They walked and walked, until finally, Amber let out a gasp. 
"Oh, I know somewhere we could go. Are you hungry?" she asked. When the rascal turned towards her, her eyes were glinstering of excitement. Krystal, who hadn't expected this sudden enthusiasm, was taken aback by the shorter girl, and could only mutter a soft [i]"Kinda..."[/i] Her father had warned her not to eat too much at the dinner of the conference, otherwise her face might get bloated over the course of the evening. She had only eaten the small amount of vegetables that had served with the steak.
Amber grinned when she agreed. 
"Great, there is a 24 hours convenience store right around the corner!" 
Before Krystal could object, Amber had already grabbed her hand, and dragged her around the end of the street, around the corner. They were met with the flashy white fluorscent light store at the end of the street. Even from here she could see that it was a small shop, in the midst of a block of houses. A weird spot to place a store, but it seemed not to be bothered about the decayed neighbourhood. It clearly wasn't  short on money. A lot of convenience stores Krystal has been were either neglected, or the tiles had broken, or the windows were recently smashed, or the neon signs didn't work anymore. But this store looked rather new, or was just really well conserved. 
Krystal had been too surprised to let Amber's hand go, and let herself be dragged to the store. It was hard to keep up with Amber's pace in her heels, but because of the experience she had gotten in all those years of wearing them, she was able to keep herself straight and not trip over her own feet. 
They only slowed down when they were right in front of the doors. 
"You-you dragged me all the way to this cra-crappy neighbourhood for a conve-convenience store?" Krystal panted. She had placed her hand on her side and pressed, hoping to press away the aching pains that were spreading through her body. Amber seemed not to be bothered by the running at all; she wasn't even gasping for air like she was. Krystal shot her a jealous look. She really should work out more.
Amber looked back up to her, with both of her eyebrows risen. It gave her something of a lost puppy that was actually.. quite cute. Krystal immediately shook the thought off her. 
"'Crappy neighbourhood'?" she said in disbelief. "I live here!"
Krystal couldn't help but to frown and stare at her in the same level of disbelief. 
"B-but, your father-" she muttered. 
Amber rolled her eyes. 
"He doesn't pay for my apartment, like your daddy does. He says I need to earn money myself, because he started off that way too and he doesn't want to help me out. If I become homeless, he said, I'll be homeless because I messed up big time. Since I'm only a student, I can't afford a big place to stay."
Krystal's cheeks coloured deeply red. With her lower lip tucked between her teeth, she looked away from Amber, suddenly very guilty about what she had said. Her father tought her how to stay humble, and respect the people who had been less lucky in life than he had, and therefor less money. They should be respected more than any other business man she'd ever meet, because they form the base of our society. Krystal felt ashamed that she had made that comment towards Amber, who seemed to understand what her father meant way better than she ever had. 
"I'm sorry..." she mumbled. Amber started to laugh, which caused her to jerk her head up. 
"I didn't know the stone-hard Krystal Jung even knew how to apologize!" she chuckled. Krystal's guilt turned back into annoyance, and she had the urge to slap the older girl against her arm. 
"Don't worry about it, Princess. I know I could live luxurously if I wanted to, I just choose not too," Amber laughed. She hooked her arm through Krystal's and took her further towards the entrance of the convenience store. 
"Don't call me that..." she muttered, but Amber didn't seem to have heard her. And otherwise, the guessed the troublemaker wouldn't take her seriously anyway. 
Amber opened the door of the store. A bell started to rinkle, to let the employees know that new clients had arrived. Krystal had to blink a couple of times to let her eyes get used to the bright light, which was way different than the dimmed lights in the streets. A wave of warmth flooded over her, and she couldn't help to let out a small sigh. The convenience store seemed to be abandoned besides them. 
"Yo, Henry!" Amber yelled suddenly. She immediately dropped Krystal's arm, to run over to the counter. Behind it, stood a young man, perhaps a little older than they were. A playful grin appeared on the guy's face, causing his thick lips and accented jaw to be a bit less visible. His eyes started to sparkle in the same way Amber's had done when he saw the girl. He jumped over the counter and the two friends ran to each other as if they hadn't seen each other for years. Amber jumped in Henry's arms, and Henry twirled around for a moment, before letting her go again so suddenly that she fell on the ground. He shrugged apologetically, whilst Amber rubbed her . He had the same cheeky grin lik her, that made Krystal wonder whether they were family or not. Then she shook her head; their faces were nothing alike. 
Henry helped her to get up again and the two gave each other another hug. Krystal still stood in the entrance, her arms wrapped around her waist to warm up her body. A bit awkwardly, she moved her gaze to the ground, causing her not to notice that Henry had shifted his attention from Amber to her. 
"And who's the beauty you brought to me? Really Amber, the number of girls you bring to my shop is-"
His voice got muffled because Amber pressed her hand to his mouth and shot him a filthy look. Henry swatted her hand away and laughed. 
"Come on. It really doesn't matter what I say. They're lining up to sleep with you, even when they know that they're gonna get dumped the next day. But I gotta admit, you sure brought a classy one this time. She even wears a dress and all," he said, whilst nodding with his head in Krystal's direction. Amber tried to make him shut up, but Henry, having spent years and years with her as her wingman, knew all the small little tricks. He jumped aside when she wanted to kick him against the knees to make him shut up. 
Krystal, still not looking into the two troublemakers' direction, wasn't deaf, and had heard the whole conversation. She lifted her head and shot Henry a cold look. 
"As much as Amber would like to sleep with me, we're not going to," she hissed. Henry and Amber both turned around, a little bit embarassed that Krystal had heard. She rolled her eyes.  It wasn't exactly like they had spoken softly or something. Amber pointed at Krystal with her index finger. 
"That's exactly what we're going to do, Hen. NOT sleep with each other," she said. Henry's eyebrows shot up and he placed his hands in his sides. 
"Why the hell are you here then?" he asked. Amber and Krystal exchanged a look and stayed silent. Henry sighed and rain with his hand through his hair, then over his face. 
"Ah, you know what. It's none of my business anyway. Text me how it ended, because this sounds like a sappy story. You know your way around to the ramen."
Henry decided to turn back to his comfertable lounging spot behind the counter and let the two girls alone. Amber let out a sigh, then turned back to Krystal with a nervous smile. 
"That's Henry. He's quite... well, he's my best friend."
"I noticed so."
Amber shrugged. "I know. But let's get some food now, I'm starving."
"You just had dinner.." Krystal mumbled. The punk laughed. 
"Well, you too. And I don't see you complaining now, do you?"
Krystal huffed. 
Amber didn't try to take her hand or her arm anymore; something Krystal was very thankful of. It had been uncomfertable to hold her hand, almost as if she was betraying her own hatred for the girl. You couldn't hate a person and like to hold their hand. It just didn't work like that. 
Together they strolled through the isles. Krystal felt more for something healthy, like a small bottle of water and some fruit, but Amber had other thoughts. Since she didn't have money with her, she felt like she couldn't complain when the girl loaded her arms with junkfood, but she couldn't help to tighten her jaw. Four packets of ramen, a large bottle of Coca Cola, cookies and as dessert some ice cream. The punk clearly had an appetite for fatty foods, or at least craved a lot of those now. At the thought of all those calories, Krystal's heart almost stopped beating. She didn't know how Amber could still be so thin whilst eating all of these bad products. She must work out a lot... The image of Amber training her biceps and abs came to her mind. She tried to shake it off as quickly as possible, but she had some trouble doing so. 
"I think we have everything.." Amber muttered, whilst looking at her arms. "Do you still want something? My treat."
"No, thanks," she said. She'd have a hard time devouring all of this as it was, and she didn't want to be endepted by Amber, although money was the simplest kind of debt. She had plenty of that. 
Amber shot her a grin. 
"Okay, let's get going then."
They arrived at the counter, and let Henry scan everything. Amber paid with her credit card and managed to get their groceries in her already full backpack. With some diffeculty, she put it around her back again. They said goodbye to Henry, and left the store again. 
"So.. where, to go now?" Krystal asked. Amber palced her hands back in the pockets of her jacket and looked from the left to the right, as if she was expecting a big sign that said 'You should head this way!'. She shrugged. 
"Wanna do something bad ?" asked Amber. Krystal's eyebrows shot up before she could help herself. 
"Like what?" 
"Well, I know a very nice place where we can eat all this stuff-" she patted on her backpack,"-buuuuut it's not appreciated by the police if we do that. Although, I never got caught, so I can guarantee that it's basically one hundred percent safe."
Krystal frowned and Amber looked at her with those deep dark eyes that were just so hard to ignore. The same glinster was there and Krystal now recognized it as the little spark in the troublemaker's body whenever she did something slightly adventurous. Something that made her blood rush, and make her feel alive. Krystal was intrigued by this little sparkle. It was something she hadn't noticed before, except for this evening. She had already known that Amber lead herself by pure emotions only, did whatever she felt like at that specific moment. Now, Krystal felt it too. 
Tonight being the first night without a curriculum, or a planned evening, she felt the need to let herself go too. She wanted to feel what Amber felt, and even more. In a rush of emotions, she nodded her head. Perhaps, on another night, when she had her thoughts collected and her feelings controlled, she would've told her no. But today was so new and unexpected, that she had trouble thinking things through. She wanted to be irresponsible, just for tonight.
"Let's do it."
A grin appeared on Amber's face. 
"Great!" the older girl beamed. "Let's get going then. It's almost one o'clock already." 
Krystal nodded. The two girls started to walk to the place Amber had in mind, a place she hoped wasn't far away. Now that they had stepped out of the warmth of the convenience store, her shivers returned, and there were goosebumps on her forearms and legs that wouldn't just dissappear. The cold seemed to creep in her bones, and she wished she had brought warmer clothing. How could she know that after the party she would rummage through the streets with the girl she hated most? 
They walked a while, perhaps half an hour. The neighbourhood became more known to Krystal with every passing step. Since she drove through these streets to the university every day, she recognized all kinds of small things she normally wouldn't have given a second thought if it had just been any other day. A restaurant called "Granny's" at the corner of the street, which had closed. That one house which had a garden full of roses. The building besides the rose-garden-house, always had a dog in the garden. It was peacefully asleep behind the windows now, Krystal noticed. The street, often busy and filled with people, was empty now. The mother of five whom needed to bring her kids to school every morning around the same time Krystal was going to the university was probably peacefully sitting on her couch now, the five sweetlings sleeping soundless in their beds. The old man who sold apples had cleared his stall. Even the group of teenagers, hanging around Granny's, weren't there. It gave her a lonely feeling. Logically, they weren't there, it was 1 AM. Still, it made her shiver even more.
The longer they walked, the clearer it became that they were actually heading to the university, or some spot very close to it, but she doubted that. 
"You know, going to the uni isn't very special. I spend five days a week there," Krystal eventually said, when she could see the group of buildings doom up from the dark. 
"I agree that it isn't very special if you only hang out in the cantine," Amber laughed. "I bet you haven't been to this place before, though."
Krystal rolled her eyes. "I doubt so."
Amber shot her a look and chuckled. She shook her head slowly, and ran with her hand through her hair. 
"You're so stubborn. Always wanting to be right."
"You don't have the right to speak about being stubborn," Krystal huffed. That made her chuckle again. 

They headed further towards the university. Since the campus was linked with the college buildings, the gate to the compound was always open, so the students could go in and out whenever they pleased so. Amber and Krystal had therefor no diffeculty getting in. They entered the terrain. Just like the neigbourhoods they had just crossed, the compound was abandoned. The lights in the college buildings were off, besides a few that were still burning in the campus buildings. The shadows of the things — the Starbucks shop at the corner, the benches, the litter baskets, the statue of the founder of their university — that were so familiar to them made it even creepier. 
"Where are we going?" asked Krystal. 
"Stubborn and nosy? Not very good traits to have, Princess," replied Amber. The brunette grumbled and rolled her eyes. It was obvious the brat didn't want to tell her where she was taking her. It annoyed her that she didn't know, because she couldn't prepare herself. She couldn't control the situation like she usually would do, and that made sure that an uneasy feeling crept up on her. Add that to the creepy shadows and darkness that the campus casted, made up to a perfect feeling of unsafeness.
They walked in silence until they reached the head building, where most of the colleges were given. Amber walked up the steps, up to the large doors that formed the entrance. Krystal followed her, although she wondered what the purpose was of all of this. The doors were locked anyway. 
Amber sank down on one knee, and took her backpack from her back. 
"The doors are locked," Krystal felt obliged to say, even though it was crystal clear. Amber looked over her shoulder and grinned cheekily. 
"There are no doors closed for me," she said, with a wink, that made Krystal's cheeks flush in annoyance. Amber opened her bag and dug with her arms all the way to the botton of it. For a few moments she was searching. A frown had appeared on her face out of concentration. The diffeculty suddenly dissapeared out of her face, and the grin came back. She took her arm back from the bag, her hand clutching two pieces of metal. Amber opened her hand, to show it to her. The two pieces of metal. They were barely longer than ten centimeters, each bended at the edge. 
"Watch and learn, Princess. They don't teach this during theatre class," Amber said. She stack both of the pieces of metal in the lock, and started to twist and turn them in such a way that, five minutes later, Krystal heard the lock click open. Impressed, she looked at Amber, who stood back up again, brushed the dust off her knees and opened the door for her. Like a real gentleman she stood there, with a big grin upon her face and her hand outstretched to Krystal, to help her get through. The brunette, still amazed, couldn't help herself and took Amber's hand. 
"Won't an alarm go off?"
Amber shook her head. 
"Nah. I've been here a few times before, they don't seem to be bothered much by an alarm, because a lot of students and professors stay until very late."
Krystal stepped into the dark hall, that was otherwise so known to her. It was hard to distinguish the features of the room that were, during daylight, not worth paying attention too. Being in a building at night, without any  light, made it a lot more intense. 
She realized she still held Amber's hand when the glass door behind them closed. Krystal looked down to their intertwined fingers, suddenly feeling how soft her skin was. For someone who lived mostly on the street, her hands were really delicate. She gulped, and immediately took her hand back. Amber seemed not to be bothered by that or didn't even notice it, and that annoyed her a little. Why did she always have to annoy her? 
"What about we first warm up those ramen?" suggested Amber. "I bet they have enough equipment for that in the cantine."
Amber smiled to Krystal, and she caught herself smiling back and nodding. The punk turned around, and started to walk the known way to the cantine. Krystal walked after her, a few meters between them. The cold had left her body, although it wasn't extremely warm in the building too. 

They found the cantine, and Amber jumped over the counter. Krystal wanted to walk around it to join her behind the counter — and prevent her from making a huge mess from the university's small kitchen — to cook up the ramen, but Amber stopped her.
"You stay right there, Miss," she said, whilst pointing at the brunette. "I'm a master chef when it comes to ramen."
Krystal stayed at the counter, leaning down upon her arms to support herself. She watched how the rascal let her backpack slide from her back, open it and took out the packages of ramen. With a few quick movements of her hands that showed she was known with cooking up ramen, she opened the packages, and put a pan with water on the stove. Again, dugging into her packpack, only to get out some lucifers. With a grin, she held them up to Krystal. 
"Always comes in handy, you know," she said. Amber lighted one, and held it near the stove, so that the gas would catch flame, and a small flare appeared underneath the pan. She turned it up high, so it only took a few minutes before the water started to boil and she could slip in the ramen. Whilst the ramen cooked, Amber sought for bowls, and forks. Eventually, she held them up triumphantically.
When the ramen was done, Amber poured it into the two bowls and added the spices. Because both each contained two packages of ramen, the bowls were overflowing with the delicious Asian snack. Amber handed one bowl, with a plastic fork, to Krystal, grinning broadly. 
"I'll assure you, that you'll never want to eat other ramen again!" she said proudly. Krystal let out a snort, stirring with her fork in the damping food. 
"You only put it in hot cooking water and sprinkled the spices over it. I'm pretty sure everyone can make it the same," she said. Amber pulled an indignant face and huffed. 
"You are terribly mistaken! Only I, Amber Josephine Liu, am the best ramen cooker on this campus. And you'll admit that once you will take a bite," she said. Krystal chuckled softly, and rolled her eyes. 
"Yeah, sure," she said. "By the way, where is that amazing spot of yours you wanted to take me to, because I'm pretty sure it's not the cantine. And otherwise it's not that impressive."
Amber nodded, then shot her that adventurous loving kind of look, took her backpack and jumped back over the counter, with her bowl still in her hand. It was a wonder that it didn't spill anywhere, but even with that the brat seemed to have experience. 
"Come on, follow me," she said. Krystal didn't oblige, and walked after her, up to the stairs that lead to the higher levels of the building. 

Eventually they ended up in the highest level of the building. Krystal often had her business administration classes here, and she hated getting up all those stairs every time. She refused to go by elevator, because that was just lazy. It still tired her out though, all those stairs. It showed again how bad her stamina was. Even now, she was panting slightly. Amber seemed to be okay, and even have energyleft. 
As soon as they reached the upper floor, Amber turned to the right, which was unusual, because Krystal usually went left to the college room of business administration. Nevertheless, she followed Amber, because her steps seemed to be so sure. She was bursting of confidence, and that was just hard to ignore, let alone to question. So Krystal walked after her into a lonely corridor. They soon were stopped by a door that said 'employees only'. Amber felt the doorknob for a moment, but the door wouldn't budge, so she took out her lock openening kit again, and opened the door without much diffeculty. 
Krystal doubted for a moment whether to enter, but when Amber shot her a daring look over her shoulder, the brunette followed her anyway. The door closed behind them, clicking back on its lock. A light flickered on when it sensed movement, and lightened the hall, one that lead to more stairs. Krystal already started to sigh. Amber chuckled softly, but didn't respond. They climbed the stairs together, Amber first, then Krystal. It didn't take long for her to start panting again. This time, Amber seemed to have a little diffeculty too. 
"How-how much mo-hore?" sighed Krystal. Amber looked over her shoulder. 
"Two more stairs. We're almost there."
The brunette moaned and climbed on. 
Eventually, they indeed reached the top level. It had taken them some time to climb all the stairs, but eventually they were able to say that they had made up. When they were at the top, they immediately encountered another door. Since this one didn't have a lock, Amber didn't have to pick it before it could be opened. The brat held it open for her, so Krystal could walk through it. Immediately, she was met with the cold night's breeze that blowed directly into her face. Her goosebumps appeared at the moment she stepped out onto the windy roof. The door behind them clicked shut when Amber had gotten besides her. Krystal wrapped her arm around her waist, hoping to stay a little warm. The exhausting climb up all those stairs had warmed her up, and the damping bowl of ramen had burned her hands, but getting back outside was therefor much colder. She clenched her jaws together, to keep her teeth from chattering. 
Amber placed her hand upon Krystal's, slowly taking it away from her side. Her hand was warm against her cold skin, and Krystal once more noticed how soft her hands were. Her breath got caught in for a moment. But she got hold of herself soon after, and forced herself to breath. 
Amber took her to the edge of the building. The brunette wasn't exactly afraid of heights, but she tended to stay away from edges with a drop of more than 3 metres, but because the troublemaker had no trouble getting so close, she didn't want to back away. The tips of their shoes — Amber's sneakers and Krystal's heels — touched the edge. 
"This is my favourite spot, I thought you'd like it," said Amber. And Krystal understood why. 
They had a view over the whole city. From the high building of their university they were able to see everything in a twenty kilometer radius. They looked over the poor neighbourhoods where they had walked through over the course of the night. It was mostly dark there, but the closer it got to the centre of the city, the brighter it got. The small, low houses changed into villa's, then into larger apartment buildings. Eventually the big office complexes stood out the most, hovering over everything, ruling the grounds of Sacramento, casting light like a big lighthouse, drawing the people to the centre of the city. It was a beautiful sight. In the distance, you could even see the hills and the forests, as if the nature wanted to exclaim that not only the city lights were beautiful. Krystal's breath was taken away. 
They stood there, looking in silence over the slumbering city, until Krystal snorted. 
"Do you take every girl up here that you mean to shag?" she said sarcastically. She noticed how the short-haired girl turned her head towards her from the corners of her eyes. Krystal kept her eyes upon the city. They still held hands.
"No. Only you."