Time Skip: Tomorrow

Third Person POV

Aaron and Karen went out to get decorations for the New Years party. They just got out of a store that sells neon lights. While they got out of the store, Karen took a deep breath of courage, which was unnoticed by Aaron, and said to him, "Hey Aaron, don't you think we've been working hard lately, I mean don't you think we should take a break?" Aaron replied saying, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a break today." Karen sighed in relief, she didn't think that it would work. "Do you have any ideas?" she asked. "Well," he started, "I do have this game system that I haven't played on since I got here, but I don't know if you'd like it." Karen quickly intervened saying, "I might like it, please Aaron." "Okay we'll play, follow me." And like that they walked to Aaron's house.

9 minutes later...

"This is basically my house, make yourself at home." Aaron said as he and Karen walked inside his home. "Not too shabby." Karen thought as she looked around. Aaron brought Aaron to the couch and said, "I'll be right back, I gotta get something from my room." In a second, Aaron ran upstairs. With Aaron gone Karen pulled out her phone and started to text to... Who is she texting to again?

Jessica.

Oh yeah, right.

Don't tell me you forgot your script already, man.

Of course not. Anyway, in the chat Karen texted:

Karen: Jess, I'm nervous. Aaron invited me to his house and I'm afraid I'll screw something up.

Jessica: It's okay Karen, calm down. Just be yourself and everything willbe okay.

Karen: Yeah, but this is Aaron we're talking about, he isn't like most people. If he doesn't like me back, then this would all be for nothing.

Karen: We're already best friends. If this goes wrong our connection will fall apart completely.

Jessica: Aaron is a nice and caring person that would do anything to make others happy. He won't reject you.

Karen: I guess you're right. Thanks Jess.

Jessica: You're welcome.

Karen put away her phone at the same time Aaron started walking down the stairs. In his hands he held a VR headset, a bracelet, and an anklet. Just like the ones Aaron has by the TV, but these all have a yellow stripe going across them.

"What are those for? Karen asked. "I'll show you right after you put these on." Aaron said at he gave Karen the set. Karen put everything on and wait for further instructions. Aaron walked over to the console and pressed the on button then took a spot on the couch. "Okay, now hold down on the button on the side of the headset and say 'Game On'." Aaron said. Karen put the headset on her face, held down the button and said, "Game on." And like that, Karen passed out. Well on the outside it looks like she passed out. But through her eyes she's going through this glowing yellow tube and screening with surprise, fear, and confusion. After 10 full seconds of screaming, the end of the tube was up ahead. At the end of the tube was a pad with ten colored circles on it. Karen reached the end of the tube and was safely put down on the yellow circle. "What. Was. That?" Karen said in the tone of some getting of a wild roller coaster. "That was the telepad." Karen turned around and saw Aaron coming through a green tube and landing safely on a the green circle. "Karen Beecher, welcome to the gaming hub." Aaron said.

"Aaron, you look different." Karen said. She's right. Aaron had a completely different look. Instead of his glasses, he has a hi tech visor that looks like it's from Cyberpunk. His left arm is a robot arm with a small screen on it, and for his clothes, he's wearing a black hoodie with three green streaks going through it, and underneath is an orange T-shirt. He has some jeans and some blue shoes with lightning bolt decals on the sides.

"Oh, this?" Aaron said referring to his look, "It's just how I look when I enter the hub. Gamers like me call this a skin." Karen was at a loss for words. "So wait, you're telling me that we're in a video game?" Karen said. Aaron nodded and said, "Follow me." Aaron walked towards this long hallway with Karen in tow. In this hallway was a bunch of different colored archways. These archways were portals to different games that Aaron played in the past years. Karen was amazed. She'd never seen anything like it. "Are all of these different games?" Karen asked. "Yep, you wanna pick one?" Aaron offered. "Really?" "Of course." Karen walked around and looked around and chose a portal that read 'My City' at the top. "What's this game about?" Karen asked. Aaron replied saying, "This game's about helping people move in your own personal town a keep them happy and living free." Karen liked the sound of that. She asked they could play it and Aaron said yes.

12 hours later...

Outside the gaming hub/virtual world was Karen and Aaron on the couch passed out. But if you look carefully, Aaron's hand was placed on top of Karen's. Karen was the first to wake up and took the headset off with her right hand and noticed that her left hand was under Aaron's right hand. When she saw this, her face went red. She quickly retract her hand when Aaron was getting up. "How was your first time in the gaming hub?" Aaron asked. "It was actually really fun." Karen said. On the inside, Karen was still thinking about Aaron's hand on hers. "We should do this again sometime." Aaron said. Karen looked on her phone and said, "Aaron, I have to get home. Can we meet up tomorrow at the park again?" Aaron nodded. "Great. I'll see you tomorrow." she said. And like that Karen walked out the door a waved goodbye.