“Go home, I feel terrible leaving when you guys are still at it,”

Mr. Miller adjusted the strap of his laptop sleeve over his shoulder for the third time, as if trying to reinforce the fact that he really was going. It reminded me of a parent saying 'I'm leaving,' then taking a few steps and looking back to check if their child followed.

His oldest daughter turned four today. From the frequent calls he answered throughout the day, it seemed his wife had planned a nice evening for them. I even heard mention of an ‘Elsa-shaped piñata’ and a bouncy castle.

“You go home. Beck will be mad if you keep her waiting. We’re fine here, really.” Andrei said.

Nikita made a shooing motion from his own seat. Mr. Miller sighed.

“Fine. But call if you need anything, I’ll be available.”

“We will not.” I said, then added - “But if you really feel terrible about this, save us a slice of cake,”

Nikita nodded enthusiastically.

Mr. Miller looked like he was going to argue again, but then the screen of his phone lit up with his wife’s name. He exited the studio, reassuring her that he was on his way.

There was still a surprising amount of daylight filtering through the windows for this time of the year. Still, the near emptiness of the building made me feel like the three of us were the only shoppers left in a closed mall.

As the evening wore on, the sound of cars began to ebb away. Pinevale’s residents didn’t go anywhere after 19:00 - they couldn’t if they wanted to. Other than a few coffee places that closed at 20:00 PM sharp, the town had nothing to offer besides quiet, empty streets.

About an hour after Mr. Miller went home, Nikita followed suit and it was just Andrei and me, tapping away at our keyboards. Soon though, I realized I could only hear my own keystrokes in the growing silence.

I turned to glance back at the programmer. He was absentmindedly running his fingers over the golden bracelet on his wrist. The setting sun cast a warm glow on his face, drawing my attention to his furrowed eyebrows.

“Andrei?” I asked

He jumped a little in his seat, startled.

“Everything ok?”

When he met my gaze the situation felt at once intimate. I was not used to being alone with a man.

The last date I had gone on was a complete disaster.

The guy showed up on his electric scooter - which we left in the apartment for what was supposed to be a nice evening walk. Instead I got so anxious that I nearly puked on the side of the road. It didn’t end there though - when we decided to cut the date short I realized that I had forgotten my keys inside the apartment with a sleeping Nataly.

Of course calling her name and banging on the door eventually got her to let us in, but then we found out that my date’s scooter was out of battery, and would need more time to charge back up.

What followed was a very awkward hour and a half of me trying to make small talk while on the verge of passing out, and Nataly making way too many cups of tea so that we all had something to pretend to be focused on.

This was Andrei, though.

I knew him. We spent six days a week in each other’s company. Besides, I doubted he even saw me this way.

“I’m fine.” He said. “Why do you ask?”

I got up from my seat to make myself another cup of coffee so that I wouldn’t have to look him directly in the eye as we talked. It became hard to breathe properly all of a sudden.

‘I hate this,’ I thought bitterly. ‘I thought this shit was behind me by now.’

If it was just butterflies, I wouldn’t have minded as much. It was never butterflies though.

“You just looked a bit worried or something,” I replied.

The sound of his chair being moved made me forgo adding sugar. I just needed to be in my seat again. Unfortunately, the studio was very small and he was making his own coffee beside me before I could retreat back to my desk.

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I could feel his eyes on me as I splashed some milk on the counter stirring my mug with shaky fingers.

“Are you ok?” He asked, sounding a bit worried.

If I wasn’t so caught up in my panicking I might’ve appreciated the unexpected warmth in his tone.

I took a deep breath and did the only thing that really helped me when I got especially anxious - I welcomed the accelerated heartbeat instead of trying to fight it.

It didn’t get rid of the anxiety, but it did stop it from getting worse.

“I’m fine. Just jittery from all the coffee I guess,”

Andrei looked at my overflowing coffee mug with obvious confusion.

“Why are you making yourself another, then?”

“Well I’m already on my seventh cup, I don’t think it’ll make much of a difference one way or the other.”

He chuckled. “You’re like my grandma,”

The reply was unexpected enough that for a second I forgot I was anxious.

“Like your grandma.” I repeated, trying not to sound offended.

“Yes. That’s always her excuse for having another serving of pelmeni. Not that I can blame her, she’s the best cook I know.”

“Are you implying that I’m fat?”

Andrei’s eyes widened in alarm.

“That’s not what I meant at all!”

I laughed, enjoying the way his hands had flown up in a placating manner.

“Relax. I can’t cast fireballs in real life.”

He narrowed his eyes a little in mock suspicion.

“I feel like you could if you practiced hard enough.”

I finally felt brave enough to look him directly in the eye again - and immediately regretted it. Under the fluorescent lighting above us, they took on the most mesmerizing shade of green.

“Are you very close? To your grandma, I mean.” I asked, trying to distract myself from my recent discovery.

“I am. She practically raised me.”

A soft smile tugged at his lips, and my heart gave a little squeeze in my chest - not from anxiety this time.

“She’s actually the reason why I moved to Pinevale. This place is tiny, but it’s got the best old folks’ home in the area. At least the best that fits my budget,”

“Aww,” The sound escaped me before I could stop it.

“What?” Andrei asked.

“Well, didn’t you go to some fancy-shmancy university? You could’ve easily found a better-paying position,”

“Yes but then I would’ve had to wear a suit to work. Have you ever seen gym rats in a suit? We look like toddlers!”

I gave him a fake, sympathetic look.

“Oh you poor, poor man. That would’ve been awful!”

He smiled, but then his expression turned melancholic.

“I wanted to be close by.”

Xxx

Gavak could’ve imagined it, but he was pretty sure that Sassa was nicer to him as of late.

She didn’t complain when it was his turn to cook, choosing instead to add spices from a small cotton bag when she thought he wasn’t looking. She indulged his questions about the nature of the weave, and even called his skull-smashing skills extraordinary.

Of course at the time he felt offended that she’d describe anything about him as ‘extra ordinary’ and not ‘extra amazing’ or ‘extra awesome’, but that misunderstanding was swiftly cleared up.

Nelle wouldn’t let him forget about it.

Today, the wizard even let him sit next to her on their newest treasure - a magical flying carpet they’d spent about two thirds of their savings on.

They were all chatting happily between themselves when a commotion from below caught their attention. Gavak peeked over the edge.

A bespectacled elven archer was screaming at a short, hooded figure. As the party flew closer, the barbarian could pick up on some of what was being said - along with the myriad dead corpses and not-so-dead corpses that surrounded the two.

“-And warn me or something! Do you have any idea of the heart attacks you give me when you resurrect someone I killed literally a second ago?!”

Quiet, feminine laughter came from beneath the hood.

“It’s not funny, El! I nearly peed myself!”

Daisy and Nelle exchanged worried looks.

“Should we even get involved with this one? Looks like most of the corpses are goblins,” Daisy whispered.

Gavak’s hand was already on his Javelin. If the carpet could just stay in the same spot for a bit he was certain he could -

Sassa grabbed his hand and shook her head in disapproval.

“We’ve been over this. How many enemies are we up against? Count.” She said quietly.

Gavak sighed but furrowed his eyebrows and did as he was told.

“At least five?” He said after intense concentration.

The gnome looked annoyed, but she took a deep breath and forced a smile onto her face.

“Technically correct.”

He beamed at the praise. Any day now, he was sure of it - he would know how to count to ten, maybe even twenty. The stars were the limit!

“There’s more than that though,” Sassa continued in the same hushed tone.

“Raising the dead is no easy feat. That archer looks pretty formidable too, and might I remind you we’re on a flying carpet?”

Gavak didn’t see why that part was relevant, but he nodded sagely nonetheless.

“What is that?”

By process of elimination, Gavak concluded that the voice must’ve come from the archer. Daisy, Nelle and Sassa were all girls - and he didn’t say anything himself. The only one left was the elf!

He was about to fill the rest of the party in on this very crucial detail when Daisy cut him off.

“Just flying by, we don’t want any trouble. Keep doing what you’ve been doing!”

The necromancer looked up, following the direction of her companion’s finger. She didn’t seem overly alarmed by the new presence above.

“Jorik, this stranger doesn’t even know me but already she’s encouraged me to go after my dreams more than you have.”

‘Jorik’ shook his head and adjusted his spectacles.

“A good friend doesn’t encourage foolishness.” He said sternly.

“If I were a fool such magic would be beyond me.”

“Spoken like a fool,” He insisted.

One of the zombies wandered over to the elf and thwacked him lightly on the back of the head. He yelped, spectacles nearly flying to the ground.

“Eliza Evilshade Deathwhisper! If you pull this one more time I swear I will, I will-”

Daisy turned to Sassa looking like she was trying her best to hold back laughter.

“With a name like that, what else could she have become?” She whispered.