𝘾𝙄𝙉𝙉𝘼𝙈𝙊𝙉 𝙎𝙏𝙄𝘾𝙆𝙎 , dreamwastaken

vii.

THE NEXT DAY AT jade's work was extremely slow. throughout the six hours she was working, the store only got maybe 20 customers. this was a record low for them, especially for the day after christmas. at around two o' clock, jade was starting to get really antsy. she was worrying about the day that was ahead of her, conducting scenarios of what might happen with clay. earlier that morning, clay had texted her asking for her address, to which they discovered they live about 10 minutes away from each other.

finally, three had hit, and she was able to clock out. she said goodbye to her coworkers, and about sprinted out. she drove just a little bit too quickly home, making it there about 3:07. she ran upstairs and changed before getting a text from clay telling her that she was there. she looked at herself in the mirror, making sure that she was all put together. she felt silly for worrying so much, but blamed it on the fact that she felt like they both got each other really well. when on the phone, she didn't worry about there being silence, and didn't feel like it was awkward. she also felt that they could just kinda talk about anything and have it stay interesting.

she quickly walked downstairs, seeing a black suv sitting in the parking lot. she saw clay's familiar dirty blonde hair and relaxed. clay looked up at the sound of her apartment door closing, and swiftly got out to open the door for her. the two just exchanged smiles until he got back into the drivers side.

"you didn't have to do that silly," jade said, blushing at the gesture.

"i know but i wanted to. besides, i wanna make a good impression." he replied, reversing out of the parking spot and getting on the road.

"you definitely have," she said, looking over to him. in the sunlight, she noticed how green his eyes really were, and the freckles that were spotted across his nose. he noticed the staring and laughed at her.

"what're you looking at?" clay asked her cockily. jade shook her head and looked down into her lap.

"nothing, i'm just taking everything in i guess," she continued to look down in her lap, embarrassed.

"i like your sweater," he said back to her, loosening the mood. "emerald looks nice on you."

"thank you," she whispered in response. she was shocked at how nice he was being to her. she wasn't used to it and it made her feel bubbly inside.

eventually they had made it to clay's apartment. he lived on the nicer side of their town, in a much bigger apartment building than she did. he got out of the car first, walking around to jade's side and opening the door. she thanked him and he held out his hand. at first she was confused and cocked her head at him, before he gestured to her hand. she then realized what he meant and grabbed onto his hand that was notably much larger than hers, and walked up and into his apartment.

it was a nice sized two bedroom, with large windows in the back as well as a balcony with a small table. he gave her a tour, continuing to hold her hand. they finally found patches curled up on clay's bed, and jade gave him a look to see if she could sit down, to which he nodded. he went and sat close next to her, while she cuddled with her. jade smiled up at him, before patches jumped out of her lap and into clay's.

"hi baby," he said, giving her a kiss on the forehead. jade looked around his room, just taking it all in. she noticed his computer setup that consisted of two monitors, and the light up keyboard she saw last night on the phone. under his desk was a large pc that was also glowing green.

"do you want anything to eat or drink?" he asked her, standing up and putting patches back down on his bed.

"i'm good right now, we can have dinner later though if you want?" clay just nodded in response. he walked over and sat down in his desk chair, pressing a button on his pc.

"wanna watch me speedrun?" he asked, spinning to face her. "you said you wanted to watch me play so here it is," he gestured to his setup. she nodded and he smiled.

"i don't really know what's going on since i haven't played in so long so i'm sorry if i look confused," clay turned around and smiled at her, telling her not to worry.

he booted up the game and created a new world, showing her everything she needed to know. he showed her the villager trades, how he makes the portal so quickly, piglin trades, and around the nether fortress. he was telling her about how in the newer updates, they made it much harder to find the fortresses and how it effected gameplay. she listened intently to everything he was saying, remembering playing as a kid.

finally he made it to the end, and beat the ender dragon in just under an hour. when he got the "free the end" achievement, jade clapped for him. he turned around and gave her a high five, telling her that she should try it sometime. she laughed, telling him that she would suck.

"what's the story behind your name?" jade had asked him a little bit after they had finished.

"i just thought it was cool. it used to be dreamwastaken but then when i got verified they let me take just dream," clay told her.

"verified? like celebrity kinda verified?" she asked, visibly confused. clay looked at her, feeling embarrassed.

he had been nervous to tell her about what he did ever since they had started talking. he didn't want her to look at him like a dork, or to see him any differently. he also knew that it was nerve wracking that she knew who he was in real life, and now online, so she could possibly leak his face before he was ready. he pushed the thoughts of nervousness aside, feeling that he could trust her.

"well, i kinda stream and do youtube and stuff," he admitted, taking a deep breath.

"oh that's cool," she replied. there was an awkward air between them. "clay, i'm not gonna like expose you or anything if that's what you're worried about right now, i liked you before i came here today, and i'm still gonna like you tomorrow. this doesn't change anything, i promise. i'm still just as much of a friend as i was ten minutes ago,"

hearing that calmed him down greatly. he stood up, opened his arms, and jade walked right into them. they stood like that for a few moments, appreciating the comfort.

in this moment, they both knew that the other was something special.