone without meaning it at all.

"You better be here soon, or you will regret it, you airheaded idiot." The voice from the phone said.

"Ok, ok. I will be there soon, don't worry." The girl said.

Even though she knew that the conversation must have ended, she didn't hang up but waited for the other side to hang up first, she knew how mad that can turn her girlfriend sometimes.

After hearing the sound indicating that the call has finally been cut from the other side, she put her phone down while sighing, shaking her head, and smiling bitterly, her girlfriend Brittney, was almost perfect on every side, except that she had somehow of a short, bad temper.

'Better start moving or I'll suffer when I reach there.' She thought while smiling beautifully.

Of course, before that she went to a nearby shop and bought a somehow expansive bar of chocolate, she was going to give it to her girlfriend as an apology, she wished it was going to help pacify her.

Thinking about what that day was and what might be waiting for her home she couldn't stop herself from clenching her hand tight on the handle of her bag, all while Wearing that beautiful, happy smile on her face.

As she was trying her best to find a taxi so she can hurry to her girlfriend's house, a hand was put on her shoulder, she jumped from fright and almost shouted, turning around subconsciously and in a hurry.

What she saw when she turned was a beautiful face looking down on her, it was the face of a brown-eyed, black-haired girl.

She herself was short and frail and was used to looking up to people, but even she knew that the girl was probably taller than average.

The girl had her hand in the air, and her eyes showed a hint of shock, while the happy smile on her face was frozen. It seemed as if she didn't expect that her small pat was going to give the smaller girl such a surprise.

"Sorry did I spook you? I didn't mean to, I just needed to talk to you." The tall girl soon returned to her senses and said while taking a few steps back, as if trying to give the smaller girl some space and to show that she didn't mean anything bad.

"Oh?.. No, it's alright I was just a bit surprised, you don't have to worry about that." The smaller girl waved her hands and then said as if she wasn't sure, "You're Judy? the girl whose shift is right after me, right?"

"Yeah, that's me." The taller girl, Judy, said while taking a deep breath, it wasn't till then that the smaller one noticed that she seemed out of breath and had a bit of sweat on her forehead.

"So what is it, what did you want to say?"

"I'm really sorry for being late, I had something to do, and before I noticed the time had already passed, I swear it won't happen again." Said Judy with an apologetic expression.

The smaller girl, Sam, was taken aback seeing Judy apologising and she hurriedly said:

"Don't worry about that, it's alright." While saying that she still had that same blinding smile, then she added:

"I have something to do, if you have nothing else to add I'll be leaving."

"W... Wait for a second..." She was going to turn around and leave but she heard Judy's voice, looking at her with a questioning expression, she saw Judy putting her right hand in her uniform's pocket, and taking out a small present box.

"I... I heard that today was your birthday, so I brought you something, I ho- hope you like it." Judy didn't even look at Sam's face while talking, her eyes were looking at the ground under her feet and they didn't move an inch.

Judy waited for a long time but she didn't hear or feel anything, feeling somehow weird and panicked she lifted her head and looked at Sam, and when she did her face froze and she didn't know what to do.

Sam was just standing there frozen with her eyes frozen on the small box and tears threatening to fall out.

"Sa- Sam what's wrong? Wha... What happened to you.." Judy got frustrated and didn't know what to do as she took a few steps towards Sam trying to question her, but then she took a few steps back while worrying if it was something she did that made her like that in the first place.

"Huh?.. Oh... Sorry, I don't know what happened to me, it... It's not your fault don't worry about it." Sam seemed as if she woke up from whatever she was experiencing and she hurriedly apologised to Judy, that same smile never leaving her face, even though, it was apparent than that it was a bit forced.

Seeming as if she didn't want Judy to question her more about it, she reached and took the small box from her while trying to steer the conversation to another thing:

"Thanks for the gift, it was kind of you. Don't tell me this was the reason why you were late today heh..."

She meant the latter part of her sentence as a joke but looking at Judy she saw that she had an embarrassed expression and just stood there with her mouth half-open.

"I... I tried to buy something for you earlier, bu... But I wasn't sure about what to get you..." Murmured Judy to herself with a faint blush.

She actually tried many times to find something appropriate to give to Sam, yet she didn't know what she should give her, she kept hesitating time and time again till that day when it was already Sam's birthday, leaving her no choice but to choose something.

Yet even then it took her a while and she was late for her job, she took a taxi to get there as fast as she could, and she felt so happy seeing that Sam was still there.

Calming down, she decided to give herself some time to collect herself and prepare before giving the gift to her, so she went to change to the shops uniform.

What she didn't expect was that when she got out ""after giving herself a little pep talk"" she found that Sam had already left and that she couldn't find her.

Asking the manager, she was told that the girl had already left because she had something to do.

Hearing that, she ran outside as fast as she could, she somehow didn't know why she did that, she just felt that she should give her the gift that day, no matter what.

"Oh... I.. Y-You shouldn't have worried about that, anything would have worked just fine." Sam was touched as she held the gift box in her hand while bringing it close to her chest as if holding something dear to her.

Just as Judy was about to say something, a ring tone was heard, it was Sam's phone.

Sam's reaction was incredibly fast, as soon as the sound of the phone was heard, she reached for it, answering without even looking at the screen, she put it next to her ear.

"Hey, bring some beer with you ok, there's no more here." The same voice from before was heard.

"Ok, I will bring it don't worry." With the same smile on her face, Sam answered.

"Than hurry up, don't let me wait anymore." The girl's voice was heard before she hung up the phone.

"Sorry I have to go, thanks for the gift I really love it and see ya tomorrow." Saying that Sam turned around and ran to a Convenience Store to buy some beer.

Looking at the small figure of Sam running away, Judy just stood there frozen for a bit before sighing and turning around, while returning to her job she remembered a weird thing...

"Why was she smiling...?"

She remembered clearly that when she surprised Sam with that pat, the latter had a forced smile on her face when she turned to look at her...

...

Change of P.O.V: Sam:

Turning the key of the rented apartment I rented with my girlfriend I took a deep breath before pushing the door open.

As usual, she was sitting there on the couch with her laptop in her lap while watching some tv show.

Before I even get the chance to say anything, Brittney said without even looking at me:

"Hand me that beer."

I moved toward her and put it in her extended hand with my head lowered.

While still keeping her eyes on the pc she took a sip and added:

"It's payday today, isn't it? Here, hand me the money." She said it so naturally and nonchalantly as if it was the most normal thing to do.

Somewhere deep in my heart, there was a part of me wanting to go against her, wanting to resist, but thinking about how three or four months ago when I still had control over my money I just kind of wasted it, I knew that it was probably for the best and that Brittney only wanted the best for me, so I don't waste my money again.

Thinking of that, I removed the envelop I got from my boss that day and gave it to her.

Again, without even lifting her head, she took it and kept messing around with her laptop, which was actually something I bought for myself, but she had a lot to do those days and her laptop was kind of old and not that good so she was using it for the time being.

I waited for a while thinking that she might bring it up, but after a long time passed and she didn't even look at me, I found myself opening my mouth and saying in a faint voice, fearing that I might annoy her if I talked too loud:

"I- It's my birthday today..."

She finally lifted her head and looked at me, she had a blank look on her face as if she didn't understand why I would say that.

Then she put the laptop down and stood up, walked toward me put her arms around me and brought me to a tight hug and whispered in my ear:

"Honey, of course I know that, you don't have to say it, after all, I'm the only one who's gonna remember the birthday of someone as insignificant as you, no other person would."

While caressing the back of my head she continued:

"But you know how I don't have a job right now, and it seems as if the whole world is against me, you get it right? So I'm sorry, I couldn't get you anything, but you know that I will when I get a job again and when I have some money."

When she finished saying that, seeming as if she thought of something, she released me and walked to the couch again, taking the envelope which was sitting next to the laptop, she opened it and counted a few notes before giving them to me while smiling.

"Here, treat this as your birthday gift, for now, use it however you want." After that she leaned and kissed me, I wanted to avoid her, for some reason I started hating kisses.

In my mind, I thought that it has been a long time since she kissed, hugged, or touched me out of love, those always happen when she tried to apologize or ask something of me.

But even though I wanted to avoid her I couldn't, I knew the chance was small, but what if, I mean just what if, she really wanted to kiss me out of love, what if it was just me how didn't understand her and by avoiding her I would hurt her feelings, with all those thoughts in my mind, I watched her return to her seat and continue watching her tv show with the smile I was used to plastering on my face by then.

Clutching the few dollars she gave me, I stood there for a while before moving to my room, I sat on my bed staring at space blankly for a while.

Finally, I happen to turn my head and looked at my bag next to me, opening it, I took out the gift box Judy gave to me.

Looking at the neatly warped gift and then at the few wrinkled dollars, I felt as if something exploded and tears started falling...