“Sebastian, truth or dare?”

“I'm not going to choose.”

“Dare, huh?”

“Stop.”

“I dare you to... eat an entire bag of chili peppers.” Claire rolled out from under the center table with her arms outstretched, looking up at me. I pushed her back under with my foot.

“We're playing chess, moron,” I snapped back, moving my queen forward.

“No, I'm playing chess. You're sending an entire army to their death,” said Kristina calmly, knocking my queen away with a pawn.

Claire rolled out again, latching onto my leg this time. “Too chicken to do the dare?” she said with a smirk as I try to push her away again while moving a bishop forward.

“We're not playing truth or da—” I start, but Kristina interrupts me.

“That would be easier than the beat-down I'm giving you right now,” she said quickly, knocking my bishop away seconds after I make my move.

She and Claire high-five, and Claire insisted: “Too chicken to do the dare? It's either that or running naked around Paradise.”

“I never agreed to any of that!” I take my impatience out on the poor tower, which gets pounded onto the next square, shifting my focus away from the board a second to face Claire. The next second I heard a clear 'Checkmate' from Kristina.

My focus shifted back to the table and I saw my King utterly and completely surrounded.

For a few moments, I kept quiet, and then let out a heavy sigh as Claire smiled smugly. “Can't escape the dare now,” she said shortly after.

As I'm about to smack her head, a knock was heard on the door.

“I'll get it!” Claire jumped off the floor as Kristina started packing up the game after her seventh consecutive win against us.

When Claire opened the door, I looked from the side and frowned at who was there.

“Monkey! What'cha doing here? Oh no, did Sebby get into trouble? We're so sorry, it won't happen again!” Claire clasped her hands together, much to Monkey's general confusion.

“Oh, it's you,” said Kristina, rather indifferently.
I got up, accompanying Claire at the door and exchanging a brief glance filled with animosity to Monkey.

“He's all clear - for now,” he added with a look to me. “I need ya to do something for me, y'all right with that?”

“No,” I said, and closed the door.

“Sebby!”

We heard a knock again.

Claire opened the door.

“I need ya to give her this when she comes on by. Kinda on a tight schedule, ya know? Can't stay long.”

He held out a slip of paper which was curiously taken by Claire.

“A real shame,” I said, and closed the door again.

“Sebby, cut that out! It's rude to close the door on people.”

Couldn't agree, I found it amusing.

Claire opened the door again, fuming at me. She didn't look very menacing.

“I'll make sure to give it to her, don't even worry about it!”

Monkey left after that with a surprising swagger in his step I found strange. He must have felt really proud for handing this paper in to us.

Claire returned to the table and immediately started reading what was on it.

“You're going to look? What if it's private?” I asked, closing the door behind me.

Claire tilted her head, a knowing smirk suddenly forming on her face.

“Don't you wanna know what's in it?”

...She was right.

I sat at the table with them, waiting as Claire cleared her throat and began to read aloud.

“My dearest Antoinette, I hope this letter finds you in good spirits, as your happiness is what makes this solemn solitary world of ours worth living in — woah, okay, this goes on for a while. The guy's a total romantic when it comes to her.” Claire giggled and continued, skimming over the rest as I thought.

I never took Monkey for the emotional type, much less the tragic lover. If this were a normal relationship I wouldn't mind it that much, but knowing of their situation sent an uncomfortable shiver through my spine.

Fortunately Claire perked up before I could dwell on that.

She had slammed her hand on the table, looking at Kristina with a sudden look of urgency which was returned mildly.

“Kris, we forgot about the Christmas party!”

Kristina's eyes snapped open.

“When is it?” She joined Claire in rereading the letter and, after a moment of what looked like wordless dialogue, they both got up and rushed out of the room, leaving me alone and confused.

I sat still for a moment, looking from the letter to the hall they'd just disappeared through.

“... okay.”

Seeing as how they just seemed to... up and leave without explanation (not that I should have expected anything), I turned my attention to the letter and picked it up.

It had a very neat handwriting, which took me off guard immediately, and then I could focus on the actual content.

There was a surprising amount of prose, none of which I cared for as I skimmed over the letter until eventually reaching the part I felt curious about.

The Christmas party, mentioned Monkey, was apparently taking place two days from now. When I checked the date on my watch, I was surprised to see that today was December 21.

The letter also included a very... strange invitation towards Antoinette, asking her to accompany him.

I had to reread that certain part, furrowing my eyebrows.

He was asking Antoinette to go as his date.

A scowl quickly rose on my face before I crumpled up the paper and shoved it into my pocket.

Won't be seeing any more of that.

The idea of Monkey of all people asking her to accompany him as a date just didn't sit right with me, there was no way I could accept that.

This way, at least, Antoinette would be spared the embarrassment.

... That was all it was.

I folded my arms, trying to not think about it and failing spectacularly.

Who cared about some party anyway? All I was doing was sparing Antoinette the embarrassment of having to read the letter herself and being asked to go a ridiculous party with some creep.

I didn't think about it anymore until Antoinette came back from her shift.
...

“Hey Antoinette, I heard there was going to be some sort of Christmas party, do you think we should go together? You know, as friends.”

I was well aware of the irony in the situation.

Part of me clawed at the back of my conscience for stealing Monkey's invitation, but I wasn't asking her to go as my date, but as my friend, which were two very separate things.

“Hm?” She turned to me, having just set her bag down. “That's a weird invitation coming from you,” she said warily. “I didn't think you'd be interested in something as social as a party. Are you feeling alright?”

I paused.

“Yes. I just thought that, you know, since it's going to be Christmas and all, we could... do something. It feels like the time to do something.” My reasoning was weak. Why did I want to go? I got rid of the letter to spare her embarrassment, but this?

No matter how much I thought, the answer didn't come to me; I knew I wanted to, but I couldn't figure out the why... and that bothered me.

“Er — you know what? Forget it, it's not important. You're right, I don't care about that crap.” I waved my hand dismissively.

Antoinette stared at me for a moment before shaking her head, muttering something I couldn't quite catch and adding: “I would have said no anyway. I already have plans to go with someone.”

I froze, waiting for her to continue before I said anything.

“...Well they're not exactly plans to go with this person but... plans to talk to this person, pretty much.”

She then put on the face of someone who had said too much, and turned away. I was surprised to have caught her off guard like that and, by her expression, so was she.

I decided to press further.

“Antoinette...? Is there something you've been hiding?” I leaned forward inquisitively.

“No,” she said, far too quickly. I raised an eyebrow, keeping a steady eye on her. She must have noticed how suspicious that was, because she turned her head. “I'm not telling.”

“Why not? Is it embarrassing?”

“It's not — why do you care?”

“I'm curious now, you have to tell me. Especially since it's something embarrassing.”

“You made that assumption by yourself!”

“And you didn't deny it. So it's embarrassing, is it an old friend? a family member? A crush? A —”

I stopped when I saw her face flushing into a deep crimson.

“Wait... you have a crush on someone?”

Antoinette threw her bag at me.

“Don't say that! What if Kristina hears?”

I found it amusing she said Kristina and not the other, obvious, option.

Yet the words echoed in my head as I stared cryptically at an Antoinette, who was fuming.

“How come I never knew?” I asked, setting the bag side.

“It's recent — and it never came up before. It doesn't matter, either, because it's none of your business. I already know what I'm going to do and I don't need you or the other two interfering.”

“Oh yeah? What're you gonna do?”

“I'm...” For seeming so sure a moment ago, Antoinette would turn her head away. “Gonna stand near and wait for him to talk to me.”

I laughed.

“You think that's going to work? You'll just look lonely and lost.”

“Yeah, and he'll ask what's wrong and pick up from there,” she said with a new vigor. “I share some of my shifts with him so I know what he's like, this is going to work.”

I kept watching Antoinette as she busied herself in taking her bag and retreating to her room, confident with that last statement.

I couldn't share the sentiment, unfortunately, it seemed to rely on chance a lot.

Though I wouldn't blame her. If the situation were reversed I would probably take the same route, or do nothing at all, but the thought of me developing feelings for someone sent an uncomfortable shiver down my spine so I discarded the hypothetical at once.

Still, it was clear that she'd be approaching this the wrong way and I'm sure she would realize this as well if it was someone else's idea. I decided to wait for a moment until she got back.

“Hey, Antoinette,” I said when she was back in the living room on the way to the kitchen. “You're right, I'm sorry for sticking my nose in your business. The truth is I also have someone I like...”

I watched her reaction as she started boiling water: wary and curious.

“And I've got no real idea how to go about it, but I want to tell her how I feel. What do you think I should do?”

Antoinette narrowed her eyes suspiciously at me, but she answered with a certain grade of caution.

“Just talk to them,” she said. “Whoever this unlucky person is, they're as human as you are.”

“Really? I had the idea of waiting for a time in which we were alone and just sort of standing nearby.”

She frowned deeply.

“What? No, don't do that. That's a stupid i—” She stopped with the word halfway out of her mouth, staring down at me as a glare replaced her expression. “... You don't like anyone.”

Seeing her response made me smile.

“And I never will, but at least now you know what a stupid idea it is.”

She groaned in frustration, looking away from to me make herself some coffee.

“So what? You want me to just talk to him first? No, I can't do that. You know what my reputation is around here, don't you?” She made a discontent face. “People stay away from me because of that one time I flipped out, because apparently girls can't do that. That, or I'm the awkward antisocial girl that can't talk to people without Kristina and Claire at my side.”

I raised an eyebrow at that, and she continued.
“They've tried to make me meet their friends or force me into talking with other people, but they always screw it up like some helicopter parents. Even when I manage to meet someone on my own, they somehow figure out and embarrass me!” She paused, then glared at me to add: “If you spill a single word about this to either of them, I'll never forgive you.”

I raised my hands defensively.

“Relax, I'm not gonna snitch.”

Though she stayed glaring at me for a moment longer, Antoinette dropped it and focused on her coffee.

“So I can't just talk to him, because that would obviously be terrible. Even though we work shifts together, he barely knows who I am.”

“What if I helped you?”

“Absolutely not.”

Her sharp answer made me recoil, but after seeing that, her features softened.

“You're even worse than I am when it comes to talking to people. How could you help?”

I considered this. The library could have plenty of information about this subject, and there were two whole days for preparations. If I hauled ass, I might be able to help Antoinette.

The idea of helping her talk to a crush rubbed me in the wrong way for some reason (I must still be on guard because of Monkey) but I wanted to help her.

That's what mattered, the details could come later.

“Have I ever not come through for you?” I smiled confidently. Granted, I hadn't had many chances to do that to begin with, but the thought counted.

Antoinette considered this heavily for a few seconds before sighing.

“Fine, I guess. But don't make a big deal out of this.”

Unfortunately for Antoinette, I already was.