We walk out of the lecture room, the boys following us. They sat down next to us during college, which was pretty annoying because they were talking all the time. How do they even pass exams without paying any attention? They must be very smart, even though they don't really seem so.
"Maiju, where are you going to?" Sam starts walking next to me.
"Home, I'm planning on finishing that project." We have to hand it in this Friday, but I want to try to finish it today. I always make sure I do those kind of things in time, so no stressing for me. It's always great to hear the others being super worried and doing all-nighters to finish projects, while I did it days ago.
"Project? Oh that one, but we still have three days!?" The perfect example of someone who does everything last minute.
"Yeah? I prefer to plan things like that because it takes a lot of time."
"What about doing something more fun this afternoon?"
I shake my head. "Nah, maybe this weekend or something." I try to escape the situation. He can sit with us for a day but I'm not exactly dying to be his friend.
"It wasn't a question, come." With that, he pulls my arm. Instead of walking to our bikes we go to the train station. We don't talk during the time we're walking. At least he let go of my arm when the university building was out of sight. There's no point in trying to run away, I'm not that slow but he would catch up with me in two seconds.
"Where are we going?" I ask him. I expected to maybe go to town for an hour or two, but apparently he has more complex plans.
"You will see." Is al he says. I notice a little smile on his face.
We get into the train to Amsterdam. We take two seats next to a window. There's hardly anyone in the train, he could easily rape me if he wanted to. It reminds me of that guy named Nico in the train. I think from now on I'm never ever going to set even one foot in a train.
After 45 minutes the train arrives in Amsterdam. We talked a bit about hobbies and university, so we got to know each other a little bit more. He choose this study because he wants to do something with digital art. He showed me a few of his drawings, and I must admit that it looked really good.
"Are you still not going to tell me what we're going to do?"
"Nope"
We walk into the city, hundreds of tourists surrounding us. Amsterdam is beautiful, but there are so many tourists that it isn't fun anymore. Also the smell of weed is everywhere, and trust me, most Dutch people don't smoke that.
We walk along the canals for quite some time. At least it's not that crowded anymore. Finally there's something I recognize: the zoo. It has always been my favorite zoo because it's really small and cozy.
"Are we going to the zoo?" I ask happily. Sam nods in response.
"But aren't they closing in an hour or so?" I continue. I just heard the clocks, so I know it's just past 5 o'clock.
"Yes. That's exactly the point."
I give him a confused look. We're already in line and he pays for the two tickets. No one else is walking in, there are only a lot of people who are leaving.
"Are you hungry?"
Of course, I'm always hungry, and especially now because I haven't eaten anything since lunchbreak. We sit down in the restaurant next to the entrance.
"I kidnapped you so I'm paying for this day, now choose something you would like to eat." He lets me know. I let out a chuckle.
"I don't think you have a choice because I didn't bring any money with me."
We grab one of the menu's. There isn't much choice, so we both end up choosing a hamburger and fries. There are only two families still eating here, so we get our food quickly. I immediately start taking a huge bite of my burger, and Sam starts laughing.
"What?" I say as I finish my first bite.
"I didn't expect you to try to eat the burger in one bite." He chuckles.
"I'm hungry okay."
We enjoy our food, it seems like he loves eating as much as I do. We leave the restaurant soon since I do want to see at least some animals. I know the way pretty well because I've been here a lot of times, so I take him to the meerkats. They are my absolute favorites, I could watch them forever. It's so cute how they're always looking up and just keep standing there.
We stay there for a couple of minutes and then make our way to the elephants. We just arrive there when we hear they're almost closing.
"Let's go, and walk via the lions." I say.
"We haven't seen anything yet" He answers, "come this way."
Again he pulls my arm. I have a feeling that this is a bad idea, and I mean a REALLY bad idea. The speakers go off again to warn the guests to leave.
"Quickly now" He winks. I follow, I don't really have any other options. He brings me to a part with a lot of trees and looks around if there's anyone. I feel my heart pumping heavily when he points to the mini forest. "Trust me"
I take a deep breath and follow. Between the trees and bushes is a small open place. He sits down, not showing any nerves, so I follow his example. There's so little place that our legs are touching. I try to make a little more distance between our bodies, but that's impossible. I awkwardly shuffle on my place.
"Aren't they going to find us?" I whisper, still scared.
"No, they won't, just be quiet."
I can't get over how comfortable he looks while doing this. It's probably not the first time he stays here after closing time. I wouldn't be surprised if he told me he did this every week.
He opens his backpack and hands me a chocolate muffin. I take it gratefully.
"Better now?" He smiles at me. I nod in response since I have my mouth full with the chocolate goodness.
We stay at our place for around half an hour. We heard footsteps two times and I was absolutely terrified, but nothing happened. I noticed Sam giggling at my scared face, but I couldn't care less. He's the one who put me through this.
It's already starting to get slightly dark when Sam gets up to look if it's safe. He gives a thumbs up so we step out of the bushes. It's weird to see this place that's usually crowded, now being completely empty.
We walk around the park for two hours. By that time we've seen most animals. It was fun, but I kept walking with a strange feeling in my stomach. With every turn in the road I was scared someone would be standing there, waiting for us.
"Shall we go home or do you want to stay here a little longer?" Sam asks me. As much as I enjoyed it, I prefer going home, we won't be back early anyway.
"Going home please, but... how are we going to leave?"
"Don't ask so many questions."
For the third time today I don't reply but just follow him. It's weird how I barely know him, but still have to put so much trust in him. I'm not used to that at all, I prefer doing something more safe.
We end up escaping from the zoo by climbing a small fence, followed by jumping across a small water. As soon as we're on a normal road again, my heartbeat slows down to a more normal level.
"Admit it, that was awesome!" So much enthusiasm, help. But maybe it was.
"I don't like saying this, but maybe it was."
