Aleena and her grandad are staying at the White Lotus hotel in Hawaii.

For the past half an hour she's been swimming in the pool while he's probably off talking his head off with someone.

She's thankful to get some piece and quiet. She loves her grandad but he's always talking even when she has headphones on.

Twisting her body around to pick up her cup of apple juice she left on the poolside, she finishes her drink. As she does, her ears twitch at the sound of a familiar melody. She turns and her gaze falls on the boy her age, swwading in the water, holding up his phone in his right hand and a Nintwndo Switch in the other. The Switch plays an iconic Stardew Valley song which Aleena instantly recognises as the sound played in the mines.

He seems to be stuck on a level in the mines and she decides to offer help.
He veers around in the water at the sound of her voice giving him advice. His blue eyes look startled and Aleena feels a guilty churn in her stomach for scaring him.

He quickly turns back to his game and she drifts to the side of the pool to leave, deciding she's embarrassed herself enough for today. Before she leaves, she hears a voice call out.

"Thanks, I've been struggling with this for a while...I kept dying and then losing all my shit in the mines! How did you beat it?" He looks at you as he puts his Switch down on the poolside which Aleena cringes at. Isn't he scared of getting it wet?!

"Uhh, by spending months screaming and trying not to throw the Switch across the room," she chuckles, holding onto the onto the pool edge "but I eventually got there,"

He chuckles a little at her answer and glimpses at his Switch, remembering himself trying desperately all those times to finish the level for weeks. He smiles at her determination and then back at her.

"Well, you must be really good, because this level has been a nightmare. Those Crave Flies are horrible!"

"Right?! The noise they make makes my stomach churn..." she grimaces, swaying in the water closer to him.

He glances back at his Switch before turning to look at her with an intrigued look on his face.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure,"

He looks at her for a moment but is slightly hesitant to ask the question. Eventually he decides to ask anyway, not being sure how she is going to take it."How old are you?"

"That is what you're asking?" Aleena can't help but snort a laugh. "You know you shouldn't ask a lady that-" she feigns offence but the look on his face tells her he doesn't know she is joking. "I'm kidding. I'm seventeen. Why?"

He then looks down at the shimmering pool water, watching the ripples of sunlight dance on it, thinking for a few moments before he continues. "No reason...just wondering why someone like you would approach someone like me."

"What do you mean?"

He thinks about it for a moment, before speaking. "It was just a little surprising. I wasn't really expecting a complete stranger to help me at first. No one my age really wants anything to do with me," he looks over at his Switch, cursing to himself for being so open and honest with a stranger.

She shrugs. "To be fair, it was bugging me how many times you were messing up,"

He laughs and it warms her heart for some reason. His eyes drift back to the Nintendo Switch again. He then notices that he completely forgot to ask her name. "Wait-" he says, looking back at her. "What's your name?"

"What's yours?"

He lets out a small laugh, at your counteract. "It's Quinn. Yours?"

"Aleena," she beams.

Quinn smiles, determining that your name is pretty and fitting. He looks back at his Switch again, still a little hesitant about asking a question that has been lingering on his mind for a while. "Can I ask you something else?"

"You know, you don't have to ask that every time?"

Quinn laughs a little sheepishly at her statement, learning that he does have a habit of asking permission to ask a question. "I guess I do say that a lot, huh?"

"It's fine," Aleena giggles. "What were you gonna ask?"

Quinn lets out another small laugh, more of a nervous one this time, as he rubs the back of his neck, wondering how exactly to ask this question.

"Uh- well, I was wondering if...if you maybe wanted to go hang out together while we're staying here...like, as friends?"

"Sure! It's nice to finally find a gamer out in the wild," she smiles. "What's your Switch username by the way?" She asks as she leaves the pool to retrieve her switch from her bag, drying off first.

He seems to follow her lead, as he gets out the pool too, sitting on the empty lounge chair next to hers.

Quinn looks at Aleena with excitement at her willingness to hang out. He grabs his Switch to share his username with her. "It's uh- Moss19. What's yours?"

"Turtleena. T-U-R-T-L-E-E-N-A,"

He laughs at her username for a moment, amused by it, before looking back up at her with a smile. "Nice username. I'm gonna add you as a friend. I'm guessing you like Turtles?"Quinn clicks on the button to add her as a friend. His Switch makes an affirming sound when it obliges. He grins and looks back at Aleena. "There. We're friends now."

"Yay, thanks, I'm adding you too. And yeah, you could say that," she chuckles, fiddling with the stitched corner of her purple towel. "Do you like Moss, then?" Aleena jokes but before either of them can say another word, her grandad calls for her from across the pool.

Quinn looks around when hearing her grandad hollering for her at the other end of the pool. He looks back at her and gives a sympathetic look as well as a shrug. "Guess you have to go?"

"Yeah, sorry." she shoves her switch back into her bag, grabbing her pink towel to wrap herself with. "Well, I'll see you around. Can you even message people on a switch? Or can you only text on a phone? Oh, here's my number anyway," she rambles on and uses a piece of her purple towel to wipe the chlorine water off his arm, and scribbles her number on his arm using a glittery pen she found in the bottom of her bag.

Quinn watches as she scribbles her number onto his arm, like etching a tattoo, completely endeared by her rambling. He admires her work of tattoo artistry on his arm, the sparkly red ink contrasts against his pale skin with every stroke.

"No worries, I'll message you. And...yeah, you can message through the Switch. Can't call or anything though," he's surprised he can keep his cool, at her touch.

"Oh right. Of course." she stands in front of him kind of awkwardly, not wanting to leave. "Well, bye Quinn" she smiles once more, waves, and walks away.

Quinn smiles at Aleena, giving a small wave back, a bit surprised at her slight hesitation to leave, before watching her walk off to her grandad.

Sitting back in the chair where he was previously sitting, Quinn stares up at the blue sky with a small smile plastered on his face.

The smile quickly fades as he realises he never told her his age, and he might seem weird in not doing so after asking her how old she is. He sits back up and yells, "I'm sixteen by the way!"

Aleena whips her head around at the sound of Quinn's voice from a few metres away, not quite registering why he has said that, at first.

"Oh, okay!" she shouts back, and laugh to yourself. These two are one awkward pair, and Aleena loves it.