Chapter Fifteen
Chapter
Fifteen
Over the past few weeks, I’ve learned that Sunday evenings are unofficial video game nights for Wesley’s crew.
Originally, he created our Discord server for discussing and organizing our D I wonder if Wesley will risk the possibility of her sharing it with the enemy: me.
warlocke: not til it’s ready. maybe later this week, after I make some updates.
BallinColin: you say that every time and it’s always perfect
sashayaway: YEP
BallinColin: well if i can’t vamp it up, at least run a few dungeons in LoL with me?
TheOnceAndFuture: I’ll join
sashayaway: me too
missflowers: I’ve never played LoL before
BallinColin: WHAT?
sashayaway: BABE WHAT?
TheOnceAndFuture: Here we go
As the others try to convince Mona to play Legends of Lore with them for the first time, I send a private message to Wesley.
WitchRiley: You let the others play your game? You don’t keep it a secret?
Wesley doesn’t respond, and though it’s what I expected, I’m surprised to feel a pang of disappointment between my ribs. Instead, he replies in the group server, saying he needs twenty minutes to eat dinner and then he’ll jump online with them.
But immediately after that message comes through, a loud ringing blasts through my headset. It’s so unexpected that I nearly send my desk chair tipping backward as I jerk to sit up straight, and it takes me a moment to realize that it’s an incoming call from Wesley.
I give the option of ignoring him only a heartbeat’s consideration, really, before I answer.
“…Hello?”
“Of course I let them play.” A thread of amusement weaves through his voice, despite the way he’s got it pitched quiet. Does he not want Colin to hear? “How else can I improve it if I don’t open myself up to feedback?”
“If I do that too early in the process, I lose focus.” I don’t know why my voice sounds so breathy.
“Mona hasn’t played?”
“Mona doesn’t count.”
“Do I?”
I laugh. “You really want to know more, don’t you?”
“I’m desperate to.”
“You’ll use the knowledge against me.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
I toy with the cord of my headset as I idly twist my desk chair from side to side. “You hated my games back in college, Wesley,” I remind him. “You tore them apart.”
His voice suddenly gets so loud I wonder if he’s changed the position of his microphone. “I loved your games. I only gave you critical feedback because I took you seriously. Because I knew you could make them even better.”
I snort a laugh. “Can you even hear how shitty that sounds?”
“It’s the truth.”
“Huh. Right.”
There’s a lull of silence between us. I clear my throat. “I thought you didn’t want to talk to me after…” I hesitate. “After.”
His answering laugh is short, sharp, and bitter, which makes the silence that follows it feel especially piercing.
I pick at my black nail polish—still intact, for once—until he speaks again.
“That’s not true. But I wasn’t going to cross a line that you drew, and it seemed like you wanted space. ” He clears his throat. “After.”
I rock backward in my chair and stare up at the ceiling. The words fill my mouth—the truth—and though I wince at the taste of them, I eventually let them out. I do still want to know why he left all those years ago, but…
“It’s been…nice, starting fresh with you, Wes.” The nickname comes naturally, like I’ve never called him anything else. “It’s been nice being your friend, even though we’re competing. And their friend, too. I don’t want to mess that up.”
Not like I did last time, I think. With my last group.
With his headset’s mic so close to his lips, I hear the rush of his long sigh; I can almost feel it against my skin, and the small hairs on the back of my neck rise. “You’re not the type to make the same mistake twice, Reagan,” he says gently. And then, more directly, “Neither am I.”
I part my lips to retort but pause. What does he mean by that? Does he mean that being my friend is a mistake, and he won’t risk doing that again? Or is he talking about the kiss? Is he saying that last time it happened, he ran, but this time—
Already he’s changing the subject. “Do you play Legends of Lore?” he asks.
It all feels too big to pick apart right now. So, with gratitude, I take this first exit off the overthinking highway. “Yes, though not as much as I used to. I’d have to create a new character, get used to the game again.”
“Play with me?”
I pause to consider, distractedly splaying my fingertips over my bright keyboard. Eventually I ask, “What about the others?”
“We can make new characters together and join them after.”
I rub my palm idly against my sternum, as if that will dispel the sudden warmth I feel spreading through my chest.
“Okay.”
I let Wesley guide me through character creation and tell me about the game’s latest updates: the changes to what fantasy races you can play, how classes like warrior and magician have evolved, and what new areas of exploration have been added.
I know all of this already, but something about the passion in his voice has me wanting to let him talk all night.
“I’m surprised you still play,” I admit as I scroll through dozens of hairstyle options for my purple elf lady.
Wesley laughs. “It hurts my feelings how much love I still have for this game.”
“Hate the publisher, not the game?”
“…Jesus.”
I finish creating my character and finally click Play.
A lush forest full of pink and violet trees fills my screen, and nostalgia washes over me.
This is something I’ve always loved about games—that transportive feeling you get when you enter a new world and witness it opening up before you. I love the escape.
“If you ever want to talk about Lorekeeper,” I say, “I’d love to hear about it.”
“Are you going to report me for breaking my NDA?”
“Will it get me a job at Hurricane?”
“Probably not, and anyway, can’t say I recommend it.” I hear the smile in his voice. “Toxic work environment.”
“Eh, fair.” I laugh. “I won’t tell a soul.”
There’s a long pause, but when he speaks again, it’s like he’s releasing something—this is a closely kept secret, a story he’s been legally barred from sharing with anyone.
I can’t help but be touched that he’s trusting me with it.
His voice takes on the same tone it does in D&D when he’s taking your hand and gently guiding you into another world.
“So the story took place in the Forgotten Kingdom, before everything went wrong…”