'How am I supposed to deal with these feelings? Am I even attracted to Apple for real, or is this our friendship getting stronger or something? ...Is there a chance she has a crush on me?'

For the first time in months - nay, years - Marsh's MePhone 3G was on and in hand. It'd taken ten minutes for all the notifications to pour in: voicemails, texts, missed calls, even push notifications. But at that moment, she pulled up her browser and typed carefully; if she misspelled a word, she wasn't sure she'd be able to retype it before backing out in shame.

"marshmallow apple in love"

Her thumb ghosted over the "search" button. She stared at the tiny box on the top of her phone's screen as if it were a tall pile of dishes to be done using well water on a hot day.

Marsh bit her lip.

There were suggestions below her inputted phrase: "proof," "where are they now," "kissing." Not including her phrase, there was the suggestion "marshple."

She stared at the screen with a cold feeling in her stomach, her heart beating madly. She wondered which she should click, her thumb inching closer to "proof"...

Suddenly Marsh closed the browser and threw her phone; it landed facedown on a carpet at the other end of the room. She sighed. 'I can't look up my best friend's feelings on the internet; i-it's a huge invasion of privacy. Curse you, fans, for writing about it in the first place!'

She rolled onto her stomach and hugged her pillow close. 'I remember when Salt rambled about OJ for hours per day between seasons... I'd bolt if someone wanted to hear about this. Maybe it's not a crush after all because the thought of kissing her in real life terrifies me.'

She groaned thinly. "This is the worst."

And crushes weren't supposed to be the worst, according to novels, either.

'So maybe it's not a crush at all,' she reasoned. 'Maybe I'm making mountains out of molehills. Maybe it's just the mansion taking a toll on my mental health... like, maybe I'm just touch-starved. I don't want her to kiss me, I just need some intimacy in general. T-the only reason I... blush at the thought is because it's too awkward to just ask.'

The idea brought a smile to her face.

"Yeah, that's it," she murmured to herself. "I just need a long hug. It's for mental health reasons. Nothing else... I'll just go explain this all to Apple later today. I can't believe it took me two hours to come to this conclusion. I'm such an idiot sometimes!" She laughed merrily.

She rolled off the side of her bed and landed on her feet.

A voice at the back of her mind dissented. It shouted, 'Apple fits the description in the dream. You seriously don't want her to get a boyfriend because it'll take attention away from you. Heck, this has been coming forever; it's part of why you didn't like her even kiddingly calling you mom. Don't even try to pull this excuse card.'

And Marsh, for once, managed to ignore it. She replaced the voice with a mantra she repeated like a war chant, a chantra:

'Best friends to the end.'

XXX

An hour later, Marsh knocked on the door to Apple's room, carrying a tray as big as Bow was in her hands. It had two dozen freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies on it; the smell wafted up to her.

Apple opened the door just seconds later. "Hey Marshmallow. How are- Oh my gosh! You made cookies?! They look great!"

The cookies were lumpy and unevenly-sized, some with burned edges. Marsh laughed uneasily. "Hope they taste okay..."

Apple snatched one and took half of it in one bite. "Wow, this is really good. Best batch I've had in a long time!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full; you'll choke!" Marsh exclaimed.

Apple took a minute to chew, then swallowed. "It tastes so sweet, like you put some of yourself into every bite!"

"You're welcome...?" Marsh grinned sheepishly. "Um, I'm really glad you like them. C-can I come it?"

Apple pushed the door open and did a little bow. "Be my guest!"

Apple's room was a lot bigger than Marsh's; it was the master's suite, after all, and even had a west-facing balcony, prime real estate for watching sunsets. Aside from that, though, it was the same combination of mismatched old furniture and old wallpaper that characterized the rest of the mansion, and just like in Marsh's room, there was a corkboard with Marsh's art on it, and an easel with a bunch of Apple's unfinished drawings and paintings on it.

She kicked a balled-up sheet of paper out of her way as she set the plate on top of her bedside table. There were so many balls that she could scarcely count them. '...Who cares that it's a mess? I'm not her mom.'

Apple nudged the door until it was nearly shut, then plucked another cookie from the plate. "So, what do you wanna do today, Marsh? Aside from eating these delicious cookies, that is."

'How about we talk about dating?'

Marsh shoved the thought of the way and said, "Well, I was thinking... we could maybe just, y'know, hang out."

"We can't hang out without doing something, silly! Maybe we could do a voca, uh, vocabulary lesson."

"Eh, I'm not really up for a lesson today. Maybe tomorrow."

"Oh, okay. I've made so much progress I know what progress means." She laughed. "Do you have anything in mind?

'It's so cute that she's so excitable... Is it acceptable for me to think so? She's called me cute once or twice, I think. ...Anyways!' "I'm... not really sure how to put it."

"Well, now you have me curious!"

"...Hmm, I was thinking that maybe we could just... take a nap together."

She raised an eyebrow. "A nap? We've never done that before. That's... weird. And it's not even ten o'clock yet."

She fidgeted. "W-we don't have to do..."

Apple stuck an entire cookie into her mouth and swallowed. "It just sounds... boring, I guess? And we can't eat your cookies while we do it."

'They're seriously not that good!' Marsh felt a prickle of annoyance. "There's something I need to get off my chest."

"Hm? What's up?"

Marsh hesitated; she hadn't quite intended to sound like that. Apple stared at her intently. It took a few seconds, but finally she got out, "W-well, um... I was t-thinking, it might be a great way to, uh, y'know, get closer as... friends..."

Apple laughed.

Marsh's heart did a backflip, and it felt like it flopped onto its face. It stung. "Hey! It's what I'm really thinking! You're such a, a... JERK!"

"Huh? Just... napping as an activity? Bringing us closer together?" She chuckled. "That's the funniest thing you've said all week! We get closer faster when we do anything but napping, I'd say."

"This mansion's messing with my head, and I need a hug. I'm trying to get your help!"

Apple's smile dropped off her face like a rock off Crappy Cliff. "Eh?"

"You're the only one for miles I can do this with. N-nobody else can help me deal, and I don't want to shrivel up... Does it ever happen to you?"

"No...Are you okay? Sheesh, that sounds rough. I'm so sorry! And, if- if it'll help you, I'll snuggle if you want."

"I think that'd help a lo-"

Within a heartbeat, Marsh was on the bed cushy bed, a bunch of pillows pressing into her at all sides. Apple hugged her close, their sides pressed flush. Everything was still warm from Apple sleeping. Her pulse raced.

"...How's that for touch?"

Marsh sighed, relief coming over her instantly as if it was balm on a bruise. "Mmm-hmm."

"Phew; that's good. It feels nice."

"Yeah."

'It feels nice. What a nice explanation. I guess I was touch-starved. And yet...'

Apple was staring at her. Marsh sighed and shut her eyes in embarrassment.

'My heart's still racing, and beyond the relief, I'm just really... happy, and it feels right. Like I could stay here for hours. It's kind of like, like...'

'A romance novel.'

'I'm attracted to this idiot, for real.'

Apple not-so-subtly kept on munching cookies while Marsh 'slept'; some crumbs landed on Marsh's face. It was annoying, but somehow kind of endearing too... as stupid as it was.

'Yep... there's no denying it. She's so sweet, and cute, and... I can count on her to brighten up my day. The question is... whether she feels the same. She's said I'm all that stuff before, even compared me to Walmart that once, but... is there any way to tell whether she wants what I want? Does she even know what it is?'

When she began to get sleepy ten minutes later, she burrowed further into Apple's side. 'She wouldn't hate me again over it, would she? Today she was really open-minded... I guess this was like a way to try this out. It was... pretty successful for a first attempt.'

Finally, Marsh managed to get to sleep. It was among the most refreshing naps she'd ever had.