Chapter 43
NOVA play: Beige by Yoke Lore
The shopping district was busy, which made sense considering it was a Saturday. It was an outdoor mall, essentially, lined with California palms and a mix of tech shops, clothing stores, and cafes.
At first, I felt a little nervous about being seen in public with Jay, but we ran into a few people from our department, and they didn’t seem to think it was weird that we were spending time together. They all just greeted us, smiled, and let us do our own thing.
“Don’t worry,” Jay hummed in my ear as he steered me in the direction of the game shop. “There are no rules on weekends. Everyone’s allowed to do what they want. It’s part of building the culture and making it easier for people to be okay with staying on campus long term.”
As much as that made sense, it made me uneasy.
The longer I spent here at Neurovance, the more I felt like the company’s culture was designed in such a way to trap employees in a gold-plated prison.
The tightness around Jay’s eyes as he explained this to me did nothing to make me feel like I was being overdramatic.
What he’d told me the night before about how he didn’t think he would be allowed to leave Neurovance, even if he wanted to, crouched over the burgeoning blush of happiness our new secret relationship had given me.
Pushing down the terrifying thoughts to examine at a later date, I let Jay gently direct me into the game store, and my eyes lit up at all the options.
We could, of course, just purchase the games digitally on the console, but there was something so fun about going to the store and seeing all the covers laid out like brightly colored candies, just waiting to be picked.
“The cozy games are over here.” He winked at me. “Unless you’re feeling violent and want to look at first-person shooter options.”
I laughed, shaking my head.
“I would much rather go fishing and catch bugs than go to war.”
The smile slipped off my face as something dark and sad fluttered across Jay’s expression. It was gone as quickly as it came, and before I knew it, he was giving me that bright smile of his again.
“Yeah… me too.”
I frowned, unsure why his words felt so loaded, but I didn’t have a chance to ask him about it. He was already plucking Animal Crossing off one of the shelves and handing it to me.
“Anything else you want while we’re here? Mario Kart? Pokémon?”
I brightened.
“All of the above, please.”
Jay beamed at me. “What Milo wants, Milo gets.” He winked before snatching up several other games to add to our collection.
Jay wouldn’t let me pay for any of the games, but there was a little stand at the cash register with gaming-related keychains that caught my eye.
There was an entire Stardew collection with tiny pixelated items that gamers used to gain favor with characters.
There was a hot pepper, which just so happened to be one of Shane’s favorite gifts to receive in the game, so when Jay was busy with the store clerk, I quickly purchased it, wanting to give it to him as a small thank you for everything he’d done for me since I started here.
“Ready to go, Milo?” he asked, turning to face me, a game shop bag full of cozy games hanging from his fingers.
“Yeah… uhm, here. I got you this,” I said, blushing as I handed him the small key chain.
His eyebrows rose to his hairline, and he took the tiny trinket from me, running his thumb tenderly over the shiny red surface almost reverently.
“It’s not much, but I just wanted to give you something to say thank you… for everything,” I whispered.
He looked at me, and suddenly it didn’t feel like we were in a busy store on a Saturday afternoon. It felt like we were the only two people in the world, and I could feel the weight of his appreciation like a physical thing on my skin.
“Thank you, Milo,” he whispered, and his throat rolled as he swallowed. “I guess I’ll need to start wearing a lanyard so I can keep my chilli pepper with me at all times.” His smile was soft and warm, and I gave him a shy smile back.
“You don’t have to do that. It’s just a small thing.”
“I want to,” he said, frowning. He glanced around before leaning into my ear, his warm breath causing my skin to erupt with gooseflesh. “I was going to take you out to lunch, but now I just want to take you home, so I can have you all to myself.”
It was my turn to swallow, and I shivered with excitement.
“I’d like that,” I whispered, and he pulled back, smiling at me in that wicked way of his.
“Home it is then. Lead the way.” He nodded toward the door, and I scurried off, feeling jittery and excited about whatever it was he had planned for us when we got back to our cubes.