While Alex was making his way closer to his first destination, life for the Inn workers and residents of Floren was getting better.
Marie's management of the town made it a much safer and easier place to live. More stores and restaurants opened and places were renovated. The mining and lumber mills were given an upgrade, and everyone, in general, felt happier.
The Inn especially was in good spirits since the freeloader was now gone! Many of those who still didn't like him, threw an unofficial party without the knowledge of his two girlfriends who would undoubtedly ruin their happy moods.
The Setter's lives got back on track. When Alan had come out of his stupor after seeing his precious daughter kiss the man who made his life hell for the last 6 months, he had a stern talk with her and his wife.
Emma brushed them off, complaining they were so overprotective that she wasn't even able to fall in love. She even gave them the silent treatment until they agreed to stop messing with her life so much.
The young redhead was happy about her success and was glad to be able to mingle without getting stalked by her parents... maybe.
It had been a few weeks since they said goodbye to him so he was probably reaching his destination in another week or so. While everyone else was happy, two women were not so much.
That was because their boyfriend had left and it was unknown when he could come back. He yelled to them that he would be back in a year, but could the two of them last that long without their love? They weren't sure.
It took them about a week just to stop feeling so depressed but their lives only got even more hectic after his departure.
"H-Hello, m-my name is Mia. I-I'm your new r-r-roommate starting today." The young girl with big boobs stood at the door with a flushed face.
The two of them couldn't help but narrow their eyes at her... and her boobs, and compare her to them. Kaya especially felt threatened for some reason but they still welcomed her in awkwardly.
This was the same spoiled girl who wanted to ruin their last night together with their man, and now they were going to be living together. Nothing could go wrong, right?
"I-Its nice to see you again Mia. How are you doing?" Alicia asked a bit awkwardly.
The young girl smiled but still had her head down, afraid to look them in the eye.
"I'm alright. Michelle is still mad at me though."
The two of them smiled wryly and comforted her a bit. Back when Alex was in the middle of their catfight, Michelle followed through with her threat and complained to Sharla and Alan about the roommate that tried to kill her.
Even the third roommate of theirs vouched for Michelle since she too had a lot of issues with Mia.
Mia surprisingly didn't fight back against her threats but Michelle didn't know and didn't care that the young girl was going through an existential crisis. The words of Alex continued to echo in her head for a week as she stayed temporarily in another dorm room that was empty.
It was lonely, but it gave her time to think about her actions and how right Alex started to sound. She didn't know if what he said about her amazing big brother was right, but she started to doubt herself.
After a week or so, she was told that she would be getting new roommates. She voiced her concerns about her attitude, saying it would be better if she stayed by herself, but Sharla assured her that her new roommates would be very understanding.
She paled after finding out she would be with the very ladies who were dating the man she tried to take for herself. She felt sick to her stomach and even though the two girls probably didn't like her, they welcomed her with open arms.
Their first meeting quickly became even more awkward when Mia broke down into tears complaining about how much of a bitch she was, and that she had no friends, and everyone hated her. She was a bad employee and all her female colleagues looked at her with disgust for her big butt and giant tits that made all the men drool.
Unlike Grace, she had a conscious and the looks and words of others slowly affected her until she was a mess. To protect herself and to hide her fear of being in an unknown place with no one who liked her, she reverted to the spoiled child attitude she had back at home.
Her big brother was her safe space. Plenty of others saw her brother as an ass who tried to take advantage of her but that wasn't her thoughts. He was kind and protective, a bit over the top but that was something she liked about him.
The two women, Kaya and Alicia, looked at each other and communicated with their mouths to try and figure out what to do. In the end, the two of them listened to her cry about her problems and ended up having a lengthy conversation on people skills, childhood issues, and how to deal with rumors and hate.
The sister girlfriends were exhausted by the end of it and went to bed early after that. Things became complicated for all of them for the next several days as they tried to get comfortable with having another person nearby.
The two quickly found out how bad Mia was at waking up for her shifts so they brought it up to Sharla and Alan about giving her an evening shift instead. In the meantime, they took turns waking her up in the morning to be good roommates.
Mia thought that this change would make things worse for her, but she was pleasantly surprised by how nice they were. They helped her with work and even hung out with her if they all had free days. Mia felt a bit weird in the heart, wondering if this was what it was like to have real friends.
Even if they didn't think the same of her, she would cherish these moments for as long as possible.
- - -
It was currently the morning, a few days before Alex would reach his destination, and his girls were sitting in their beds asleep and slowly waking up. Kaya was the first to get up, yawning and stretching and relaxing for a few minutes longer before starting her day.
She had work that afternoon while Alicia worked in the evening. Mia still had her shift in the morning until they could incorporate her into the evening shifts so Alicia had to wake her up that morning she went back to sleep again.
She looked over at her friend and smiled. Alicia was drooling on her pillow and her blanket fell to the ground. She got up and got dressed, prettying herself up and humming quietly. She looked in her dresser and picked up a golden hair clip while smiling.
She looked in the mirror and put her hair in a ponytail with it. She admired herself in the mirror while thinking of the man who gifted it to her. Since she was a bit more of a girly girl than Alicia, Alex learned she liked clothes and accessories a bit more than the dainty girl.
She had several dresses and jewelry from her boyfriend that she found out, he bought using a massive fortune he looted from the bandits he killed. Remembering how strong her man was, she blushed and felt a tingle between her legs.
She took a deep breath and tried thinking of other things. She didn't want to think about her love right now since she knew she would get sad and miss him. Plus, if she got horny she would need a release and her orgasms weren't the same without her man's meat stick in her.
After she got ready, Alicia began to stir. Kaya waited for her to fully wake up before saying good morning.
"Morning..." Alicia mumbled and rubbed her eyes. Her hair was a mess and the shoulder of her top fell down her arm to reveal the tops of her breasts.
She yawned but suddenly turned green and lunged toward the bucket they kept in the room.
"Blerrrggghhhhh!"
Kaya shot her head to her friend hearing the stomach-wrenching sound of her roommate's stomach acids coming up.
"Alicia! Are you okay?!" She quickly ran over and held her hair back and patted the girl's back.
She paled after she started to feel sick thanks to Alicia's vomiting but held it in and waited. Alicia felt weak and pale as well after that so Kaya helped get her back into bed.
"What happened? Are you alright?" Kaya kept asking the tired girl while she got a cold rag and put it on her forehead and helped her get comfortable.
"I think I'm fine," Alicia said weakly, "I probably ate something bad last night."
Alicia smiled but then her face turned green again. Kaya quickly grabbed the bucket again for her roommate and gave it to her.
"I'm going to go get Sharla, I'll be right back."
Alicia wanted to say no but couldn't as her empty stomach came back up. Kaya already left the room as she started gasping for breath so she could only wait for her to get back.
Kaya was pale and had her brow knitted in a frown. She was trying to figure out why she suddenly got sick. It wasn't like they changed what they ate. It was the normal food they got at mealtimes so it shouldn't have been that.
She kept trying to come up with things like an outbreak or a bad stomach ache but nothing seemed reliable since the girl was perfectly fine the other night.
Just as she was about to enter the kitchen, she paused, and her face became even paler.
"Wait is she..." She spoke lowly but then the kitchen door swung open surprising her and the other person.
"Oh! Kaya? I thought you didn't work until tonight?" Sharla looked at her employee with a surprised smile.
When she realized how sickly she looked, her face turned to worry and she held her hand to her forehead.
"Are you alright honey? You look so pale. Are you sick?" Sharla used her essence to check her body but wasn't able to get far when Kaya held her hands tight.
"It's not me, it's Alicia. She suddenly started vomiting and I'm worried about her."
Sharla narrowed her eyes and nodded. She took off her chef's hat and apron and gave out a few orders before quickly following the worried girl.
"Do you know if she ate something she shouldn't have or was looking sick yesterday?"
"No and no. I already thought of everything that might have happened but it didn't seem like the problem but..." Kaya thought of one last thing but hesitated.
Sharla stopped the worried girl and held her shoulders.
"Don't worry honey, whatever it is, I'm sure it's not bad and she'll be better in a few days."
Kaya nodded but she wasn't so sure. Sharla smiled and led the girl back to her room. Entering, they found Alicia asleep holding the bucket. The room smelled so Sharla waved her hands and made her essence waft through the room.
The smell started to disappear as they went over and checked on her. Alicia stirred again and apologized for having Sharla come. Sharla said her health was more important so she started checking up on the young woman.
She used her probing essence while asking questions about how she was feeling and her routine from yesterday and this morning. While this went on, Kaya built up the courage to voice her thoughts.
"Mrs. Setter, I think Alicia is..." She spoke but Sharla had tuned her out at the last bit when her eyes widened and her heart raced.
Deep in her body, just below her navel, there was a concentration of essence surrounding a clump of cells that continued to divide itself into existence. What Sharla was feeling was this existence that was beginning to take shape.
"'Pregnant,'" Sharla thought while Kaya said in a whisper.