>I heard a knock on my door. Adagio stood there in a black tank top and a plaid shirt tied around her waist. She was smiling.
"What do you want?"
>"I want you Anon." She said with a seductive gaze. I gritted my teeth shutting the door on her. She put her hand between the door.
>"Hold on!" I stopped and opened the door back up.
"Come off it. I don't have time for your games." Adagio gave an inquisitive look.
>"I thought you'd be the one who'd have all the time in the world for someone like me."
"What are you talking about?"
>"What with your unrequited feelings for Sunset and all." I gritted my teeth hard.
>"Oops, did I hit a nerve? I apologize."
"Yeah, you sound real sincere with that sarcastic tone of yours."
>"Don't be such a sourpuss, after all I came by to fill the role of dream girl, that one you can hold and snuggle up with at night."
"W-what?" She struck fast like a viper, and I was well within her range. She snaked her arms around my shoulders wrapping them around my head. I backed into a wall. Adagio leaned into me.
>"You want this, don't you? You like feeling the warm touch of a woman."
"How on earth-"
>"Don't be so coy, I was there when Sunset broke your precious little heart. When you confessed your innermost desires and she turned you away.
"You were there at the cafe that day?"
>"What can I say, I can't resist a fresh cup of drama with my morning Joe."
"What are you looking to gain from this?" I said firmly.
>"All I want is a warm place to stay at night."
"Why-"
>"No one else would take me in.. Seeing as I turned the entire school against each other, not to mention my two lesser cohorts deserted me after our gems broke."
"I.." I sighed. 
>"Come on, let me stay, I'll make it worth your while." She said in a mocking tone as she teased her finger in a circular motion around my collar bone.

>I growled gritting my teeth hard against each other.
"Fine." I said through my teeth.
>"Oh good," She broke tone into a dull sarcasm, "I was beginning to think you wouldn't let me and I'd have to spend another night on the street." Something about the way she said that, it made me feel weird. She walked away looking around my kitchen.
>"You got any coffee, I could really use a cup right now."
"Gee, make yourself at home I guess."
>"You already said yes, so I will." She sure was pushy. 
>She found the carafe in the fridge.
>"I'm gonna pour myself a cup of this, where do you keep the cups." I pointed to the cupboard where they were.
"So.. Adagio.." Adagio poured the coffee into the cup.
"What were you going to do while you were here?"
>"Well, since you were nice enough to let me stay here, I guess I can let you in on my plan."
>This aught to be good.
>"I'm going to play the stocks, and once I get rich, live the life of a wealthy corporate fatcat." She said taking a swig of the coffee.
"You need money to play the stocks."
>"Yes, well, if I had any of that I wouldn't be here now would I?"
"You've got a point."
>Adagio sighed making her way over to a chair to sit down with her coffee.
"You really don't have any idea what you're going to do, do you?"
>She shot me a dirty look, the kind that made me think she'd throw the coffee on me if I wasn't letting her stay here. I watched her stew in her anger. I felt bad for her, she didn't have a backup plan, and neither did I. So, in that regard I sympathized with her.


"Wanna watch some T.v?"
>"Sure." She apathetically kicking up her feet.
>We flipped it on. A reality show was playing.
"What the hell, I didn't turn it to this channel."
>"No, keep it here, It makes me feel good to have someone lesser to make fun of."
"You know that's exactly what these reality shows aim to do right? It's so the middle class Americans can have someone lesser than them to make fun of."
>"Well, it works ok? Let me enjoy this." Adagio said rather pouty. I sighed having to sit through an hour of here comes Honey Boo boo.
>"Look at the dumb rednecks, they can't even make proper food, look at that! They're trying to make spaghetti sauce with ketchup!"
>I sighed again.
"Yeah, I know."
>"Can't you just enjoy this? You're being a downer here." 
"You're awful chipper for someone who just got off the streets."
>"Gee, I'm soo sorry I'm not a depressed wreck."
"There's no need for sarcasm, I get it."
>"You wanna know WHY I'm not all gloomy over here?"
"It's not necessary really-"
>"It's because, I'm done feeling sorry for myself. Tired of reflecting on my past mistakes. I tell myself, I'm better than this, because I know I am."
"Well, now I'm depressed." Adagio sighed.
>"Me too."
>We sat in silence for a bit. Adagio had her head in her hands looking depressed.
>"For what its worth, I'm sorry about the things I said to you at first."
"Really?" 
>"Sure.. It's not like I meant any of it to hurt your feelings anyway. I was just looking for a free place to stay."
"You know, if you had just been genuine from the start, I might've still given you a place to stay."
>"Old habits die hard, a few hundred years, you get used to deceiving people, and it becomes second nature."


>Hundreds of years, it occurred to me that Adagio was older than me, not just older, but lifetimes older than me. She certainly didn't act that way, but maybe you can only retain so much knowledge that even if you live for several hundred years there is still a limit to the amount of info your brain can hold.
>It made me wonder how much she really knew.
"Can you cook?"
>"Why, do you want me to make you a meal or something?" It wasn't what I was going for, but seemingly generous non the less.
"Well, no, actually I was thinking about making you something, and thought maybe you could help."
>"Sure." She actually was pretty reasonable when it came down to simple things like this.
>"So, what are we making?"
"Pizza."
>"Oh, a homemade pizza? That sounds quite yummy."
"Should be, can you make the dough? I'll cook up and prepare the toppings."
>"Alright, do you have a recipe laying around? I don't quite remember how to do it." As I suspected, not a perfect memory. Although, having a girl well versed in several subjects does seem pretty useful. 
>I handed her a recipe and had her make the dough as I indeed prepared the toppings. Chopping raw bacon into pieces, cooking up sausage, chopping up onions. All to put on one delectable pizza. Adagio worked diligently on the dough adding combining the flour, yeast and salt and mixing it all together. 
>She was so beautiful standing in the light of my kitchen. And working hard to make something, it was had not to admire that. 

>There was a part of me that wanted to reach out and touch her, but I resisted the temptation focusing instead on the pizza toppings.
>I put the toppings in containers in the fridge since the pizza dough has to sit in the fridge for an hour, but everything would be ready by then for the perfect Pizza.
>Adagio sighed.
>"Got anything interesting to do while we wait?"
"Not unless you're into playing video games."
>"Well, I'm not, it seems like a boring waste of time to me."
"Suit yourself."
>"Wait, can you.. Teach me how to play?"
"Thought you said-"
>"Are you gonna teach me or not? I know what I said dammit."
"Alright alright, sheesh." I fumbled looking through my stack of games, geez, where to begin? 
"Let's do something I think you'd be into."
>"And what would that be?"
"Need for speed Most wanted. It's a racing game."
>I started up the game handing Adagio the controller. She started a new profile and typed in her name. She started up the career mode and we watched the cheesy cutscene. Adagio was giving me a quizzical look. 
>"Is this what the game is supposed to be?"
"It's just setup for the game. Trust me, this isn't gonna matter much, we can just skip it if you want."
>"Please these scenes are, giving me a headache."
>I told her how to skip. And then came the first race. Where in I gave her instructions on how to control the car. She held the controller slightly awkwardly as she stared at the screen watching the car drive the way she controlled it which was, not the best. 

>It was cute seeing her focus on the game so intently. 
>"What is this? I thought I was winning!"
"You did, well, sort of, Razor, the villain guy, he rigged your car so it would stall out."
>"Ok, so, what's this then, where am I now?"
"You're in a flashback, just roll with it."
>"So, I have to do another race then?"
"Well, yeah, this is pretty much how the whole game is, just racing."
>Adagio kept playing beating the tutorial levels finally making it to Rockport.
>"Geez, it's about time they let me do something." 
"I know right? If you play a lot of games, you'll find that tutorials and cutscenes are consistently annoying and a lot of people hate them."
>"Is it any wonder? They're obnoxious." I laughed slightly. Was she taking this game rather, too seriously? I was beginning to get scared for the outcome.
"Oh look, I think the dough might be done already."
>"Can you deal with it please?" Adagio was intently focused on doing the race missions. I didn't want to ruin what could possibly be one of her first gaming experiences. I rolled out the dough flattening it. I then greased the pan, put the dough in the pan, added Alfredo sauce on top of the dough, added the cheese, bacon, sausage and onions.
>I hoped Adagio would like this pizza, she never said anything one way or the other about it, maybe she didn't care, and food was just food to her.
>I placed the pizza in the oven flipping it on to 400.
>I was surprised a little, I hadn't had to explain much to her, she simply figured most of it out on her own. 
>She was a perfectly capable woman, but most people usually have trouble playing their first time around. 

"Have you played video games before?"
>"Only a few times, I understand the jist of it." 
"You're oddly good for someone who just started playing."
>"I guess I'm just good then."
"I guess you are."
>In a few minutes I removed the pizza from the oven. I cut it up and put it on two plates. I brought one to Adagio.
"Here ya go." She paused the game looking at me. 
>"It, looks good, thank you." 
"Is something wrong?"
>"I don't usually eat homecooked meals, I normally just eat out."
"By eat out you mean feed off the negative emotions of others in a public place."
>"Hey, it's the same thing pretty much." Adagio said biting into the pizza.
"So, did you ever just eat food instead of feed off the energy of others?"
>"Not that it's any of your business, but yes, we did. Not that we ever needed to as long as we had the negative energy."
"So then, you didn't even have to eat if you didn't want to."
>"Well, now I have to eat, that is, since my gem is broken. And without my gem to keep me young, I'll eventually grow into an old crone." It sounded more apathetic than it did depressed.
"But, at least you aren't intentionally causing people misery now." Adagio rolled her eyes.
>"As if it matters now."
"Shit, I wish I had a gem that could keep me young forever."
>"It's not all it's cracked up to be. You live for as long as I have, you'll have wished you didn't."



>Adagio kept playing the game. 
"Just to let you know, it's a small place, so, it's easy to look after, not a lot of chores to do."
>"So, what are you saying?"
"Just cleaning up around here isn't exactly enough compensation for a free room."
>"Well, if you're looking for sex in return, you can forget it, I'd rather sleep on the street if that's the case."
"I wouldn't ask you to do that, that's despicable."
"If you could do something other than clean the place, I think it'd make up for it, I've got to feed you too remember?"
>Adagio sighed.
>"Just let me know when you think of something more specific. As long as it isn't sexual, I suppose I wouldn't have a problem lending you a hand."
"I appreciate it."
>I continued to watch her, it wasn't long before she beat the first blacklist racer Sonny.
>"Hey, what do you think a real blacklist 15 would look like?" 
"I doubt it'd be this organized. It might be cool to do real races though."
>"That's what I was thinking. It's too bad neither of us know people who race."
"Street racing isn't legal, it even says not to do it when you start up the game."
>"Do you always do what mommy tells you to do?" She mocked.
"Oh, laugh now, but you could face serious time for doing something like that. Not worth it, best to just stick to the game.."
>Adagio exhaled loudly.
>"I dunno, maybe you're right. Doing this is one thing, but, actual racing, it's something else."
"Yeah, it's not smart. Anyhow, you certainly seem to be enjoying yourself."
>"I am, I didn't think playing a game would hold my attention this well. I guess it helps not having any friends."
>I sighed.
>"True that." 
>Adagio smiled.

"Say, Adagio, do you, wanna become friends?"
>She paused the game looking at me. 
>"Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I mean, why not right?"
>"But, we literally just met today."
"You don't have to if you don't want."
>"No, I.. That is.."
"Yes?"
>"Sure, whatever. I'm sure you'll just betray me the first chance you get though."
"That's exactly what I thought would happen when I met you."
>"Anon, I wouldn't 'betray' you unless there was at least something to gain from it."
"Gee, that makes me feel so much better."
>Adagio chuckled getting up, she walked over to me and plopped herself in my lap hanging her arms around me.
>"I think, since spending time here with you today, I might think twice about it." 
>She gave me a peck on the cheek. I gave her a flat smile not returning her physical affections.
>I just let her sit in my lap as my gaze fixated toward an empty corner of the room.
>"Anooon, why are you being so coy with me? There's a beautiful woman sitting here on your lap. I know you want me."
"I'm not letting you seduce me."
>"I don't think you have much of a choice in the matter, you'll fall under my spell soon enough."
>I didn't respond, I just sat unmoving waiting to see what she'd do.
>"Mmm, nothing? You're no fun." 
>Adagio pushed herself off of me getting up.
>"I'm going to bed now, where am I sleeping?"

"On the bed, I'll take the floor."
>"Really?"
"I've got a mat I can roll out and some spare blankets, I'll be fine."
>"Thanks, you're, a nice guy."
"Don't remind me."
>"I'll be going to bed now, you get some rest soon too now ok?"
"Ok."
>I stayed up on my computer messing around until I got tired and went to sleep. I hoped this bitch wasn't gonna do anything crazy like try and kill me in my sleep or something. Oh well, I'd invited this demon to stay, if it happens it happens.
>I set out the mat making my bed neatly on the floor. I left a single light on, I'd always preferred at least one light to be on so I wasn't in total darkness. I got comfortable on the mat and slowly drifted off to sleep.
>Later that night, I was awoken by the harsh squeak of the door. I roused myself, Adagio stood wearing only her black tank top and a black pair of panties.
>She made her way over to my side slipping under the covers with me.
"W-what are you doing?"
>Adagio ran her hand up my stomach and to my chest giving it a rub.
>"It's been so long since I've had a man to hold me."
>Adagio smiled laying her head on my shoulder.
"Adagio, what are you doing? I didn't say you could sleep with me."
>"Anon please, stop being so coy, I know you want this. And if you want it, and I want it, what's the harm?"
>I sighed.
"Fine, you win, for now." 
>I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. She chuckled at my defeat nestling into me. She felt soft and warm. Her bare legs against mine as she leaned against me.

>"Anon."
>Adagios tone became serious all of a sudden.
"What?"
>"We're really friends right?"
"Of course."
>"Do you, think there's still hope for me? I've ruined so many people's lives. I've done terrible things. I've been so utterly, disgustingly selfish. Looking back on it, I hate myself for doing it."
"You want to change right?"
>"I, don't know if I can, I've been this way for so long."
"I can try and help you, if you want."
>"You're.. The only one I've opened up to about this.." 
>I felt her hands squeeze my shirt tight, like she were clinging on for dear life.
>"Please help me.. I want to change.."
"I'll take your word for it. If you need me to support you, I can do that. I think you can change, I think you can be nice if you want."
>I heard a harsh sound from her. It was the sound of weeping. Adagio was crying into my chest digging her fingers hard into the fabric of my shirt.
>It was muffled against my chest but she said,
>"I feel so pathetic!"
"Shhhh, I'm here." I gently ran my hand along the back of her head as she wept into me.
>She cried for a while, my shirt covered in her mucus and tears. When she was done crying I removed my shirt tossing it to the side. Adagio leaned against my bare chest.
"I know you're putting a lot of trust in me. I know this is hard for you. But, I also know that you can change. I know you can be a better person Adagio."
>"You really think so?"
"I know so. Now, try and get some rest ok? We'll figure out what to do from there ok?"
>"T-thanks Anon.. You're a really good friend." 
>I felt her embrace me tightly, a few tears leaking onto my bare chest, but I knew these were tears of happiness.
>After that we finally managed to drift off together in each others arms.