Doki Doki: My Life With Monika

Chapter 3: Mikey Gets Slapped, and It's Hilarious (For Me)

Monika followed me downstairs, where my home group was waiting eagerly to meet her. I never would've thought her as the nervous type, but Monika actually seemed a little nervous. She even hesitated at the stairs. But when I turned back to look at her, she regained her usual smile and we proceeded. Everyone had their eyes on the stairs, watching for us. Nathan spoke first.

"What took you so long?" he demanded. "It shouldn't take five minutes to go upstairs and get..." his voice trailed off as Monika came into view. Everybody else's jaws dropped, too. Because, yes, although I didn't want to admit it at the time, Monika was super gorgeous. A couple of my friends squinted their eyes, like they were trying to remember where they'd seen her before. She gave the group a pearly white smile, then followed me onto my couch. Mav was sitting there, but he quickly made room so Monika could sit down.

"Thank you, sweetie," Monika told him. Mav blushed. He was the only one who didn't seem as entranced by her beauty as everyone else. Eventually, everybody else recovered from their shock.

"So... you're Abe's new roommate," Greta finally said. Monika nodded.

"That's right!" she confirmed. "I'm Monika. Nice to meet all of you!" At the mention of her name, Nathan lurched, as if he'd been startled, and stared at Monika suspiciously, but didn't say anything. Monika didn't notice.

"So, are you in college, too?" asked Eric. Monika nodded.

"I've started two years ago," she said. "I'm studying to become a literature teacher." I knew that was a lie, but I've got to admit, I was actually impressed with how well Monika was handling the situation. I was half expecting her to make a fuss about the other girls in here, or even try to kill someone. But I guess since she was with the love of her life, (I can't say I felt the same for her, at the time) she was trying to be on her best behavior. Or maybe she was still surprised that she wasn't in a computer anymore. Still, she was behaving well, and that worked for me. Then Mikey, who had been staring at me with the kind of look you'd expect from a teacher if they caught you with a girl, spoke up.

"Not that kind of roommate, huh?" he said to me. "I'll bet she's a real good dancer, if you get my drift." Everybody glared at Mikey. Monika looked confused.

"What is he talking about?" she asked. Zoe turned towards Monika.

"Just ignore Mikey," she told her. "He's always giving Abe a bad time." Monika looked surprised, then turned towards Mikey, glaring at him.

"And just why is that?" she demanded. Uh-oh, I thought inside my head. I should've known my "girlfriend" would be overprotective of me. My mind was suddenly filled with horrible images of what she would do to Mikey. However, Mikey just gave that grin again.

"Because he's the easiest to annoy," he told her. What happened next nobody saw coming.

Monika brought back her hand, and struck Mikey hard on the cheek. The smack was so loud I swear you could've heard it from outside. Mikey brought his hand to his cheek, and stared blankly ahead. Everybody stared at Monika in surprise, who looked equally as shocked. That's when it hit me: In the game, Monika had never caused any physical harm to the other girls directly. She had just monkeyed around with their coding, causing them to grow depressed and kill themselves. I guess Monika had never hit anyone in her life, because she looked surprised and appalled.

"Perhaps we should end home group early today," I suggested. One by one, everyone got up and left, Mikey still clutching his cheek as he walked out the door. Nathan turned before he left, and looked at Monika.

"You look familiar," he told her. Then he was gone. Monika looked at me nervously, because I was just standing there, a calm expression on my face. I swear she looked like she was going to cry.

"Abe, I'm sorry," she sighed. "Mikey was being a jerk, and I overreacted. I didn't mean to cause you trouble." I guess she was expecting me to get angry, maybe yell at her or rage flip the coffee table. (By the way, I have rage flipped the table only once, and the thing's legs hit me in the face and gave me a nasty black eye. Sufficient to say, I never did it again.) Instead, I burst out laughing, which caught her off guard.

"It's okay," I told her. "Mikey's had that coming for a while." I looked at her. "Gosh, I just realized: you haven't eaten at all today! You must be starving!" Monika nodded.

"Very," she admitted. "Is it almost dinnertime?" I looked at the clock. It was about 3:20. Usually, I eat around five o'clock, but sometimes if I'm hungry earlier than that I eat earlier, like around 4:00. So I decided to do that for Monika, so she could actually get some nourishment.

"Close enough," I told her. "I'll make something to eat. Any requests?"

"Anything for a vegetarian diet," she told me. "Is that alright?" I had forgotten: in the game, Monika says in one of her dialogue prompts that she's a vegetarian, because of the large carbon-footprint of the meat industry, or something like that. Luckily for her, I don't buy meat. Not because I'm also vegetarian, but because my job at the library only supports me so far, and meat is expensive. So my diet frequently consisted of vegetables and eggs I bought from this farmer I knew, store-bought soups, and homemade snacks.

"I've got a couple cans of vegetable soup in the pantry," I told her. "How does that sound?" Monika smiled.

"Abe, anything you make is good enough for me." I nodded, then noticed Monika was thinking of something else. "So, if I'm going to be staying with you now, where will I sleep? Do you have a guest bed or something?" I cursed.

"No, unfortunately." Then I looked at my couch. I had gotten it for cheap at a yard sale, so that meant it was worn and a little beaten. But, it was also a pull-out. "But my couch is a pull out. Is that okay?" Another smile from Monika.

"That works."

"Okay. Well, I'll go get the soup cans, and then while dinner simmers, I'll go grab some blankets for you."

"Sounds like a plan," Monika said. So I went down to get the soup. Although I was still a little wigged out that Monika was alive and living in my house, she wasn't all that bad. And she was pretty cute, too. So far, my first day with Monika had come to an interesting conclusion.