Crystallized Dreams

Two months later...

Michael was sitting on his bed, pondering and clutching a small, blue wrapped box in his hands.

Suddenly, Josh burst through the door to the dorm, startling Michael out of his thoughts. "Guess who's birthday--" His gaze fell in the wrapped box Michael was holding. "Whatcha got there?"

"It's for Katie. It is you guys' birthday today so..." Michael bent down to reach under his bed and pulled out a large wrapped box. "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks!" Josh hugged his companion then eyed his birthday gift. "What's in it?"

"Why don't you go ahead and find out?" Michael smiled.

Josh was about to begin peeling away at the wrapping when his cell phone suddenly rang, startling him just a bit. Looking at the caller ID, he saw that it was Katie.

"Hey!" Josh answered the phone and smiled as Katie's image appeared.

"Hi!" Katie smiled back. "Where's Michael? I kinda wanted to... um... talk to him."

Josh hesitated for a moment as he processed the fact that his sister didn't even mention their birthday. But he soon gave a sly grin as he realized what was going on. He passed the phone to Michael.

"H-hi," Michael stuttered, feeling his face go warm.

"Hey," Katie replied a little shyly, looking as if she was trying to avoid eye contact. She then lowered her voice to barely a whisper. "Do you mind coming to meet me at Lake Roccaluce ASAP? I really need to talk to you."

"Sure. See you later." He quickly ended the call before his face could go red. "She wants to talk to me in private!! What do I do?!"

"Well obviously what you do is get your butt over there! Now go! She's waiting for you!"

And with that, Michael tried his best to regain his composure and, with the small wrapped box in hand, he walked out the door.

~~~

"Where is he?" Katie asked aloud. "I really hope he's coming."

A few more minutes passed, and she was on the verge of just giving up and going back to her dorm. Finally, she assumed that Michael decided not to come so she started on her way back to Alfea.

"WAIT!" A voice called, stopping her mid-step. Looking behind, Katie saw that Michael was running to her.

"You came!" Katie said in relief.

"So... what did you want to talk to me about?" Michael asked.

Katie's face went red. I didn't think out what I would actually say!

"Uhh, well... um," she stared at the ground and stuttered. Come on, you've got this. Just stay calm. Relax.

She took a deep breath and looked straight into Michael's warm brown eyes. Then, she calmed herself down and let the words flow. "We've been friends for a while--since sixth grade. And now it's two years later and instead of being in eighth grade, we're standing here in a magical world full of wonders and dangers. I didn't realize it before but over time, my feelings... started to change. Those feelings... were...... were..."