A/N: I am tired, so I must go to bed and try to sleep.

Goodnight, and enjoy the chapter you beautiful readers you! :)


(Near P.O.V)

I decided to leave the apartment for a while to get away from Mello and Matt. The two of them were just making me ill now with their constant cuddling and stealing kisses. Honestly, a few times I wondered if they even knew I was in the room with them. Plus the fact that Matt had woken me up with his scream of pleasure just the other night, so I figured I'd give them some alone time… and get away from the noises for a few hours.

Not that I wasn't happy for them, really I was, but seeing them together made me feel… sad. Sad because I was alone. I didn't have much option in this world for a partner, and the only person I struck a bond with was Mello… and he chose someone else. I knew that Wammys held a number of suitable partners, but none of them really captured my attention. Linda was the only exception, but she was too girly and bubbly for me. On a desperation attempt I would maybe choose her, but it wasn't fair to her if I did that and it wasn't fair to me.

So, I kept looking.

I really didn't much have a type, I suppose, but there had to have been something in Mello that I couldn't find in others. Maybe it was the confidence, or the looks…

Or maybe I was just jealous because he liked Matt more than me.

I groaned to myself as I stacked another card onto my tower. I was in the lobby at this point, not entirely caring that it was one in the morning and the crowd around me was slowly dying. The manager allowed me to stay when I told him my roommates were… erm… having some alone time.

I sighed. "I suppose I am as well."

Mello had been the first person I'd ever truly felt anything for. And I was beginning to believe no one else could make me feel that way again. The throbbing heart, the light headedness, and the constant warmth in my stomach. I'd loved all of that.

But now I just felt cold. Unfeeling. Like I was just a shell. It was the way I felt before realizing I had feelings for Mello. And I didn't like it.

I was about to give up on my card tower and knock it down, when a slender hand picked up a card and placed it at the top. I followed the hand and arm to a face that smirked at me. It was a female hand… a girl, maybe close to my age. If not, younger.

Her eyes were a bright green, almost enchanting like something you'd find in a fantasy novel. She wore a militant-looking hat with her light ashy-brown hair flowing down past her shoulders and to her sides and front. She wore a white tank top with black capris and shoes. She certainly wasn't here as a model, being that she'd be wearing something completely out there if she were, but she didn't look like a designer either. Maybe she was just a guest here at the hotel.

She cocked a thin eyebrow at me. "Are you going to keep staring at me?"

I blinked, realizing I was being rude, then looked away. "Sorry."

She chuckled. "No worries. I get stares a lot. Well, usually because of my attitude, but never for just trying to say hi."

She sat on the couch across from me. "My name's Olive."

"Olive?" I questioned, looking back at her. "Like… the food?"

She crossed her arms. "It's a nickname, kid. Don't you have one?"

I shrugged. "Technically, I suppose. My name's Near."

She smirked once more. "And you questioned my name? Well, I suppose we can't pick and choose our names or nicknames."

'How very untrue that is.' I thought to myself, considering I chose to be named Near when I was picked up by L.

She stacked another card onto my tower. "So, why are you down here, kid?"

I groaned. "My name's not 'kid'. And for your information I happen to be seventeen years old."

"Sixteen." She countered. "Yet, I'm still taller than you."

I stood up from my seat to prove her wrong, but the moment she stood up I knew I was beat. I was only five feet tall, but she seemed to have another six inches on me. Life just seemed to hate me today.

She chuckled at me. "You've got spunk, Near. It's not something you see in a lot of people. It'll get you pretty far." She gestured to the card tower and I smirked back at her.

We sat back in our seats and I piled on the next card. As we began building the tower higher and higher, she asked questions.

"So why are you down here of all places?"

I growled a bit. "Because my roommates are too loud." I said bitterly.

She hissed a bit at my pain. "That sucks. But you know what you could do?"

"What's that?"

She giggled. "Anytime you hear them, you use an air horn to scare them into losing the mood. If they wake you up, tape the air horn button down and throw it into their room. That should teach them to shut up for you."

I chuckled at the thought. "I like your way of thinking, Olive."

"Why thank you, Near." She smiled out. "I've learned a few tricks of the trade with my sister. She's actually a designer here."

"Is she?" I commented. "Are you here to help her?"

She sighed, reaching up to stack another card. "Nope, I'm here because I got nowhere else to be. After my parents died, my sister became my legal guardian and that's been a hellhole unlike any other."

I felt my heart ache for her loss. "I'm sorry to hear that. How long ago did they…?"

"About a year ago. Drunk driver crashed into them and… they didn't make it." She seemed incredibly upset with this. "After that, my sister was forced to take me in and I've been travelling with her and Lady Amelia for the duration of this stupid fashion show."

My ears perked at this. "Lady Amelia?" I asked. "Then, is your sister Iona? Her new prodigy?"

She laughed at this. "Her name is Iona, yes, but she's no prodigy. She's been learning under Amelia for two years now and not once has she been accepted into a show. No one wants her designs, and I can see why. She's tacky, overused, and unoriginal. I'm surprised lady Amelia hasn't dumped her for someone more competent."

I took note of her hostility towards her sister. "Why such harsh words for your own family member?"

Olive shrugged. "I suppose because I don't like her too much. She's bossy, loud, and treats me like a nuisance."

I blinked in surprise at this. "But, whenever I see her, she's always so quiet."

"Because she's smart. She knows that she'll get into less trouble if she says nothing and holds her tongue. But she's a loud mouth if ever there was one. Too bad she's not as smart as me though. Maybe that's why she hates me so much."

I stacked another card along with her. "Smart? How so?"

She grinned to herself at this. "When I was ten I graduated high school, and when I was fifteen I was done with university. My parents loved how smart I was and always made me feel special. Iona is smart to, but street smart more than book smart. She'd used to get mad at me whenever we watched detective shows and I always guessed who the killer was before the episode ended."

I smiled at this. "I do the same thing with novels. My brother Mello writes stories and would always give me a mystery story to try and solve. Before I used to get over ninety percent accuracy over who the killer was, but lately that's been dropping down to seventy percent."

She scoffed. "I can guess who the killer is all the time, any time. Just let me at one of his novels!"

I crossed my arms at her, knowing she couldn't take on a Wammy kid so easily. "You sure about that? Me and my brothers are pretty smart ourselves, and I'm too sure you'd be flustered with the twists and turns he puts in his stories."

"Oh yeah? What's your correct IQ?"

I smirked. "Mine's two-twenty, Mello's is two-eighteen, and Matt's is two-fifteen. Together, we're a pretty good team, especially since we all have different skillsets."

Now it was her turn to blink at me. "Wow. So I'm guessing you've all graduated from every school you could be a part of. My IQ is two-zero-five, but that's from a few years ago. I might have dumbed down while living with my sister."

I chuckled at this, smiling at her impressed nature.

She stacked the last card on the tower, then stepped back to admire our work.

"We make an alright team."

I grinned more at this. "I suppose we do."

A moment of silence passed between us and I suddenly didn't feel so cold anymore. I actually felt… warm. Like something was building inside of me and keeping me together for the first time in weeks.

She suddenly grabbed my arm. "Come on, let's go get that air horn for you. I'd feel better about leaving you to your roommates if you had a way of getting back at them for the loud noises."

"But it's almost two in the morning." I reminded. "Nothing will be open."

She hooked her arm onto mine. "Not true. I know a place that's open twenty-four seven. We can get am air horn there. And don't worry about muggers." She giggled out. "I'll take care of them for you."

I scoffed. "Muggers are easy to take care of if you're smart. Just throw something shiny at them then run away. They'll be distracted for hours."

She laughed at this. "Near, I believe this is the start of a beautiful relationship."

Relationship? Well, I suppose she meant as friends…

But she hadn't use the word 'friendship', now had she.

I smiled at this, feeling the cold pain in my heart disappear. Perhaps meeting her wasn't a bad thing. Maybe life didn't hate me.

Before we even left the hotel though…

"Olive! Get back here!"

We both turned around to see Iona stomping her way towards us, looking angrier than she'd put on when first meeting us.

I was so scared by Iona I only just barely noticed Olive quietly slip some paper into my hand. When Iona grabbed her hand and began pulling her away, nagging her about leaving the room so late at night, she turned to me and smiled. When they were out of sights, I opened the paper in my hands. In it was a phone number and the sentence 'Text me!' written along with it.

I couldn't help but smile brightly at this. A girl had actually given me her number! A girl actually wanted to spend time with me! A SMART girl! Someone Wammy house material! I could barely believe this!

There was no more coldness and emptiness inside me. It was all warmth and fuzziness. Like I'd become the stuffys I loved to hug.

It was then that I realized though…

That I had no idea how to ask her out.