"...Sorry. I guess I really shouldn't have just left this for the last few days of my trip."
"It's fine. I'll take a look for you."
When Elric pulled up a search of apartment listings in the area, though, he saw that his predictions were right on. The only ones available in the area were ridiculously priced for the measly accommodations they offered.
As he scrolled through the listings, a potential solution popped into his mind.
"Hey Ember, why not just stay with me? My pops probably won't mind, as long as we aren't too noisy."
The girl's face started to heat up like an errant nuclear reactor.
'W- Wha?! If we aren't too loud?!'
The scene of Elric's bedroom reappeared in her mind.
'The bed did look pretty big…'
Random thoughts started to cloud her mind, and her face turned even more red.
'I don't think I could stay quiet if he…'
"I- I thi-"
"I don't think you saw it when you were there before, but we have an open spare bedroom. Our walls are pretty thick, so even if you play guitar in there, it shouldn't bother Pops."
'He was talking about music! Ember, what are you thinking?!'
"O-ok."
Ember snuck a quick glance over at Elric, and the scene she'd just imagined replayed in her mind uncontrollably.
"Ember, are you alright? Your face looks a bit red, do you have a fever?"
Elric leaned over, a concerned expression on his face.
'She did stay with me at the hospital the entire night… she's probably exhausted, hospital sleep sucks. She didn't even get a proper bed… I hope she doesn't get sick because of me.'
They were stopped at a red light, so Elric reached his hand up to feel her forehead. Ember shivered a bit at his touch.
"Yep, you're burning up. Let's stop at the hotel to grab your stuff, then head home. You need to get some rest right away."
After checking her temperature a strange urge overcame Elric, and he moved his hand up a bit higher.
He patted the top of her head softly.
"Thank you for staying with me."
Ember failed to say anything, and her face remained as red as a sailor's nightmare sky. They had nearly reached the hotel, and she quickly pulled into the parking lot when they arrived.
"Ember, are you really ok? If you aren't, I can manage the drive the rest of the way back."
"Y-Yes! I'm fine!"
The duo got out of the car, and Ember came around to help Elric walk again. Somehow, the young man felt like she was pressed against his side a bit more than previous times.
When they entered the hotel, Elric flagged down one of the workers.
It was a girl, one who looked oddly familiar.
Ember also recognized the girl, and she gasped in surprise.
"Your name was Cassie, right? Why are you working here, too?"
The cheerful nursing aide from the previous night now had the uniform of the hotel on, and was still somehow looking just as cheerful and energetic as before.
"Wao, it's the couple from the hospital! You got discharged already!"
She bounded over to the couple, a wide smile on her face. The girl had dark brunette hair and matching brown eyes. Her face was evenly proportioned, but there were small bags under her eyes, subtracting from her natural beauty.
"So what brings the two of you over to our hotel?"
Ember was about to speak, but Elric beat her to it.
"We're here to pick up my partner's stuff… It might be a bit tough for us to carry it. Ember has a fever after sitting in the hospital all night long, and you already know my state. Could you ask if someone could help us bring everything down?"
Cassie grinned and gave them a big thumbs up.
"I can handle it, let me just grab a cart first!"
After Ember gave the girl her room number, the trio crammed into an elevator and headed for her room.
"So, why are you still working? You'll get burnt out if you don't take a break, right?"
Cassie shook her head.
"Nope, I'm fine! I need to work hard if I want to pay for college without taking out a bunch of loans. My field of study can be a bit uncertain, so I don't want to get buried under a mountain of debt if I fail."
"Are you going to SSSU as well?"
Cassie's eyebrows perked up.
"Yep, it's the best Performing Arts college around!"
"Nice! We're going to be attending there, too. Hopefully we have some classes together!"
Cassie looked over at the duo. Beneath Elric's bruises and bandages, she could see that the young man was actually fairly attractive.
"So, have the two of you been together for long? You seem like a great couple!"
Elric chuckled a bit, then began summarizing their short relationship as the elevator door opened and they headed for Ember's room.
"Wow, you've only known each other since yesterday? Hah, I wish I could find a connection like that. Whelp, I can worry about that after I become successful. For now, work is the focus!"
As he watched Cassie push open the room's door, Elric couldn't help but feel a tiny sense of foreboding. Cassie seemed cheerful and upbeat now, but he'd seen similar people get beaten down by life in the past.
If she kept working constantly and didn't take a break to rest, she would surely get burnt out eventually.
'Well, it isn't really my problem. I don't have a reason to help her out, and it isn't smart to waste money supporting random people anyway.'
Inside Ember's room, she had random stuff strewn all over the floor. A half-unpacked suitcase lay open, and the bed sheets were in a disorderly clump at the end of the bed.
"Ah, it looks like our cleaning lady hasn't gotten around here yet."
Cassie remarked causally before moving to start gathering stuff up, but behind her, Ember looked to be in a panic.
"E- Elric, I promise I'm not normally this disorganized. Please don't look at this mess!"
Both Elric and Cassie couldn't help but chuckle as they watched Ember blush as she hurried to clean up her stuff.
While Ember was hurriedly jamming clothes into her suitcase, Elric stopped down to pick up a random shirt that'd been left on the ground and began folding it.
"You don't need to- ah…"
When she saw him folding the clothes, a second wave of panic swept over Ember. From his room and Elric's house in general, she'd already seen that he clearly liked having everything in order. Seeing her randomly cram her clothes into the suitcase was surely annoying him.
"I- I'll fold all of this once we get home! I'm just cramming it in for now so that we don't waste Cassie's time!"