After dinner, Robert cleaned up with Juno’s help while his mother and Philip sat in the living room, talking. He hadn’t seen his mother that happy in a long time and was thankful Philip had visited. After his father passed away, Philip had been around a lot, helping him with his homework or being around while his mother dealt with other things. Eventually, Philip stopped coming so often. They fell into their regular patterns after that.

When they finished up, Robert went into the living room and said, “Juno and I have something to talk about, so we’re going into my room. It’s all cleaned up, so don’t worry about that.”

Robert’s mom gave a relieved smile and said, “Thank you, dear. We’re just talking about old times. Have fun.”

Juno and Robert went to his room and closed the door for privacy. Robert had done a passable job of straightening up. However, Juno still looked uncomfortable as she stood with her hands tightly clasped at her waist.

“Please take a seat,” Robert said while pulling out his desk chair. “I’ll sit on the bed.”

She crossed the room, took the offered seat leaning into it, and almost fell over backward when she leaned back a little too fast.

“I’m sorry about that. I don’t lean back in it, and the chair is old. I usually lay on the bed when I enter the Nexus.”

Juno replied, “It’s ok. It just surprised me.” She fidgeted with her dress for a moment and asked, “So, how long have your mom and Philip been seeing each other?”

Robert smiled for a moment, looking a little contemplative. “They haven’t been seeing each other at all. I’m glad it’s obvious to someone else, though. I’m convinced they both like one another, but I’m sure it’s difficult considering he was my dad’s best friend.”

“Yeah, but they are so happy together.”

Robert leaned back into the pillows, piled against his headboard, and said, “I know. I hope they get over it soon, though. Considering her situation, there’s no reason to wait.”

They sat there for a few minutes, just embracing the silence. It was usual for Robert to fall into silence when he talked about his mother. Juno’s only way of dealing with the subject was to go along with it.

Eventually, Robert rocked forward. “So, tell me about the character creation tutorial. I haven’t logged in since the announcement, and I’m dying to get in and check it out.”

Her facial expression changed from contemplative to amused as she said, “It was a crazy experience. I’ll tell you about it, but when you start, they tell you that no one’s tutorial is the same as another. They are custom-built by the world AI specifically for the individual. There was some stuff in the character creation evaluations that was a little disturbing. It made me wonder how much of my information is out there in the Nexus.”

Juno spent the next hour going over her experience, building her character and explaining certain aspects of the testing. Most of it made sense, but Robert felt like she was leaving out parts of the process. It was probably stuff she wasn’t comfortable sharing or stuff that was embarrassing.

After she finished, he asked, “So, what type of character did you create?”

She sat there rocking back and forth in his desk chair and then answered, “It’s a secret. Or more accurately, I’m keeping it a secret until it goes live. I want to see the look on your faces when we meet up.”

She was beaming with a full face smile. “You will be surprised.”

He was even more curious but didn’t push it. “Ok, I can’t wait to see it. It’s only a few days away. I guess you know this means I will keep mine to myself as well?”

“I figured. I think it will be fun to wait and see.” She teased.

“So, on a different subject. How did your classes go this semester? I know you had a final this morning. Was that the last one?”

“Yeah, that was it. Junior year in the books. It looks like I’m on track to graduate on time, so just one more year.” She stopped suddenly and said, “I’m sorry, Rob.”

He must have frowned without realizing it. “Oh, no, I’m sorry. I’m happy for you. I’ll get there eventually, and Cal has been kind enough to extend my scholarship for part-time work. Depending on how things go, I could be done in another few years at this pace, maybe sooner if I can handle two classes at a time. Right now, it’s just too much.”

“Hey, no rush. You’ve had a lot to take care of this past seven months. It’s amazing you’ve done as well as you have. I mean, I would have fallen apart. Your mom got diagnosed in December, and you still finished out the semester with perfect marks.”

He smiled weakly and said, “Thanks, that was a tough few weeks. I know I should be worried more about school, but my primary goal is to pay for mom’s treatments. Insurance just won’t cover that type of therapy fully, and even with the amount they will pay, it’s still crazy expensive. You know all this because you’ve been here the whole time. Thanks for that.”

“Yes, I know all this, but it doesn’t mean I won’t listen when you need to complain about it. Besides, it sounds like there’s an excellent chance you can make some credits in the game. Maybe Elysium Online came along at just the right time.”

He perked up a little at her last comment. “Maybe it did.”

Juno stood up. “Well, why don’t you log in and get your character set up. I need to go home. I told mom I’d help with a few things before bed.”

Robert walked her to the door. “Thanks for coming over, Juno. It was nice to talk and thanks for listening.”

“Hey, no problem. Thanks for inviting me. I had a good time. Tell Philip and your mom, I said good night.” She said and then turned down the hall towards the elevators.

Robert watched her until she turned the corner and then headed back into the apartment. He wanted to log back into the Nexus and begin the character creation as soon as possible, but spent a little time with Philip and his mom before he did.