Life and Times of a Keyboard Warrior

Discord

29
1st of March
Kennedy

As our group treks back from the filming grounds, I notice that as our group dispersed along the beach, Mia seems to hover a certain distance from me and Daria. Heath and Eli have run far ahead, throwing sand and water at eachother. Pippi is still watching some of the footage we got, and she's walking close to the treeline. Daria and I are walking near the water, hand in hand. I've got a load of equipment over my shoulder.

"Markus, why do you think Mia seems to spend an awful lot of time around you?" Daria suddenly asks me. I look at her quizzically, but see no signs of a joke on her face.

"Well, let me teach you something useful." I reply. "In order to get to know someone on the proper level, you can either take it slow and become their friend gradually over time, or you can blast right into their lives in the space of a few short days. I believe that through the combination of my accusations against her being the thief and the proximity of our homes, she has come to think of me as some sort of special person, like a brother figure or something. Someone that's always around and makes themselves known in your life." I take a wild guess, just stating anything that seems logical to me.

"You make it sound so mechanical..." Daria tells me, looking away from me towards the water.

"Of course, that's only a wild guess. Surely she wouldn't have fallen in love with me, if that's what you're getting at..." I splutter, repositioning the bag of film equipment on my shoulder.

"That's not what I'm saying at all!" She snaps back, staring at me hard. Her face is bright red, and her eyes project a simultaneous worry and anger at me.

"Hey, Dare, what's wrong?" I stop walking, concerned at this sudden turn.

"Nothing's wrong, it's just..." She looks away, then suddenly she grabs my head and brings me down to her level, kissing me hard. I'm shocked for about a second, then I return the kiss. We stay that way for about 7 seconds.

"I love you Mark..." Daria whispers upon breaking away from me.

"I love you too Dare." I reply. We stand there watching eachother for a few seconds, then I take her hand again. "Come on, let's get going."

We walk silently hand in hand back to the house. I go straight to the main room, placing the bag of film gear onto the floor and flopping down onto the couch. Daria comes and sits on the couch behind me, and she begins to stroke my hair. Damn, that's good...

"You two look like you're having fun." Pippi says as she wanders into the room. I crack open my eyes, and am slightly surprised at the wide smirk she's giving me.

"I guess so..." I reply, closing my eyes again. I love it when Daria scratches my hair, it feels really good.

"Just be careful, you two." Pippi says as she scrounges around in the camera bag for the large recorder, which she begins to watch.

"Strange one she is." I mumble. Suddenly, the scratching stops.

"Markus, what is this?" I hear Daria's voice. It sounds kinda angry, but why?

I sit up and look around, nearly falling off the couch when I realize that Daria is standing behind it. Mia is sitting near where my head was, looking sheepish.

"Wait, you got it all wrong. I thought Mia was you when she started giving me a scratch, and I didn't think to look because I didn't think it'd be anyone else but you." I rail, blurting it out at top speed. She glares down at me like I'm some kind of dog who's just pissed on the antique carpet.

"I believe you, you like scratches too much to care who gives them out. On the other hand, Mia, why were you scratching Markus' head?" Daria says, turning to glare at Mia.

"Well, I uhh..." Mia stammers, going bright red. She looks at me, then says, "I thought it'd be a nice thing to do for him after he gave his all with the filming, to help him loosen up and calm down." As she explains this, I get this weird sense that I'm hearing something below the surface, something I should've realized a while ago.

Daria continues to study her for a few seconds before she sighs, saying "well, I guess that's ok..." She looks at me uncertainly, then hurries from the room. The door slams shut with a horrible finality.