Chapter 15 #2
‘You choose. I’ll give you that advantage, since it’s quite likely I’ll beat you at whatever I’d choose.’ She smirks at that.
I raise an eyebrow back.
‘Hmm. That’s quite a challenge.’
‘I thought you liked a challenge?’ she points out.
‘I do.’
‘So, go on then, choose your game.’
‘I choose Mandolin’s Realm.’
Her eyebrows shoot up. ‘Seriously, dude? You know I’ll smash you at it.’
‘We’ll see. Maybe I’ve been practising it for just such an occasion.’
‘Okay, I challenge you to a speed run from the beginning.’
‘Until when?’ I ask.
‘Until we’re spent and can’t play any more.’
‘I’m never giving up,’ I warn her.
‘I’m counting on it.’
‘I guess it’ll give us plenty of time to chat.’
‘That’s the idea,’ she agrees.
‘Any subject goes?’
‘Well, to a point. I’m not going to be getting into politics with you right now.’
‘Good for me. How about our most secret fetishes?’ I joke.
‘Sure. If you’ve got the balls for it.’
‘Oh, I have the balls, don’t you worry about that.’
She lets out a loud laugh. ‘Yeah, you’re no prude, that’s for sure.’
‘Okay then. Let’s do this,’ I say, rubbing my hands together, adrenaline coursing through me.
‘Right. I’ll send you a link for a connected game. One sec.’
A link appears on my screen and I click on it to join her game.
‘I’m in,’ I say.
‘Then let’s go, gamer,’ she says with upbeat irony in her voice.
Mandolin’s Realm
Choose your character name
Raffa-Don’t-Wanna-Be-Alone
Ida Furious
Choose your weapon
Bow & Arrow
Nunchucks
‘Nunchucks? Hardcore.’
‘You know it. I don’t mess around, billionaire.’
‘Clearly.’
‘Okay. Let’s play.’
‘Ready when you are.’
‘I’m always ready.’
‘I don’t doubt it.’
The short, animated intro to the game begins to play and I take a breath, readying myself to take her on.
I have to win this. I’m determined that I do.
The moment the game begins, we find our characters in a mythical realm with the wind howling around us and a wide expanse of barren land laid out before us. There’s a castle in the distance, looming and dark – the destination we need to reach in order to complete the game.
I decide to launch right into what I need to say to her the moment we start moving our characters. This opportunity feels urgent, like I’m on limited time – especially as she’s likely to hand me my arse in this game.
‘You know, I’ve realised that with everything that happened with my mum and dad it’s made it hard for me to trust anyone,’ I say.
‘Especially anyone I have a romantic relationship with. I’m always waiting for them to betray me in some way, I guess.
Even if they’ve given me no reason to suspect they will.
It’s ingrained in my psyche now, to expect they will anyway. ’
‘Hey, at least you know that about yourself,’ she says after a moment. ‘That’s half the battle. You could work on it in therapy, now you’ve got the time to, if you’re beginning to feel that way about someone you care about.’
‘True,’ I agree.
‘Would you be willing to do the work?’ she asks in a hopeful voice.
‘I would for you,’ I say with absolute determination.
‘Really?’
‘Yeah. Turns out I’m quite fond of you. I miss having you around. I’ve been pretty miserable, in fact.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ There’s a pause before she says, ‘Actually, I’m secretly delighted that you’ve been miserable without me because I’ve been in bits without you. Unfortunately.’
I let out a long sigh of relief, which is tainted with guilt. ‘Shit. I feel crap about the way I behaved.’
‘I genuinely thought it was because you weren’t capable of having a real relationship with me. That work was too important. More important than anything or anyone.’
‘Yeah. I know. I thought I knew what I wanted. Until you came along.’
‘And wrecked your head?’
‘You did a bit, yeah.’
‘Sorry about that.’
‘Don’t be sorry. It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You’re the best thing.’
‘Oh, man. You’re making me cry here,’ she says. I look up to the video call box that’s been moved to the top right corner and see her swiping a tear away from under her eye.
I suddenly want to reach into the screen and touch her, to try and take her pain away. ‘Sorry about that too.’
‘Don’t be. I like how much you make me feel things. You bring everything alive. I love that.’
I take a breath. ‘Yeah? Well, I love you,’ I say before I can think too hard about it.
There’s a stunned pause. ‘Seriously?’
‘Deadly. In fact, I think I’ve probably been in love with you since we first started direct messaging on Gamerite.’
More tears are running down her cheeks now, but she ignores them. ‘Me too. I love you too, I mean. I’ve been trying to convince myself that I don’t. But I do.’
‘I’m exceptionally glad to hear that.’
‘I wish you were here with me right now.’
‘That can be arranged.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Yeah.’
Putting down her controller, she looks up at me on the screen and gives a huffy kind of laugh. ‘Okay, dude. You win. I’m forfeiting the game if it means you’ll get your arse over here right now.’
Relief floods through me and I put down my controller too and smile at her. ‘Send me the deets.’
She starts to type into the text box and I see her address appear on my screen.
My heart lifts as happiness, relief and excitement flood through me.
‘Got it. On my way.’
Game Over
* * *