A wave of relief washed over Garreth, and his shoulders visibly dropped. He couldn't explain why he had so much difficulty being open with people, or social interaction in general, but Azura's curious and non-judgmental reaction to learning about his silly college plot had immediately put most of his fears to rest.

That went way better than expected!

"Oh, well, erm.. I'm applying for the one in London. I know it's silly, they'll never accept this terrible essay, but this is the only way I can test myself without the results being biased. People go easy on me because I'm so young, but when I fill out a fake application, they don't know that.. They'll give me an honest opinion." he explained calmly, running the letter in his fingers back and forth between his hands. "This'll.. actually be the third college I've applied for. I already sent two letters to a college in Ireland, and one in Cornwall. Used the same name for every application." he continued, but seemed reluctant to reveal the name. Oh gosh, Azura was going to ask again, wasn't she? She was going to find out and it was going to be embarrassing. She didn't laugh at him when he had told her he was applying, but she would laugh at him FOR SURE if she found out the name he had put on his applications.

Thankfully, it appeared that Azura had something to tell him about as well, so he was able to shift the subject onto her again, at least momentarily. She was asking him to promise not to laugh! How ironic. Of course, he could never laugh at her for making a mistake, or doing something that had caused her genuine distress! That would be so mean! He wasn't above teasing a little if she misspoke, or did something funny, but never about something serious.

"Of course I won't laugh! Is everything okay? What happened?" it had to be serious. At least, she looked pretty serious to him. What could possibly have happened?