(Cover art by )

Over the next few months, I finally stopped wearing those stupid spiked rock n' roll shirts, ripped jean skirts and fishnet leggings. Instead, I wore whatever I wanted to wear, because now nobody was there to stop me from doing so. I still wore makeup, just not as much as I used to wear.

Titus has since wanted to make sure that I felt comfortable and safe while living near techno reef, so he helped build me a tiny house among some trees near the beach. Every day, he would leave the reef for a few hours to hang out and check up on me, too. He sometimes caught me playing my violin on the dock, but he never stopped me. Instead, he would listen carefully and watch my yellow arm band glow brighter than the rest until I either noticed him or I just stopped playing. I think the music I played was starting to grow on him.

He even started giving me swimming lessons every once in a while. By swimming lessons, I mean if I was sitting on the edge of the dock with my feet dangling in the water, he would try to sneak up underwater and try to drag me into the ocean. Half of the time he succeeded. The other half of the time I was able to pull my feet out before he got to them. Don't worry. I would normally get my revenge on him by sneaking up behind him and then jumper-cabling him in the sides. Every time I did that, he'd become temporarily paralyzed for a few minutes and I would just laugh as he laid there on the sand completely helpless. We never had any ill-intentions whenever we did anything like that to each other. Everything we did together was all in good fun.

Our once shaky acquaintanceship soon blossomed into a strong and sturdy friendship, one that I was sure was going to last a long time.

However, there was one tiny problem...

You see, the more I hung out with Titus, the more nervous I felt around him. My hands would start to get all sweaty and my heart would start beating a bit faster than usual. I didn't pay attention to it that much at first, but these symptoms became more noticeable whenever he complimented me or sat just a bit too close.

I've heard Katheryn describe what love was to me before, but the way she described it was very strange to me at the time and I never fully understood what she meant by it. She was never that good at explaining things.

Besides, even if I was falling for him, any normal troll wouldn't dare try to be in a romantic relationship with someone outside of their tribe, let alone the leader of one.

Then again, I wasn't a normal troll.

I thought that if I kept ignoring these growing feelings, then they would eventually go away...but that only made them worse.

I started having reoccurring dreams about him at night. Most of the time, there were dreams where we'd hold hands while walking on the beach or we'd cuddle while watching the sun set on the horizon. But other times, there were dreams where he would take me by the hand and dance with me out on top of the water, and then he'd dip me down and...and...

I jolted awake, panting and sweating while my heart was racing a mile a minute. This has got to stop!

So I tried forcing myself to stay awake. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, but it made the dreams stop...for the time being.

About four days later, I could barely keep my eyes open any longer. I was nodding off while sitting on the edge of the dock waiting for Titus to come visit me. Unfortunately, the need to sleep had become so strong at that moment that I feel into the water with a splash, which luckily brought me back to my senses. I still didn't know how to swim without Titus's help, so I started panicking while trying to get back to the dock by myself. Luckily, Titus showed up and hoisted me back up onto the dock just in the nick of time.

"What was that all about?" he asked as he swam in place. "Were you that happy to see me that you couldn't wait any longer and decided to dive in after me?" He smiled at the little joke he made. I laughed.

"Haha, very funny, Titus," I said sarcastically. "But, no. I'm just very tired, that's all." I gave him a small smile back.

"Well haven't you been sleeping at night?" he asked with a chuckle. My smile faded away as I crossed my arms slowly across my chest and looked down at my feet.

"No...not really..."

I could hear him rise out of the water and sit down next to me on the dock. "Why haven't you been sleeping?" he asked me with a hint of worry in his voice.

Oh boy...I knew this day would come eventually, but I didn't think it would be here so soon...

"Well...I-I've been dreaming about things," I stuttered. "Things that I probably shouldn't be dreaming about..."

Titus raised an eyebrow as he scooted closer to me. "Like what?" he asked. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest that I thought it was going to explode at any second. It was at that moment when I realized I couldn't fight the feelings away anymore. So...

"I-I've been having this reoccurring dream about the day I ran away and met you here...but over time I started to develop...romantic feelings for you...even though I knew it was wrong. You knew it was wrong, too, but I made you so happy that you started thinking about me as more than just a friend anyways...Isn't that crazy?" I swallowed the lump in my throat while still looking down at my feet. Titus still hadn't said anything since I started talking and it was making me even more nervous now.

I buried my head in my hands. "Tell me to stop..." I mumbled into my hands as my face slowly started heating up from embarrassment.

Suddenly, I could feel my hands being pried away from my face. Titus cupped my face in his hands and turned me towards him.

"Maybe I don't want you to stop! I think you're perfect just the way you are!"

I felt my cheeks getting warmer by the second. His face was awfully close to mine and it was starting to make me feel a bit uneasy. Apparently I wasn't the only one who wasn't feeling very comfortable about our current position, because Titus suddenly took his hands off my face and scooted a bit away from me.

"I-I'm sorry," he stuttered.

"It's alright..." I said while rubbing the back of my neck uncomfortably. This conversation just went from weird to awkward in less than a minute, and that was not good!

"Uh, Roxy?..."

"Yeah?..."

"Did you ever think that maybe..." Titus took a deep breath as he placed one of his hands between the two of us. "...those dreams of yours were trying to t-tell you something?"

"No," I said slowly. "Why?"

I watched as Titus started sweating a bit as a hint of pink gradually appeared on his cheeks.

"W-Well, there's something I've been meaning to tell you-I mean ask you...it's b-been on my mind for quite a while now..."

Suddenly, I finally understood what he was trying to tell me. A big, goofy grin started to slowly make its way across my face as I watched Titus struggle to get the next sentence out.

"L-Look, Roxy...w-what I was wondering was...if you'd l-like to...w-would you like to...go on a...a..."

After watching him struggle for quite some time, and overcoming my nervousness, I finally placed my hand on top of his, looked him in the eyes, and said, "I would love to go on a date with you, Titus."

I watched his cheeks turn from bright pink to dark red in mere seconds. "R-Really?" he asked, still unsure if he heard me right.

"Of course," I answered.

The two of us just continued to sit there in silence, staring into each other's eyes for what felt like hours, until finally Titus let go of my hand and dove back into the water.

"Well!" Titus said enthusiastically as he bobbed up and down in the water. "That was easy!" I laughed at him.

"Sure, Titus. Sure," I responded sarcastically.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, do you promise me that you'll get a good night's sleep tonight?" he asked me while giving me a small smile.

I giggled softly and smiled back at him. "I promise."