Somnova Studios

Here is a thread dedicated to Annika fics centered about Annika's short-lived relationship with Sam's (one of the more known OCs who is having a fanroute being made and one and only jew-waifu) hippie brother Sunshine after a suggestion from someone on Discord.

Annika’s Date at the Coffee Shop


Annika stood by the entrance of her favorite coffee shop. It was a relatively safe place to go on a date as it was one of the places she was comfortable speaking at and would give her a good first impression probably and less likely of a chance to break out the tablet. She met this guy a few months ago, over Etsy, not a dating site, but that one online craft show basically. He bought one of her granny square afghans she put a lot of time into making and wrote a good review and messaged her noticing she was near where he lived. He used Etsy as a way to sell his wooden walking sticks that were hand carved as well as his polished healing crystals. She wasn’t quite sure if the crystals were truly healing or not being the rational scientist deep down, but they were sure pretty.

All of his photos he used of the walking sticks were all in woodsy areas and it accentuated their beauty as if they were made by woodland elves or something. She hoped that he would recognize her. One time she dated this guy who got scared of the fact she was towering over everyone and said he got catfished. That sure didn’t help her confidence, but then again, she neglected to even tell the guy how tall she really was and how she was either taller or just as tall as most men on average.

Her mother once gave her a book that was popular known as The Rules of Dating and it talked about how you are supposed to wait for the man to ask you out first and not reveal too much about yourself during the first few dates and be light and breezy. Some stuff were pretty much no-brainers like have a life outside of dating, keep yourself busy, and don’t come off as desperate, but some like if you are dating online, stop replying after four replies if there is no date set up is a little too much.

All it did was neglect to tell them that she was a honking giantess which could have saved her from so much trouble. Also, some men were also turned off by her tablet usage since she failed to mention she uses a tablet to communicate sometimes and all it did was get her treated like some untouchable retard by them. She wasted so much time on dates with men that didn’t accept her rather than focusing on the ones that potentially did. Basically, she was going to pretty much screw the rules this time and see where it gets her.

“Uh, are you Annika?” someone asked. She told the guy on Etsy she was meeting for coffee that she was the unusually tall blonde lady with glasses and it seemed to work. She turned to face him. He was a scruffy man with long dark hair that smelled… earthy to put it lightly. He wore clothes that had the musty scent of a thrift store and were loose fitting with a few small holes in the pants. She felt way too overdressed. This wasn’t even really a date, she was just meeting a guy she found on an online crafting site.

“Me? Ummmm… yes, it is Annika.” Annika responded. Trying to mentally prepare herself to expect him to be here helped her with not clamming up. “You are… Sunshine? Is it okay if I call you that?”

“Yeah… nobody calls me by my real name.” he replied.

“Sooooooo… do you want to get some coffee or something?” asked Annika

“uhhhh… sure man, that’s what we are here for, right?” he said to her. They went up and placed their order, but just before she was like.

“Wait, are you gonna pay for me?” asked Annika noticing the extra cash he put on the counter before she could whip out her card.

“It’s no problem, don’t worry about it, I mean, it is just a latte…” he said as the cashier took the money. Annika did not feel comfortable with a man, especially one who presumably makes less than her paying for her drink so she dumped her spare change in the tip job and the barista thanked her for it.

“I just had to do it, those baristas live off of their tips after all…” said Annika.

“So, you got the coconut crème latte. Huh?”

“And you got the matcha shake. I heard the samurai used to drink matcha to keep them healthy or something.” Said Annika trying to start a conversation

“You do realize that like, those lattes have a bunch of sugar and like, no coffee right?”

“I know, I only like the taste of coffee if it has a lot of sugar in it. I go overboard with my condiments, you sound like my mother.” Annika laughed “I’m surprised I didn’t get diabetes yet, then again, I try to use stevia as a sweetener now. I don’t mind the licorice taste at all.”

“Dude, stevia is great. You can get it in bulk at the health food store you know. You really ought to buy your stuff in bulk. They will even let you use your old pillow cases. That’s what I do.” He said.

“One grande matcha shake and grande coconut crème latte!” shouted the barista. As Annika went up to get the drinks, Sunshine quickly got up in front of her and said.

“Dude, don’t worry, I got this…” he said as he quickly went up to the counter and brought the drinks to their two-seat high top table by the window. The chairs were high up enough to look at the people passing by at eye level.

“So… ummmm… how is life going? Are you selling your walking sticks well enough?” asked Annika taking a sip of her sugary sweet latte.

“Yeah, you know, I’m making a decent amount. My dad is loaded so he helps me out time and time again, but I do manage by myself. Wood carving is great and I’m making money off of it too. What about you? Are your crochet things selling?”

“Well, no, not really, but it doesn’t matter, it isn’t my main job, my main job is a school behavior analyst at the local special high school St. Dymphna’s.” Annika replied

“Shut up! My sister goes there. Is she one of your students or something?” he asked

“I cannot tell you it is confidential, anyways, how is your sex life?” she giggled wondering if he would get the reference “But no, seriously, I have so many students on my caseload most with some sort of learning or developmental disability or behavioral problem and even if I did remember I still wouldn’t tell you because that stuff is confidential.” Annika’s heart fluttered a bit hearing that he had a sister that went there. Honestly, she could not remember if she ever saw her or she was on her caseload she had so many students she saw each week, but she sort of became a bit concerned as what if rumors spread that she was actually dating him? Hopefully, she would do her best to keep her dating life separate and secret from her job.

“Oh yeah, privacy laws and all that, totally get you, but yeah uhhhhh her name is Sam, I’m not like, super close with her or anything but small world, you know?” he said taking a sip of his shake. “Seriously, man, you gotta try this shake. It is supposed to have kale, but like, trust me, you can barely taste it.”

“Okay, maybe you can try a sip of mine?” asked Annika

“Haha, okay.” He took a sip and his eyes widened “Damn, I am so not used to this much sugar, I am gonna be so hyper all day. You better not have this stuff every day.”

“No, it is only a sometimes food, I swear I just don’t like black coffee. I have always been a black sheep in my family in that regard.”

“I know what it’s like being a black sheep, I am THE black sheep, but now it’s your turn to try my shake and see how it is. It is sweet, but it is subtler.” He told her. Annika took a sip of the green shake. He was right, it was still sweet, but it was a lot lighter on the sweetness with a slight bitterness to it. It was the perfect balance. It was definitely a lot less sweet than she was used to though making it slightly underwhelming at first, but still enough to warrant another taste.

“This isn’t half bad, I’m surprised I’d like this and you are right, I can’t even taste the kale.” Said Annika “I will have to get this next time I come here.”

“Heck, I can probably make my own if I want to.” Said Sunshine with a bit of arrogance

“You can cook?” asked Annika. Though, she would probably be a bit sexist to think that he couldn’t cook.

“Uh, yeah, it is cheaper making things from scratch. I have a lot of these paleo cook books that I use.”

“You prescribe to the paleo diet? Didn’t the caveman not really live that long and farming actually, you know, helped with the life expectancy?”

“Nah… I’m not a paleo dieter, I just like sweet potatoes and they have some killer sweet potato recipes in those books man.” He laughed “I just like the taste of those paleo recipes more than anything.”

“Oh, I see…” said Annika “I mostly just get whatever I can find that is inexpensive. I am a coupon clipper big time. I haven’t tried paleo foods before, but sweet potatoes sound really good.”

“Yeah, sweet potatoes are my favorite, especially if they don’t have all of that marshmallow crap on it.”

“Yeah, I never understood why that is popular.” Annika laughed

“So, I heard you like plants?” asked Sunshine changing the subject

“Why, yes I do. My favorite plants to grow are succulents and fortunately my place has good light to grow these plants. I was thinking about using grow lights for times when I couldn’t, but my electric bills would skyrocket and people would think I am a dealer or something.” She laughed. Sunshine laughed with her even harder.

“That’s funny… I guess you can say I tried my hand at gardening a few times if you know what I mean. It is just not my specialty.”
“Well, there are a lot of plants like the ZZ plant that are very good for beginners.” said Annika

“ZZ plants isn’t my thing, I was thinking more of herbs or something.” He said

“Well, herbs are hard to grow indoors usually because many of them require light otherwise they get all stretched out and brittle.” Said Annika “My favorite herb to grow is mint to make tea, but you have to be careful if you are planting it outside as they can be invasive. I also like growing chives and basil too.”

“Heh, yeah, something like that.” said Sunshine “I just like growing plants that are functional rather than for decoration.”

“Oh, I totally get why. Don’t tell anyone but…” just then, Annika noticed what looked like two familiar faces she swore she has seen around campus. One girl had short hair and another long hair and they looked like sisters. She croaked a bit. They seemed not to see her, but if they did just imagine the scandal that would be if they saw a teacher going on a date even though she swore it wasn’t a date.

“Are you okay?” asked Sunshine as Annika was trying to say something, but all that came out were little squeaks and lip movements. Annika hurriedly pulled out her tablet and typed

“NEVERMIND, I ACTUALLY RATHER NOT TALK ABOUT IT HERE” said her tablet.

“Woah, wait, you did tell me you had selective mutism didn’t you. So is that what you use if you can’t talk. That’s cool, man.” Said Sunshine more intrigued by the device that horrified. Most men would look at it and think she was some retard or something. The two girls went and sat down after taking their orders, but Annika’s voice still didn’t come back.

“Do you like walking in the woods? Mushroom and leak season is coming up and the weather next weekend looks like it will be perfect for mushrooms. Would you like to come? Maybe afterwards you can hang out at my place. It’s a little camper van, but it is still pretty rad. I have the blanket you made me there.” He said

“MUSHROOMS AND LEEKS? I WOULD LOVE TO” Annika typed while sipping the last bit of her latte.

“Well, great, ummmm… like, here is my number so you can like call or text me anytime.” He said writing it down for her “I guess we could meet next weekend? It will be just us so you probably won’t need to worry about losing your voice. Annika smiled and nodded and wrote down her number for him.

“THANK YOU, THIS WILL BE FUN.” She typed taking the paper in her purse to add to her phone contacts later. After that, they waved goodbye and parted ways. Annika’s heart was aflutter walking back to her car. Was this even considered a date? It wasn’t even considered a dating site she met him on. Hopefully those girls will not spread rumors on her. He seemed nice, I mean, he seemed very down to earth and artsy. Yet, he was a little unconventional in some ways and it might be a little hard for some to except.

What will her parents think if she brought this guy home? Why was she even treating him like a boyfriend and imagining them getting married, it wasn’t like that or was it? Her head was spinning all confused right now about what just happened during that brief encounter. She was probably overthinking it. No, she was definitely overthinking it.

To Be Continued

Hey guys, I have decided to write the break up scene as the first thing before any others just because I can. Don't worry, expect to have all of the other scenes in between to be covered. I would estimate the relationship would last a total of seven months or soish.

The Break Up

It was the Sunday after Christmas break and Annika once again woke up in bed still pondering over what her mother said about Sunshine and how she would not support them if they marry. She turned over to her nightstand with her bottle of kratom in the drawer. She did not take any kratom during her stay with her parents for fear of being caught and though it wasn’t really a true withdrawal, the feeling she felt was like if an avid coffee drinker did not have any caffeine in her system. Her nose started to run for the first few days while spending the holiday and it stopped. She thought about what was becoming of her.

She never thought she would experiment with all of these legal highs. Sunshine warned her not to take them too much, but she didn’t listen to him and had the school found out about it, she would be in trouble. Was she even capable of moderation with this kind of stuff? It became a routine for her every night to ease her anxiety with kratom that she couldn’t help but wonder.

“What should I do?” she asked her plants “I really don’t know what to do. It is like I became a different person, for the first time since I started dating this guy I became almost free and I started experiencing life again, but at what cost? I am surprised that no matter how many stuff I never dreamed of doing happened, I still managed to not tarnish my reputation as a teacher. Maybe just maybe that fear was irrational, maybe as long as I keep my other facets of my life to myself I will be okay, but it still doesn’t feel right…” Annika cried to her plants

“Maybe it was just my mother, my mother who wants to see me more than anything get married not approve of my relationship, but I don’t think I can deal with my family rejecting me like that. I mean, I know this guy left his family and rebelled against them in some ways, but I don’t think I can handle this.” She paused a minute pretending to listen to them, but in reality she was just pausing to process her emotions.

“The question is does he make me happier than not? Truth is, I was very happy with him for a time, but now that my parents reject me, I wonder if it would be a waste of time just chasing him.” She looked at herself in a mirror crying staring at herself to make sure if it was really her until she made up her decision: She had to talk to Sunshine. She unplugged her phone from its charger and texted him. It was the first time she really texted him since him staying with her family for about a week.

“Sunshine, I have been thinking about the time since my parents and it definitely opened up a lot. I am worried though, very, very worried. I feel as though in some ways my mother was right about you. She said she would never approve of us and considering how my mother supported me all of these years, her not being supportive of me is telling. It tells me maybe you aren’t meant to be. Plus, well, I know you said not to go overboard on the kratom, but I could not help myself I just have so much stress in my life even if much of it is self-imposed.

I like using it and I am by no means chemically addicted, but I still feel at the same time torn, like it has taken a piece of my innocence away in some ways quite literally. During my first time, I really liked it don’t get me wrong, but I feel like I betrayed my teenage self who was so gung ho about waiting until marriage. It let out my inner desires and it has left me still very confused about just what happened. I don’t regret it completely as it would make for a good story, but I never thought in a million years I would have sex on my second time meeting you in person. I know this is a long message but I hope you understand.” And after all of that typing she hit send.

After a while a few racing dots appeared on screen indicating that he was typing he replied which happened for a while.

“I totally get it, you know, I mean turning against your mother like that. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I didn’t rebel against my dad like I did. I would still have to deal with the stress and I think rebelling against him really changed him in some ways so I don’t regret it one bit, but even though I still mooch off him, I am starting to feel guilty about it and regret not going to college or anything, but frankly, I don’t think I even have the study habits to really have what it takes. I wish sometimes I could settle down and why I thought of you first as my ticket to doing so, but my father would not approve of marrying a Catholic and sometimes I wish I could go back and start over with my family, but here I am being some dirty stoner bum in the woods carving stuff out of wood.”

“So, you won’t mind me ending this right now? I mean, I hope you don’t mind doing so in texting.” Annika replied back
“That I don’t. Do you still want to be friends?”

“Well, maybe I think before I decide that I will need to sort of take a bit of a break from you. Just if we hang out again, maybe no kratom or weed or anything, well, at least for now. I would rather if we didn’t.”

“Okay, deal, how about you text me when you are ready to talk to me again.”

“Deal”

And that was that, her and Sunshine were no longer together just like that. It happened so fast she just laid back down in her bed trying to process what just happened. She stayed there for hours trying to redefine herself as single once again. She felt like a failure even though she was the one that initiated it and it would have been worse had she just continued on with the relationship and would have lost more time, so maybe it was indeed for the best. It still hurt because now she felt like she was back at square one again. She decided to call her mother and she figured she would be back from church and maybe she would cheer her up. Dialing her phone, she waited for her mother to answer.

“Hello? Annika, is that you?” she asked

“Hello mom…” she said teary eyed “You know that Sunshine guy I was dating, well, I broke up with him a few hours ago and I still feel really bad about it even though I knew it was the right thing. I had so many great times together and I don’t know if I will find anyone else better than him. I have to start all over again.” She cried. There was no way she was telling her that they had sex several times or took kratom or anything to her as much as she wanted to, she didn’t need her mother judging her right now for her bad choices which she was pretty certain she would.

“Let me tell you something Annika, I am so glad you did that. I would have told you even worse stuff about how I didn’t think you would get along, but I didn’t want to because I didn’t want you to pull away from me because I know how that is when you are in love. All I will say is if you keep dwelling on it then you will never get better. Why don’t you do some of that online dating again and cherish the memories you did make with him while it lasted.”

“Well, I did say that we could still be friends…”

“Then still be friends after you have time to heal. It will be fine. Have you done anything today?”

“No, I just have no motivation…” Annika sighed

“Then go do something, even if it means having to drag yourself to do it. You can do it Annika.”

“It’s easier said than done and I know this is what I need to do… well… okay.” She said

“Thatta girl.”

“Goodbye mother…”

“Goodbye dear heart.” She said

Annika sat up in her bed and decided to at least get some clothes on, even if it was a pair of sweats, something that she could do to make her feel a little better than moping in her pajamas all day. She took the boxes of pills from her nightstand and threw them in the trash, she needed to take a break from the stuff while she still could, plus with nobody to supply her with any and the fact it is nerve wracking just going to a head shop to buy kratom is hard enough.

Then, Annika booted up her laptop and looked at her dating site profile again, she already had a few messages from guys already. That made her feel a bit better, even if the guys may be total creeps at least they were chances. She then concluded she will give it maybe a week or two and see how Sunshine is by then.

Okay, here is another fic, in this one Annika and Sunshine have their second date taking a hike in the woods foraging for stuff. Spoilers: Annika has her first kiss!

Hiking and Foraging in the Woods

“Okay I am here.” Texted Annika

“Okay, see the big burnt orange van? I am right there.” He texted back. Annika looked up and sure enough he was waving out the window.

“Oh, hey, Sunshine!” said Annika waving back knocking on the van door. He unrolled the window, it was a window where you manually had to crank down the window.

“Sit in the car, I will show you some of my foraging spots, but you have to keep them a secret okay? I am only giving them to you because I trust you after talking with you online for so long.” He said to her. Annika jumped into the front seat and had to move away some of his stuff and put them in the back so she could sit down. It was apparent he didn’t usually get a lot of people driving with him. She buckled up and they were off on a winding country road up some hills to the edge of some woods which took about twenty minutes.

“So, uhhhh are you excited? Have you ever foraged before?” asked Sunshine

“No, I have never foraged for anything before.” She replied. “I look forward to it” as she looked out the windows admiring the scenery.

“Don’t worry dude, I’ll run you down on the basics when we arrive.” He told her with his eyes still on the road. It must take some skill to drive it considering it was a big van with such a big blind spot, but he was managing well to Annika’s relief. The woods were beyond a small apartment complex that they passed.

“Okay, like, the perfect mushroom spot is on a hill from there, but to reach it we will need to follow a trail.” He said handing her a plastic mesh bag that looked like it was for oranges.

“This is the bag we put in mushrooms and the pillowcase I have is where leeks go. We put the mushrooms in the mesh bag so that they can scatter their spores and make more mushrooms. Got it?”

“Got it” Annika nodded

“Also, uhhhh watch out for the false morels, false morels aren’t completely attached to their stems and their caps look like brains. Don’t worry though, I can tell them apart pretty good so if you have any questions I will be there.” Said Sunshine

“What about leeks?” asked Annika

“Leeks? Oh, dude, Leeks are easy, they are in large groups of leaves and what you do is you pick a few from the outer cluster and you leave a few. Where there are leeks there is a good chance there are mushrooms.” Sunshine explained as he got out of the van and stretched.

“Okay, you will tell me when you see leeks, right?” asked Annika as she got out of the van

“Right, I will.” Then Sunshine locked the car and motioned her to follow him down his trail. There actually wasn’t an official trail, infact there was no trail just Sunshine looking at various landmarks to guide him as far as the direction of where to go. After a while, they approached a large, fairly steep hill.

“Okay, like, just climb this and uh… we will be there.” He told her

“You want me to climb THAT? There better be some mushrooms beyond these hills for me to climb them!” she said

“Oh, believe me, there will be mushrooms, it is a warm day after rain so they should be like… ummmm popping up just like uhhh… well, mushrooms!”

“Well, it is a good thing I got some good sturdy boots for this climb. Don’t be surprised if you have to wait for me at the top though.” Said Annika and she slowly began to climb up grabbing onto trees to keep her balance. Annika did not realize how out of shape she was. When she stopped for a break she already saw Sunshine perched at the top of the mountain waiting for her. It took her ten more minutes until she was up at the top and panting.

“Dude, you weren’t lying, were you?” laughed Sunshine

“I am just not used to hiking in the woods you know…” she said to him pouting.

“Well like, uh… we are here so just scan the area and see if you find a mushroom, ummmm.. if you find one mushroom chances are you will find groups of them.” He told her

“Okay, good to know” she said. Sunshine tossed a small metal object at her which she failed to catch and instead landed on the ground.

“It is a pocket knife, instead of picking the mushrooms, use this to cut them. That way you won’t arm the uh… the roots.”

“You mean the mycelium?” Annika asked picking up the pocket knife

“Uh yeah, that, now uhhh… get looking!” said Sunshine as he was already scanning the area. Annika found a patch of leeks. She remembered to take only the outermost leeks and leave the rest. It was a sunny, spring day and the trees whispered with the wind. She could smell and earth smell that surrounds her, especially when she picked the leeks from the ground and brushed the dirt from them off. Annika adjusted her glasses a little bit and moved closer what appeared to be a light brown object sure enough, it was a group of brown mushrooms.

“Hey! I found something!” shouted Annika “Are these morels?” Sunshine rushed over to look.

“Dude! Yes! Yes they are and there is like, six of them.” He said. Annika took out her pocket knife, cut them leaving the base of the stems intact, and kept them in the bag. One of them was really tall and looked like it would be even two mushrooms. Sunshine and Annika continued to look for mushrooms together combing through the entire area.

“Look at these morel mushrooms, they look lighter than the ones we found. Is that bad?” asked Annika

“Uh… no, there is white morels and black morels. Those are fine to harvest.” He said. They continued on, their pillow cases were plenty filled with leeks and they were having luck finding morels. Sunshine’s mesh bag was already half full.

“Hey, what about this mushroom?” asked Annika

“Oh, uh… that is a false morel like I was talking about, the ones you are supposed to avoid. Like, thanks for asking me though.” He told her and they continued on. Later on, they stopped by a fallen tree covered in shelf fungus and Sunshine stopped to sit down on the trunk of the decaying tree.

“What are you doing?” asked Annika

“Just enjoying nature, can you hear the birds chirping and see all the forest before you? Isn’t it amazing?” he said taking a deep breath. Annika took a seat on the fungus covered stump next to him. She was thankful she was wearing some old jeans and not her fancy clothes. The fungus was very hard and just as its common name described, it was like a bunch of mini shelves on the fallen tree. They looked like balconies for a bug or a little critter. Annika closed her eyes trying to take in the sounds. She could hear birds, but didn’t exactly know what birds they were, just that they were birds. She could feel Sunshine lean against her and she opened her eyes in shock.

“Ummmm… excuse me?” said Annika tapping Sunshine on the shoulder.

“Eh?” he looked at her

“What are you doing?” she said a little weirded out

“Uhh… just taking a break, that’s all.” He said.

“Then I guess you can take a break, I don’t really care, it is just really weird to have someone lean so close to me is all.” She told him

“Like, do you want me to stop?” he asked her as a squirrel scampered by through the leafy forest floor

“No, you don’t have to. I don’t really care…” she said to him and so he kept leaning against her and eventually she wrapped his arm around his back and ran her fingers through his hair.

“That feels really good you know. It is like what my mother used to do.” He told her
“Really? Your hair is so thick, but not too greasy.” She told him “Do you wash your hair?”

“Uh… of course I do, why wouldn’t I? I have that gym membership for a reason. So I can use their showers.” He told her as he began feeling her hair. “And yours is very fine like silk” he laughed looking at her.

“But I’m not really keen on other people touching my hair…” she said. He then immediately stopped. Annika looked at him and petted his beard.

“Dude!” he shouted “I don’t like when you do that either!” he said playfully batting away her fingers.

“Oh, alright.” Said Annika chuckling as she stared into his eyes still playing with his hair. Just then, he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. It caught Annika off guard, what did he just do? Most importantly, was that it? She assumed her first kiss would be more special than that, but I guess it was special in the sense they were out in the forest and it was in the middle of nowhere and it was just them.

“What did you do that for?” asked Annika

“I don’t know, I just thought it was appropriate.” He said “I mean, isn’t this a date and we are alone in the woods and all…”

“Well, I guess you are right, but I don’t know, I never really thought of it as a date, I thought this was just more like hanging out, but I mean, I guess it could work. You and me boyfriend and girlfriend. We have similar interests and all and it is worth a shot.”

“Yeah… but, you know, like, hanging out is kinda like dating these days.” He said to her pulling in for another kiss that Annika this time accepted fully. Their lips locked for a few more seconds, Annika never felt so giddy before. The second kiss felt less awkward and more complete. She could feel the fuzziness of his beard on her face like she was kissing a stuffed animal. The hair was grown out enough that it didn’t feel pokey like it did when she kissed her father on the cheek and he slacked off on shaving because the hair was grown out enough to feel different from stubble. Seconds felt like hours to Annika as she stared into his dark eyes.

“Dude, you have pretty eyes, you know that?” remarked Sunshine “They are the color of mist or a rainstorm.”
“What are you talking about they are boring.” She looked away from him for a second

“I know but like, that is probably because you see them every day, now like, mine are boring, brown is such a common color after all unlike grey.” He laughed

“Yeah, but yours are a light brown they remind me of almonds. I love almonds. My second oldest brother is allergic to peanuts, but he could have almonds.” She told her in his tight embrace.

“You told me when we were chatting that you had five siblings? Was that even planned?” he laughed

“Well, my mother is kind of God wills it about everything, but I never personally asked her, you never talk about your mother except that she likes to stroke your hair like this.” She said as she continued to play with his long hair twisting it and combing it.

“That’s because my mother is no longer with me. She died when I was seven and my sister was a baby, my father was too heartbroken to marry anyone else. It kind of changed him though. Sometimes I wonder if her spirit is ever disappointed in me, I hate going to see her grave or just graveyards in general, I swear I hear her whisper at me whenever I visit her grave, it’s so trippy, man.” He told her

“I was kind of devastated when my grandma died she was always there to cheer me up when I had a bad day and always had something baking for me when I got home from school... I can’t imagine your mother dying”

“It’s alright, it happened long ago and I learned to live with it. I do sometimes wonder if she was still alive if my life would be any different though. Maybe if she was there to keep my father in check before he got too demanding…”

“Yeah…” she said kissing him yet again. “So, wait, how long did we stay here? Shouldn’t we get back to mushroom hunting?”

“I don’t know, I just usually like stopping at this very spot every time I come to this place to look for mushrooms and I thought I would show you it.” As he held her more making Annika feel like melting.

“and you did show it to me, that you did.” Annika nodded hugging him back “But do remember just because we are out in the woods alone doesn’t mean we can go all the way.”

“Haha, I wasn’t planning to, well… at least not initially that would be kinda interesting having sex in the woods, but like, no, I wasn’t planning to.”

“oh, good, it wasn’t my intention to plant ideas in your head.” She laughed as she got up and brushed off her rear and picked up her bags.

“Yeah, I know…” he laughed. The two of them continued to hunt for mushrooms. They didn’t have as good of luck as they did before their break, but they did manage to find at least one more patch of morels before heading back to the van. The way down the large hill was a lot easier than climbing up. Well, for the most part. It was still a bit slippery coming down from the large hill and Annika thought she was going to slip a few times if it wasn’t for the fact she had some trees to cling onto.

“Okay, I’m good…” she said as she made her way down slowly.

“Good, I know the trail back to the van.” He said. She followed him surprised he knew where the way was exactly. He must have hiked here fairly often if he knew where everything was. Eventually they made their way back to the van where he invited her to the back of the van to count their mushrooms.

“83…” he said to her

“83? Wow, that’s something, what are you gonna do with all of these mushrooms?” she asked

“Uhhh… I don’t know really, I’m sure I’ll find something in my recipe books.” He told her “Until then I can dry them.” He told her.

“That sounds great, how do you dry them?” she asked

“Uh… with a food dehydrator?” he told her “How about next weekend you can hang out with me for dinner, like, how does that sound?”

“That sounds wonderful Sunshine, I would be delighted to do that. I will make sure I get all of my caseloads squared away before Saturday evening so I’m ready to go.”

“That’s right, you will have to tell me more about that behavior analysis stuff. You know, I’m surprised that you haven’t use that on me at all today. I thought those behavior analysis people would be manipulative and analyze behavior and stuff.”

“Oh no, that’s not at all true. I would only analyze your behavior if you want to.” She laughed

Well that’s good.” He told her “Shall we get going?”

“Yes, I have a lot of work to do for my caseload.” Annika said hopping into the front passenger seat. She noticed before that the van had a distinct odor to it, but she figured she wouldn’t ask him about it until her next meeting in fear of ruining a good time. When he drove to where Annika’s car was parked. Annika gave him one last kiss before she got out of the van.

“I love you…” said Sunshine

“I love you too…” said Annika as she waved to him as Annika got out of the van. Sunshine lingered for a while making sure she got in her car and it started alright before driving off. Driving back to campus, Annika was simply ecstatic what a great way to have her first kiss in the middle of the woods with just her and Sunshine.
She had hope for this relationship and thought that maybe it would work out. However, that smell in the van concerned her, what if he was a pothead? Could she look past that? She decided to wait for next week to find out. Maybe he had a medical condition and it was the only way to help him. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding and it wasn’t weed at all. She decided to let it go for a bit. Yes, it might be scandalous, but as long as they met in relative secrecy, it would be fine perhaps.