The soft hue of the fading sun crept through the velvet curtains and caught my eyes, waking me from my slumber. "Just five more minutes," I cried internally, knowing that my mom would come yell at me if I even dared tried to fall back asleep. And my grandfather would be right behind her saying that a "vampire cannot vaste precious moonlight staying in bed". So I pulled myself out from under my comforter, threw on the first shirt and pair of pants I could find, and walked myself towards the kitchen.

At the top of the steps I could see that the lobby was flooding with people and monsters, not unusual for a Friday but I didn't have the energy to deal with a large crowd. As I was about to walk back to my room, I felt the wind get knocked out of me as I hit the ground with a thud. I looked up and saw the familiar blue eyes of my friend, Winnie.

"Hi Dennis!" she said with the same amount of enthusiasm she always has. Even at 17, she continues to greet me in the same way. The only thing that changed was her strength, damn can she hit hard.

I smiled up at her as I pushed myself up on my elbows, trying not to show that I was in pain "oh h-hey Winnie, what's up?"

She sat back on my lap, her tail swaying vigorously from side to side "Not much! I was bored and wanted to see what you were doing! I went to your room but you weren't there so-" She paused and her smile ceased, "oh my gosh, did I hurt you?! I'm so sorry!" I could hear a pang of sadness in her voice.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, I hated seeing Winnie get upset "No not at all! You just caught me by surprise is all, I'll be fine". She stood up and held out her paw for me, pulling me up with ease. "So you were saying?" I smiled.

A soft blush of embarrassment washed over her cheeks "well I wanted to know if you weren't busy tonight, that maybe you'd wanna hang out? I could buy us some ice cream as an apology for almost breaking your hip just now" she giggled, she had such an adorable laugh that made you smile.

"Haha well I wouldn't say you almost BROKE my hip, just maybe a rib or three" that got her howling with laughter which was too infectious not to laugh with her. We didn't realize how loud we were being until this one-eyed creature came out of his room and shushed us.

We giggled softly to ourselves, not ashamed that we were having fun. I looked up at Winnie and I found myself just staring at her for a second, I don't know what it was but I couldn't look away. Sure she's my best friend and I've looked at her plenty of times, but this time was…different. She looked back at me and had this look of confusion.

"Hey are you okay? You look a little...warm?"

I looked at the mirror on the wall and saw my face was almost entirely flushed. Was I blushing? Does Winnie know I'm blushing?

"Hm? Oh what? No yeah I'm fine, you just had this um...nevermind. So shall we go ice cream?" Nailed it.

Winnie leaned in close to me and whispered "aren't you forgetting something?"

I glanced down and noticed that I was still in my lazy outfit, complete with fuzzy slippers. Now I was really blushing and I could hear Winnie giggling wildly. I looked back at her and she smiled, her cheeks turning pink beneath her fur.

"Ah – yes well um…yes I will go put on actual clothes. Just wait here and I'll be right back!" Way to go, Dennis. You look like an idiot.

"I won't go anywhere." Winnie said with this sweet little grin. I chuckled and hurried back to my room. I looked back before turning the corner and caught Winnie staring at me, only to look away when our eyes met. Was she smiling? Was I still smiling? What am I gonna wear? Wait, why should I care? It's only Winnie after all…