Vintage Red [GL]

Before I left the student council to the rest of their shenanigans I met the vice-president as well. She was immediately very apologetic about what the president had done and if she wasn’t kept longer in her class she would have tried to stop her from taking Pres’s phone. I told the braided girl I didn’t really mind much and that taking some of the cheesecake was enough repayment for my troubles. However, according to the Vice-President that didn’t suffice but as they had nothing more to give at the moment, she said that the President now owed me a favor, which the President surprisingly was okay with too. So I guess I was now owned a favor by the student council which I suppose couldn’t be a bad thing. At least, for as long as our Pres isn’t going for their seat. 

Pres bid me goodbye and sent me off back to my girlfriends. 

“Where are you two at right now? I have a little present with me for you both.” I shot a message to Emma. 

I waited outside of the school admin building for a couple of seconds, waiting on Em’s reply. “At the pond.” She texted back. 

“Really? With Ria? Isn’t she cold?” 

“She insisted so apparently she got over it? idk. Ria is still a mystery at times.” 

“xD” I texted. “I’m on my way to the pond then.” I put away my phone and began walking towards the pond behind the school buildings with the box of cheesecakes in my other hand. We still had a bit of time left before we would need to go back to class. Plenty of time for Ria to vacuum in at least triple the amount of cheesecakes in my possession. 

I saw my two girlfriends sitting on the bench where Ria and I had sat shortly after I had first been turned. It had been quite a while since we had visited the place as the weather generally wasn’t too inviting. 

Ria and Em looked behind them as they had heard me coming and Ria’s eyes immediately locked with the box I was holding. “Is that cake?” She asked. 

“How did you know?” I asked with a chuckle in my voice. “Have you developed cake vision?” 

“Yesss.” She stuck out her tongue. 

“What kind of cake is it?” Em asked. 

“Why don’t you see for yourself.” I put tried to put the box down on the bench but Ria guided the box into her lap instead. Em bent over a little as Ria opened it.

“Oooh. These look good.” Ria replied giddily. 

“They even included some forks, that’s thoughtful.”

“Yeah, and to the side I stuck some cardboard plates.” I added. 

Ria quickly went to work handing a plate to Emma while taking one herself and then distributing the cheesecake between them. She didn’t waste a second to start tasting it either. “And it tastes yummy too!” Ria looked incredibly satisfied already. 

“What made you decide to come here, by the way?” I asked while taking the now empty box away from Ria and putting it aside. 

“I wanted to see this place in the winter colors before it turns to spring again.” She replied, not even looking up from her cake. “And I wanted to see if there were ducks or other birdies to feed.” For this she did reach into her pocket and took out a little bag. 

I took the bag out of her hand and inspected it. It was a normal resealable bag with what looked to be bird food. 

“Oh, that’s nice of you. Wanted to repay them for feeding them bread?” 

Ria nodded. “I even added some cracked corn and oats. For more nutrition. But it seems there are no birds here right now. 

I closed my eyes and calmly breathed out for a moment to focus on my surroundings. While it is true there were not that many birds around at the moment, I did sense a couple not that far away from us on the rooftops. I opened my eyes back up again and smiled at my girlfriend. “Can you open your hand?” 

Ria nodded and did as I asked, to which I poured in some of the bird food out of the bag. 

“Now throw it somewhere on the ground, perhaps over there.” I sat down and pointed to an area to the right of the pond, a little further away but Ria would definitely be able to make that throw. 

She threw the bird food around and about the place I pointed out. 

“Now we just wait. Eat up your food in silence and don’t make too many abrupt movements or loud sounds. The birds will come.” 

Both Emma and Ria nodded in return, as they continued to eat their cake in silence. 

 

We had to wait a couple of minutes but in the end a couple of birds did show up, a couple of which I didn’t recognize at all. They were brown and had a very long beak. 

“What the heck kind of bird is that?” I whispered to my girlfriends, but Ria was looking with too much attention and focus to really hear my question. 

“It’s the Eurasion curlew, I think.” Em whispered back. “I think it normally only visits coastal areas though.” 

“Well… I suppose we aren’t that far from the coast.” 

“It’s a funny bird.” Ria said with glee. Taking her phone from her back and snapping a quick picture of the little birdies in front of us. “Thanks for helping me, Rora.” She tapped a phone a couple of times after which I felt my own phone vibrate. She must’ve sent the picture to me as well. 

“No problem.” I smiled. “It’s winter and birds still need to eat. So you might not see them but they are there, and they can generally see pretty darn well.” 

“Especially pigeons.” Em replied. 

“Yes, pigeons are everywhere. But I don’t particularly mind them.” 

“I love pigeons.” Ria chuckled softly. “I don’t know why so many people have a problem with them.” 

“Probably the poo.” Em replied curtly which made me chuckle. “There tends to be so many of them that it can sometimes be a bit of a problem.” 

“Oh… Yeah… I could see that.” Ria nodded and then continued looking at her feathered friends. “Eat up little birdies.” 

I poked Ria in the side. “This little birdie doesn’t need to forget to eat up her own food too.” 

“Hehe.” Ria blushed and bumped into me. “Don’t worry, it’ll be long gone before we need to head back.” 

 

She was right, and I honestly wasn’t worrying at all about that fact. By the time we had to leave the pond and the birds behind to go to diplomacy class, both cakes had been eaten with glee. And thus the rest of the school day proceeded without any issues or further noteworthy events. At the end of German class in the seventh period and just after we had said goodbye to both Claire and Pres, Em beckoned Ria and me over while looking at her phone. Karin was looking over her sister’s shoulder as well. 

“Would you two like to get driven home today? Helen is offering.” 

“You bet!” I replied instantly. 

“I would love to see her again as well.” Ria nodded. 

“Cool, I’ll say we are on our way then.” 

“Is she here already?” I asked. 

“Mhmm.” She nodded. “She’s parked just next to the school gate. 

“Let’s not keep her waiting then.” I took both my own bag and Ria’s and swung them over my shoulder. Beckoning my girlfriends and Karin to come along. I was maybe a bit too excited to see Helen again, but I was looking forward to seeing her do well again. 

We pretty much stormed outside of the school to find a silvery gray sedan with tinted windows parked nearby. The moment we approached it, Helen stepped out and smiled at us. She was still limping a little but her other wounds had all healed up very well. “How was school?” 

I smiled back. “Even better now that we can see you again.” 

We didn’t really waste many words while being outside of the car, just giving Helen a quick hug before we entered it. 

“How are you feeling?” Ria asked from the back seat. Karin was riding shotgun. 

“Doing pretty well, all thanks to the good cares of both the doctor and Miss Aileen.” Helen replied with a smile. “Walking far is still a bit hard but that’ll only get better over time.” 

“Good to hear that.” I smiled. “Did Aileen visit you a lot?” 

“Visit me?” Helen chuckled. “She pretty much didn’t leave my side. I had to kick her butt so she could let me do some things on my own.” I caught Helen suddenly blushing up and looking at us in the mirror. It looked like she didn’t mean to disclose what she had just told us. It just flopped out. 

“Oh? Is that so?” I smirked. 

“I don’t like the tone in your voice, Lady Aurora.” She glared at me from behind the wheel. “I’m just still a bit confused, that's all. I’m hallucinating because of my injuries…”  

“No, pray tell, I would like to hear some more of this as well.” Em also smirked. 

Leaving Helen to let out a sigh of defeat.