Rising Shards

The last time Marmalade went to a gaming store, she was with Kalei, Iris, and Maia. Iris and Maia did a lot to break the ice, keeping everyone chatting. They weren’t with this time, but Marmalade told herself she shouldn’t have any problems talking to her roommate.

Still...

Things were different now. Maybe different. Marmalade wasn’t sure yet. Ever since snooping on Kalei and Risa the moment Risa asked Kalei out, Marmalade wasn’t sure what to do. She knew a bad decision would be to obsess over Kalei’s social media waiting for the confirmation of bad news to drop. She unfortunately made that bad decision many times between overhearing the dating request and this big friend party, but Kalei didn’t change her relationship status. Nor did she post much other than memes. She could still talk to Kalei fine in most cases, but in ones like this the overwhelming thought about Risa, she found herself freezing up more.

I bet Risa wouldn’t even be a good girlfriend. Didn’t she abandon Kalei for months because she found out she was rich? Not great girlfriend material. Kalei deserves someone better than that. Maybe that’s what she told Risa. That would be pretty cool, right? Wait, cool? Why would that be cool? Why am I thinking so much about this? What’s–

”You are making quite the face while staring at Blonko’s II: Blonko vs. the Mutantz.” Roux said. ”I know the game is a travesty, but still...”

”Oh...hey, Roux.” Marmalade said, feeling like she jumped to the void and back after going on that mental tangent.

”Unless...mayhaps there is something else brewing within you unrelated to that horrifically bad sequel.” Roux said.

”It’s...no, I’m just...” Marmalade struggled to answer. She and Roux had had some good chats before, but Marmalade was barely ready to confront what she was feeling internally, so talking about it externally seemed like a no-go.

”Dude, leave Marms alone,” Kalei said, breaking away from browsing clunky looking beam chasers accessories for the eGame to push between Roux and Marmalade.

”I am merely grilling this broad about Blonko’s II.” Roux said.

”Yeah, and we don’t want our Marmalade grilled.” Kalei said. ”We want our Marmalade...Marmalade goes good on...something. I’m trying to do a food pun, hold on...”

Marmalade giggled.

”Yeah, that’s a no go.” Kalei said.

”The effort is what counts there,” Marmalade said. She blamed the building’s heating on her face being so warm, but deep down she knew the heat was not turned up high at all there. Roux was distracted by a very costly figurine, leaving Marmalade alone with Kalei.

”I don’t think I’ve ever had marmalade.” Kalei said.

”It’s pretty good,” Marmalade said.

”We’ll have to try it sometime,” Kalei said.

”Yeah!” Marmalade had no idea what to say next, so she settled for flipping through more game cases in front of her.

”If they’re ever annoying you, just call me over,” Kalei said, nodding at Roux. ”I know how to deal with em.”

”Thanks,” Marmalade said. ”Roux’s pretty cool, but sometimes they do get a bit...”

”A bit much, yeah,” Kalei said. ”So, what are you looking for?”

”Nothing in particular,” Marmalade said.

”Hm,” Kalei said. ”I know we haven’t even finished TFIVN yet, but do you have any suggestions like that? I’d be down to get our next game pick out.”

Marmalade felt intense fluttering at Kalei talking about the game they were playing together, as well as ’our next game.’ So much so that it took her a few seconds to start brainstorming game ideas for ones they could play. The more they talked, the more Marmalade felt her worries wash away.

Even if things were all twisted up inside her in confusing ways, and there was potential sadness looming with this Risa situation, at least Marmalade could take solace in moments like this.