First morning in the new club room.

That morning at school I was overcome by an unexpected sense of nostalgia, which is stupid for so many reasons yet I could help it.

I stepped into the shed, the club room of the Occult Research Club, and it almost felt like I was coming back to the old music room back in the main building. The appearance of the place had nothing to do with it. The room was slightly smaller, the floor was dark wood instead of ceramic tiles, and instead of piles of old, broken tables and chairs and gym mattresses there were six individual desks put together to form one larger table and eight chairs around it. The curtains were closed and made the room dark, so I opened them along with the windows to let the air in. I regretted that very soon, as the chilly morning breeze was getting in.

Yeah, appearance had nothing to do with the feeling I was getting. The reason was simple. This was my… This was our new safe space, a place to talk and act freely, without needing to worry that others would see us.

I sat down on one of the chairs, rested my arm on the table and felt… at peace. Another reason it was dumb to feel nostalgic was that it hadn’t been that long since I lost the old music room, but it felt like an age had passed.

For a brief moment I wondered if this was okay. That old room was my place to escape to when I didn’t want to deal with the world, with people. I ran there when I didn’t want to face my problems. Was it okay to have another place like it?

…

Yes, it was. Because I knew I wasn’t going to be running away anymore.

The door opened a few minutes later. I turned to see who it was, and I saw Alice all wrapped up in a wool hat, a scarf, mittens and dark stockings, shivering and carrying an electric kettle in her arms.

“M-M-Morning…” she said.

I smiled, stood up and went to help her. I kissed her on the cheek and felt how cold it was. I took the kettle from her and asked her, “What’s this for?”

“Tea,” she answered. “You… don’t mind if I come here in the mornings I don’t have council work, right?”

I chuckled. “Of course not. I… I want you here, obviously.”

Her mouth was hidden behind her scarf, but I saw the smile in her eyes.

I lifted one of the desks and moved it next to the wall, right beside one of the two outlets the room had. Alice set the kettle on it and then pulled out a 2lt water bottle from her backpack.

“You brought that from your house?”

“The school’s tap water tastes terrible,” she told me.

She filled half the kettle, turned it on and then carefully brought out a small, white wicker briefcase. Inside was a tea set of five white cups with blue flower patterns and a matching tea pot. Alice neatly arranged the entire set on the desk.

She took her hands inside her backpack again, then suddenly began to fidget nervously. “S-So… I bought this set last year. It came with five cups, but… I th-think we’ll usually be six people here, right?”

“Hm? Well, yeah. Ah, I see. We need one more. I’ll bring a mug for me from my house tomorrow,” I said easily. I didn’t want her to feel guilty over something so trivial.

“That’s not… See, I…” She swallowed and brought out something more from her backpack. A small, white cardboard box. She gave it to me. “Open it.”

With my heart beating faster and lightly numbed hands, I did. There was a mug inside, one with musical notes of different types and colors. Although if I get pedantic, they weren’t musical notes, but note values. You know, the ones you put on the staff (that is the line) to indicate how long a note has to be played for. But just explaining it makes me feel like an ass because there was no need to, other than I feel the dumb need to state the difference. The point is that Alice had just given me a gift.

“I’m sorry it’s so generic,” she said, looking down. Little by little she bagan to speak faster. “I wanted to get you something more personalized, like one with a picture of a game you like, but I don’t know anything about games. B-But I know you like music, so I thought… But that’s really just a generic design, isn’t it?”

I was left stunned. Alice had made me realize something I wished I had known long ago: the power of a surprise gift. It said so, so much. Alice didn’t need to do this, but it meant I was in her thoughts for something as trivial as drinking tea. She thought about how to make it so I’d like her gift, even though I would’ve been elated with a plain mug.

My chest tightened and I felt my eyes itch. I set the mug aside and pulled her into a tight hug, both to hide my face from her and because I needed to thank her. I almost kissed her, but it didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to tarnish this feeling of gratitude with lust. It was just a mug, but it meant so much to me.

“Thank you,” I told her softly, holding her close. My voice felt weak. “You didn’t have to.”

She relaxed in my arms and hugged me back, giggling. “So… you like it?”

“I love it.”

“I’m glad. I… was also worried that you’d feel left out for having a different cup.”

“Are you kidding? I have my own special mug now. How much do you want to bet Mila will be jealous?”

“Why would I make a bet I know I’ll lose?”

We laughed together in a tight, warm embrace. Sometimes it was still hard to believe that Alice Knight was my girlfriend. She’d been my sister’s friend for almost two years, but we’d never had a proper conversation until recently. And now I could laugh with her, hug her, kiss her, and even…

We stopped laughing, but remained close. My hands were wrapped around her shoulders, hers around my waist. She nuzzled her head against my shoulder with a deep breath and I heard her voice in my head.

{A hug, huh? No, I get it. I’m happy he liked it so much. It’s not like I was expecting him to… And now would be a weird time to bring it up, right? I’ll… ask another time.}

A chill ran down my chest. What were those thoughts? They didn’t tell me anything other than Alice was keeping something in. Was she expecting a different reaction? No, it was… I didn’t know what it was. This random mind reading was damn unreliable. It worked whenever it felt like it and didn’t even tell me what I wanted to know!

…

But why should I be relying on mind reading, anyway? Stupid Oliver. This was more than enough.

“Alice?”

“Hm?”

“Is there… something bothering you?”

She tensed up for a split second. She looked me in the eyes with a small, shy smile. “A little something, yeah. Can we… talk about it?”

I nodded. “Please.”

If there was something troubling her, I needed to hear it. Especially so if it had to do with me.

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