AFK - Away From Keyboard

Chapter 14:

   Snowy finished the bottle, gave a happy mewl, and curled up tenaciously on my lap; thereby preventing me from getting up.

The current silence was becoming a little drawn out and awkward.

"What is...you're earliest memory?" Ren asked abruptly, cutting through the silence like a knife through butter.

"Hmm..." I thought for a minute. "Probably coming out of the woods near Kedron and wondering where I was. I found my way to a medical center where they allowed me an apprenticeship, but I never discovered how I had gotten in those woods."

Len looked confused, but then he smiled. "My earliest memory was shoving my sister into the mud. I was mad and I thought I would successfully get back at her with that, but she started laughing and then pulled me into the mud too."

I laughed. "That's crazy. It must be nice having a sibling."

"Yeah, we fight a lot; but other than that it's great." Len agreed.

The clock struck nine and a notification popped up on his menu. "Uh oh..."

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"Rey. She's going to teleport to me." Ren jumped up and looked around nervously. "Uh..."

"I'll go get some breakfast from downstairs so you two can talk." I stood up and started towards the door.

"Okay, but how about you bring it up? She's actually coming to see you."

"Oh! Um, okay!?" I hurried out the door and down the stairs to grab a tray of food. I decided to get a bunch of stuff since Len hadn't eaten yet and Rey might be hungry.

When I got back the two were already bickering.

"Em...Yue!" Ren dashed over to hold the door open for me.

"I got a bunch of random stuff for everyone." I laughed after almost tripping and throwing the food everywhere. 

"Has my brother turned you into his maid or something?" Rey grinned. "Get your own food Ren!"

"It's nice to see you again." I set the food tray down on the coffee table.

"Nice to see you too. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm much better today, thanks." I smiled

"Great! Can I do your hair while we talk? I am soooooo bored."

"I...um...I guess so?"

Rey squealed and conjured a brush out of her inventory. She led me over to the couch and pulled my ponytail loose.

"So, I guess I completely jinxed you when I said I hope you'd rarely see my brother." Rey laughed.

I smiled a little. "I like traveling in groups. I didn't think I would, but Myra and Ren are both so nice."

"Aw, and here I thought I was doing a pretty good job of being the tough one." Len whined playfully.

"You're the annoying one." Rey rolled her eyes.

"Well at least I'm annoyingly fabulous." Ren countered. "You're just the giggly girl."

"Who has fashion sense." Rey added.

The two went back and forth until I felt dizzy just by listening.

"Who are Myra and I?" I cut in.

"Myra's the bossy one." Len decided with a smirk.

"Sounds like she keeps YOU in line." Rey mocked her brother's smirk.

"And so you're left with the sweet one." Len winked.

"No flirting." Rey shot robotically, in a way that made me think she said it often. "So Yue, what should I do with your hair?"

"I don't really care.: I shrugged.

"Don't do anything crazy." Len smirked again.

"I'm not going to! Yue, is this brown dress all you have? I want to give you a total makeover if that's alright. When I'm older I want to run my own fashion center. With hairstyles, and a whole clothing store."

I opened my menu and touched the clothing button. "You can look through if you want. I can't promise I'll keep it on for long."

Rey started scrolling through, looking at a few other outfits I have never worn. "Oh this is so cute!" She tapped one and instantly my dress changed into a long, soft, pale pink dress. It had a white top with a pink flower petal design scattered across it.

"It looks so nice with your purple hair!" Rey squealed. "How come you've never worn it before?"

"I was supposed to wear it for my graduation, but I got hung up taking care of something so I forgot to put it on and showed up in my brown dress." I smothered a laugh. "I don't mind wearing pretty things, but sometimes they make me feel so silly. I would rather blend in than stand out."

"I think your usual ponytail would look great with this dress. I'm just going to run a braid through it and leave your sidesweep.

Whatever that meant, Rey was done in two minutes. "TA DA!" She cried, shoving a mirror in my face.

I giggled. "Oh my goodness. Sorry Rey, but I think I look ridiculous."

"I promise that you don't." Rey smiled. "Right, Ren?"

Ren smiled strangely. He has many different smiles, this one was different from his other strange ones. "You look great."

"I'll try not to ruin it." I said sheepishly to Rey, brushing some of my hair out of my face. Then a white blur flashed across the room and landed on my lap.

"OH MY GOSH! IT'S SO CUTE!" Rey screamed and scooped up Snowy. "Um, I may be joining your group now just so I can steal it."

"Her name is Snowy." I laughed as I reached over to fondle my kitten's ears.

"Snow ANGEL!" Rey cried.

Len rolled his eyes. "Myra would love you."

"Good. I'm going to leave for a little while. I have some other things to do, plus I have to report to mom on your condition before she comes to check on you herself." Rey smirked at her brother. "I'll be back at some point in life though."

"See ya." Len waved to her as she dissolved into light. As soon as she was gone he moaned. "Oh my gosh. If she joins our group I might die."

I laughed. "At least she won't be trying to dress YOU up all the time. I already have to dodge Myra."

"True. I like your plain brown dress by the way."

"Be honest." I commanded with an amused smile, flicking back my ponytail dramatically. "Do I look ridiculous?"

Ren looked me over. "That's not possible."

"Well I feel silly." I wrinkled my nose.

He stood there for a while, a long silence beginning. I decided to break it before it could begin.

"Len?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Emi. I uh...spaced out." He sat next to me on the couch.

"It's okay." I smiled.

"Want to play something else?" He asked suddenly.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. I own pretty much every multiplayer game in existence so is there anything you might want to play?"

"Um...do you mean like a board game, or a live action kind of game?" I was getting more and more confused.

Now Len looked confused; however then his eyes widened. "Uh, never mind. I actually should go check in with my mom real quick so she doesn't figure out I'm not sick." He laughed. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Okay. Bye Len!" I called as he too dissolved into light.