When the group finally left Café Laurent an hour ter, Katrina happily led the trio outside. Alicia seemed to be in good spirits, but Katrina could tell that being inside had been drainiamina. The Dryad started leaning on her again, and just like the st few times, Katrina was surprised at how natural it felt.

  “So, you both have my number,” Tabitha said, “keep me updated on what our steps are going to be.”

  Katrina nodded and spoke up first. “Absolutely! We’ll hammer out the details a you know.”

  “It was wonderful meeting you, Tabitha,” Alicia said, holding out her hand. “I really appreciate you doing this, it means the world.”

  Tabitha bypassed the request for a handshake entirely instead grabbing Alicia’s wrist and pulling her in for a full-bodied hug. She squeezed the Dryad tight, then leaned down and whispered something, but Katrina couldn’t catch the details. When Alicia pulled away from the hug, she looked at the Fox girl with a strange look on her face, then briefly nodded.

  “Shall we head out, Alicia? It’ll be a long walk home, and it’s already te.” Katrina held out her arm, and warmth filled her body when Alicia began leaning on her again. “Thanks for everything, Tabitha. You’re a real lifesaver, I promise you won’t regret this!”

  “Night you two! Don’t stay up too te!” Tabitha chuckled to herself before heading out, leaving Katrina and Alicia alone once more.

  “You got ye Knight, Kat!” Alicia smiled up at Katrina as they started walking home.

  “I really did, didn’t I? That girl really is something. She’s super nice, but she’s also got this… I don’t how to describe it. Iy?”

  “She did say she likes to push people’s buttons. Though, she seemed much more ied in you than in me.”

  “I think I’d rather be you in that situation. She asked me to be a cam girl, you believe it? The thought of exposing myself like that, to hundreds of people? No thank you.”

  “She seems to enjoy it, at least.” Alicia briefly rested her head on Katrina’s shoulder.

  “And I’m more than happy for her, but that’s just not my life. Even if the System gave me een Charisma and a massive rack.”

  Both girls started ughing at Katrina’s lewd ent, and the versation died down for a while. Katrina was just happy to have more time with Alicia, and she was thrilled that the restaurant had required such a long walk. The suburbs had no crowds ter her instincts, and she was able to just rex and enjoy the pany. Almost ten minutes had passed before Katrina thought of something else to say.

  “Your dress really is geous, by the way. How do you e up with ideas about which clothes to grow?"

  “Holy? I raided my closet looking at all my old clothes. Eventually I found my old prom dress, and it inspired me to make this.”

  “Wow, prom. That’s something I haven’t thought about in ages. High school seems like a million years ago, doesn’t it?”

  “How old are you, actually?” Alicia asked.

  “Twenty-seven. How about you?”

  “Um, twenty-four? I’m irely sure, being a Dryad kinda messes with my sense of time.”

  “Well, we should look up your birthday, and maybe it’ll give me an excuse to get you something nice we get our first batch of Dungeon loot.”

  Katrina caught Alicia blushing, and they both smiled at each other. “That’s… you don’t have to do that…”

  “It’s no bother, really! Anyways, I’m curious, how was your prom? I never eveo mine.”

  “Oh, that’s a long story, I don’t know.”

  “ Alicia, you think being all mysterious is going to make me less ied? We’ve got at least a half hour before we get you bae, and I’m all ears.”

  “Well… if you insist.” Alicia pushed some hair behind her ear, then tialking. “My senior prom was, holy, a huge mess. In the weeks leading up to it, I’d been dating this track star. He was sweet, attentive, and he had a fir for the dramatic. He actually asked me to prom by stealing his dad’s pickup trud driving a giant bahrough h school parking lot.”

  Katrina ughed at the image. “Wow, that’s impressive. Lucky you!”

  “I mean, I guess? We hadn’t been going out for very long, I was still figuring out if I actually liked him that much. My best friend at the time, Aiya, didn’t like him at all. She actually had a habit of disliking every guy I dated, and I never fully uood why. We used to spend all our free time together, pying games, roaming around our neighborhood, just getting into trouble left and right. We always had each other’s backs, and that’s why I always thought it was weird that she seemed to hate my choi partners.”

  Alicia shivered briefly, a cold breeze had just picked up, and she wasn’t wearing much. Katrina quickly pulled off her jacket, then ed it around Alicia and pulled her close before she tinued her story.

  “So, it’s prom night, everyone is super excited, all my friends are paring dresses and bragging about what their partners got them except for Aiya. She’d been single for pretty much all of high school, which had bee another mystery I couldn’t crack. Every time I asked her, she would say something vague about ‘waiting for the right person’. Once we all get to the dance, which was at this fancy hotel the school rented, all the usual stuff happens. There’s musiderage drinking that the teachers weren’t able to stop, and high schoolers being far too fortable with each other on the dance floor. The DJ had just finished pying whatever the hit song that year was, and things quiet down. A soft, intimate song starts pying, and my boyfriend pulls me close so we da was nice, I was leaning on his shoulder, but after a minute, I look up and see Aiya staring at me. She looks like she’s on the verge of tears, and that’s whehing clicked. Always being single, always hating my boyfriends, spending all our time together… I finally realized that she had a huge crush on me. She ran out, tears ruining her makeup, and I could feel my heart breaking at the sight of it all. Without even knowing it, I’d fallen for her at some point too.”

  “So what happened?” Katrina was utterly engrossed, eager to hear the story to its end.

  “I pushed my boyfriend to the side and ran after her. I was in heels, but she wasn’t, so it took forever to catch up. By the time I found her, I was pletely out of breath, and she looked at me like I was crazy. She tried to make up some stupid excuse about what she was actually mad about, but I wasn’t having it. I told her how I felt, and we finally kissed once we realized we’d been in love for years. We ran away from the dance, and lost our virgio each other that night.”

  Katrina could feel herself welling up, she had pletely lost herself iory. “Are you sure this wasn’t a Lifetime movie? Alicia, that’s so romantic! What happeo Aiya?”

  “Y’know, life. We moved in together after high school, and for a while everything was fantastic. But, after a while, we started to groart. I don’t really know what happened, it was like I woke up one day and realized my best friend had bee a stranger. We wanted different things out of life, I guess, and that was that. We broke up, I never saw her again.”

  A small tear formed in the er of Alicia’s eye, and Katrina reached up to brush it away. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Alicia. I appreciate you sharing that all with me, though.” The girls hugged, then tinued walking. Katrina couldn’t think of what else to say, so they walked in sileil they found their way back to Primrose Acres. Katrina could tell that Alio longer he support, she’d stopped leaning on Katrina nearly ten minutes ago, but the girls were still holding on to each other.

  As they approached Alicia’s house, Katri struggling to think of something to say. “Well… here we are. You should probably get some sleep.”

  “It is pretty te, isn’t it?” Alicia pulled her hands away from Katrina’s arm, and she seemed to be deep in thought over something. The Dryad tinued walking, and when she id a hand on her front door handle, she paused. “Actually, before I do… I, um… I got something for you.”

  “You what? Seriously?” Katrina moved closer, waiting just outside Alicia’s house with her. “You know you don’t owe me anything, Alicia.”

  “No, I wao! , let me show you!” The Dryad grabbed Katrina’s hand, holding it tight before she opehe door and ran iheir grip on each other quickly severed when Katrina approached the threshold, an intense sense of unease filling her body and preventing her from entering. “Kat? ht! I’m so sorry! Katrina, I formally invite you into my house.”

  Katrina sighed with relief, then stepped into the house. “Thanks, Alicia. Though, there’s o be so formal about it.” The girls ughed briefly, but Alicia soon turned her efforts te box that sat a few feet past the front door.

  “Okay, this is it, but I haven’t officially ope yet. you help me move it onto the couch?”

  “Alicia, this is huge! What oh did you do?”

  “, you’ll see soon enough, just get over here!”

  W together, the girls were able to move the box to the cou the living room. Katrina took charge of opening it, her nails supernaturally tough and able to cut through most of the tape. After a few minutes of tossing cardboard and styrofoam aside, she finally saw what was inside: a beautiful, hard shell guitar case. It was made of sleek, polished wood, and had been staio be a deep, rich red.

  “Alicia, this is beautiful! Though, as much as I hate to say it, I don’t know if my guitar will fit. It seems like it’s been built for a different model.”

  Katrina looked over at Alicia, who didn’t seem at all dismayed as she responded. “Go ahead and open it!”

  “You… you didn’t, did you?” Katrina asked. Alicia refused to eborate, so Katrina undid the csps on the guitar case and ope. Ihe case sat a brand-new guitar. Its nylon strings were fresh and taut, the wood had been immacutely molded into the perfect shape, and the tuning pegs had been polished to a mirror shine. Curiously, this guitar was shaped differently than hers; it still appeared to be a cssical model, but it was more pact.

  “I know you don’t py like, rock music, so I found a model that should work for what you like pying! It’s actually meant for Bards that are Delvers, and it’s been ented to be extra durable. After we got in that fight with the zombie, I realized that yuitar would be really easy to break in a fight.”

  “Alicia, I…” Katrina couldn’t find the strength to speak. She couldn’t remember the st time anyone had done something so nice for her, yet her thoughts kept returning to ohing. “I don’t deserve this, Alicia. We just met, and—”

  “Oh, shut up!” Alicia said, cutting Katrina off. “I’m sick of hearing about how I shouldn’t trust you, and how you’re not a good person! We haven’t even known each other a week, Katrina, a you’ve done everything in your power to help me with this stupid dungeon! You could have sold me out to the Guilds, you could have abandoned me iy and cimed the whole thing for yourself! But instead, you guide me through Dungeon Camp, you help me keep the Guilds away, and you put yourself through Hell and back just to make sure I get home safe every night! When do you get a turn, Katrina? Why ’t you just accept that I want to see you happy?”

  Alicia moved closer, her finger jabbing into Katrina’s sternum to atuate her point. Surprised by the sudden outburst, Katrina grabbed her hand and held on tight while she waited for the Dryad to finish.

  “Well? Kat, say something!”

  “Alicia…” Katrina said, stepping closer. She looked deep into Alicia’s eyes, the ambient moonlight in the room refleg off her beautiful, green irises, and suddenly there was only ohing she wao do. “ I kiss you?”

  The Dryad’s eyes went wide with shock. In a fsh, all her anger pletely vanished, and she threw herself forward, her arms ing around Katrina’s shoulders. Their lips met, and both girls sighed in relief as they melted against each other. Alicia’s hands pushed through Katrina’s hair, holding her head as they tinued kissing, and Katrina in turn pulled Alicia closer, holding her waist tight. Kissing Alicia was everything Katrina had ever imagined and then some. Her lips were soft and delicate, and her breathing grew heavy as they tinued expl each other.

  It took a few minutes for the initial excitement to fade, and Katrina finally found the strength to speak up. “…Wow.” Her hands moved to Alicia’s face, caressing her cheeks before cradling them softly. Their foreheads met, and she could hear Alicia breathing heavily.

  “Kat, I… I’ve been wanting to do that sihe moment I first saw you.” Alicia suddenly pulled away, her eyes wide again. “Wait! What about that girl on your phone?”

  “What? You mean the ginger girl?”

  “Yes! I saw her when you gave me the fshlight, and I was scared she was like, yirlfriend or something!”

  The girls stared at each other for a moment before Katrina burst out ughing. “Alicia, that’s me. That’s what I looked like before the ge!” She tinued ughing, aually Alicia joined in as well. She fell forward, burying her fa Katrina’s shoulder as she kept ughing.

  “Oh my god, that’s so embarrassing… I was so scared to make a move! I kept thinking, like, there’s no way someohis geous doesn’t have a girlfriend already!”

  “Even though I kept telling you about my ck of a social life?”

  “I don’t know! It all seems so silly now!”

  Another fit of giggles ied them, and it took another few minutes for them to calm down. When Katrina spoke again, it was through a careful smile. “The guitar is amazing. You’re amazing. I don’t know if I vince myself that I deserve you, but… I’ll do my best to try.”

  Alicia looked up into Katrina’s eyes, her soft green hands reag to push a lock of hair back. Her hand lingered, and Katrina closed her eyes before nuzzling into Alicia’s palm. “Why are you so sure you’re a bad person, Kat?” Alicia asked.

  The Vampire grew stiff again, the question reag deep into the heart of all her fears. “The ge, it… I…” She couldn’t bring herself to keep talking.

  “Look, I know this is hard. I’m not going to force you to tell me anything but… I want to know. I want to be a part of your life, Kat, the good and the bad. If you don’t want to talk about it tonight, I get it.”

  Katrina took a deep breath, though she could feel herself shaking at the thought of reting her first year after the ge. “No, you deserve to know. If we want to make this work, you should know who I am, and… and what I’ve done.”

  “Are you sure?” Alicia asked.

  Katrina took the Dryad’s hands in hers, looked her deep in the eyes, and nodded. “I’m sure. I’ll tell you what happened when I ged.”

  —

  "Nyx!"

  Hi, Alicia.

  "Nyx! Nyx! Nyx!"

  You seem to be, uh, a little excited.

  "AAAH!!"

  Easy now, o jump around that much.

  "Did you see?! We KISSED! Oh, it was so wonderful! Her lips were so soft, and she held my face after, and--"

  I did see that, actually. I'm gd it's w out!

  "She's even going to tell me about her ge finally, but what if it's sad? God, I don't know if I'm ready to hear about how hard it was..."

  Well, there's o think about that now. Did she give you a song for this chapter?

  "Oh! She did! It's, um, Leeb... no, Libe, hold on... Liebeslied by Johann Kaspar Mertz. Gosh, why did I never learn a sed nguage? Anyways, she said this piece is one of her favorites to py when she's feeling romantic, so, y'know.. perfect chapter for it! She does this adorable thing where she closes her eyes while she pys, and like, silently sings along with the music, if that makes sense? Like, if you watch her lips, they're moving in time with the melody, even though there's no words, I don't know how else to describe it."

  Wow, she really said all that about herself?

  "Well... no... that might have been me. Wait! You're sassing me! She said you've beeing sassy!"

  Drat, busted.

  "Just... our outro already, will you? Oh, and... don't tell her I said this, but... thanks."

  You two go have fun!

  Until ime! Nyx <3