Ride or Die | Sam Fender AU

052

"Thank god for that," you sighed in relief as you pressed submit, signalling the end of your Masters degree. You were exhausted, the stress of looming deadlines amongst the things at the forefront of your mind but none of that mattered today. Your dissertation had been submitted and you were meeting Sam for date night in just a few hours. Your hand smoothed Luna's fur, a loud purr echoing from her as she snuggled into your side. "I'm officially done with uni, Luna. Yup. I'm finished." With minutes left to spare before your deadline. Yes, you had cut it close but you couldn't stop rereading your paper, scouring the text for any hint of inaccuracy, whether it was in your spelling, punctuation or information. You had finally decided you were done and sent it off, trying to push it to the back of your mind.

You checked your phone as it lit up with a text from your boyfriend, the sight of his name enough to pull at the muscles in your cheeks. He had been pulled away from the comfort of your warm bed early that morning for business, which was probably a good thing considering he was able to distract you without even trying and you did have your thesis to finish.

Business is taking longer than I expected. I'll send Mark to pick you up at 6:30 x

You shot him back a quick reply to acknowledge the message, telling him that you would see him later before shoving your phone back in your pocket. It was three in the afternoon, which meant you had just over three hours to get ready — long enough for a shower. You needed it too, hoping to wash away the tension in your muscles with the steaming water.

But it was anything but.

You were delayed by Mia FaceTiming you, Heidi and Margot, sharing that she had almost missed the deadline for her dissertation after her internet dropped. She was completely blasé about the situation, sniggering as she relayed the story but you would have vomited from anxiety. Of course, you got distracted by a conversation with the girls, realising the time when it struck a quarter to five.

You couldn't have been on the phone for almost two hours?

You cursed and all but ran upstairs to jump in the shower. You were in no way clean enough for the high-end restaurant that Sam had made reservations at to celebrate the end of your degree, so bypassing the shower wasn't an option. It was the quickest one of your life and you weren't entirely sure that you had washed the conditioner from your hair entirely but you were too rushed to care.

You haphazardly applied your makeup with your hair still tightly wrapped in a towel, hoping it would dry slightly by the time you were done and shave off some precious minutes. It didn't. You were still rushing out the door at quarter to seven, spilling out apologies to Mark for keeping him waiting.

"Don't be daft, Miss, it's fine," he smiled warmly, driving away when your door was shut. "I know how much time it takes the lasses to get ready, Lucy is the same."

"How is she?" you asked softly. Lucy was Mark's wife, who was his childhood sweetheart. The pair shared two children, Danielle and Harriet, who were nearing their mid-teens. You hadn't met them but Mark liked to gush about the three girls to you whenever he could, which you found endearing.

"She's alreet, wor Dani's starting her GCSEs now so the house is a bit manic," he chuckled.

"Oh, bless her," you cooed. You knew how stressful GCSEs were, even if now, looking back, it wasn't that big of a deal.

You were half expecting Sam to be at the restaurant when you arrived but there was no sight of him. You thought that maybe he had requested a secluded booth and that was why he was nowhere to be seen but you were sorely disappointed when the Maître d' led you to an empty table. You forced a smile and thanked her, retrieving your phone from your clutch when you sat down.