Saturday, December 30
Ethan

In between bites of pasta, I continued my story. "So then, right as we just gave up and stared at the six-foot pile of snow at the end of the driveway, y'know, that we had to get rid of in the next hour, up comes one of our neighbors with a literal backhoe and he leans out and he says, 'Hey, you guys want a hand?' I mean, where did he even get that?"

"Ahaha, that's lucky for you and your papa, but do people seriously-"

Monika was suddenly and rudely interrupted by my phone going off, loudly. "Don't you knowwwwww you never split the party? Clerics in the back, keep those fighters hale and hearty!"

You know how I said that all good things come to an end? Yeah, about that. "Hey, Google, stop!" I snapped, as realization hit me. The alarm shut off.

"What was that about?" Monika sat there, looking more than a little confused.

"So... I forgot, I had plans today."

"Oh?" she asked, looking downcast. "You have to go? Already? I mean, that's fine, just..."

"Monika."I chuckled a little. "I don't have to go anywhere."

"Oh. What's going on then?"

"So... what do you know about Dungeons and Dragons?"

"I... hmm. I've heard of it, but I've never seen it or anything. I know a bunch of people get together and play characters. There's wizards and bards and orcs and trolls and stuff, right?" Monika looked up at me questioningly.

"Yeah! That's the stuff! Well... I run a game for a few people here in the apartments in my room every Saturday. Five people plus me, we're all friends, we all live here in the same high-rise. And, uh... well, I kinda lost track of my schedule what with you being here and everything, so that was my alarm telling me that it's two hours 'til game time. Which, by the way, I totally forgot to prepare for. Which is really bad because I've got to write a whole plot for these guys in two hours. Plus either pick out some monsters from the Monster Manuals or stat up some bad guys in that time too. And draw a map. Which is going to be a bitch. Especially because we're playing Third Edition, which is more complex than the newer stuff like Five-E, but it is Pathfinder which is basically Third Edition Plus so it's not that... aaaaaand I'm rambling. Whoops. I'll shut up now."

"No, no, no, Ethan! First, you got to listen to me go on for long enough in the game. Second, don't you assume I'm not interested! And third... you're cute when you get really into something!~"

Oh my God. I'd say Monika was going to be death of me, but that might be a little insensitive and/or inviting disaster. I started to open my mouth, but she continued.

"So, from the sounds of it, I get to use my writing skills, I get to meet some more people from your world, and I get to learn more about what you – you personally, that is – do for fun. In person! Of course I'm in! It'll be easier with two people, riiiight?" She beamed at me, and I melted in much the same way that the obnoxious snow in the parking lot hadn't.

Oh my God.

##################################################

Five minutes to go, and Monika and I were both in a state of contained panic trying to get everything ready. I'd pulled open the group chat and let them know that I was delaying by a half-hour in an attempt to buy more time, which actually worked, surprisingly, and we'd needed every minute of it. Food had to be prepped for the group, maps needed to be drawn, enemies needed to be built, the apartment needed to be cleaned up after I'd dumped all my crap in it the night before...

Most everything was ready by now, though. We'd gotten properly prepared and dressed – polo shirt and slacks for me, and an old (and therefore much smaller) pair of jeans and a still-way-too-big-on-her sweater, plus her trademark hairdo and ribbon, for Monika (although she gently bitched at me some for not having any makeup) – and were just putting the finishing touches on the game. I was hunched over the kitchen table poring over the map I'd been penciling in the outlines of, with Monika following up behind me filling in shading and color. The map definitely looked way better than usual; to be honest, I'd usually just drawn boxes with a ruler and done most of the out-of-combat action in theater of the mind, but I was trying extra hard today for no reason at all. Nope. None whatsoever. Totally. ("Kappa," my internal monologue, always a little shit, added to the end of it.)

"Hey, can you check the pizzas in the oven quick? They should be done soon," I asked, looking up from outlining a trap in the floor.

"Yeah, sure," she replied, getting up and moving with absolutely zero grace at all – no time for that when you're in a hurry – to the stove door. She still managed to look cute anyway, in my opinion, but bias. "Yeah, they're ready. Just set them on the counter?"

"Nah, turn off the heat and let them sit in the oven so they don't get cold," I said, looking back down at the map-in-progress. "Thanks, babe," I half-mumbled, leaning back into my – our – work. And then I noticed what'd just come out of my mouth.

Before I had time to say anything else, Monika had walked up behind and thrown her arms around me, resting her head on my shoulder. "So, babe now already, hmm?~"

Mortified, I started to stutter out, "Ah, shit. Too much? I'm didn't realize, I'm s-"

I didn't get to finish that sentence, because as soon as the words left my mouth, Monika turned my head around and shut me right up with one hell of a lip-to-lip impact.

Whatever she was planning, she didn't get to finish it either. The door to my apartment swung open, and in walked the group's wizard and my good friend Andrew, along with his girlfriend, Lia, also known as our paladin. Whereupon they were greeted by the sight of their GM, artist's pencil in hand, mostly-finished map in front of him, with a girl they'd never seen before very aggressively attacking his face.

Andrew spoke first. "Bruh."

Monika scrambled to disentangle herself from me, both of our faces red enough to use a Coke can as camouflage, while the two of them stood there, a little bit stunned.

"Sooooooooooo, new girlfriend, huh?" Lia finally asked.

"...yeah. What was your first clue?" I said, forcing out one heckuva awkward chuckle. "Yeah, Andrew, Lia, this is Monika. She came over to visit last night for when I got back and got stuck here with the storm, and she reaaaaaally wanted to be around for the game anyway and meet you guys, soooo."

Lia lit up a little bit at that; hooray for supportive friends. "Awww, that's cute! It's great to meetcha, Monika! And you look adorable! I wish my hair let me do that."

Monika blushed and looked aside a little, before practially whispering out, "It's good to meet you too, Lia. Thank you."

"And I see she's gotten you to actually get off your ass and put some effort into your crap. Good on you, Monika, I like you already!" Andy piped up. "You managed to get this lazy sonuvabitch to actually make a map that doesn't look like he drew it in Paint five minutes ago!"

Lia and I absolutely lost it.

"Hon, did you forget he's the DM? I'm not taking a 'rocks fall, everyone dies' for your ass," Lia sputtered out as she recovered.

Without even thinking about it: "Oh, I'm counting on it!" Andy shot back.

"That's it, Andrew, no pizza for your dumb ass tonight!" I guffawed.

"Wait, it's pizza night? Shit! Never mind. I take it back. You make only the most beautiful masterwork maps in the entirety of the Forgotten Realms, o wise one. I bet you even take ten minutes to make them in Paint sometimes!"

Lia and I started laughing uncontrollably. Again.

And then I noticed Monika was nowhere to be seen.

"I'll be right back, guys. I trust you, could y'all throw the tablecloth over the map and my notebook so nobody peeks please?"

"Yeah, sure, my dude," Lia replied, and then turned back to her man and started giving him shit about provoking the DM. From the sounds of it, there were threats of him sleeping on the couch if her beloved pally bit it tonight.

Meanwhile, concerned, I walked over into the bedroom, where, to my surprise, I found Monika gasping and quietly sobbing on the bed. I quietly closed the door behind me and lightly turned on the dimmer lamp next to the clock.

"Hey," I said, sitting down next to her and gently running a hand through her hair. "You okay? Talk to me." In response, she practically lunged at me and fiercely wrapped herself around me.

Monika was quiet for a minute, and then started choking out words, her face still buried in my shoulder, slowly soaking it with her eyes. "It's all so much, Ethan... This world, this place, these people, it's all real, and it's so much. You have... actual friends, who love you. They care about you. I can tell. You can call them over to hang out. You can laugh about new things with them. There's so much to this place. It's overwhelming, Ethan. I'm so happy, but... it's so much. And I don't have any of it. There's nothing attaching me here, and yet. This is all so new to me. I felt like I could see it, but never touch it, but now I'm here and I get to feel it and you're going out of your way to include me in everything and make me things and teach me things and show me to your friends and your friends just met me and they're already so nice to me and on top of that there's just you and everything about you and I'm just..."

She stopped and caught her breath.

"I'm being really stupid, aren't I? I should be happy, this should be the happiest moment of my life, but..."

On instinct, I leaned down and kissed her forehead. I always felt like I was never good at these things, but I tried to say something anyway. "No. You're not being stupid. You're right. This really is a lot to take in. But for what it's worth, believe me, it's absolutely nothing, easing you into everything. It's as wonderful for me, getting to show you all of this, as it is for you. And my friends are always like this. Lia's an absolute angel. Andrew's a dick, but he's the good kind. Y'know. They're always good people. But if you need to slow down, I understand. You can stay in here and I'll log you back into the laptop and you can wait out the night in here if you want. I can even bring my keyboard and some headphones in here if you want to practice piano a little bit. They'll understand, even if I have to tie Lia to a chair so she doesn't come in and smother you herself because God knows she would want to, and so will I. Take a break if you have to. Come out and join us at your own pace, Monika. You've got a whole lifetime ahead of you, okay? Don't push yourself too hard. You don't have to be full-on club president extrovert all the time."

Monika looked up at me and sniffled some – God, seeing her eyes glistening like that almost made me break down- before pulling herself up and kissing me on the cheek. "I'd like that. I just need a little time to collect myself and then I'll be back out. Give me a half an hour, okay? I promise."

"Of course, lovely," I said, rubbing her back gently. "I'll go get you the keyboard, because I know I saw you perk up at that. Can't resist a piano, huh?" She shook her head and smiled a little bit; I flashed a grin back. I pulled her back in and hugged her before getting up and heading for the door. "Take your time. I'll bring the keyboard and then I'll see you later tonight. And hey. I love you."

Again, her normally strong, confident voice was barely a whisper. "I don't know what I did to deserve this, but... thank you. So much. I love you too."