Crafting = The making of, or crafting, of items. The levelling of this skill is often separate from the levelling of your main class. Crafters can make things with the items that people find around the game or with items that gatherers (when you use the gathering skill) specifically look for. My crafting skill that I’m focusing on right now is Tailoring, because it can make gear for my healer but also bigger bags that I can use and sell. I love crafting, though I prefer gathering most of the time, it’s more calming.

“Hey.” Alex’ voice surprises me for a moment.

“Yeah?” I blink, I was so focused on getting my tailoring skill up and which items I’d need for what, that I almost forgot that Alex is in the voice chat with me.

“I’m going over to Troy for a bit. Need to drop something off for my mom. Will I see you later?”

“Yeah. I’ll be on later. I don’t really have much to do anyway.” I click around in the game, bidding on a few more items in the market place.

“Cool.” I hear her move. “I’ll see you later, then. If I don’t go now, my mom’s going to get annoyed.” She laughs and I totally know what she means.

“Good luck.” I can’t help but laugh too.

“Thanks. See you later.”

“Later.”

And then I see Alex log out of Elysium, just as I hear her leave the voice chat too.

This morning, as early as possible, I went to the store and picked up a headset. Last night, after I said I’d gone to bed, I actually spent a good amount of time on my phone looking up headsets and which ones were the right ones. My old one was too crappy to use any longer, but I did have enough money saved up from working at the flower store to buy a new one that was actually of a decent quality. After meeting Alex yesterday, I just really wanted to talk to her more, and I did realise how much easier doing raids and dungeons with guild members would be if I’d actually had a headset. Though, I guess the talking to Alex thing got me more excited about it…

My phone buzzes and I look at it, finding a message from Jade. ‘Where are you?’

‘At home?’ I frown, I thought that would be pretty obvious, as I can’t remember that we were supposed to meet up. Which doesn’t necessarily say something…

‘Cool. I’ll be right there! I want to hear all about yesterday!’

Uh-oh. I look at the message, and then think about the things that I told her about Alex. Things that were, well, not correct, mostly of my own fault. But to talk about that now? I dunno.

But I also know that telling Jade ‘no’ today won’t stop her from asking questions until I either answer them or blow up at her. She’s curious, which I generally like about her, but not always. Also... I do kind of need to talk to someone... Jade seems like the best person since I don’t think I can talk to Mom about this, or my other friends.

I shut down Elysium and turn off the voice chat program, then I quickly make sure that my clothes are all either in the closet or in the laundry basket and that there isn’t any food or whatever thrown all over the room. Because there is one thing that I’m absolutely certain about, I do not want to have this conversation downstairs in front of my mom... Nope.

It takes not even ten minutes before Jade is knocking on my bedroom door, just as I’m shoving some boxes under my bed. “Come on in.”

She opens the door, looking around before stepping in.

“Why would you knock?” She never knocks, just barges in.

“Just making sure you’re not hiding any sexy boys in here.”

“I wouldn’t have let you come over if I had.” I stand up, grinning.

Jade shrugs. “True.” She lets herself fall onto the bed. “So... How was yesterday?”

I sit down in my chair, running my hands over each other, trying to come up with a way to describe the guild meet the best. “Ehm.”

“What?” She sits up, more serious now. “No good? Was he horrible?”

“Alex is not a he. Alex is a she.” I take my phone, showing a picture we took yesterday, Alex, Cerise and me, I’m standing in the middle between them. “Alex is the girl on the right.”

“Whoa?” Jade takes the phone, looking at the picture closer. Then she shrugs, smiling, handing it back. “At least she’s still cute.”

Cute... I look at the picture again. I guess she is. But it’s weird when Jade points it out.

“What happened? Was there drama?” Jade grins a little, apparently already over the reveal.

I take a deep breath and then walk her through everything that happened from the moment I left the flower store until Alex and I ended up eating spareribs together. I don’t go into detail about the parts after that, especially not the part about the ADHD. It’s not like that’s of importance for her anyway.

“Wow.” Jade’s eyes are big. “So, then what?”

“Then we hung out for the rest of the evening, with Cerise, the other girl in the pic, and the rest of the people from the guild.”

“You mean, you talked videogames all evening?” Jade frowns.

“Yeah. Pretty much.” I shrug. What else were we supposed to talk about? We’re gamers. This was a guild meeting. The one thing we have in common is our love for videogames, Destruction of Elysium to be more specific.

“And to think that I thought you couldn’t get any more geeky.” Jade laughs, before turning more serious. “So, meeting sexy and funny hunk Alex was a bust, then? Do we need to like... have a night with junk food and movies to heal your broken heart?”

That takes me by surprise. Heal my broken heart? I hadn’t even thought of that. Apart from those first few moments, broken hearts hadn’t even occurred to me. I hadn’t even thought about what Alex not being a boy meant to the... okay, to the crush I used to have on her.

Used to?

“Fleur?”

I realise I’ve been quiet a little too long. “No, it’s okay.” What else am I supposed to say? Jade is right. I liked Alex, back when I thought she was a guy. I should have been heartbroken now, right? Heartbroken that the guy I liked didn’t exist. But, instead... Every time I think of Alex, Alex the girl, I get flutters in my stomach.

“You’re blushing!” Jade leans forward, coming closer. “You’re actually, honestly, blushing.” She angles her head, looking at me even closer. “Wow.”

I push at her, hiding my face behind my other hand. “I’m not.” Though I can feel the heat in my cheeks. “I’m not blushing.”

“You are.” She takes both my hands, pulling them away, and I realise that while Alex taking my hands makes my stomach do weird flips, I do not have the same response to Jade. This stops me for a moment. Jade laughs, finally letting my hands go. “Fleur, blushing, like this. I thought I’d never see it.” She leans back, looking smug.

“What?” I can’t make sense of what she’s saying. I blush. I regularly blush over things, it’s not that uncommon.

“You don’t normally blush over someone. Sure, when you’re in this “crushing and not knowing someone well yet” phase, before they can disappoint you... But like this, after having spent time with them... You don’t blush, normally anyway.”

I shrug. Suddenly extra aware of the way I respond. “So?”

“So. This is interesting. This is good.” Jade smiles again. “Wow. Fleur, my normally pretty neutral friend, being actually struck enough to blush, just thinking of the person.”

“Enough.” Maybe this is different for me, but that doesn’t really mean anything. Right? “There’s nothing going on. We’re just friends.” We are, right? I may not know her that well, but we’re friends, right? “We’re going to see a movie next week. Just as friends.”

Jade raises her eyebrow. “And who was the one who came up with this idea?”

“Alex. She wanted to see this movie, she just asked me to come along with her. Nothing else.”

“Nothing else? She asks you out on a date, to go see a movie, and you think there’s nothing going on?”

“Date? Like... a date-date?” My thoughts grind to a halt.

“Is there any other type?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t think... I didn’t think...” Well, yes. I didn’t think. I was excited because it was a movie I’d wanted to see anyway, and going with Alex would be fun. But... a date-date. That never really occurred to me. A date-date with another girl.

“You didn’t think she meant it like that?” Jade’s voice is softer now. “Did you ask her about it?”

I shake my head. “I was just really excited to go.”

“Do you want it to be a date-date?”

I shrug again. “I don’t know. I really, just, don’t know.” Do I see Alex like that? Like I could go on dates with her? Like... a girlfriend? “I’ve never thought about that. I’ve never...”

“Never been interested in a girl before.” Jade finishes my sentence and I shake my head.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Would you?” Then she reaches out, putting her hands over my fiddling fingers, stilling them. “Don’t answer that. You don’t have to. I’m just...”  She shrugs with one shoulder. “Surprised, I guess. And happy for you.”

Happy for me? About what? My confusion? What is there to be happy about that? “Do you think... Do you think I should cancel the movie?”

“Why? You want to go, right?”

I nod.

“Then, go. See if this is want you want, or if this is what you expected it to be like. You don’t have to do anything, or decide on anything. Go have fun together. It’s probably not a movie I’d want to see together with you anyway, right?” She raises her eyebrow.

I shake my head. “No, not really. Explosions. Fights. Stuff like that.” Which was one of the reasons why I was so happy that Alex wanted to see it, it meant I could actually go see it in theatre without having to go on my own.

“Right. Not my kind of thing.” Jade lets out a laugh. “So, have fun. Go have fun together and don’t worry about things that are or aren’t there.” She leans back. “Talking about things that are or aren’t there... Weren’t we supposed to finish that TV series we started way back? With exams over and everything, seems like the perfect moment to finish those last couple of episodes.”

I stand up, glad to have something else to focus on. “Yes. You’re right. Let me just move some stuff.” I turn one of my computer screens so that we can easily see it from the bed, and then I put the series on. It’s some American crime detective kind of thing, but it’s fun to watch and we both like it a lot.

***

The rest of the afternoon, and then a good portion into the evening suddenly have passed before Jade leaves again, telling me to not worry too much and to tell her if anything changes, or if I just need to talk. After I’ve closed the door behind her, I take a deep breath. Well, if I want to go see that movie anyway, I’m going to have to talk to my mom about it first.

I make my way to the living room, where Mom is sitting on the couch, watching some drama on TV. “Mom?”

“Yes?” She looks my way.

“Can I go see a movie with Alex on Thursday?” I play with the hem of my shirt behind my back, not wanting to show how nervous I am.

“Alex? Oh. That girl from yesterday?”

I nod. “It’s not a school night and I’ll pay for it myself.”

“I’m not really liking the idea of you making the trip from Grunn to here late at night.” She frowns.

“We’re not going there. We’re going to the theatre here. She’s coming this way.”

“Hm. It sounds like it should be fine. But I don’t know about you going off with someone you barely know.”

I try not to sigh, I get her point. “We’ve talked for weeks. I saw her yesterday. We’re not strangers. And if I don’t get to meet with her more often, we don’t be able to get to know each other anyway.”

“Fine. Under one condition. I get to meet her again. I just want to properly introduce myself and talk to her for a moment.”

“You can drop me off at the theatre, if that helps?” I’m not a little kid anymore, but she seems insistent on treating me like one.

“Sounds good.” She smiles a little. “Then, I’m fine with you going. As long as it’s not an R-rated movie.”

“Mom!” I feel my cheeks heat up like crazy. “It’s not!” I rush out of the room. I don’t want to even know what she was thinking, asking that...

That’s so not... No. No.

Why would she even say something like that apart from wanting to make me blush like crazy?

Moms...