Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Shannon
On my way home from class, I get a text from Jamie asking to meet him in the game room at the SAC. It’s an odd request, even for him. It’s been five days since Jamie begged me for another chance, and I’m finally ready to give him one.
Typing out a quick reply, I change directions.
Why does he want to meet at the SAC? The last time we spoke, he promised to make a grand gesture to show that he’s serious. Greasy food and foosball aren’t exactly romantic. I rush through the open doors at the Student Activity Center and follow the crowd upstairs.
When I step inside the game room, I’m surprised to find Jamie and a few of our friends—Jordan, Bex, Jemma, and Taylor are standing next to Preston, Drake, Tucker, Trent, and Jamie. No one else is in the room, which is unusual at this hour.
I approach Jamie, giving him a confused look. “What’s going on?”
“I want to show you something.” He smiles so wide it reaches his blue eyes.
Jamie’s hand slips behind my back, and he edges me closer to the projection screen on the wall.
Our friends follow behind us, and I look over at Bex and Taylor to see if they’ll give me a hint what Jamie has up his sleeve. Bex shrugs, holding up her hands with a goofy expression on her face. No one seems to know why we’re here.
Jamie lifts a remote from the table in front of the couch and flicks on the screen. I stare at the video game in front of me, wondering why it doesn’t look the least bit familiar. It’s called Quest for Shanaya. The graphics are amazing, so bright they practically jump off the screen.
From the main menu, Jamie selects two players, a warrior woman with blonde hair dressed in a tight black outfit, a sword in hand.
She looks fierce, like the woman who can kick some serious ass.
A few characters like her are in Mage Wars, but the closer I study her face, I realize she’s…
me. Holy shit, this girl could pass as my twin.
I angle my body toward Jamie, my mouth open in complete shock. He notices my expression, rewarding me with a cute smile.
“I had a hard time capturing your beauty,” he says, pointing at the woman. “But I think you turned out just right. What do you think?”
His eyes find mine, and I have to blink back the tears forming. “This is…” I shake my head, at a loss for words. “You did this for me?”
He nods, inching toward me, his fingers slipping between mine. “For us.”
I reach up to cup the side of his face with my hand, and he sucks in a deep breath. “Too much?”
“No, it’s perfect,” I whisper, staring into his eyes. “You’re perfect. I can’t believe you wrote me into your video game.”
“You are my game,” he admits. “You’re my muse.
I want you in my life, Shan. I was an idiot to let you go.
Every time I close my eyes, I think of you.
When I roll over in bed, I reach for you.
I miss you. I need you. It’s always been you.
You were right in front of me these years, and I was too stupid to see it.
I’ve learned over the past few months that time is a commodity, and I don’t want to waste another second without you. ”
Now, the tears spill from my eyes, coating my cheeks. “Jamie,” I choke out.
“Every line of code in this game…” he says, motioning toward the screen, “… I wrote for you. But there aren’t enough ones and zeros in the universe to express how much I love you.”
I chuckle. “Did you just… tell me you love me more than binary code?”
“No… yes. I guess so.” Jamie puts his face in his hands and sighs, now laughing as he looks at me. “Binary is a two-symbol system, kind of like us. You need both the one and the zero.”
He’s so adorable when he does his nerd speak. Most of the time, I don’t understand all the complexities of coding and video games, but I love seeing how much his face lights up when he talks about it.
“Which one would I be?” I ask, joking. “The one or the zero?”
“Zero,” he says without hesitation.
“How come?”
“Because zero comes first. But you will always be my number one.”
I fling myself into his arms and kiss him so hard it takes my breath away. He lifts me up, clutching me against his chest. Our friends clap and whistle in the background, some of them making dirty comments. We ignore all of it, lost in each other, drowning in our love for one another.
Once our lips separate, I’m out of breath, my head spinning. “I love you, too,” I whisper, and he smiles in response. “So… are we playing the game or what?”
He glances over his shoulder at the screen and then leads me by the hand to sit on the couch in front of the gaming console.
“I felt stuck until you came into my life,” he admits. “I couldn’t finish this game, and that’s because you were missing. But you gave me the motivation I needed to get my shit together. You helped me see what I needed to do.”
“What’s my character’s name?”
“Princess Shanaya.”
“Shan-ay-a?” I exaggerate the pronunciation, not knowing if I’m right.
He nods. “Yeah. It’s not my most creative name, but I wanted something that sounds like Shannon.”
He named game after me. It’s Jamie’s quest for me… for Shanaya.
I smile. “I’m a princess. How come I’m not a queen?”
He hands me a controller and laughs. “Because Princess Shanaya will eventually become the Queen of Dragonbane.”
Squeezing the controller in my hand, I smile. “And does the Queen of Dragonbane marry the king?”
“The Lord of Winterbourne…” he says, gesturing toward his character, who looks like him down to the very last feature, “… has to fight all the Lords of the High Houses to prove his loyalty to Princess Shanaya. After he does, then he’ll become worthy of ruling alongside her.”
“Sounds like you have your work cut out for you,” I quip, grinning like an idiot. “And how does Princess Shanaya prove she’s worthy of the crown?”
“She has to slay the dragon and drink its blood.”
My nose wrinkles in disgust. “Ew, that’s gross. You want me to drink blood?”
“It’s not as gross as it sounds.” He chuckles. “Just go with it, okay? The dragon’s blood turns into the elixir of life, and that’s what gives Princess Shanaya the power to rule Dragonbane.”
“You’re incredible, Jamie.” I let out a breath of air that he steals away from me with one look. “Your mind is one of my favorite things about you.”
He lifts his shirt to reveal a hint of his muscular stomach and says, “You sure it’s not my abs?” Jamie laughs at his joke, winking at me as he lowers his shirt. “Most women go for the abs.”
I snort at his comment. “Good thing I’m not most women.”
He hooks his arm around my back and smacks a kiss on my forehead. “Thank God for that.”
As if no time has passed, we go back to being us, back to where we started. And with graduation two weeks away, we’re closer to starting our future together.