It was a day for celebration either way. At least, that's what Marsh told herself.

Marsh stayed in bed for as long as she could. There were a few reasons for that. First, she was super tired from thinking about the letter so late last night; it kept her awake like doing any intellectually-demanding task did. Second, perhaps for the same reason, she had a mild headache that would be best resolved by extended bed rest.

Marsh read one of her non-romantic novels for thirty minutes. Then she tried to get back to sleep, and failed.

Then she looked at the broken mirror overlooking the room. Her face was split cleanly by one of its cracks.

She could only hope it wouldn't be a bad omen..

'If it takes her this long to read that, maybe it's time to stop skipping lessons... The suspense will kill me before she does!'

Marsh paced in a wide circle. It was already nine-thirty. Usually Apple was up before seven. Two and a half hours is plenty of time to read the letter, in addition to whatever time she had last night. Gee, Apple, why are you so dumb?!'

She leafed through the book that Apple had given her for Christmas, the one written by Test Tube. There was a chapter on getting rid of anxiety, but it only had one paragraph:

"I am anxious about literally everything in my existence. Interacting with people, repaying debts accrued from college, even writing this book... it all gives me massive anxiety. Geebers, I can't give good advice on dealing with your stress because I'm a ball of stress myself. Just... go take a yoga class or something. Or buy some other person's book on dealing with stress. Just don't overdose on pharmaceutical or hallucinogen-based drugs, or you'll regret it."

At nine fifty there was finally a knock at the door. Marsh practically dashed over to it. She pulled it open with a gasp, but it was just Dough. He had a frying pan in hand. "You should, like, come to breakfast before it gets cold."

"...Could you maybe bring mine up? I'm feeling kind of," she fake-coughed, "sick today."

"You living objects are so difficult, you know that?" Dough sighed. Hardly three minutes later he was back with a plate of blueberry pancakes and hard-boiled eggs, though. (Why hard-boiled? Dough, like most gods, worked in mysterious ways.)

Marsh ate in silence, the book open in front of her. When she finished eating, she seriously considered going to check on Apple, but resisted the urge. 'You can't rush an answer.'

It wasn't until three hours after waking up, at nearly ten o'clock, that she heard telltale footsteps coming down the hall. Marsh tensed. Then the door opened. Marsh closed her book and looked up.

Apple was hugging the letter close like a safety blanket.

She shut the door behind her, dead silent as she came closer. Her expression was nervous.

Marsh's heart beat fast. 'Is silence a good thing?!'

"Uhh, Marsh."

'Is nervousness a good thing?!' "H-hey Apple," Marsh said, trying to sound more confident than she felt. It only sort of worked. 'Should I ask her whether she read it? No, it's obvious she did. I-'

"So, I read the letter. I'm so sorry I kept you waiting. I fell asleep in the middle of the first paragraph last night, and when I woke up this morning around eight I kinda forgot about it until after I was drawing for an hour... But you're a good writer, y'know that? Very, what's it called... clear?" Apple sat at the foot of the bed, again without permission. Two pillow-lengths of space existed between them. It felt like two football fields' worth. "Wait a second, that's not the word. Uhh..." She looked to Marsh for advice.

Marsh fidgeted. "Um... Concise? Simple? Detailed?"

"Ah, all those! Also, genuine. Very genuine. And I think I get it. We're special friends, right?"

Marsh's heart skipped a beat, but banking anything at all on Apple's understanding was a bad idea. She took a deep breath and said, "Hold on. Are you sure you know what I'm talking about?"

"Of course I do! If you're talking about holding hands and going on dates and stuff, that is. I'm not THAT dumb."

There was silence.

Beyond any reasonable doubt, Apple had some idea of what they were talking about. "And you know that I want to do that stuff with you?"

"Yep."

A question hung in the air between them that Apple didn't seem to notice. Marsh finally asked it, feeling like a turtle without its shell:

"Well? Do you feel the same?"

Apple startled her by taking her hand. "Of course I do! You're super cool, and you help me a lot... I really admire you, Marshmallow."

"You really mean it? You're not just saying that to make me happy?"

"Yup!"

Marsh's face lit up like a flame. "T-this isn't a test, Apple. Are you sure you're sure?"

"Why all the questions?! Of course I'm sure. I'm sure I'm sure I'm sure. ...Too many sures... Anyway, I really do have feelings for you, Marsh!"

Her heart was going so incredibly fast. When she scanned Apple's face and saw no duplicity, just that simple smile she'd become enamored with. Marsh turned her hand over and stared into her eyes.

Then she sighed with relief. "Thank marsh. I wasn't really expecting this-"

"How could you not, Marshmallow? I'm just surprised. You've been so subtle about it, whatever that means, that I had no clue!"

'What? But I thought I was obvious...' She asked the question that Apple didn't know was hanging between them: "D'ya want to give, y'know, us a shot?"

"Totally!"

"Great! Sounds great. Um... Yeah."

Apple scooted closer. At this proximity, Marsh could see her blush; it was only a slightly lighter color than the rest of her, but it was definitely visible. 'So she has a sense for mood after all.'

Marsh took a deep breath. "There's just one more thing, Apple: we can't be hot and cold about this. I-I don't want this to be something else I need to heal from in the end..." She met her gaze head-on. "I guess what I'm saying is, even if we have a falling out, we need to put our truce first. We can't let trying to date get in the way of being friends."

"Done!" Apple chirped. "I can't even imagine being your enemy again. Hopefully that counts for somethin'... Anyways, stop being so nervous. Not that it's not cute - you're adorable! But-"

"I'm not nervous."

"Even a dummy like me can tell. Your hand's all tense."

Her hand was a fist under Apple's. She loosened it and laughed nervously. "Am I that obvious?"

A chuckle. "Even though I don't know what obvious is, yep!"

Marsh found herself unable to stop smiling. "...Thanks for being so relaxed about this. I-I wasn't really sure how you'd take it."

"No problem, Marshmallow! ...Marsh? Nah, today's a day for Marshy!" Apple leaned over and yanked her into a tight hug. Marsh squeaked in surprise. So relax. We've got this!"

'...I guess the universe wills it, if it let these feelings be reciprocated, right? ...I wonder how long it's known this would happen. Since we made our universe-willed truce? Before even then?'

"...Okay."

"Wait till our first date, Marshy. Leave it to me to knock your socks off!"

"You're going to take on planning?"

"Yep! I'll show you, simple's the way to go. Special, but not too weird. You'll love it. ...Anyway, until I concoct the perfect scheme for that... Wanna hang out as best buddies another time before trying?"

'This is gonna be interesting...' "Sure thing. Um, fingerpainting, pick-up sticks, drawing...? Did you have anything in mind?"

"Maybe explaining what 'concoct' and 'scheme' mean would be a good start. But then, how about a nap?"

"...Sounds great." 'Honestly, I'm just so relieved... we could be staring at a wall together and I'd find some entertainment in it.'

'It's you and me. Let's try this.'