Wake up. Roll over and look over edge of bed. Watch the sleeping figure on the air mattress on the floor. You crack a very faint smile, keeping your poker face so that if she was to wake up, she wouldn't see you smiling like a stalker. Then again, it wasn't like Jade slept with her glasses on. Her dark hair was thrown up in a really messy ponytail to help relieve the Texan humidity that was currently smothering the entire room. You still can't believe you've finally met in person since the game ended.

After putting up with you sighing heavily for weeks, Dirk finally hacked into Bro's checking account and paid for a first-class round trip for Jade to come visit you for two solid weeks. You asked about Jake, but he waved it off. "I see him enough on Skype. But you need the physical part of the relationship right now." You remember you telling him you weren't going to do something like that to Jade, that she was special, and Dirk only raised an eyebrow silently. "Physical doesn't always mean sex, Dave." He handed you the print out of the arrival and departure times and messed with your hair. "Get your head out of the gutter, man."

When she arrived you were so excited, even though you didn't physically show it, you made sure everyone else knew about it. You couldn't shut up about how your girlfriend was coming to visit you; that you hadn't seen her since she agreed to go out with you; you even did the annoying "Are we there yet? Are we?" thing you've seen in so many movies that you swore you'd never do it in real life. Yet there you were, in the passenger seat with a clear view of the road ahead, asking Dirk if you were there yet. He only gripped the wheel until his knuckles turned white. Even though you know bro would have pulled over and immediately brought on a flash-stepping strife, Dirk just smirked through it all and played along.

At the airport, you remember when you saw her bright radioactive-green eyes meet your bright red ones. Even though she couldn't see them through your aviators. She dumped her luggage and ran to hug you. The "Hi, Dave!" she exclaimed still rings sweetly in your ears. After gathering her luggage and stuffing it into the trunk of the super cool, super ironic, orange. Volkswagen. Beetle. Jade had giggled at first when she saw it but she understood it was for the irony. When you all made it back to the apartment, Jade had asked where she would be staying while she was here and of course you and Dirk would have forgotten to get an air mattress for her to sleep on during her stay. A quick trip into Austin solved that problem.
But then you remember...

You've broken up. The short time you were in a relationship, you were pretty happy. You couldn't even believe she said yes at first, and everyday you'd wake up with butterflies in your stomach because you made the lock screen on your iPhone a screenshot of her messaging back with a yes after you asked her out over pesterchum. It was the first thing you saw every morning, and the last thing you saw at night before you fell asleep and woke up on the newly constructed Skaia the four of you had made after defeating Lord English.

Of course, Dirk was always there to make you feel better after the break up. He'd stop what he was doing to walk by your room and tell you you were awesome. Even though he looks just like him, he isn't your Bro, but you know that he'd say the exact same thing. He'd only do this when Jade wasn't around, when it was just the two of you, whether you passed in the hall or if you were in the bathroom, he'd knock and let you know everything was going to be alright, even though you couldn't see how.

The day before, you were doing some math homework with the online school you were doing over the summer. Of course, you weren't really giving a shit, so your notes and homework were covered in Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff plot lines. You didn't notice Jade standing in the doorway, or realize she was there until she spoke up.

"Dave, I've been thinking..."
You nearly stopped breathing. You couldn't believe what was happening.
Maybe you were going to finally hold hands in public.
You almost lose your pokerface as a smile attempts to crack across your face.

"Really now?" Of course, you say this as smoothly as possible. You don't want to let on that you totally know what's going to happen next.

"Yeah," Jade looked down for a moment and looked back up. She was playing with her hands, which you found abso-fucking-lutely adorable.

"I've been thinking a lot about us"
HANDS. HOLDING. IN PUBLIC. IT'S HAPPENIN

"What's on your mind, Harley? You can tell me." The butterflies in your stomach continued fluttering, but you kept your cool. You allowed your eyebrows to express concern because even though you were sure of what was coming, you wanted to appear as though you had no idea as to what was coming next.

"I just think that... you know...we should..."
HERE IT COMES. HANDS. HOLDING. PUBLIC. KEEP YOUR COOL DAVE. KEEP YOUR COOL-

"Break up" "Yes! Definitely- wait, whoa, what?"
You couldn't believe you just exclaimed that. Even more, you can't believe you knocked over your chair to stand up and exclaim that.

That was not what you saw coming next. In no immediate timeline did you see this coming. And there wasn't any branch offs you could foresee until after Jade spoke. It was time to wait it out and see.

"W-well, why? Is that a thing I can ask?"
"Of course it is..." she went silent, and her green eyes skimmed over her thoughts. "Just being here for the last couple of days, seeing you like this, I just don't think I could handle it when I go back. It seems really sad just thinking about it." she gave you what you'd call a pity smile, and followed up with, "I'm really sorry, Dave."

Your eyes start to sting. An unfamiliar prickling sensation begins at the corners of your eyes and before it can get carried away, you realize you're about to cry. You bite your lip and quietly let out a deep breath.

"Oh, well, that's... well..." you can feel yourself choke. You, Dave Motherfucking Strider, middle name pending, were choking. You can't let yourself choke. You do the only thing you know how to do: You fake it.

"Are you alright?" she took a step towards you, arm outreached you touch you.
"Yeah. I'm fine." you stepped back, avoiding the contact and swiftly running a hand through your hair. "It's just... wow... kinda took me by surprise there, Harley." You chuckled a bit to shake off the nerves. "I... I guess you're right. I'd probably be devastated after you left too so the feeling's kinda... mutual? I guess you thought a bit more ahead of it than I did and I'm the Knight of Time, y'know?"

You looked down at your socked feet and stood quietly. Jade didn't say anything and unfortunately, you couldn't take the silence. You quickly broke for the door.

You mumbled a quick excuse: "Bathroom," was the only one in your arsenal at the moment. As you walked by Jade your arms brushed. You stopped briefly as your thoughts went into overdrive.
What if she grabs my arm and stops me. What if she wants to just take it back and say she was joking. She is John's sister ectobiologically.

You glance over your shoulder. She was looking over at you too. With all the coolness you could muster, you suavely brushed the back of your neck with your hand and swiftly left the room. You headed towards the bathroom where a shower was running. Even though Dirk was in there, you opened the door and let the steam wash over you as an invitation of comfort. You close the door behind you and fall to your knees.


Your name is Dave Strider and you have just let all of your walls down.