"I am in full agreement there." Vincent responded.

"Hmmm..." he mumbled.

"I suppose I ought to talk to the right people about this." he reasoned. "Get some proper information straight from the source. Might be the best course of action here." he went on.

- - -

Taylor sighed quietly as he looked at his yogurt cup, looked around at the empty cafeteria, as he was there about 10 minutes before the lunch rush would happen, and shook his head.

"You should really do it." he said to himself. "What's the worst that could happen?" he asked himself further.

"She says no, it gets really awkward between the two of you, your sadness seeps into her and triggers her empathy, it becomes too much, you make her life a living hell, and then can't live with yourself-" he started to then answer himself, before he shut up and pushed the yogurt away.

"I need to head out for lunch." he said.

"Get some fresh air or something."

Taylor froze up when he ran into Alice, and seemed to be stunned for a moment.

"A-Alice!" he exclaimed.

"I... I was just... I mean... I was headed out... but..." he stammered, before shaking his head.

"No! No, it's fine." he told her.

"It's nothing. Nothing serious or pressing, anyway." he continued.

"If you want to speak to me, I have the time now!" he assured her further with an awkward smile.

"...uh? My plans?" Taylor asked.

He then paused and thought about it, before shrugging.

"Nothing special." he said.

"Only things I had close to plans were ordering in a pizza and watching a movie I downloaded earlier this week." he told her. "So nothing that can't be moved to literally any other night." he assured her.

"...why?" he then asked.

In his heart, he knew where that question generally led to, but his mind was stopping him from hoping. I mean, she was way out of his league... right?

Taylor looked stunned again. Almost... starstruck.

"Woah, woah, woah." he said.

"Helscape, tomorrow? Forgotten Dreams?" he asked. "That show's been sold out for the longest time!" he exclaimed. "I tried to get a reserved seat for it, but I was about 5 hour too late." he lamented.

"But you can get in there for it?" he asked her. "And... and... you're asking me to join you?" he asked further.

Alice merely smirked slightly.

"I am." she confirmed.

"Then I... I happily accept!" Taylor responded.

It seemed like everything was coming together for him right now. The woman of his dreams had asked him to a show he wanted so badly to see. It was almost too perfect. But he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

'Future's looking bright.' he thought to himself... with NO idea how right he was, on a grander scale.