“Wake up idiot!” Alex shouted. 

 

Niles sat up in his bed when he realized he had slept with his VR headset on full night. He pulled it off his face noticing that his friend was there, sitting on his desk looking over some papers. A strange look crossed Niles’ face.

 

[(1) New Message.] 

 

[Owl gave me your handle so I decided I will give you my number since we practically are a team now +16822135087.] 

 

Alex gawked over as he watched Nile's face turned red  and he began blushing furiously while his cheeks burned, afraid to turn to his friend seeing what Alex would say next.

 

“Niles, why aren’t you replying back yet?” Alex asked, annoyed.

 

“Huh? Uhhhhh…I was just distracted ...By…stuff. So ummm I don’t have enough brain cells left,” Niles stuttered.

 

“I can’t believe I fucking fell sleep with my VR headset on again!” Niles shouted. 

 

“So you makin that money yet?” Alex asked.

 

“Not yet…” He answered. 

 

He felt suddenly nauseous. He grabbed hold of his bedside table for support. His hand clutched tightly around a bottle of water he kept there. After drinking half the bottle, he calmed down a little, he was about to put the bottle back into its holder when his stomach suddenly felt awful. He vomited over the side of the bed. He collapsed on the floor gasping for air as his stomach clenched painfully. 

 

“That experience left me drained…Galena felt that way earlier,” Niles thought. 

 

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked. 

 

“Nothing…it’s nothing,” Niles replied.

 

After a couple minutes, Niles was finally able to stand up. His legs shook as he got up . He made his way to the bathroom. Before entering he saw his reflection in the mirror; his hair messy and his eye bags looked horrible. He groaned internally.

 

“Everytime I came in you were in the VR  headset, you seem sick, did you forget to take care of yourself?" Alex asked.

 

"I’m fine," Niles replied, trying to brush off the accusation. "The VR headset is a pain in my ass is all,” 

 

“You need to stop if it's making you sick, idiot!” Alex scolded.

 

“Why did you come by anyways?” Niles questioned. 

 

“I just got a VR set and would like to play with you! If you are gonna be a jerk then I will just play with Anthony,” He shouted. 

 

Niles had a sharp headache  as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He sighed deeply as he walked past Alex.

 

“You know I always love spending time with ya bro. It’d be nice having someone who could actually talk to me,” Alex said.

 

“Stop being so lame! Just go away and let me work!” Niles snapped back, turning away.

 

Alex huffed and stormed out angrily. Niles closed the door and leaned against it as he slid down to the floor. He took deep breaths as he closed his eyes trying to calm himself. 

 

“Alex, are you still there?” He asked. 

 

“Niles!” 

 

He heard Alex yell at the front as a young woman stood there dressed in a maid outfit. She seemed shocked that he had talked. She bowed.  She was beautiful . Long brown hair cascading down her shoulders like a waterfall. She was tall and slender with perfect curves under her clothes. Her dress was blue and black with white trim. The only piece of clothing she wasn't wearing was a pair of white stockings with long red tights underneath. She stared at him nervously.

 

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” She stuttered. 

 

Alex stared at Niles in shock as he stared at the girl with wide eyes.  He blinked several times before realizing where this was going. she certainly wasn’t a commoner.  Alex knew Niles was a bit eccentric at times but this was beyond that to the extent that it was crazy. Alex thought to himself.

 

“Hello Niles, my name is Maeve so I'm glad to finally meet you,” She giggled. 

 

He realized quickly it was Galena dressed in a maid cosplay  and not his roommate.

 

“Hey Galena...how's it going?" He asked, hoping he was able to conceal his jealousy. “How much do I owe you?" He joked.

 

She rolled her eyes at his antics. “Niles, please just listen to me. Can we go somewhere more private?”

 

“Private?!” Alex shouted. 

 

“Butt out!” Maeve yelled. 

 

“When did you get a girlfriend?” Alex questioned. 

 

“G-Girlfriend?!” Niles shouted. 

 

He glared at his friend. “We're not dating, dude!”

 

“Then how did she get here? You haven't dated anyone for a while,” Alex questioned.

 

Niles froze. He thought for a moment but he came up empty. He never really got close to anyone. A silhouette in his mind of one  A silhouette in his mind of one  particular girl entered his head. But he was sure there was no way it could be true…right? His heart began pounding hard in his chest. He swallowed thickly, trying to keep from hyperventilating.

 

“Maeve—” Niles was interrupted. 

 

They noticed the bushes were laughing as it rustled  loudly. They both glanced at the bush warily. A tall blonde popped up  from behind it  holding an acoustic guitar and grinning ear to ear. He started playing.  The melody sounded familiar somehow. As they watched, the figure started singing softly. They recognized the song immediately. There were also some lyrics thrown in there, but neither Alex or Niles were listening.

 

Dressed in a blue long shirt and pants with black vest. His hair tied into  a tight bun on top of his head.  With a slight blush to his cheeks.  Eyes sparkling with excitement.  He grinned at them, showing his white teeth. 

 

“Are you a current day bard?” Alex asked. 

 

“Can you guess who I am?” He smirked. 

 

 He began strumming his guitar louder. Niles and Alex listened intently as the song ended.  When the man finished Niles and Alex stood there stunned, still staring at the stranger who just sang.

 

“Uh...who...are...you?” Niles managed to ask. 

 

He motioned with his hands up and down like a bird . He laughed lightly, “You can call me....Owl,”

 

“Wait, how did you even manage to find me?” Niles asked. 

 

Owl gawked around to make sure no one was talking, but even then he was sure it was okay to  answer. He cleared his throat.

 

“For now all I can say is this little missy wanted me to find you and I decided to oblige the request…it is ironic they chose a lot of us to be located in the same area,” Owl noted. 

 

“Are you using your user name?” Alex asked. 

 

Owl was nervous. He didn't want anyone worrying about the situation. He didn't want to burden these people. Especially not Galena who suddenly was head over heels for this player killer. He stood there in disbelief as he looked at Niles' best friend and how ignorant of the world this boy is. 

 

“For now it's best that way,” Owl noted. 

 

“Calebbbbb!” A voice chimed. 

 

A young boy came running as Caleb realized his name was revealed making him pissed as he dropped his guitar. The newcomer ran at them with his mouth agape as he pounced on Caleb. 

 

“Hey Cayb,” He laughed. 

 

Caleb pushed the person off him  as they landed on their behind. He glared at the intruder and picked up his guitar.

 

"Watch where you're standing!" He growled.

 

"I am sorry Cayb. Did I frighten you?" The boy asked. 

 

“Sean! We agreed to stick to usernames and you royally fucked it!” Caleb roared. 

 

“I thought Owl was his real name!” Maeve questioned.  

 

Niles and Alex face palmed as Maeve didn’t seem to understand  what just happened. Caleb rolled his eyes and smiled at them.

 

“It’s a nickname,” Caleb explained.

 

“I came at the wrong time?” Sean asked. 

 

“Thank you Mr. Owl for bringing me to Niles!” She laughed. 

 

Caleb grabbed Sean by the collar angrily as he started to drag him away as the rest were confused  to what had just occurred. Niles slowly looked over at Alex, who was still staring in shock.  Niles sighed, knowing what he must have been thinking.

 

“You should have texted me!” Sean smiled. 

 

“You know me enough to not be reminded,” Caleb frowned. 

 

“Oops,” He smirked. 

 

Niles stared at Maeve as though they were the only ones in the room. Maeve gave a soft smile at him. She moved over closer to him. Niles looked at Maeve, his gaze lingering for a few moments before looking down. He nodded once.

 

“Snap out of it loverboy!” Alex shouted. 

 

“Huh?” Niles responded confused. 

 

It felt as though he was coming out of a haze in front of a pretty girl . It felt weird and strange to feel such a strong reaction toward someone he had seen only a couple times. Alex shook his head as he sat down in the grass.

 

A sudden sense something was wrong had him push her away. He turned away from her as he looked back at Alex. She had a sad look on her face. He knew it was his fault so he sighed.  This wasn't happening. It wasn't real. He kept telling himself.