Sunday afternoon, lunchtime having gone by, there was no more room for dilly-dallying. Ricardo was going to contact Johnny once and for all.
At this point the craziness of everything made itself evident. Did he really think he would get Johnny to do as he wished? Even if he didn't have the guy in high regard, his sister had been dating him for months. He wouldn't just fall in love with the first pretty girl he found on his way, even if she was as beautiful as Ilaria.
Originally, he had convinced Sandro with something fuzzy, like: 'We'll meet alone and I'll say I heard about his ex; he wouldn't help boasting about it.' Well, convinced was used loosely here. It was more like: 'If you really want to, go ahead; at least it'll help you understand Minerva.'
Amelia did seem to buy the plan though, supporting him all the way. But who knows with that girl. Ricardo had been surprised plenty of times already in the couple of weeks that they had been playing together. So much that it took an effort to reconcile the Amy from the game with the teenage girl that was his sister's best friend.
In the end, the truth was that asking Johnny about it was just a front. What he really wanted is to date him, join the tournament with him. And then, the later the better, expose himself to everyone. That would teach him, hopefully in a humiliating fashion, to not mess with a young girl's feelings. And if it served as a lesson for Minerva too, that was a bonus.
----------------------------------------
First thing after logging in, Ilaria checked her Private Messages: nothing new. It would have been too perfect. She pondered about answering Rob first, but then stopped herself. She only had one DD left for the day, and she might use it with Johnny, if all went well.
Here goes nothing. Ilaria was gonna press the name Johnny334–currently in gray–in her friends list; when it suddenly lighted up. He had logged in. Ilaria steeled herself and pressed it anyway.
“Hello Ilaria, what a nice surprise,” sounded the pretty boy's voice next to her ear.
“Hello.” The mage was taken aback, though she really shouldn't had. You could check who was at the other side before pressing the button; that she never did wasn't anyone's fault but her own.
“Did you want to hear the end of the story?” asked Johnny. Ilaria could picture the smug smile on his face. No need to antagonize him, be smart.
“You did say we would meet again,” said Ilaria, trying to sound eager.
“Alright, are you free right now?” Ilaria could hear hints of a laugh in the guy's voice.
“Yeah.”
----------------------------------------
Alright, this should be okay.
Ilaria thought for a minute if she should change clothes. She didn't know what they were going to do, just that they would meet at the plaza. She finally decided to go in her red and black level 20 dress. It looked nice, and if they ended up doing a Dungeon Date, she wouldn't need to change out of it.
Ilaria read the return scroll and was instantly teleported next to the gate of Torinelo City. There, close to the fountain, was the guy, seemingly focusing on something in his viewpoint. He wore white dress pants and a red and white checkered shirt. The highlights of his hair looked even more outrageous in daylight.
“Hey,” said Ilaria, having gotten closer, since Johnny didn't seem to have any intention of searching for her.
“There you are,” said Johnny, still moving his fingers without really looking at her. “Done.”
“What were you doing?” asked Ilaria. Doesn't he know how rude he's being?
“Guild chat,” said Johnny, finally turning in her direction. “Haven't seen it?”
“Ah, no,” said Ilaria, lowering her eyes. “I don't know where it is.”
“Really?” Johnny smiled, almost laughed. “Don't worry then; I'll teach you later.”
Ilaria looked at him, not knowing how to respond. She was a little embarrassed, if she was honest to herself.
“For now, lets go to a more private place,” said Johnny, motioning her to follow.
They traveled the cobbled streets for a while, gradually leaving the city's center. At some point Ilaria realized they were in the residential area–one and two-story houses, mostly keeping with the Torinelo aesthetic–close to the hill in which the scenic overlook was located. Johnny appeared to be walking in long strides, but he was actually matching the shorter mage's rhythm.
“Are we going up the hill?” asked Ilaria, not enduring the silence anymore.
“Why? Do you want to?” Johnny looked at her from top to bottom, stopping his gaze at her boots. They did have a small heel, to which Ilaria was already completely used to.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“Not particularly,” answered Ilaria. “Where are we going anyway?”
“If I said my house, would you be okay with that?” Johnny laughed.
“Eh, can you even own a house?” Ilaria was unable to tell if he had said it in jest.
“Why not?”
----------------------------------------
It turns out, Johnny did own a house in Torinelo City. A small 1-floor, 1 bedroom unit, painted in the same yellowish color that shared most of the city. Lemon yellow? Maybe; it had been some time since she had to be in charge of choosing color palettes.
“Let's get in, I'll show you the house,” said Johnny, opening the white wooden door.
“Alright,” said Ilaria, stepping inside first. She would never enter a stranger's house like this in real life, even as a guy. But it was VR, and she was really curious.
The inside looked cozy, in real state agent terms. For starters, there were only two doors in the whole house; three, if you counted the sliding door towards the backyard. Everything else was in an L-shaped room, dinning room, living room, kitchen, all loosely defined. The walls were painted in a light shade of blue, to go with the white of most of the furniture.
“What do you think?” asked Johnny, as he went around, stepping on the white ceramic tiles that covered the floor. The house smelled new, like rubber and latex paint. There wasn't anything on the tables, and the paintings on the walls seemed like outdoors stock photos.
“It looks okay, although generic; resembles a display apartment.” The words came out of her before Ilaria could ponder them.
“Got me,” said johnny, letting out a laugh of surprise. “I haven't changed anything yet. Actually, this is only the second time I've been in here.”
Ilaria couldn't help but laugh too, covering her embarrassment. She had broken out of character in the most stupid way.
They still completed the round around the house–which didn't take much time–the total area being like 30m2, accounting for the bedroom. The backyard was empty and barren, which made sense with Johnny's previous statement.
“Then, what can you actually do with a house?” asked Ilaria, after having seen all of the open floor. She hadn't seen the bedroom; she wasn't going to ask, though.
“Well, you can just sit around, eat, talk...”
“Just like if you sat outside,” interrupted Ilaria, unable to resist.
“Pretty much,” said Johnny, making eye contact. “You can cook though.”
“Oh, that's new,” said Ilaria, trying to put on a smile. “Are you cooking for me?”
“No,” said Johnny, laughing again. “I couldn't; I don't have any ingredients.”
“Ah.” Ilaria wondered why Johnny brought her here in the first place. Was he flaunting his money? How much did a VR house cost anyway?
Having said that, Johnny still went to the kitchen. He took a couple of plates and cups from the cupboard and materialized a brown leather shoulder-bag.
“Fruit or crackers?” asked Johnny, turning his head.
“What kind of fruit?” Ilaria had only tried apples and peaches in VC so far.
“Watermelon.”
----------------------------------------
As they ate in the small dinning table, Johnny finally finished telling his salamander raid story. He was a good storyteller, Ilaria had to admit. His hand movements and gesticulations made the story come into life.
“It just went boom like that?” asked Ilaria, covering her mouth with her hand to hide the fact that she was talking with her mouth full.
“Who knew the monster was even capable of that,” said Johnny, fixing his hair with his left hand. “Trying to predict the developers' sense of causation is a crapshoot at best.”
“Death by high speed viscera impact, it must have been hard to program that,” said Ilaria, laughing. “I give the developers my regards.”
With the story being finished, Johnny taught Ilaria how to open the guild chat window. It was fairly easy once you knew it, drawing a circle with a finger in one hand's palm. Using the floating keyboard was a whole different thing; it would take time for Ilaria to get comfortable enough to write in a timely manner.
Having hit a lull in the conversation, Ilaria thought about the next step: asking for a Dungeon Date. How could she do it nonchalantly? But first, there was a question that had been doing circles in her head since she had stepped inside. Whatever, I'll ask.
“Maybe it's rude from me asking, but I'm really curious.” said Ilaria, looking at the smiling guy in front of her and making a pause. “How much did the house cost you?”
“That, I was wondering if you were ever gonna ask,” said Johnny, laughing as always. Ilaria wondered what did Johnny find so funny in her. It felt like he was mocking her at times.
“Answering the question, it was 500 plat hearts to win the auction, plus a hundred monthly.” Johnny continued, like if paying a hundred dollars a month for a few bits in a game–okay, not really a few bits–which amounted to a social housing unit, was completely normal.
“Really?! And you don't even use it?” Ilaria couldn't hide her surprise at the guy's wasteful ways.
“The truth is, I don't have a reason to own it anymore,” said Johnny, smiling in everything but his eyes. “I'll probably return it when the month ends.”
“And you'll lose the auction payment too?” Ilaria couldn't conceive how one could throw money down the drain like that.
“That's right; I won the auction on December 15th, so I have less than a week left,” answered Johnny, not looking at Ilaria for a change. “I guess that's why I brought you here. I wanted to at least show it to somebody else before it's gone.”
Ilaria stayed silent for a second. It was the first time that she had seen Johnny showing anything other than a smug smile on his face. It almost made her feel sorry for him.
“Since we are already together, wanna do a Dungeon Date?” Johnny had gone ahead and asked first, rendering all Ilaria's pondering pointless. She just said yes while nodding, pressing the button as it appeared in her viewpoint.
“Let's see, you are level 23?! I swear you were just 20 on Friday,” continued Johnny, after Ilaria had accepted the invitation.
“I do level fast,” said Ilaria, she the one being smug for a change.
“You must be good then,” said Johnny, changing into a plate armor and taking out his shield and spear.
“You'll have to see it for yourself.” Ilaria smiled, welcoming the challenge.