Digital Nightmare Chapter 9

Leila’s POV…

I shoved the book of the dead into its place in the bookshelf, bracing myself for the chase I remembered was coming.
“You ready?”  I asked Mark.  He nodded in response, still slightly sore at me for daring him to read the book of death to see exactly what happens.  Apparently, if you read the book of death, it makes your eyes really sore, and so you keep rubbing them and rubbing them until your eyelids peel off.  But you can’t stop rubbing your face, so then your eyes pop and bleed, your face is slowly scraped off; and so on and so on until your skeleton is slowly being scratched away.  I stopped watching after the first few minutes, and Mark respawned nearby soon after.  It was pretty brutal.
We braced ourselves, and charged ahead in an all-out sprint for freedom.  The skeleton appeared right where I knew it would; but it was twice the size I expected it to be.  I screamed, jumping in surprise and fear.  Turns out I ended up pulling a Scooby Doo as I fell right in front of Mark; who reacted quickly and caught me as he looped around the bookshelf.  The skull right at his heels, and me still screaming, Mark carried me through the room as he charged out the door, slamming it behind him.  I gasped for air, forcing myself to calm down as I stepped out of Mark’s arms rather hurriedly.  Mark on the other hand, was panting and slowly regaining his usual bravado.
“Aww yeah!  I am too pro!”  He said, trying to pull an epic pose.  “Markiplier is just too manly and brave for some stupid skull!”  I re-entered the room once I calmed down and took the butterfly from the display case.  I then walked back out to see that Mark was still in the middle of his usual ‘I’m a Bawss’ rant.  I have to admit; it was kind of comforting to see him act like his usual self again.  “I wasn’t scared; heck, I carried you through the whole thing!  Haha, of course I carried you; I have such big and strawng muscles that I can carry anyone.  And I get ALL the ladies, cause I’m so great and handsome!”  Ok, this is just getting weird now.
“Ok, Mark.  That’s enough.”  I said, grabbing his sleeve and dragging him to the room with the giant spider.
“Hey, how old are you anyway?”  Mark asked, letting me drag him away.  “Cause you know, if you’re free later on today…”  he said with a wink and his ‘I’m so totally flirting’ grin.  I smirked as I grabbed the doorknob, about to deliver the blow.
“Sixteen.”  I answered.  “Seventeen in two weeks.”  I then opened the door to the room with the giant spider.
“Sixt—!!”  Mark started to shout before I shushed him.  I pointed upwards to the giant spider; it was sleeping, but it might not be if we were too loud.  I crawled over to the spider web and quickly switched out the butterflies, rushing back out the door with Mark closing it behind me.  I sighed with relief and stood back up, placing the butterfly in my hammerspace.  “You’re sixteen?!”  Mark shout-asked, staring at me with wide eyes.  His ears were at full attention, and his tail was fluffed up in surprise.
“Uh, Yeah.”  I said in a ‘duh’ tone of voice.  “How old did you think I was, twenty?”
“Nineteen, at least!”  He said, following me to the door that led to the next level of the house.  “Man, I am so sorry.  Here I was asking you to… Oh, G-d.”  He put a hand over his mouth, his ears and tail down in shame.  I smiled a bit, waving a hand nonchalantly.
“It’s ok, Mark; really.  You’re just being yourself.”  I told him.
“You could have said something!”  Mark complained as I opened the door.
“It didn’t seem important at the time.”  I explained as Mark groaned exasperatedly.  “Besides, no one’s ever really talked like that to me before, so honestly I was enjoying it while it lasted.”  I said quickly.
“Wait, what?”  Mark asked as I rushed into the new area.  He followed behind me, and I quickly stepped to the right.
“Heads up!”  I said as the approaching dagger headed straight for him.  He yelped and ducked, narrowly avoiding it.
“What do you mean no one’s talked to you like that before?”  Mark asked, standing back up.  I dodged the next daggers, waiting for Mark to do the same.  I then sighed, figuring that I may as well get the conversation over with.
“Believe it or not, Mark; I’ve never actually had a boyfriend.”  I said.  “See, I go to an all-girls school, and don’t really get out much otherwise, so...”  I sighed.  “That’s why I act all angry when I get real close to you; I’m not used to it at all, so I naturally reject it.”  I turned to look at Mark, awaiting his reaction.
“Well… this explains a lot.”  He said, chuckling a bit and ruffling his hair.  “Between the carrying in Super Pig, and the centaur ride in CLOP, and the cat ears and tail here; although you indulged yourself with that one.”  He pointed at me as I blushed with embarrassment.  “So all it really is is just you lacking experience.”  I bit my lip and nodded slowly.
“Yeah.  Pretty much.”  I acknowledged .  Mark put his hands on his hips and stared at me for a few moments, his left ear flopped down as if in thought.  I stared back at him, wondering what he was doing.  “So… Are we moving on or what?”  I asked.
“Yeah yeah, in a sec.”  He eventually told me.  “But first I wanna say that I got an idea.”
“Oh no.”  I said nervously, starting to walk away.
“You have like, no experience with boys, right?”  Mark called after me, following close behind.
“I’d say “so?”, but then that would mean I want to know your idea, which I’m pretty sure I don’t.”  I stated, still rushing away from him.
“Well, what better way to get used to it—”
“NO.”  I shouted behind me.
“Than to get close to me.”
“NO.  THAT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA.”
“Sure it is.”
“THAT IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF A GOOD IDEA.”  I ran into the first room I saw and closed it behind me, blocking Mark from entering the room.  I heard him sigh at the other end of the doorway.
“I don’t mean it like that, Leila; you know I don’t.”  Mark said through the door, knocking a few times on the thick wood.  “I meant like the basic stuff.  You know, piggy-back rides and bear hugs and stuff like that.”
“Mark, you’re seven years older than me.”  I said.  “Don’t you think it’d be rather strange for us to be doing stuff like that?”
“I don’t mean for us to do it in a romantic way, I meant in a friendship kind of way; just to get you used to it.”  He said with a sigh.  “I’m trying to help you out here and you’re not making it very easy.” He added irritatedly.   I sighed,
“Ok, fine; whatever, go ahead.  Let’s just get through this game, alright?  It’s long enough without stopping for conversations like this one.”  I told him.
“Alrighty then.”  He said.  I bit my lip, opening the door and letting him step inside.  “Now was that so hard?”  He asked.  I noticed a hint of annoyance in his tone, and I started fiddling with one of my braids timidly.
“Sorry.”  I said.  “Can we get back to the game now?”
“Yes.  So, where are we now?”  He asked, walking around the room a bit.
“This is where I get a pet frog.”  I said with a small smile, calming down a bit.  As far as I had seen in pet stores, frogs were mostly cute, so I was happy for that.  I was even happier when I found that the frog was in fact cute, and I had it ride on my shoulder while we exited the room.
“Oh, so you’ll let some strange frog be close to you because it’s cute; but you won’t let me carry you through a course because I’m a guy?!”  Mark asked, feigning jealousy.
“For the record, this frog is in fact male.”  I mentioned.  “And besides, I didn’t have any warning when you were going to carry me.” Mark huffed, turning away from me a bit.
“What, so am I not cute now?”  He asked.  I rolled my eyes at him, trying to distract myself from how adorable he truly was.  His ears were down, his tail was up and swaying, and he was pouting with his back hunched and his arms crossed.  Not to mention the fact that his face was already adorable.
“Yes Mark, you’re cute.  But the frog is important right now.”  I said, turning back to the frog and nuzzling my nose on its forehead.  “Aren’t you, Mickey?”  I asked it.
“You named it Mickey!?”  Mark asked accusingly.
“Why wouldn’t I?  It’s my frog now.”  I said.
“Psh, only until you feed it to—”  Mark began before I shushed him, bonking him over the head.
“Shh!”  I sounded as I placed the frog down on the cold stone floor.  “Go and flip the switch, Mickey!”  I called to the frog, watching it leave.  I then turned to whack Mark again.
“Ow!  Hey, I was just saying—”
“Well don’t just say, you’ll scare the frog!”  I said.  Mark rubbed his arm where I hit him, his eyes staring me down.
“You are the strangest girl I’ve ever met.  And that’s saying something.”  He said to me.  I picked up Mickey as he returned from flipping the switch.
“I try.”  I told him.  “Although sometimes I don’t have to try, so I don’t try those times.”  He blinked.
“I repeat my previous statement.”  He said.  I turned away from him, putting Mickey back on my shoulder and walking away with a grin.

End Chapter 9~! ^.^