The Revision Vignettes: 7. Sandwich Wench

It was here! Finally! The last exam!

I'd booked my train for this evening so I could go straight home. I couldn't wait - all the excitement I'd been holding down over the last few weeks had finally broken free and I couldn't sit still, couldn't concentrate.

After a few hours of me fidgeting and twitching, Bob had had enough.

"That's it, we need a lunch break!" He slammed his notebook shut and stood up, stretching.

"Are you sure? Do you not want me to go over the tutorial answers a few more times?" I asked worriedly, not wanting him to go to the exam unprepared.

"Definitely! It's probably the exam I'm least worried about... Either that or I genuinely can't care about them any more..."

"Probably the latter!" I agreed, grinning.

"Besides, you're so twitchy today, I can't concentrate. We need to go do something fun for an hour."

"Well, what do you suggest? Game of Thrones is finished, and you refuse to play that weird street fighting game with me any more..."

After finishing Game of Thrones, Bob had introduced me to this strange fighting game with characters from various comics/cartoons. Without fail he'd thrashed me for days, until I'd accidentally stumbled upon an attack I could button mash to death that he couldn't beat. After that one loss to me, Bob had flat out refused to play any more.

"Well, you're going to laugh at this, but Gary got me into Fifa last night... want a game?"

I stared at him in fake shock. "You? Football?! Oh my god, what imposter are you?!"

"Yeah, yeah, are you coming or not?"

"Of course I am, this is a game I might actually beat you at! Not missing this for the world!" He smirked and mussed up my hair as he passed my chair in reply. Giving it a quick shake (one benefit of letting it dry naturally was that it always bounced straight back into a semi-normal shape), I followed through and claimed my usual space on the sofa.

As the game loaded up after choosing our teams, I suddenly realised that I'd never played on a PlayStation before.

"Bob, what buttons do what?"

"Uh, no. You told me that you were beating me at this. I'm not giving you any help."

"Hey, not fair! I've only ever played on Xbox!"

"And that's my problem how, exactly?" As I protested loudly, his grin just grew wider. "Oh, and didn't I mention? We're playing Fifa Apology Rules..."

As my stomach sank, the whistle blew and Bob's player immediately ran past mine. Pressing what I thought was the sprint button, a giggle escaped as my player completely wiped out Bob's with a horrendously dirty tackle.

"Oh really, Jane? Well, if that's the way it's going to be, you're going down..."

Five red cards, twelve goals and ten minutes later, I had to admit that I might have actually been better at the street fighting game, despite my unintentional expertise with the dirty tackle button.

Bob leaned back in his chair with a satisfied grin. "I don't even know what the Apology Rules are for losing twelve nil! What happened to 'this might be the game I beat you at', hmm Jane?"

"Well clearly, you didn't tell me what the buttons were. Blame the software, not the player..." I tried to defend myself, but knew it wasn't worth it.

"As the very clear winner, I feel you should look up your punishment!" He proclaimed, waving his hand at me regally.

"Don't push your luck..." I muttered under my breath as I quickly googled the rules. Skimming through, I paused awkwardly at number twelve.

"Go on, what is it? What entertainment do I have as my prize?" Bob asked smugly.

I looked up at the ceiling, refusing to meet his gaze. "Um... well, apparently... I'm meant to play the next game naked."

There was a moment of excruciatingly painful silence as we looked anywhere but at each other.

"Nope, not doing that."

"Yeah, that's not happening."

Our simultaneous rejections of the rule spilled over each other, both of us laughing nervously as we finally looked at each other.

"OK, well as reigning victor, I shall create a new rule - as my losing football wench, you must make me a sandwich!"

"Fine, I guess I can cope with that one!" I sighed, silently relieved it wasn't anything worse.

"So... up for another game?"

I squinted suspiciously over at him. "Can we not do the Apology Rules?"

He shook his head sadly. "No can do, I'm afraid, those are the rules and the rules can't be broken!"

I shook my finger at him dramatically. "I know your game, good sir, you just want free sandwiches!"

"Damn, my evil plan is discovered! But the real question is, can you foil it..." He cackled evilly, setting me off into a laughing fit with him.

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As I zipped up my backpack, I couldn't keep my massive grin off my face. The exam had been an absolute gift, I'd even managed to leave half an hour early. Knowing that most of my friends would stay in until the end and then immediately go on a bar crawl, I'd headed back to mine to crash for a little bit before I had to head to the train station. I really hated goodbyes - even if just for a holiday - and I'd rather run away and celebrate the end of exams in my own way rather than face the hundreds of hugs and promises to catch up over the New Year (when I knew I wouldn't be moving from in front of my parents' fireplace for anything less than the nuclear holocaust).

Strolling through to double check I'd emptied the fridge of anything potentially stinky over the next few weeks, I was surprised to hear the flat buzzer go off. Dave had already headed home, and I wasn't expecting anyone else over. Thinking that it was just someone pressing the wrong button, I pressed to open the door to the stairwell without even listening to the speakerphone.

A minute later, I almost screamed as mystery arms picked me up from behind and whirled me around. Heart pounding, I suddenly recognised the very familiar voice laughing in my ears before he gently put me down.

"And that is an excellent lesson of why I should keep the flat door locked at all times!" I breathlessly managed, leaning against the wall as my heartrate slowly began to calm.

Bob looked down into my face, grinning happily. "Don't know why you thought you could escape me, I wasn't going to let you go without saying goodbye for the holidays!"

My stomach melted a little and I smiled goofily. "Oh, and also, you forgot your charger!" I poked myself mentally as I took the cable off him.

"Ah, good thing you noticed that, I hadn't even realised I'd forgotten it. Thanks for bringing it back for me."

He followed me through to my room as I went to put it in my bag before I forgot. Grabbing my bag, I shooed him out the door before locking it.

"I'm off to the station already, I can't face another day of missing Christmas at home." I smiled happily at Bob, the excitement of the holidays filling me up again.

"I know, you and your Christmas madness. I hope they've saved you a few decorations to put on the tree!"

"They'd better have, else I'm just taking a heap of them off to put on again!" Bob laughed as we reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Well... I guess that's me off..." I smiled awkwardly up at him, not sure whether to go in for the hug or not.

"How am I going to cope without seeing you every single day now?" He grinned warmly down at me, before smirking. "Oh wait - it's what I've been dreaming of, it's going to be amazing!"

"Ha!" I poked him in the side then swiped the back of his head as he crumpled over. "See, serves you right for being so mean to me!"

He wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug and held me, arms trapped, until I stopped struggling. "Stop it, you hobbit, I'm trying to give you a proper hug before you go!" He muttered, smiling.

"Funny way you give proper hugs, I feel like a sardine in a tin." I muttered back, but couldn't help laughing. "I'll miss you too, you nutcase. Have an amazing Christmas - you definitely deserve it after this semester."

"You too, little one." He let me go and patted me on the head, before heading back up the road. I stood there watching him, smiling but feeling a little sad at not having our crazy conversations every day for the next two weeks. Halfway up he turned around and caught me watching.

"Get going, you creeper!"

Laughing, I hoisted my bag higher up my shoulder and turned the other way. Finally, I was going home.