As I rode the long elevator up, I brushed my hair like five times with my hands, looking at my camera in selfie mode, two things I did incredibly rarely. I am not a selfie person, and my hair is just my hair, I keep it short because it’s annoying otherwise. But for my new kind of date with Stella, I did want to look nice.

I had never been to her place before and was stopping by for a “let’s assess moving the big furniture” deal as well as an almost sort of date. I think we were both more excited about the latter but we’re dweebs so we didn’t want to just say that. Stella had been over to my place so much that even though she still had plenty to bring over it did feel like our place. But her apartment was another story. A big apartment building in the big city of Litus Empirica.

I couldn’t imagine ever living there, and I don’t know how she managed to for so long without losing her mind. Suburbs are just fine for me because if I really need to go to the city for an event or convention or something, I can get in and get out more easily. Actually living there though? How did she get her groceries up to her place? How did she deal with the constant traffic? Just finding a spot in the parking ramp connected to her building stressed me out majorly.

The elevator ding brought me back to more important things. At Stella’s place, I adjusted my hair a bit more as I waited for her to answer.

“Hey there,” Stella said as she opened the door. “Welcome to uh, to my current and soon to be former…er. Place.”

“Heh,” I said. “Want to give me the ol’ tour there? While it’s still current, prior to it being former?”

“I think that may be able to be arranged.” Stella said.

Again, we’re both ginormous dweebs and it was a miracle we found each other because anyone else that had to respond to the inane nonsense spewing out of us would probably have turned and ran away to avoid radiation from the intense awkward levels.

Once I got my jacket and shoes off and Stella began showing me around, we both chilled out on the ‘trying so hard to be cutesy or clever or something to cover up nerves that all our sentences come out like weird robot dorks’ deal we had going on.

“It’s kind of bittersweet showing you this right before the move,” Stella said.

“Then let’s just make tonight real special.” I said.

“I like it.” Stella said. “Dinner still has a bit to go in the oven, so plenty of time for the tour.”

“And you made that casserole, right?” I asked, sniffing. “It smells as good as those pictures looked.”

“I hope it turns out as good as that last one,” Stella said.

Stella’s apartment was nicer in some ways than I pictured it and less nice in others. I pictured a big city apartment as more of a sitcom looking place, while hers was more basic looking. The carpet was a little uglier than the fancy one I pictured. I also imagined it’d have this sleek, kinda dark aesthetic when in reality it had a very beige hued color scheme. But it was still Stella’s place, and I still somehow made it to the point where we were on a date there, something I’d longed for but didn’t think was possible. Longing for anything with Stella and it not fully sinking in that I was getting to do many of those things with her was a frequent internal battle. Kind of a fun one though, as whenever it did start to sink in that I was with Stella I got real goofy happy.

“We got the living room here,” Stella said. “The kitchen’s kind of connected to it but the island counter thing divides the two.”

“This whole arrangement here definitely needs to come over,” I said, gesturing to the table and chairs that looked a lot better than the ones at my place that I got from a store for like 20 bucks total.”

“Agreed,” Stella said. “I don’t want to have dinners on that card table permanently, you know?”

“Definitely.” I said.

I couldn’t help but stare as the tour continued, as I noticed Stella was in yoga pants. “Bathroom’s over there, closet next to that,” Stella said, my sight a bit entranced by her swaying hips. “Across from that is Zeta’s room.”

Zeta’s room was about how I pictured it, with lots of Raina Starlight posters, books, and figures.

“And last up is your room?” I asked, maybe a bit too hopefully.

“Yes, but let’s save that until after dinner, if you don’t mind.” Stella said. “I have a feeling given how you were staring at my ass there that if we went to my room now, we would forget about eating and the whole thing would get burned.”

I grinned to match hers. She had told me a bit she liked when I stared at her. “Well, we’d each be eating something.” I said.

Stella rolled her eyes, but still laughed. Her deep gut laugh never failed to make my heart soar.