SAVE POINT 24

Dormouse

That brownie was fucking delicious. I didn't know why I couldn't really think about anything but that as I trailed behind Fanboi, but oh my God, he had to have more of those. The last crumbles of chocolate deliciousness lingered on my fingers as I struggled to lick them off.

"Dude, you have more of those brownies?" I asked the surfer bro.

His face blurred a little as he looked over his shoulder, shaking his head at me, "Nah, bro, not on me right now; just enjoy what you had."

The way he was grinning at me was weird, but it was probably just my imagination and the heat in this meadow. The sun had been beating down on the back of my neck all day as we trudged through the tall, yellow grass, listening as Fanboi pointed and guided us around a make-shift camp of tents, lecturing us on non-informative usernames and skills his nerd friends had like a teacher's aide who was nothing close to the real deal.

If you’d asked me, I’d tell you we should never have followed him. …But nobody really had—asked me, that was. Night was creeping up over the sky, and our darkening shadows and the chill night air were a poignant reminder that we'd better find shelter soon.

"Mimi, I think we should find somewhere to bunk for the night," I murmured, as a reminder, trying to keep the comment low enough to prevent it from reaching certain ears but...

Well, Fanboi had heard it. The guy's head popped up like an excited golden retriever, "Not_A_Foot_Fetish101 has agreed to loan you his yurt for the night. It's plenty roomy—"

Maude made a face. Disgust rippled the smooth features of her face, "Could we borrow a tent from literally anyone else?"

Fanboi shrugged, grinning, "Your choice. Meadow filled with snakes or a yurt owned by one." The comment didn't appear to help Maude's level of repulsion.

"We'll take the tent, thank you," Mimi interrupted quickly, nodding efficiently at Fanboi who chuckled a little.

"Right this way, Princesses and the frog," the guy sung, whistling as he stepped around a nearby tent, slipping into the shadows.

My face tingled. Why was it tingling? Was it the night air? The breeze? I brought both hands to the skin, patting the flesh there, but it was firm so... So, why did it feel like it was melting? Like things were...swaying a little?

Oooh—pleasant. It felt...pleasant.

…In a way that made me want to curl my toes, giggle and howl at the moon—

"You okay, Dormouse?" Mimi leaned into my face. And she smelled nice: like lemon soap or something. I didn't think I'd noticed that before.

"I think I should sit down," I admitted.

She grabbed me by the arm and ushered me under the fabric folds of a yurt. Three, plush-looking sleeping bags were already laid out there, and I happily sunk into one. My head faced out of the tent flap where I could blink up at the stars which seemed to swirl above me, expanding and pulsing like I could almost feel their brightness.

"Do you see that?" I asked Mimi, pointing upward.

The freckled girl eased down next to me, her brown hair spilling over the side of one of the sleeping bag pillows as she tilted her chin back and stared up at the expansive sky too, "See what?"

"They're moving," I whispered in awe.

And we were moving too—this strange, vibrating hum that I felt deep in my bones...and Mimi. I watched the girl inhale and exhale—her white tank top moving up and down—

"God, I'm starved," I breathed.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

And Mimi laughed—a hearty sound coming up from her stomach—"You just ate a brownie—"

"I'm hungry!" I told her, complaining, "Got any of those ration bars in your pack?"

She did; I knew she did. I heard the sleeping bag crunch as she rolled onto her side reaching for them. And I remembered peeling back the colorful wrapper of the first bar, my mouth salivating at the look of the granola-like thing. And I remembered chewing—God, it’d felt so good to chew!

But, honestly, I didn't remember much after that. I was so awake and so tired at the same time...

[Loading ‘I Wasn’t Sure How Much’ Later…100%]

I awoke, blinking blearily into the darkness and the fabric seams overhead.

Right, the yurt.

A fluffy blanket was drawn up to my chin, but I struggled for a minute to remember tugging it there. My pupils took a minute to adjust to the dark, and I recognized a figure laying next to me: thin with the smooth curve of a hip cresting under the blanket we shared...a white chin protruding and ruffled, brown hair falling in her—

Oh my God.

I started.

The girl put out a shushing hand, trying to calm the nerves frantically jumping underneath my skin.

"Mimi?!" I hissed, concerned. Did we—

No. No, I had a super crush on the girl, but we couldn't have!

But I didn't really remember much. Was I drugged? Why were we sharing a sleeping bag if we didn't—

“System!” I hissed urgently, “My Swag Points!” Maybe if I could do a quick calculation, I could see if I was missing a chunk of them which might indicate—

[System Understands Query…Loading Response…]

"It's okay, Dormouse," Mimi murmured, dismissing the system’s words in front of my face with a sleepy wave, "We didn't..."

We didn't. It was okay. I tried to restart my heart as the girl shifted towards me, swallowing absently and rubbing sleep out of her eyes. Her mouth curled up in a fond smile.

"Actually," she amended, "I think that brownie Fanboi gave you had weed in it. You just laid here, eating four backpacks worth of ration bars and staring up at the constellations, naming every one of them to ad nauseam and telling me that, if you were Grand Dragon, you'd rearrange the entire night sky to look like food instead of animals. I believe you wanted to fashion a constellation after spaghetti and meatballs if I remember correctly." She chuckled.

And all the breath went out of me in a giant woosh.

"You're good, Dormouse," she added, "You were really tired at the end and just wanted to snuggle. Nothing happened." And it was maybe the first time during this whole conversation that I was able to believe her about it. ...And breathe. Finally. Her expression was so genuine.

I tried a smile myself, leaning my head back against the pillow and noticing that there were two empty sleeping bags beside the one we shared.

"Where's Maude?" I asked.

And the girl's brow creased in annoyance briefly before she shook it away, "Wherever Maude always is late at night."

And silence blanketed us, but I saw the girl chewing on her lip. Her eyes seemed lost somewhere.

"What is it?" I asked, my voice low and prodding.

Her cheeks flushed, "Oh, uh..."

And it wasn’t my imagination, the girl scooted closer to me under the covers, drawing them up to her chin which quivered with indecision, "It's just that, while you were going on about the food constellations and such, you also...you, also—described the color of my eyes."

My breath caught.

Shit.

What did I say? Oh Grand Dragon, what did I say?! Why couldn't I remember something important like this???!!!

"I did?" I squeaked, dying inside.

Mortified.

Fuzzy turnip at the back of the refrigerator dead inside.

She scooted closer, "The exact color of my eyes. Like you'd really taken the time to notice…"

The system beeped, and I stared in wonder at the neon text:

[System Reward: Oh, Okay…You Somehow Scored Big Points With The Girl +20 Swag Points, -50]

Damn, so I still had negative Swag Points but…but she was staring at me like… What was that look in her eyes? Her gaze was intense—stormy, steel gray and blue all meshing together. Had I described it like that? Like the ocean sea waves when they came in at night? Or like the depths of a polished stone where all the colors met and tumbled together? Was that what I'd said?

I couldn't let her continue. I had to stop her. "I do—" I hurried, swallowing—gulping air—"I do notice you, Mimi."

And the words burned coming off my tongue. Like I was playing with dangerous fire I didn't know how to control.

"I know that now," she said. And she tucked a rectangle of hair behind her ear.

But something was different—

Something was—

"I notice you too," she whispered. Her face was so close. Her breath tickled my chin as something leapt inside of me.

Fear?

Lust? Oh Grand Dragon, where was the kiss system prompt? Was it really true that with negative Swag they, sometimes, didn’t appear?!

But the girl leaned forward as words flashed like fireworks in front of my eyes.

[System Reward: Damn, A Girl Just Kissed You First, +100 Swag Points, 50]

[System Reward: Your Street Cred Just Shot Up! +10 XP, 1419/1500]

And her lips tasted like watermelon ChapStick and a summer day:

Sweet.

Simple.

Innocent.

But her hands under the covers were less so. And I was glad, in that moment, that it was just us.

Fumbling and breathless in the dark.

Just Mimi.

…And no Maude.