A wholesome village

I keep walking and after a while, I reach a village.
It's not a huge village. It larger than ours, but it seems even less advanced.

A bunch of people are outside. They seem very nice.
Most of them smile at me, some of them even talk to me when they notice me.

Oh, a visitor! Nice to see you in our village.

Are you on a journey? Where are you going?

I have small conversations with them, but I should keep moving. I still have a few hours before it gets dark.

Some adult man approaches me.

Oh, you seem hungry. We're going to have a barbecue today.
Would you like to join us?

I can't decline his offer.
We don't often have a barbecue at home.

I follow him and his family.
He's with a woman and a young girl.

The girl looks a bit like me. Short hair, but blonde, and slim body, just slightly smaller than me.

We reach his place and sit down in his garden.
He turns on the grill while I sit with his family at some garden table.

I tell them about my plans and they really seem interested, especially the girl.
Her mom leaves.

And where are you from?

I'm from a small village, not too far away. I've been walking for half a day maybe.

Oh, that's far. What's your village like?

Oh, it's nothing special. I was living there with my friends.
We just work on the fields regularly, and have a lot of fun together.

You're living with your friends?
So you don't live with your parents?

No, there basically aren't adults in that village at all.

That sounds nice. I think I wouldn't have left.
But how did you even get there?

I don't know. I've been living there forever.

Why did I never think about that?
I don't even know my parents. I guess, it's normal to know your parents, isn't it?
But all my friends also don't worry about their parents, so why should I?

The man puts a plate full of meat on the table.
Her mom is already back and got some dishes.

Enjoy! Eat as much as you can!

I take him by word and just start eating.
A steak, a sausage, and one of these things, I've never seen.
All of it is delicious.

I've probably never eaten so much meat in my whole life.

After eating a couple of plates, I'm already full.
I'm sad I couldn't eat more.
But I'm feeling pretty sluggish now. So it's probably for the best.

The man already finished grilling and is eating himself.

I have to keep going. I can still walk for a few hours.
If I don't move now, I'll probably be too lazy to even get up anymore.

So I get up.

Thank you very much. But I think, I have to leave already.
I want to reach my goal as soon as possible after all.

Don't be stupid. The next village is too far away.
If you really want to be fast, you should use the shortest path. There won't be a single village or inn for many hours.
And look up, it's already getting dark. It looks like it might rain today.
If you want, you can stay over night. What do you think?

Oh, that's very nice, can I really...?

Of course. We always like to have guests.

Yeah, I agree. And our daughter will also be happy. She doesn't have many friends of her age.

The girl smiles.

Okay. Thank you very much!

The girl gets up, too.

Let's go inside. The weather really doesn't look that great anymore.

I follow her inside and her parents go in as well.

There I immediately sit down on their couch.
The girl gets some toy and plays with it.
I don't really care about her right now.
I'm already pretty exhausted, I almost fall asleep.

You look tired. You should probably go to bed.

Yeah, I am. Maybe I should really go. Where can I sleep?

Children have to sleep in the children room.

So I'm sleeping... in her room?

The man nods.
The girl gets up and I follow her to her room.

Inside I start to feel a bit awkward, being alone with an unknown girl.

Don't you think it's weird to let a boy sleep in your room?

No, why?

Nevermind.

Where do you want to sleep?

Whereever you want me to.

If you want, you can sleep in my bed, and I'll sleep on the floor.

No, you don't have to. I can sleep on the floor, too.

If you want to sleep on the floor, too, we could sleep both on the floor.

That's stupid. In that case, we could also sleep both in the bed.

Yeah, that should be fine. It might be a bit narrow, but it should be enough.

Uhm...
I'd like to get ready to sleep.

Me, too. How should we do it?

I already got my stuff with me. Just look away from me.

I also already got my stuff over there. You shouldn't look, too, okay?

We both turn away from each other and change clothes.
I don't look, and I guess she doesn't, too.
After that, we go to bed.

Both of us lie down straight.
We just fit in and don't even touch each other.
I try to keep that little distance between us, else it might be awkward.

Heh, it's nice to have a guest.

Yeah, thanks for letting me sleep here.

With her, I don't feel like I normally feel when around with girls, like with Lena or even Selia.
She's more like a normal guy to me.
Maybe because I don't really know her.
But it's probably because of her less girlish body and hair.

So, good night!

Good night!

I just keep lying there for a while.
Just before I fall asleep, I wonder, if she is still lying awake or already fell asleep.