Rose and Sam
Chapter 7: Sleepover
Admiral Biscuit
When I got out of the bathroom, Sam was looking through the front window, watching the rain fall. Sometimes in the spring the rains kept on, washing everything until it was clean and new and fresh. By the time we were yawning the rain was still falling, and I thought about how Sam would have to walk home in the dark and in the rain, which didn’t seem right to me.
Her feet-boots didn’t look waterproof at all, and of course her pants would soak through. Judging by the stains on them, she wasn’t worried about getting them dirty, but they still wouldn't be comfortable. And I decided that I was comfortable enough with her to invite her to stay over.
That would make the house less lonely, too. I never liked spending the night alone.
Did she? She hadn’t left the forest because she didn’t like Berry’s company, had she? That didn’t make any sense; if she wanted to be alone she would have built her own house in the forest like Zecora had, rather than live in town. Unless she was used to living in town by herself, maybe she wanted the company of ponies during the day but the aloneness of an empty house at night.
I shuddered at the thought, and hooked my forehooves on the windowsill and put my muzzle up against the glass, my barrel resting against her hip. Sam reached down and ran her hand through my mane which I wasn’t expecting at all, but it felt nice.
Her eyes were distant, looking beyond the rain-slicked street and houses outside.
“You, uh—” As soon as I started speaking I had second thoughts.
She jerked her hand back. “Sorry. I just—”
“No, it—”
“—forgot where I was.”
“—it’s okay.” I leaned back and bumped my head against her side. “Listen, I don’t like the idea of you walking home in the rain, getting all soaked and who knows what’s out there?”
“I don’t mind getting wet,” Sam said. “And I can handle myself.”
“I’m sure you can.” She’d lived in the Everfree and not gotten eaten by a monster, so she wasn’t bragging. “But I’d feel bad. Lots of ponies send their help home early if it’s going to rain, and I could have.”
Sam shrugged. “I don’t mind working.”
“I know. You’re a good worker, and I wish I had more for you to do. Daisy and Lily will be back tomorrow, though. Maybe you would have wanted to stay, I don’t know.” Outside, a unicorn hurried through the rain, a faint light glistening over her head as she tried to keep the rain off. I wonder where she’s going? I didn’t recognize her in the dark. “You don’t have to, I’m not making you stay or trying to trick you into another day worth of work.”
“Berry didn’t ask for help.” Sam sighed. “He found me—we met in the woods and he offered me shelter and food and it didn’t look like he had a lot to give, so I started helping out where I could. Mostly chopping and sorting wood back at his house, loading wagons, cooking and cleaning, foraging . . . your couch is more inviting than a pallet on the floor.”
“You don’t have a bed?”
“I do now. He set aside money for me, what he figured I’d earned even though I didn’t ask him to. Enough to rent a house and get some new clothes and some furnishings and a proper bed.”
“We can sleep in my room,” I offered, “Like a proper sleep-over, and I’ll let you have the bed.”
“Where will you sleep?”
I shrugged. “I can get a couple extra blankets and make a pegasus-bed on the floor.”
Sam turned from the window and crossed her arms. “I am not going to take your bed just so you can sleep on the floor. You sleep in your bed, and I’ll make myself comfortable on the couch.”
“You’re too big to fit on the couch.”
“Of all the things you’re never supposed to say to a girl.”
My ears dropped, but then she laughed. “I suppose it is short. Well, I haven’t had a sleep-over in years, how about I get the blankets on the floor, the pegasus-bed.”
“You’re my guest.”
“It’s your house.”
•••
Sam even wore her shorts to bed, and I began to wonder if she was hiding something or if she carried something in them that was very important to her. I’d heard that she’d visited the spa a few times and taken them off; ponies had said that she didn’t have a cutie mark, so even if it felt like she was trying to hide her identity, she probably wasn’t.
She sat on the edge of the bed as if not sure if she really should take my offer, then turned to me. “Which side do you like?”
“I usually sleep towards the wall,” I said. “But if that’s what you prefer, you can have that side.”
“You should get in first, then,” she said.
I also hesitated, what if she really was some kind of a monster and would gobble me up while I was sleeping, or bite me and drain my magic or something? But if that were true, she would have already done that to Berry Black, wouldn’t she have? Although donkeys didn’t have magic, I didn’t think.
Maybe if I hadn’t drunk so much wine, I would have wimped out. I got into bed and started making myself comfortable as Sam stretched out, turning her back to me.
I was tired, but couldn’t seem to fall asleep. Sam had, I thought, but I wasn’t sure and didn’t want to wake her if she had. I listened to the rain pattering against the window instead, and her shallow breathing.
Did donkeys not have cutie marks because they didn’t have magic? Surely they must have some magic, but I honestly didn’t know that much about them. Maybe Sam didn’t have a cutie mark because she didn’t have magic yet, either. Or maybe she was still a juvenile and hadn’t gotten one yet.
It was too much to think about. It was easier to be in the moment, to relax and lean against her, to take comfort in companionship and friendship, to not think about her bare skin or how cool she felt. Maybe not the best bed companion for a rainy night, but I could imagine how sharing a bed with her would feel nice on a hot day.
The scent of shampoo was still strong in her mane. I hadn’t told her which shampoo to use, and she’d picked Daisy’s. I hadn’t noticed before, but then I hadn’t had my muzzle against it before either.
It was silly but the familiar scent helped relax me, and the way that she was facing away did, too. If she was going to do anything scary or monstery she’d have to turn and face me.
I couldn’t help being alert, though. This was a new situation and what had seemed like a good idea downstairs wasn’t as certain now that we were so close together in bed; maybe it would have been safer to take the other side, just in case. Or maybe I was still more worked-up than I should have been; plenty of ponies trusted her and she hadn’t done anything wrong. So what if she wasn’t a pony, she worked like she was and behaved like she was. Maybe I’d spent too much time listening to Lily and not enough time trusting myself, so I nuzzled against her back, feeling her spine and the rise and fall of her breathing, and I could hear that her heart was beating fast so maybe she was scared, too. What if she was thinking that I might be a monster?
I put a hoof on her shoulder to reassure her, and nuzzled against her neck.
•••
I didn’t remember falling asleep but I must have, because the next thing I knew, I could feel Sam moving, and I pulled my head up, suddenly wary.
“I’ve just got to use the bathroom, sorry. Too much wine.”
“Okay.”
She pushed the covers off, and I was about to close my eyes again. “Uh, do humans have magic?”
She shook her head. “Not as far as I know, why?”
“I don’t know.” That was true, I’d asked the question and as soon as the words had crossed my lips, I wasn’t sure why it had felt important to know. She hadn’t shown any signs as she was working in the garden.
Sam slid out of bed, careful to keep the covers over me as well as she could.
Even with my ears cocked, I could barely hear her on the stairs; her soft feet hardly made any noise at all. I didn’t like that, but it wasn’t her fault. I could hear as she pushed the door shut, and of course now that I was awake I had to pee, too, although I could probably hold it until the morning.
Or else fall asleep for a while and then wake up and have to go.
I was still trying to decide as she came back up the stairs. We’d talked about getting an upstairs bathroom put in, lots of houses had them, but it was expensive and would make our bedrooms smaller and it wasn’t that inconvenient to have to go downstairs.
Since I was already up, and since Sam was gone and I could get out of bed without worrying about waking up again or getting out of bed without disturbing her sleep, I slid across and had my hooves on the floor as she was coming up the stairs, and we met in the doorway.
When Luna’s moon was bright in the sky, I could see everything in my bedroom clearly, but when Her moon was covered in rain clouds, I couldn’t. Sam looked different when she came up the stairs but I wasn’t really paying attention; I was still unsure on my hooves due to sleep and wine.
It wasn’t until I was almost to the bathroom that I realized she hadn’t been wearing her pants, and then I wondered if I’d just been imagining it, if it was some trick of the shadows and moonlight.
But when I was in the bathroom, I saw that her pants were crumpled up on the bathroom floor, and strangely there was another pair of smaller pants inside them. I’d heard rumors from ponies who had seen her at the spa that she had taken off her pants there and didn’t have a cutie mark, and other ponies had said that she wore another pair of pants underneath into the tub. That had sounded untrue, but I was seeing the evidence with my own eyes.
I didn’t like that her clothes were sitting on the floor and considered picking them up and folding them for her. Clothes were expensive and it didn’t make sense that she chose to wear them all the time but also treated them so badly, especially if she was really struggling for bits.
It wasn’t my place to touch her things, though, and when I was done I went back upstairs. Sam had gotten back under the covers but she was still awake and pulled her legs up so I could climb across the foot of the bed.
Normally I slept on my side, and while part of my mind suggested I should sleep on my stomach again in case I had to get up quick and run away, I ignored it.
I wasn’t the only one who had decided to change my sleeping position; Sam was on her back now and I nestled up against her.
The last dregs of rain were falling, a gentle white noise as I closed my eyes. This time I thought I would have no trouble falling asleep, and I didn’t.