Chapter 25 #2
“Rodrick Crow is here too?” Sophia asks, not looking at Elsa, but at the stucco ceiling. I’m not surprised. I remember how impressed and intimidated I was on my first visit.
“Yes, but he’ll be joining us tomorrow. He’s already on the premises, but he didn’t wish to disrupt the participants’ get-together. Right, please just drop your luggage here.”
“Hello, Louise,” I greet the receptionist, who gives me a warm smile.
“Hello, Lara. Good to see you again.” She takes our suitcases from us and then our jackets.
I hold on to the cuffs of my long-sleeved shirt before pulling off my top layer so nothing can slip out of place.
I’ll have to wear my medical sleeves over the next few days, for better or worse, though it’s starting to get too warm for my many layers of clothing already—especially if these rooms are going to be teeming with people tomorrow.
I tuck my hair behind my ears and feel my heartbeat accelerating as we approach the door to the lounge room.
What if Luca’s already here? Maybe Maleek convinced him to come early.
Elsa opens the door for us, and I immediately scan the room, but I can’t find Luca’s broad shoulders or brown hair anywhere.
“Sophia!” I hear a squeal, and a moment later, a strawberry-blond woman hurtles over to meet us. I recognize her from my last visit, but I was far too nervous to talk to her then.
“Hiya, Maeve!” The two of them fly into an embrace, and then Sophia gestures at me. “Maeve, this is Lara, my lead dev. Lara, this is Maeve, but I suppose you’ve already met. She’s a programmer for Lunar Dream in Liverpool. Right now, she’s working on a visual novel for young adults.”
I hold out my hand, and she takes it with a smile. “Pleasure!”
“Likewise!” Her warm smile brings out the little crow’s-feet around her eyes.
I can see no judgment in them, no jeering or mockery, and I feel myself slowly relaxing.
Maybe I’m lucky and I really do get a fresh start after my embarrassing performance last time.
The only thing I’m dreading now is seeing Shane again, but he, like Luca, hasn’t arrived yet.
Last week, when I shared my concerns about the second round with Luca, he suggested once again that I should tell Elsa that Shane recorded the video.
I’m sure he would have been disqualified, but I ended up declining.
Sure, Shane’s an arse. But I have only myself to blame for my failure.
Besides, I know what happens when you report your bullies: appallingly, very little.
Sophia and Maeve immediately launch into a conversation, chatting about the stress they’ve been under these past few days. I’m standing awkwardly off to one side when I suddenly catch a glimpse of movement from the corner of my eye.
“Akito!” I say, grateful for another familiar face.
“Hey, Lara.” Akito rolls over, and to my surprise, he spreads his arms open wide.
I return his hug, and just like that, a smile appears on my lips.
I thought it would be uncomfortable to come back after my debacle last time, but strangely, the opposite is the case.
Maybe Luca was right, and it wasn’t as dramatic as I thought.
“How are you doing?” I ask once I’ve stepped back. “Have your last few weeks been hell too?”
“If you mean whether I’ve been feeling like that ‘This Is Fine’ meme, with the dog drinking coffee in a burning house, then .
. . yes.” A lump forms in my stomach. I know that meme.
It was on one of the notice boards in my classroom once—only the dog had my face on it.
But Akito has no way of knowing that. He’s not them.
None of these people here have anything to do with my past. So I take a deep breath, fight back the nervousness, and smile.
“Your game and equipment are wicked—my flatmate’s little brother is so pumped about it!”
“Oh, is he in a wheelchair too?”
“Yeah, he’s paraplegic.”
Akito nods. He doesn’t follow up with the usual “Ah, damn” that Nat always gets when she mentions it. “Hey, give your flatmate my contact details if her brother’s interested in joining the tester team.”
“I will, thanks!”
Akito replies something, but I only half hear him, because at that moment, the door opens, and Luca enters the room.
His gaze wanders around the same way mine did earlier—until he’s found me.
The corners of his mouth lift, and a shiver runs down my body.
My throat goes dry as Luca approaches, and I swear I can physically feel, with my entire body, the distance between us shrinking again.
Like it was a stretched rubber band, and now that he’s here, everything can finally relax.
Everything except for my heart, which has started going wild, the way it has recently whenever my phone’s vibrated, hoping for a message from him.
It takes everything I have to stay where I am and not throw myself into his arms.
“Hey,” Luca says, and a second later, he pulls me close. As my head comes to rest on his chest, I can hear his heartbeat. It’s like he’s touching not just my body but the deepest core of my being. Like he’s moving everything around in there, arranging it into new patterns.