Mismatched Shoes

by Azel Hellfist

You decide this would be a good place to stop and collect your thoughts. You hear someone walk up behind you, and you look over to see a pair of black slacks and mismatched Converse All Stars… JadexOC, alternate-reality.

7. Chapter 7

== Chapter 7: All's Fair in Love and War

- zenmasterPhysicist [ZP] began pestering neuroticAuthor [NA] at 13:14 -

ZP: heyyyy sis!

NA: sup bro?

ZP: not much, just the chillz.

ZP: well

ZP: mostly

NA: oh?

ZP: remember that jade girl I was talkin about?

NA: yeah?

ZP: Im thinkin about

ZP: like

ZP: seriously askin her out?

NA: well, you said it yourself she's pretty cool, right?

ZP: yeah, yeah, cool, smart, good lookin

ZP: a trifecta of perfection that's almost too good to be true.

NA: almost isnt the real thing though

ZP: true

ZP: …

NA: go for it, dude. if you really think you want to, do it.

NA: what can you lose?

ZP: true statement.

ZP: also true statement:

ZP: I still have to talk to her about her ex. Cause I may or may not have promised her ex's brother that I would.

NA: …really?

ZP: Hey, even you would agree he should get a chance to apologize.

NA: yeah, that's true. Though she may not like to hear that

ZP: we all hear crap we dont want to, yknow?

NA: yeah… I know exactly what you mean.

ZP: mom still givin you crap about rad?

NA: when does she not?

ZP: true.

NA: she still givin you crap about college money?

ZP: she's givin me crap for buyin a computer. "what if your car breaks down? What if you get in a wreck?"

ZP:what if, what if, what if, man

ZP: Ive been saving for a computer for two years now

ZP: and heck, if I didn't go in the hospital last year, I'd have long since had one.

NA: for sure.

ZP: alright, well, Im gonna go talk to jade… =3

NA: alright! good luck, little brother! 3

ZP: 3 oh, and for the record, when it comes to conrad, mom's full of crap.

ZP: yeah, he's got problems, but so do the rest of us.

NA: yeah, I know.

ZP: aiight peace

NA: bai bai!

- zenmasterPhysicist [ZP] ceased pestering neuroticAuthor [NA] at 13:29 -

You close out purple text belonging to your sister, and open a window with Jade. Of course, you aren't going to ask her out over the internet, because let's be honest, that is not cool at all; but you want to make sure she isn't busy first. You stop for just a minute though before you do it, because you start getting a rather nervous feeling in your gut. You take a moment to meditate and calm yourself back down before pestering Jade. After all, you shouldn't get all worked up over it…

== Jade: Get all worked up over it.

You are Jade, and you are definitely getting all worked up over it. It's been just a few days since Mike came over to watch movies with you and your brother, and you are just sure that you want to go out with him now. You have no idea if he feels the same though, and you have no idea whether you are ready to get into another relationship yet. You decide that Rose would be a good person to talk to about it, so you sit down at your computer and pull up Pesterchum. You have no longer been getting messages from Dave for you to ignore. He's probably gotten the message that you don't want to talk to him, which is good; though you are starting to feel a little bad about ignoring him all the time. You went through a few of the messages he sent you once after he had gotten off, and really all he wants to do at this point is apologize. You think it might be a good idea to at least let him apologize. You decide to save that for later though, and open a conversation with Rose.

- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 13:19 -

GG: rose! are you there?

TT: Yes, Jade, I am here. Is there something you need, dearest friend?

GG: yeah… ummm… so its about mike

TT: Ah, our dear friend Mike. I took the liberty to speak to him a few days ago, after your movie party. He is quite a good boy. I quite approve of him, Jade.

GG: rose! this is serious!

TT: I am being completely serious. He is quite the perfect match for you, you know.

GG: you really think so…?

TT: If I didn't think so, I wouldn't have told you.

GG: :S i really think i like him, rose. i mean, like, a lot.

TT: The way you have acted over the past few days has very much said about the same.

GG: really, rose? youve known all this time and you didnt say anything?

TT: You never asked.

GG: do you… think he likes me too?

TT: I believe that is a possibility. With his rather… unique personality it's honestly a bit hard to read him over text alone. He just puts off that vibe of being rather strange and snarky.

GG: well, that sounds like mike :P

TT: Yes, well, if I had any guess, I'd say if he did have a form of infatuation for you, he would be making a move on it within a very short amount of time.

GG: really? o: rose! he just pestered me! what if he's gonna ask me out? ohhh what do i say? what do i do?

TT: Do what feels best. I do actually need to go get ready for my own excursion with John later this evening. I shall talk to you later, Jade.

GG: oh yeah! have fun on your date! ;)

TT: Yes, well, I'm sure it will be quite fun.

TT: Goodbye, Jade

GG: bye! 3

- tentacleTherapist ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 13:32 -

You close out that window, and look at the blood red text that replaces itself on your screen, and the picture of Mike and that Jamaican guy that accompanies it. You have to remind yourself to not hold your breath as you read what he said to you…

- zenmasterPhysicist [ZP] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 13:32 -

ZP: hey, Jade, are you busy?

GG: nope! not busy at all! whats up?

ZP: well, there was somethin I kinda wanted to talk to you about.. think I could come over?

GG: ummm… right now?

ZP: well, unless it's a bad time, then it can wait

GG: no! its just fine! you can come on over!

ZP: aiight awesome… be there in 5

- zenmasterPhysicist [ZP] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 13:34 -

You are really excited now because what kind of a thing does a guy want to actually come talk to you in person about unless it's important? You go over to the mirror to make sure you are decent enough to have company, and from the corner of your eye you see your brother in the door. He's wearing his black shirt with the green slime on it, a green button-down shirt over it, unbuttoned, and a pair of jeans. On his feet are green Converse, which you didn't even know he owned.

"If you're wondering, Mike actually let me borrow these for tonight. Said they'd work well on me. I kinda like 'em… they're really comfortable," he says, twisting his feet around and examining them. You grin at him and said, "You're letting Mike be your wingman now? Man, someone might get jealous!" You lengthen that last word out in a sing-songy voice and laugh.

"Well, you can't exactly ask your date's brother to be your wingman… that'd just be weird," he said, blushing, "I can't believe Rose actually said yes." You walk over to him and tidy up his messy hair a little bit and say, "Don't be silly, of course Rose would say yes. You're so lovable, you know."

"For a derpy prankster who loves Nic Cage?" he looks at you, grinning, "But I guess it's better than being a derpy gardener who loves science. At least I have some entertaining hobbies!" You smack him on the arm as you both laugh, and you cross your arms over each other's shoulders as you go down the stairs to the front room.

"Hey, have fun tonight! Give Rose a hug from me, and give her five from you!" you tell him, as you give him a hug before he walks out the door. "Yeah… we'll see about that," he replies, turning a slight shade of pink. He then turns and walks out the door, and as he gets in his car, your Dad's old one, you see Mike's green cavalier pull up and park beside him. John rolls down his passenger window, and they exchange a few words that you can't hear over the two engines, and then John pulls out of the driveway.

Mike walks up to the door, which you left open for him, and waits for you to motion for him to come inside. He walks up to you, clears his throat, and simply says, "Hey."

"Hey, what's up?" you reply back, suddenly self-conscious as he seems to be looking you over. You look down at your feet and when you look back up he's staring straight at your face.

"There's something I really, really want to say… and I have no idea how to say it. That's why I've never done it really very well in the past, I mean the first time I don't even remember how I said it, and then the second time I had appendicitis so I remember nothing from that time either. I'm pretty much at a loss, here," he starts rambling. You start feeling butterflies in your stomach as he stops and just looks at you again, and you can see what seems to be anxiety in his eyes.

"You know how they say actions speak louder than words?" he asks you, and you begin to say something about how this guy you know always says that, but he stops you before he starts by striding forward and putting a gentle hand on your cheek, "Takes a lot to get louder than me, though." And with that said, he leans forward until his lips meet yours and you feel like your insides just exploded because it's just like you thought it was going to be, and for a guy who doesn't even know how to put his feelings into words, he really knows how to act on them, and you start kissing him back, and you pull him closer, and he does the same. Neither of you pull away until the need for oxygen is too strong and you both pull away.

You look up at him and smile what feels like the biggest, happiest smile you've ever had and you say, "I think I got the message pretty clear." He grins at you and you take his hand and lead him up to your room and the two of you sit down on your bed. You lay your head on his chest and look up at him, and he puts his arm around you, and lays his hand on your side. He looks at you, and there's joy in his eyes, but also a seriousness, and he says, "Now, there's one other thing I do need to talk to you about…"

== Mike: Feel like you're about to screw something up.

You are Mike, and you definitely feel like you are going to screw something up right now. You just basically kissed your way into this one, which beats the heck out of the last two times, especially since you don't remember either one. But now that you've done that, you do have a favor to keep.

"What do you need to talk to me about?" she asks you, turning to lay on her stomach, resting her chin on the backs of her hands that she folded over each other on your chest. Which is a positively gorgeous position for her to be in, it's so innocent and lovely, and you really need to stay focused here, Mike, you're saving douchebags like you do all the time.

"It's… it's about Dave. I've been talking to Dirk a bit lately, and… well, he told me that no one can persuade you to even give Dave a chance to apologize," you start explaining it, and you are actually surprised that the smile hasn't faded from her face yet, so you continue, "And no matter what he did, I really do think he should at least have that chance."

"I agree, Mike. I really do, for the past couple days I've been thinking the same thing, I just haven't gotten around to it yet," she replies, and you literally breathe a sigh of relief, that went a lot better than you thought it was going to. You grin down at her and say, "Well, that's all that I actually had on the talking agenda. So what do ya wanna do now?"

"Oh, I could think of a few things," she says, bringing her face closer to yours, and she brings it inches away and then stops and grins, "Let's go to the park!" You blink in surprise at that, but you grin and agree to it, and she jumps up and runs to go get some shoes on. You shake your head, and pull out your phone, shooting a text to Dirk that reads "Mission 'douche-gets-a-second-chance' is a success. No thanks necessary, just get me that footage of the blind girl running into the wall." By the time you finish typing it out, she's ready to go, and she decides to race you down to your car. You can't help but laugh at the kid-like energy that she has, and as you step outside you look down at the reply text that simply reads, "I'll send it to you when you get home." You hop in your car, and unlock the passenger door for Jade, and as you drive to the park you send out one more text to your sister, saying, "It was definitely worth it. =3"

== Jade: Talk to the douchebag.

After spending a few hours at the park, Mike said that he had to go home and work on a paper for school, so he drops you off at your place, and you decide you might as well get the Dave thing over with. You boot up your computer and open a conversation with Dave.

- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 18:56 -

GG: okay, dave, what do you want?

TG: jade look i just want to say im sorry

GG: and?

TG: im sorry i cheated on you with tz and i really shouldve used my head, and i mean the big man, not the little man.

TG: the little man doesnt know s***

GG: haha okay, dave, i forgive you! we can totally be friends again

TG: thats all i really want harley

TG: look i even made you a comic

- turntechGodhead [TG] sent gardenGnostic [GG] a file: -

GG: hahaha dave! thats so silly!

TG: what can i say harley im the comic making master

TG: all the other comics bow to my mastery of comics and all things cool

GG: i dunno about that! i found a guy who could give you a run for your money on being the coolest!

TG: oh really

TG: who could possibly do that

TG: im the master of chill man, im so chill we don't need an ac im all the ac we need in here

GG: i met this guy a few weeks ago mike, and we just started going out today! we went to the park and played on the swings!

TG: oh really

TG: can he beat a strider at a game of whos more chill

GG: i bet he could! he meditates all the time so his chill meter is like

GG: through the roof! :o

TG: well thats something that well have to find out

GG: totally! you guys could have a cool-off!

GG: wow, that sounds a lot weirder than it did in my head

TG: well i gotta go harley

TG: you know me livin it big

TG: got a lot of irons in the fire

TG: lot of crap i gotta do

GG: alright dave! talk to you later!

TG: later harley

- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 19:05 -

You grab some PJs to change into, and head off to the bathroom to freshen up, and then you decide you should settle down to play your bass for a bit. Mike was telling you about a keyboard piece he was working on, and he told you that you could totally make an "epic bass line that would just go fantastically with it". He was going to send you some sound files and sheet music later tonight, so you could get to work. You can't wait for a chance to jam out with him!

== Mike: Schadenfreude

- timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering zenmasterPhysicist [ZP] at 20:20 -

- timaeusTestified [TT] sent zenmasterPhysicist [ZP] a file: -

TT: The video, as promised.

ZP: aiight, hold on, let me watch it.

TT: It really is a great piece of art. I found another camera had picked up a good angle, so I spliced the footage together.

ZP: Oh my goodness dude, this is amazing!

ZP: There needs to be gifs made of this, dude! Just this chick in red shades banging into a wall again and again.

ZP: oh man, I would die! I would die all the time of laughter!

TT: Schadenfreude is quite amusing. It has even mustered a few chuckles out of Rose, though that may be partly vengeance due to the harm that blind chick has done to Jade. Glad you two are going out, by the way.

ZP: Haha thanks bro. Speaking of, I have some music files to send her, and then I have a paper to work on for a bit, so I'll talk to you later.

TT: Alright. Have fun, kid.

ZP: It's a paper on time theory, it should actually be really fun.

TT: Oh you and Dave and your time shenanigans, I swear. You two would actually get along really well.

ZP: Well, perhaps we will.

ZP: Alright, dude, peace.

TT: Later.

- zenmasterPhysicist [ZP] began pestering timaeusTestified [TT] at 13:19 -

You change your status to appearing offline, and wait for Jade to log on so you can give her the files for the music you're working on. You decide to get to work on the paper while you wait, and when she logs on you send her the files and chat with her a bit, and confuse her to death with the strange time theories that you're writing about. After a couple of hours she decides to go to bed, and you manage to wrap up your paper. JR shoots you a message asking about Starcraft again and this time, you agree and the two of you own some two-versus-two matches for a bit.

You decide to go to bed around midnight, and you wonder if you'll dream that same dream again…

== Mike: Dream

You are dreaming about an island in the middle of nowhere, with a frog temple and a volcano, and a very strange looking house. You are closest to the temple, so you start walking towards it, but there's a green flash and you find yourself walking into the house instead. You find a large spiral staircase inside, and instead of taking them, you find there are teleports in the middle of the floor you can use instead. You take them all the way to the top, where you walk into a room that looks familiarly like Jade's, just round instead of square. Jade herself is sitting on her bed, looking out the window, and she turns and looks at you.

"Hi Mike, how'd you get to the island?" she asks you happily, and you shrug as you sit down next to her on the bed. You reach for her hand, but she shakes her head and when you question her, she says "if you touch me the dream will break."

You replace your hand in your lap and look at the walls, full of evidence of her various interests. When you look back at her, Jade has dog ears again, and is wearing that black dress that she was wearing on the golden ship. When you ask her about it, she laughs and says "It's because of when I reached god-tier! It's because my sprite was prototyped with my dream-self and Bec, my semi-omnipotent dog."

You look at her, and she laughs and says, "It's just from a game, silly, it doesn't matter. But aren't the ears cute?" she giggles and talks about how she wishes you could scratch behind her ears without the dream ending. You decide to reach up and do it anyway, and for a few moments she closes her eyes and seems to be in complete bliss. When you stop, she looks at you, and you both start leaning forward, and as your lips are about to meet, the island, the house, and everything but the two of you disappear. You start falling, but Jade seems to hang in the air, and she catches your hand. You try to hold on, but you can feel yourself slipping out of her grasp, and soon you start falling again, away from her.

You never stop falling. At least, not until you wake up.

== End Chapter 7.

I'm just going to say, writing a conversation between characters which represent yourself and your sister is both the easiest and hardest thing I've ever done. It was especially hard to keep track since I was chatting with her as I was writing this bit. I also really love writing these dream sequences. Dreams are fun.