I apologize profusely for all those who I have disappointed, and I know some of you are disappointed with me.

And I don't blame you. My extended absence from fictionpress has been unacceptable.

But I have a reason!

So I went on vacation (like I said), and I brought my laptop, figuring maybe I'd stay up late and write, or I'd find some time to finish this chappie for you guys, but the first night I'm at the hotel, and I forget my laptop in the car, and guess what? I got stolen! I curse whoever has my laptop, and I hope it stops working for them! Seriously!

So I get back from vacation, and luckily, I've got all of my stuff backed up on a hard drive, but with no laptop to put it on, I had to wait to start writing again until I could afford to buy a new laptop, but I finally got one on Monday. Yay!

So now I'm updating on a Wednesday because I feel super bad about not updating for more than a month. And I should get back to normal updating, but I've got a few things to do before I can update again, so let's say that I will update next friday, and I will be back on schedule, okay?

Again, I'm so sorry and I hope you all forgive me!

Jessie

"Come on Edana! Let's get going!" I glanced at Gabi as she spoke, knowing I had better things to do than go home right now.

"I've got to go to the library for a paper. You go ahead without me." Gabi nodded, Kenneth giving me a look of disappointment and anger. HE knew what I was up to. I watched as the two left, and I snuck to the parking lot, making sure Gabi's car was gone by the time I couldn't sneak anymore. I watched as Gabi pulled out of the parking lot, and I stood up fully, walking over to where I saw Hlynn's car was parked.

I leaned against his car and waited for Hlynn to come, the longer he took, the more anxious I got. I finally saw him leaving the main building with a few friends. He glanced up and saw me, stopping in his tracks. I saw him mutter something to his friends, who left, Hlynn walking the rest of the way to me.

"Hi." My voice came out a lot quieter than I thought it would have. Hlynn smiled bleakly.

"Hey. Did you need something?" He sounded almost as quiet as me.

"U-um, yeah, actually." Why was I so nervous? This wasn't a big deal. Hlynn had already told me he liked me. "Can we go talk?" Hlynn nodded.

"Sure. Get in." I smiled briefly and got into the passenger side of the car, getting more and more nervous the more Hlynn drove. The car finally stopped and I saw we were at an open area that was most likely used as a sports field when it wasn't snowing.

"Sorry it's not that warm." Hlynn said as we got out of the car. "I figured you wanted somewhere private to talk, and no one ever comes here in the winter." I nodded, upping my internal temperature to the 130s.

"Yeah, that sounds good." I stopped walking and faced Hlynn, who did the same, though his gaze went to the ground. "So I wanted to talk to you."

"Yeah, I figured. Listen, if it's about what I said on New Year's Eve, then don't worry about it. I kind of figured you weren't into me, so I've forgotten about it." My mouth opened and closed briefly.

"Th-that's not what I was going to say." Hlynn glanced up, looking slightly confused.

"You weren't? You seem so opposed to me when I dropped you off at your house that night. And you were avoiding me all day today." I shook my head vigorously.

"I didn't mean it like that. I, I'm just not good at dealing with emotions. Especially not ones I haven't felt before." A look of realization passed upon his face but was quickly replaced with a smirk.

"So, what are you saying, Edana?" I smiled humorlessly, exhaling quickly.

"Well, it's pretty simple. I thought about what you said, and I feel pretty similarly. I like that you know everything about me. I like that you don't just give in because you're scared of me. And most importantly, I like you."

Before I had the opportunity to gauge Hlynn's reaction, his arms were wrapped around me tightly.

"Oh my god I was terrified you were going to reject me." I felt his warm breath soak through the shoulder of my jacket, and I bit my lip to keep from smiling too large.

"I don't have a reason to reject you. Unless you can think of one." Hlynn stopped hugging me and held me by the shoulders, shaking his head.

"Of course not. I'm perfect. There would be no reason for you to reject me. Ever." I broke into a smile.

"I was just messing with you. Sort of. I really can't think of a reason to reject you." It was silent a moment. "So here we are." Hlynn smiled and nodded.

"So here we are indeed."

"I just have one question."

"Sure." Hlynn nodded.

"What do we tell our parents?"

I set my keys down and headed toward the kitchen, where I could hear my mom preparing dinner.

"Mom, I'm home!" The banging of dishes settled down a moment.

"Edana? Great, can you come here?" My mom's voice rang through the house, and I reluctantly made my way toward the kitchen. I stood in the doorway and saw my mom put a large dish in the oven, wiping her hands off.

"You rang?" I said, hoping she wouldn't ask too much of me. The last thing I wanted to do right now was help cook some large dinner, or hang out with her. The less time I spent with her before Hlynn and I figured out what to tell our parents, the better.

"Yeah, we've got some company coming over tonight, so I'd appreciate it if you could dress up a little." We rarely had company.

"Who's the company?"

"Oh just some of your father's friends from out of state. They're coming into town for a conference, so we're having them over for dinner." I nodded.

"Alright. When will they be here?"

"Around seven."

"Cool. I'll see you then." I went to leave, then I stopped short, realizing something. "Wait a sec, mom?"

"Yes?" She stopped stabbing potatoes.

"Are these friends of dad coming over the ones that he talks about from his training camp?"

"Yes, is that a problem?" Completely and absolutely yes.

"Nope. I'll see you at seven." I left the kitchen and headed up to my room, internally groaning. My dad was a fairly mellow guy, but there was a time during his Fire God training that he met a few guys who were complete bigots. I'm not even kidding. These guys used to say terrible things about other Element Gods and even made threats against the other Element Gods. I had heard one of them tried to walk into an Earth God's organization and burn down the place. My father highly resented that rumor, seeing as how it wasn't "true."

These guys were scary, though. That much I knew. They basically ran the Fire God version of the Nazis. What they had in common with my dad, I didn't know, but it scared me to find out.

My phone began buzzing in my pocket and I pulled it out, Hlynn's number lighting up the screen.

"Hello?"

"Are you home yet?"

"Yes."

"Didn't I ask you to call me when you got home? I didn't want to drop you off a block away from your house, but you made me. The least you could do is call me to let me know you're safe." I rolled my eyes. Hlynn was already acting like an overprotective boyfriend and it had been several hours since we officially started dating.

"Sorry I forgot. And my mom needed to talk to me when I first got home, so technically, I've only been available to call you for, like, four, maybe five minutes."

"Then it was a long five minutes if anything. Anyway, I've got to get going, so I'll see you in school tomorrow."

"Yeah. Before you hang up, though, I need to ask. How are we supposed to act at school?"

"Well I think you're more worried about your friends finding out than I am about mine, right?"

"We got in the car to leave the field, and the first thing you said was 'I have got to tell Ellil about this'."

"I was excited, okay? And if you really can't tell you're friends, then we'll just act the same as always. But I request two hours after school every other day of alone time with you, alright?" I sighed, realizing Hlynn and my strong personalities may not mesh the best.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

"Bye." I hung up and sighed, realizing everything was becoming a bigger deal than it had been yesterday.

But it was worth it, right? I wanted to be with Hlynn, and all relationships have rough patches, right?

Yep. But I don't think most relatioships start with this much of a very rough and rocky patch.