Flora sipped at her cafe mocha, her eyes scanning each table as she made her way to her favorite window seat. She was hoping to see Julian. Meeting with him at the cafe had become the highlight of her week. And after their last encounter, she was even more eager to see him. The memory of that tiny rose falling out of his wallet sent butterflies through her veins. The idea that he had kept something she had given him was enough to bring a stupid smile to her face.

A phone went off behind her. It was a somewhat melancholy song played on a piano. Turning, she saw Julian sitting at a table just a few paces away. He looked down at his phone and rolled his eyes before answering. The pretty tune ended as he began talking to the caller. Not wanting to eavesdrop—but also not wanting to miss an opportunity to chat with him—she approached slowly, clearing her throat once she was near enough for him to notice her.

His eyes flicked to her, and she gave a smile. He hesitantly returned the smile before telling the person on the other end of the call, "No, I won't, goodbye." He hung up the phone and flashed her another hesitant smile, motioning to the chair across from him. "Care to join me?"

"Sure, thanks."

Flora sat down and glanced up at Julian. He was avoiding her eyes and drumming his fingers against the lid of his coffee cup. Had she intruded? Was he just being polite in asking her to join him? Maybe the rose had only been in his wallet because he never threw anything away. After all, there had been quite a few bandage wrappers in his pocket that day she helped him with his cut. She couldn't imagine the sort of disaster his wallet must be.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted something," Flora said, gripping her cup tightly. "I can—"

"No, no, it's fine. That was..." He gestured to his phone but then shook his head and waved it away. "Nothing. It was nothing."

He still wouldn't meet her eyes. What was up with him? What had changed? She needed to do something to lighten this tension.

"That was a pretty song," she said.

"Song?"

"On your phone. Your ringtone. Is it a classical piece?"

Julian laughed softly as he gazed down at his phone. "No, no, it's not a classical piece. It's actually from a video game."

"Really? What's the name?"

"The name of the song is 'Rose of May.' The name of the game is Final Fantasy Nine."

"Oh, neat, so you're into RPGs?"

Julian's face lit up and he finally met her eyes. "You play video games?"

"Yeah, a few. Not so many RPGs, mostly because I'm not very good at them. But I do really like the character designs, and the stories sound really interesting."

"Final Fantasy is a classic series."

"It certainly has nice music."

"Nobuo Uematsu is a genius when it comes to composing."

"He's the one who did the the music for the game?"

"For a whole bunch of the Final Fantasy installments. Seriously, his work is epic. It adds so much to already amazing storylines."

Flora couldn't help but smile at the enthusiasm radiating off of Julian as he proceeded to tell her some of the best pieces the composer had done. She didn't understand a lot of what he was saying, but she enjoyed seeing him so passionate about something. It was like watching Jayda talk about her favorite anime series, only watching Julian gave her a thrill that Jayda did not.

"Sorry, I'm rambling," Julian said, looking down at his coffee sheepishly. "You said you play games?"

"Yes, but mostly PC games."

"Ah, I'm mostly a console man."

"So I guess our friendship will have to come to an end."

"Clearly, or our gamer friends will never speak to us again."

Flora laughed. "That won't be too tough for me since I don't have any gamer friends."

Julian's phone rang again. He glanced down at it with a grimace and answered. "I said no." He hung up and turned back to her. "So no gamer friends? Not even Jayda?"

Flora eyed his phone as she replied, "She's more into handheld systems. And my games aren't multiplayer."

"So what games do you play?"

"Most of them are on Steam. And they're weird. Really, really weird."

"Sounds fascinating. Do go on."

"Well, the game I'm currently playing is called My Organic Garden."

"Sounds normal enough."

"It's about harvesting organs from trees and selling them to customers."

A burst of laughter escaped his lips. "Okay, that is weird, but it also sounds awesome. Is it gory or anything?"

"Oh, no, the graphics are actually anime style and very pretty. Although, I can tell it's headed in a rather dark direction."

Julian's phone rang once more. Again, he picked it up and answered without a greeting. "I'm busy, stop calling."

He hung up and placed the phone on the table. "Are you sure you don't need to—" Flora started as the phone went off again.

"No, it's not important," Julian said as he ended the call without even answering it. "So you like games that involve organ harvesting."

Trying to hide her delight at having him choose to ignore a phone call in order to talk to her, Flora shrugged. "Really I just like games that are unusual."

"Have you played Undertale?"

Her eyes grew wide, and she nearly jumped across the table. "Yes! I love it so much!"

Her sudden enthusiasm caused Julian to lean back slightly, but there was still a pleasant expression on his face. "It's pretty epic, especially for an eight-bit game."

"I know! I love the characters, the plot blew my mind, and the music is so catchy."

"Have you gone through the different routes?"

"All but genocide. I started it, but I just couldn't bear to kill Papyrus. I love that little skeleton."

"I actually corrupted my game on the genocide route."

"No way. I've heard it's pretty creepy."

"Nightmare fuel, I assure you."

"Not something I want to experience."

"Have you ever played Portal?"

"No, but I've heard about it."

"It's amazing. First person shooter without actually shooting people. And GLaDOS is probably one of the best characters in the history of characters."

"What's she like?"

"Homicidal artificial intelligence."

"Sounds like a treat."

"Oh, she is. And there's the promise of cake."

"Well, that has me sold."

Julian smiled and leaned forward, fidgeting with his coffee cup. "Maybe you can come over sometime. We could play the co-op mode together."

Warmth spread throughout Flora's body. Was he inviting her to his place? "That sounds—"

His phone went off again. He sighed and answered it without bothering to see who it was. "Annie, I told you I—" He stopped, his forehead crinkling as he listened to the person on the other end. "She what?" He paused, his eyes widening as the caller continued to talk. "She what?" As the caller went on, Julian ran his hand through his hair and let out a long breath. "No, no, I get it. I'll be there soon. Yeah, yeah, you do. Big time. Bye."

He turned his attention to Flora and gave an apologetic smile. "Everything all right?" Flora asked.

"Just a problem at work. Unfortunately, I have to go fix something that sort of exploded."

"Exploded?"

"Yeah, it's...ah, never mind, long story. Anyhow, it was good talking to you. I'll see you soon."

He gathered his jacket and cup and quickly made his way to the exit. Flora waved as he left, disappointment replacing the warmth that had flooded her body only moments before.

"See you soon," she mumbled as Julian disappeared out the door.