I stood there straight as a board, my eyes as big as dinner plates. Lost for what to do, not knowing what had brought this on. I stayed like that a moment as the feeling slowly sunk in and forced me to focus on what was happening. A huge tingle ran down my spine, I relaxed, and gave in. I forgot where I was, lost to the pleasure, ignoring any rhyme or reason. Letting myself be carried by my emotions, not caring where it would take me.

The moment, though sweet, was short lived. Like a backlash, the massive rush left almost as quickly as it had come,and everything managed to surface at once. "What on earth am I doing?" I thought to myself. This was not the way I had wanted things to go, everything suddenly felt wrong. I broke the kiss quite abruptly, then slowly pushed Opal away. I felt a deep shame and a growing dread, as if I had crossed a line that wasn't ready to be crossed.

"What's wrong, have you never kissed a girl before?" Opal teased. "I don't know if it would be the same back in the real world. But I think you did fine." Opal said as she moved a little closer. "How about you not leave me hanging here. We could go somewhere more private if you'd like." she suggested. I could see the desire that filled her eyes.

"I can't. I'm sorry." I apologized. "What do you mean you can't?" Opal said not wanting to let it go. "I just can't. I need time to think things over." I said. "It's that other girl isn't it. You told me you were just friends, that you were just partying together." she retorted. "We are." I replied. "Then why is it a problem?" Opal whined. "I don't know, I just need some time." I said as I left Opal and headed into town.

I took a side road to try to calm myself as these new feelings, new thoughts, bounced around in my head. "Why was it a problem?" I asked myself the question Opal had put to me. "She's right it's because of Karla. Nothing could be more obvious. Karla and I are close but we had stated that we were just friends. Then why is it a problem?". I mumbled to myself. I must have been wandering around for an hour when I heard a familiar sound.

*ding*

I had a new message. I remembered Karla saying she wanted to talk when I got back. The moment didn't seem ideal for what she had on her mind. On the other hand if it was from Opal what on earth could I tell her. I wasn't ready to talk to either of them, but there was no way to avoid messages, they got to the recipient almost as soon as they were sent. I took a deep breath and opened the message window.

/I need to talk to you, NOW!

I'll be in front of the inn.

Karla/

I sighed. Though I had no idea what Karla actually had on her mind, I knew what was on mine. Opal had made me an offer that, in the past, I would not have refused. But now I wasn't sure if I should, I felt it could jeopardize my friendship with Karla. "But we're just friends." I repeated again to myself. But if that was the case, who was I trying to convince?

I looked up at the fake sky, "What am I going to do?" I asked as if I hoped an answer would fall from that sky. I certainly wasn't going to get anywhere just standing around. There was only one thing I really could do at this point: see what Karla wanted to talk about. I sighed again, turned around and made my way to the inn by the waterfront.

Karla was standing in front of the inn. Her arms were crossed and she was looking out over the river. "Last chance to make a run for it." I thought to myself, expressing what my mind was trying to prevent my body from doing. I took a deep breath and made my way over. "Karla, you wanted to see me?" I asked as I got up close.

"Hello Wolf, I'm glad you could spare the time to come and see me. I wouldn't want to take too much time out of your busy schedule." Karla said sarcastically. She was making me feel very uncomfortable. "You must have had fun hunting with another partner, so much so that you lost track of time and even had to spend the night in another village. While your regular partner stayed in town and worried about whether or not you were staying safe. Who also, by the way, couldn't go out hunting because she didn't have anyone to go out with." she said.

"You said you didn't want to go?" I cut in, in a sad attempt to justify myself. "I know what I said. I was a little rash in my decision, I might have changed my mind after giving it some thought. But I couldn't change my mind, could I? You left town so quickly that you didn't even give me a chance to reconsider. You didn't even try to convince me to come." Karla complained.

"And now I don't know what to think. You found someone else to party with, and in a very short time it took a very personal turn for you didn't it? I guess she must be your type, or something. I don't know what you see in her but who am I to judge. It would have been helpful to give me a bit of forewarning, I didn't know you were the type of person to get involved romantically so quickly." Opal said.

"What? No it's not like that. We were just partying together. Nothing happened. Karla, what are you talking about?" I asked.

"Liar!" Karla yelled. "I saw you! You kissed her!" she said. An incredible feeling of dread spread like wildfire through my whole body. Karla noticed my look of shock and continued. "Yeah! I was there when you came back to town. You sent me a message that you would be there in the late morning. So I decided I would wait for you. And in doing so I discovered, quite abruptly, that you now have a love interest. I was too embarrassed to stay, so I sneaked away hoping you wouldn't see me." Karla explained.

I was panicking now, it was like getting caught with one hand in the cookie jar. I was wrestling with my own feelings, so much so that I almost didn't notice: there was sadness behind those scolding eyes of hers. I felt horrible. I lied to my best friend in here, only to protect my guilty conscience. I couldn't even stand up and admit that something might be going on.

Karla sighed and her features lost all expression. "But I get it. We're just friends. We've been telling ourselves this from the very beginning. And as your friend, it's not my place to judge you, criticize your choices. You must do what you think is best, and I guess I'll have to do the same. Things are quite clear for me. I just wish I had a little more time."

"Karla, what are you saying?" I said. She put on her bravest face and spoke in a genuine tone of voice. "I won't get in your way. Go see her, it's what you want, isn't it? And I'll explore my own path for a bit." Karla said. I don't always have the right thing to say, but this time nothing came out, which may have been worse. Karla noticed my hesitation and raised her hand to stop me. "Let's just leave it at that, shall we?" she insisted. Without another word and without looking back, she promptly went back into the inn. I just stood there staring at the inn's door and asked myself:

"What just happened?"