"Ready?" Marigold offered her fist.
"Ready." I bumped her fist.
"You two are so adorable," Mom responded as she rang the doorbell to Connor's house.
Ms. Sandy opened the door and let us in. She and Mom said their hellos quick and sped into the kitchen. Sirius and Connor were in the living room looking at a large book.
I smiled big and went straight for a hug like always.
"Oof."
"S-sorry!" I stepped back but I held my arms out around him. I could catch him if he leaned too far to one side. "A-are you okay?" I've been so good about my approaches.
"F-fine. Really." He cleared his throat and smiled at me. "Here."
"Hm?" He hugged me tightly. It felt like it did before. Warm and solid. A real hug. When we let to go, Sirius grabbed our attention.
"Nice to finally meet you in the flesh, Annie." Sirius is a marten. He had a patch of golden fur on his chest and his hair was a dirty blond. The rest of him was a dark brown that almost looks red. His hair was pretty straight, not long but there was a patch over his right eye that curled up.
Until now, I only saw Sirius through a screen. Never could find the time, I guess. Oh well.
"Nice to meet you too."
"So, card game? I've got one still in the plastic."
"Ooooh."
This was still kind of new to me, but I got it the first time Connor opened one up with me. There was a feeling to a new set of cards and new game pieces. When I got my own copies of some of the games we like, I got what he meant. What I remember the most is the colorful desserts on the cards. I made and helped Mom make most of the ones on the cards.
We sat around the coffee table to take a good look at the game. Connor and I sat on one side of the table while Marigold and Sirius sat on the other.
"We're having strawberry shortcake tonight, right?" Marigold held up the card with the cake and a smiling strawberry on top.
I smiled. "Uh-huh. Ms. Sandy gets to be Mom sou chef tonight."
"You sure you don't want to help?" Connor asked.
"Yeah, they can handle it," I waved any doubt away.
"Why so little faith in your mom?" Sirius asked as he looked at a few more cards.
"Well, she's usually not a bad cook but Ms. Amy has been teaching her complicated recipes and everything's been… terrible. She's been using me as a guinea pig."
"Ouch."
"It's a work in progress. She can make a chocolate lave cake pretty well now," I defended Ms. Sandy.
"Fair enough, that was actually pretty good," Connor pointed out. "She went through a lot more flour than I thought possible for such as small dish, though. And I gained more weight than I needed." He gestured to himself with wide arms. "But I'd rather be stuffed with chocolate than quiche."
"Never had quiche before." Sirius looked off like Marigold would.
"No?" I asked.
"Never."
"Come by the café and we'll whip it up."
"Thanks. Wait, so it's just a café? I thought it was a full restaurant."
I shook my head. "Mm-mm. Mom's been playing with the idea but…" I looked down. I still didn't like talking about this. Not that I ever would. I just wanted my life back.
"I, uh, I heard."
"Yeah, I-"
Connor took my hand and I blinked. It was different. His hand and Caleb's hand were different. For one thing, his were smaller and not as strong. But when he squeezed my hand, I felt safe and like I was there in the moment. There with my friends on my first date. Like I didn't have a multiweapon in my glove or felt sore from training two days ago. There was something glowing in my heart like when the fireflies first light up in the summer. When I looked at him, he looked so sad and sorry.
"I, um, it's fine. We're fine," I reassured everyone… mostly Connor. "Mom and Dad and everyone are taking care of it." I wasn't about to let robot attacks ruin our double date.
"I would save that one." Connor said.
"No cheating." Marigold snapped.
"The third round is the real round, you know the rules, Marigold." Connor responded.
"Maybe we can do teams next time." Sirius offered. "It has 2 player rules." He set his cards down and looked at the pamphlet. Marigold looked over his shoulder.
"Yeah, that would fun," I said.
"Sorry," Sirius set the pamphlet down. "Got distracted. Your play Annie."
I trusted Connor's pick and set it down. It was a special card.
"You can give one of your cards to anyone of us." Connor told me.
"And you don't have to pick one up this turn." Sirius added.
I gave a card to Connor who played the card I gave him. Everyone donated a card to the pile. Marigold and Sirius played plain cards. I was down to two cards. I picked the card that Connor told me not to use earlier. I looked over and he didn't say anything. It was the only card I could use.
I played the golden plate. Everyone groaned except Connor. He turned his head to me and held out his hand to me. "Good play."
He winked with his eye that Marigold and Sirius couldn't see.
I giggled. "Thanks Connor." I shook his hand. There were some tingles and I felt warm.
Mom called us for dinner, then.
"Two players afterwards and then the House game?" Marigold suggested.
"Yeah!" I love the house game. It was Marigold's and mines favorite. I love building the house as we go. We like making the most ridiculous paths and some of the cards come with mini stories.
Mom and Ms. Sandy let us eat on our own in the dining room while they ate in the kitchen. We got the choice between alfredo and a meat sauce for our pasta. The rolls were fresh and buttery, just like they're supposed.
"Hm…"
"What's up Connor?" I asked.
"Mom made this one," Connor commented.
"How can you be so sure?" Sirius asked.
"Mom likes to use more cream. And the way Ms. Amy makes it, she adds a kind of lemony aromatic."
We all stared at him for a second.
"And there's no unnecessary greens." He quickly said.
"A little spinach doesn't ruin it." I defended my mom's dish. "The sauce helps get more greens into our diets."
"Since when do you know so much about cooking?" Marigold asked.
"I've been bored…" Connor groaned. "That, and Mom's been tweaking Ms. Amy's recipes."
"So, can you tell if they both made the meat sauce or if it was just Ms. Amy?" Sirius asked.
"Maybe."
"Here." I used my fork to gather up some sauce and pasta. I held out the fork to him. He didn't take it. "Hurry! Before any sauce drips!"
He grabbed my hand to steady the fork and took the bite. I couldn't move. I don't know if it was because he grabbed my hand or that I just realized he stook my fork in his mouth, but my heart and face were boiling. I offered the bite to him. I wasn't thinking. I was too curious to actually think.
"Well," Connor's voice snapped me back to the table and I stared at him. "It's savory and a little spicy. Definitely, Ms. Amy. Mom prefers hers on the sweeter side and we can't handle spicy food."
"I'm getting the savory but not the spicy," Sirius explained.
"Mom held back on the pepper flakes," I said. Enough talk about food passed so my face didn't burn anymore.
"I'm with Connor on the spicy taste," Marigold said. "It's good though, definitely better than my dad's." Then she whispered, "But don't tell him I said that."
We laughed.
"Cool. The box looks spooky." Sirius commented as we set up the game. "Speaking of which, how's Audrey?"
"She's being quiet. She always does around this time of year, so she gets presents at Christmas."
Audrey is the resident ghost of the funeral home where Marigold's mom works. Audrey's family used to own the funeral home, they actually lived there. Poor Audrey died when she got run over by a car. She never left. Marigold said that she likes to move things around and play in the yard.
"Any new friends?" I asked.
Marigold has been trying to sense spirits ever since she met Audrey. She wants to see if she has the gift like her grandma or if this was a fluke.
"No." She groaned. "It's not fair, we need to see some actual haunted places. I'm never going to find anything here."
"Maybe I can fly us out to some haunted places," I offered.
"Can you?" She leaned towards me.
"If your parents say it's okay, yeah. I'm sure Caleb would love to come with us too to keep us safe."
"We still might need an actual adult though," Connor replied. "Trick or treating around the neighborhood is one thing, but actually getting in a private plane to who knows here is something else entirely."
Marigold groaned. "Connor's right. Even if we go with your dad, they probably won't let me go outside the town."
"Same here." Sirius looked up like Marigold would do. "But… I might know a place we can check out."
"Where?"
"I don't know if it's haunted, but it's abandoned. Our town used to have a pretty big university, but the student population grew smaller and smaller so there's student housing that they don't use anymore."
"That's trespassing." Connor pointed out.
"Wouldn't we actually have to go inside for it to count," I responded.
"Do you think you'll be able to sense something from outside the building?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know, but it wouldn't hurt to try."
"Let's plan for Spring Break then."
"Role a 5 and your safe, otherwise, you take 2 points of physical damage." Connor explained.
Sirius rolled 3 dice.
"6." We recited.
"What does the card say?" I asked. There were so many cards, and they all had their little rules, or they were useless. There was always a different scenario when we played, and we still haven't played through all of them.
"I… get one point of physical strength back."
"We're back in the running." Connor cheered. "If Marigold hands her pistol to you, and Annie and I find the spell book, we might make it out alive."
"Wouldn't it make more sense to keep moving?" Sirius asked.
"The werewolf is going to get to her in two turns, you should be more than strong enough to take it down with the pistol. After that, you guys can explore down there while we explore the rest of the house. Annie your move," Connor instructed.
"Right."
"What if Annie comes to help with the shield?" Sirius asked.
"Um…" We counted the spaces and calculated a minimum of three turns to get there and that's if I get passed the dungeon to reach them.
"Nope. She wouldn't get there in time." Connor said.
"Darn it! Okay, fine."
"Your move, Annie," Connor said.
I moved and explored, but no book. The werewolf reached Marigold.
"Okay, I should get 2 extra dice to roll."
She rolled 4 dice to defend herself. She lost 1 point of physical damage.
"Still alive." We sighed.
Marigold reached Sirius and gave him the pistol card. We explored more and still no spell book. The mummy was slow but hard to kill.
The monster attacks with…
7.
Sirius defends with…
7.
We all released a breath we were holding.
"Marigold, you should double back." Sirius told her.
"It wouldn't do any good."
"If I roll bad, that thing will kill you."
"If you roll low, the pistol will be trapped there for like three turns and I'll die the next turn anyway because I can only move two spaces. I end my turn. Your move."
He sighed. "Why didn't you warn me?"
"I told you it gets intense!"
"But three hours?!"
"Roll dude!" Connor exclaimed with arms up in the air.
He attacks with…
8.
The monster defends with…
6.
"We got a hit."
"Wohoo."
We went around again and finally found the book. So, I made my way to Connor because I managed to get a ring to help with dice rolls. The monsters made their moves and Sirius was on the defensive again.
It took two turns for Sirius to completely destroy the werewolf.
"Finally! Wow…"
"Okay, okay, now the mummy."
I moved to Connor's spot.
He attacked the mummy with…
7.
Mummy defends with…
4.
"No way!"
"Ha."
We laughed and cheered. We let out sighs that we didn't know we were holding in. My heart was starting calm down from the stress.
"Sounds like game night is over…?" Ms. Sandy asked as she and Mom stepped in.
We told them it was.
"Good, Sirius, your mom should be here any minute."
Mom sent Sirius home with leftovers. Sirius and Marigold hugged goodbye and then he left. We didn't stick around for very long after that.
When it came for me to give a goodbye to Connor, I kept myself from moving too quickly this time. I didn't let him take too many steps towards me.
"See ya Wednesday?"
"See ya Wednesday."
We hugged and it still felt different. I loved the fact that it was an actual hug. I knew I wasn't going to hurt him. I was happy that the date went well, and we had our usual plans, but I still felt kind of nervous. Before, I hugged him because that's what I do when I'm happy to see him. We weren't doing anything different, but they felt different. We weren't just friends anymore; we just went on a date so now all the hugs meant more than friendship. I smiled and felt the lightning bugs in my heart again.
When I caught up to Marigold and my mom, I let out a giggle when I saw the look on Marigold's face. She giggled with me and even my mom couldn't help but giggle with us.
"Hey, can I tell you something?" Marigold asked. We were on my bed after our double date. Marigold and I wanted the whole weekend for ourselves. Her parents were coming for her tomorrow in the afternoon.
"Of course," I sat up straight and set my tea down.
"You know how Connor liked you for a while?"
"Yeah…" She and Finn figured it out before Connor's coma. They never said anything to me because Connor asked them to keep it a secret. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to tell me.
"Well, I was kind of worried that you liked Caleb, who is great. But I thought Connor didn't have a chance. Since he's… you know…"
"Oh… well, I mean I get it." It wasn't a crazy idea. "But I don't feel that way about Caleb. Besides, someone from his school might be a better match." Someone who actually understands being an agent, who is strong and quick witted. They'd have to be nice and understand that we're best friends. They would be supportive and cool under pressure. They would have faith that he would come home and know he'd be successful on all his missions.
"Why do you say that?"
I shrugged. I hated lying to her and I was never good at it, but I needed to keep my promise to Caleb. Plus, it wasn't a complete lie. "A feeling."
"Like my kind of feelings or like Chaos Emeralds kind of feelings?"
"Best friend kind of feelings." I told her. "I don't really feel anything from the Chaos Emeralds, remember? Not really, not like Roxy and Brick." I realized then that I hadn't been to Angel Island in months. Wow… how did that happen?
"I thought they glowed when you talked to them."
I shook my head. "I said the Gray Chaos Emerald glowed when Caleb talked politely to the Gray Chaos Emerald."
"But wasn't he having trouble with it?" She dipped her head and looked at me through her eye lashes.
"Well… that's not what he said." He said it was different, but I didn't think it was because it was difficult for him. Caleb is amazing at what he does. Using the Chaos Emeralds just took a little more practice than we thought it would.
"He connected with it because you stepped in and helped him. Maybe, you just need more time and concentration for a full connection. Ooh, maybe some ancient chants will help." She smiled real big.
"You mean like from the Echidna clans?"
"Yeah, I don't have any books, but Mr. Knuckles is an even better resource. Maybe he can help."
"I don't know, I think any chants are only supposed to be for him to use as the Guardian."
She sighed, "Huh… more ancient secrets we'll never know." She blinked and asked, "But we're still going to check out Mystic Ruins, right?"
"I promise." I held my hand up. "We'll get a full tour, we'll explore some caves and we'll visit the Master Emerald."
She squealed. "I can't wait. Those glyphs look so cool. We'll walk on paths thousands of years old and get sucked into history…" I listened to Marigold's excitement. When she got started, there was no stopping her.
Everyone: I'm hoping the game play wasn't too boring to read and that everyone didn't sound the same. I want to say it was a fairly cute date. A little romance, a little raging hormones and an epic game night.
I might do like a five chapter story for Halloween involving our next gen gang on a little ghost hunt and actually meet Audrey. We'll see what happens
Guest: I've been playing with the idea of introducing Silver, Blaze and Marine. Not in this installment but in future projects. It's all up in the air. And thanks, that means a lot.
Next time, we check in on Caleb... the poor dear.