After a bit of panicked searching by the chaotic duo it did appear that they didn’t have a pump with after all so Sam and I decided to escort the two youngsters to the nearby park Sam had spotted as there was a sharebike station there that most definitely had some pumps for unfortunate cyclists, as those we had with us. 

Sam, being the more athletic looking of the two of us, carried the girl’s bicycle on her back like a cyclocross pro while the girl took Sam’s share bike along by hand. 

“I’m so terribly sorry, first you helped me with the tire and now you ended up carrying my bike.” The girl was extremely apologetic. 

“Don’t sweat it. It’s a pretty good work-out.” Sam smiled. 

“You appear to be pretty sportsy, do you play any sports?” The boy, who was pushing his own bike along, asked. 

“She’s the captain for our college’s basketball team.” I smiled proudly. 

“Oh wow. Is that the university near College street?” 

Both Sam and I nodded affirmatively.

“We biked past that earlier.” The girl mentioned. “Don’t you two have classes today instead of helping us?” 

“We took a bit of a break today.” Sam was quick to reply so I didn’t have to stress about the answer. “Some time to clear our heads with a nice bike ride.”

“University students are so cool.” The boy whispered but his comment didn’t escape my feline ears. It seemed like the others didn’t hear his comment though. 

As we turned off the cycling path and into a residential neighbourhood the girl asked: “Is it a nice university?”

“It’s pretty cool, yeah.” I nodded. “Are you interested in it?” 

With her free hand she scratched the back of her head. “I don’t think I’m smart enough for uni to be honest.” 

“Nonsense.” The boy came to her defence. “You are plenty smart.” 

“I’m not sure.” The girl blushed. “I’m not really good at learning things by heart.” 

“I’m not either.” Sam commented. “I can remember what my courses are about, but if you ask me to study definitions by heart then I’m going to fail as well. Unless it’s something I really really care about.” 

I nodded in approval of my girlfriend’s comment. “Is there something that you would like to study?” 

“Well, I’ve always been interested in interior design or architecture…” She replied. 

“There’s definitely a faculty for that at ours.” Sam commented. “Why don’t you come to the open school days? That’s next month isn’t it, Ami?” 

“I think so, yes.” I nodded. “You should come if you want to study it. The best way to see if you are up for it is to come experience a lesson or two. The possibility is there.” 

“You should do it, Clemence.” The boy encouraged his friend. “Nothing lost by trying.” 

“Exactly.” Sam smiled. 

“I’ll think about it.” The girl smiled gently. 

“And if you need extra tutoring, there’s always people ready to help you, a lot of them will even do so for free, especially if it’s only once or twice.” 

“There’s clubs completely dedicated to that on campus too.” I added. “The only thing they do is tutoring for freshmen. Aside from that they use it as a socializing event as well.” 

“You two are making it hard for me not to try.” The girl laughed.

“You should follow your dreams. You’ve only got one life after all.” Sam smiled in return.

“That’s true.” The girl commented as we continued on our way. 

“And aren’t you interested in college?” Sam looked behind her at the boy. 

“Nah, college is not for me.” He admitted with a smile. “I would rather do something with my hands. I’ll probably go looking for some apprenticeship close to where Clemence is going to go to college.” 

“That’s romantic.” I giggled. 

Both the boy and the girl blushed at the same time. “I suppose so…” The boy commented while scratching the back of his head. 

“Any particular craftsmanship you are interested in?” Sam asked. 

“I’m leaning towards woodworking. But not only making furniture, also wood-frame building and ecological applications.” 

“That’s definitely interesting.” Sam replied. “And there’s lots of places that offer that kind of apprenticeship?” 

“There’s a few, but there’s more in the big cities near the big colleges.” 

“Well, isn’t that useful.” I smiled at him. 

“Yeah. It definitely is.” In turn he smiled at Clemence whose blush grew just a tad brighter. 

We reached the park five minutes later and quickly found a pump to help the two juniors back on their way. 

“That should do it.” Sam squeezed both tires a couple of times to make sure they were on the right pressure and then handed the bike back over to the girl. “Stay safe and have a fun remaining trip.” 

“I hope you’ll find a good university that fits with you, same goes for your apprenticeship.” I smiled at the both of them.” 

“Thank you so much.” They both replied at the same time. “Have a good afternoon!” 

“Bye bye!” Sam and I waved them off as they rode back towards the bicycle path we found them on. 

Sam proudly put her hands on her hips as they left our sight. “They grow up so fast.” 

I chuckled. “They do.” and then I turned around to look at my own bike. “Should we lock them up here and go and grab some food? A little bit of an impromptu picnic would be fun, no?” 

“Sounds good. But let me go find a place to wash my hands first. They got a bit dirty by working on the bike.” Sam then held her hand above her eyebrow and subsequently pointed to the west. “Public restroom found.” She smiled brightly. “And I think there’s a convenience store behind it.” 

I looked in the same direction and confirmed her sightings. “Should I go look around already while you wash your hands?” 

“Sounds good to me. Won’t take long anyway. I’ll find you inside.” 

As it was said, it was done as I headed into the convenience store which appeared to not be owned by a giant chain to my surprise. It was ran by a nice grandma who reminded me an awful lot of Veanya but from her aura I could tell she was definitely not a goddess in disguise. 

“Hello dearie. How can I help you?” The granny asked with an endearing tone. 

“Uh… My girlfriend and I are looking for something to have for a picnic outside.” I admitted. 

“Oh! A picnic! It is beautiful weather for that indeed!” The old lady pushed the old bell that was on her counter twice. “Bert! There’s a girl here who might want your special offer!” 

I heard some rumbling from the back as a young looking guy, late twenties or early thirties, shot through the door of the back of the store. His hair was a short black cut with some chaotic curls and he had a pair of glasses as well. If anything he looked quite a lot like an office worker with his tie hanging somewhat loosely on his white shirt. “Ah, thanks for calling, gran.” The guy ran over to me with a smile. “Do you want to try our special good weather offer?” He asked. 

“Uh… I don’t know. Noone told me what it is yet.” I chuckled somewhat nervously. 

“Ah… I thought gran…” He looked at his grandmother, or at least whom I assumed to be his grandmother, who just shrugged.  “Oh well… It’s a special offer we do to try to get more people out into the park during days with fine weather like today. It’s basically a package deal for a picnic with a lunchpack of your choosing, drinks of your choosing and even a picnic blanket to rent, or to buy. We offer those in red, blue and green.” 

“That does sound interesting.” I nodded. “What does something like that cost?” 

“It differs a bit from package offer to package offer, if you are interested I can show you through our offers?” 

“Sure, go ahead.” I smiled. 

The guy started to explain to me the different sets he had as Sam walked in and listened along. In the end we did decide to go with a package as the price point seemed really fair and the produce and everything else was sourced locally to boot. The package we picked was asian inspired with lots of fish and chicken with lots of pickled veggies on the side. I don’t think I need to explain why the fish exactly was speaking to me. 

As we took the rental package we did have to return the blanket and basket, but that also did mean we got some actual tableware to use as well. 

Lastly the guy also asked us to take a picture of our meal and tag them on social media, completely without obligation, as they were trying to promote it as much as possible, which Sam was more than happy to do as the food looked, and smelled, really yummy.  

We then found a nice spot in the park beneath the shade of a tree to eat our food on our cozy picnic blanket. 

“Ami?” Sam asked as I was taking the top of one of the picnic boxes. 

“Hmhhm?” I hummed. 

“Please try to at least chew on the fish a little instead of vacuuming it in one go. That won’t be good on your stomach. I know it looks delicious and all that. But try to savor it?” 

“I’ll try but I won’t make any promises.” I chuckled. 

-I can’t help it that fish just goes down so easily… It’s just the way I am.-