CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Kayla
By the time date night arrives, I’m jittery with excitement.
I’ve spent the last couple of days working non-stop. A part of me recognizes I’m trying to get ahead of schedule so I can throw my completed project in Topher’s face early. Just thinking about that asshat made me wear one of my favorite tees for two days in a row: Fueled by caffeine and spite.
But there’s more to it than that. The trip to Faerie lit a fire under my creativity, and the ideas just keep popping. If the last five years of being a game designer have taught me anything, it’s that you gotta grab hold of those sweet ideas while you can.
When my phone chimes that it’s time for me to get ready, I log in to the Buffy Guild and hit up my gaming besties for one last bit of reassurance.
AmethystAssassin: The date’s tonight! Wish me luck.
Ipwnedurass: girl, you don’t need luck. you got this
Xena4Eva: You picked really good games for a newb.
AmethystAssassin: What if he doesn’t like it?
I haven’t told them what’s really happening between me and Shadow, so they think this is a regular date.
First off, how the hell do you tell someone you’re under a magical marriage contract forced on you by your house, which you made sentient?
Secondly, I’m not sure the town’s protection spell would let them remember what I said, anyway.
Or would it change the words I type into something boring and un-magical so they never even read the weird?
Ipwnedurass: then you dump his ass. (kidding)
Xena4Eva: If he’s not a gamer, is that a deal breaker?
I pause, fingers hovering over the keyboard. What do I want to happen tonight? If Shadow likes video games, then that transforms him from Guy Who’s Unbearably Hot into Guy Who’s Flipping Perfect.
Do I want that?
Things will be a helluva lot easier if he hates gaming.
With a sigh, I type the truth. I’m letting the Witch Bitches see more of the real me, and I want to do the same with my gaming besties.
AmethystAssassin: I don’t know.
That’s hard to admit. I like being thought of as capable, as the one who always has an answer.
Xena4Eva: If things get awkward, you can always stop and watch a movie.
Ipwnedurass: what she said
Their replies are nothing but supportive, and I let out the breath I’d been holding. I can do this. I can let people I trust in, be more open and vulnerable, more real. My besties love video games as much as I do. They’re not going to ostracize me like my parents.
The doorbell rings, and I yell out, “I’ll get it!”
AmethystAssassin: Gotta go. Thanks!
As I near the front door, Victoria throws it open for me.
A large group of pixies hovers above the front stoop, a net bag holding two pizza boxes dangling below them. They drop the boxes into my hands with a loud cry of “Pizza!”
Dewdrop darts past me to dive through the center of the flock. “You can fly! I don’t know anyone else here who can fly. Will you be my friends?”
I translate for the pixies, who give happy shouts and swarm him.
They move out into the yard to have more room. Dewdrop flies loops and swirls, and the pixies surround him like tiny bright blue moons orbiting a purple planet.
“Did someone say pizza?” Shadow’s deep voice comes from right behind me. He looks downright lickable in black leather pants and a green dress shirt that highlights the color of his eyes.
I’m wearing jeans with my fave gaming sneakers and a tee that reads: Girls just want to have game. He looks like he made an effort, but I’m just me. A niggle of doubt worms through me, and I shake it off. That’s kinda the point of tonight: I’m gonna see how much Shadow likes the real me.
“Sure did.” I lift the boxes and head for the kitchen. I snag paper towels and beer and carry everything into the living room. My serious desktop gaming rig lives in my office, but I keep my Switch hooked up to the television.
I glance at each piece of magical parchment we pass, expecting to see something disapproving from Victoria. She thinks proper dates require fancy clothes and candlelit steak dinners, which is pretty much the total opposite of what I have planned. But she remains oddly quiet.
Dewdrop’s new cat tree reminds me of how hard Shadow worked to make my familiar happy.
I used to think the werepanther was nothing but cocky and frivolous.
Now I’m just confused. He’s still cocky as hell and continues to talk as if everything between us is a game.
But he’s also surprisingly sweet and thoughtful. It’s a disarming combination.
Shadow and I settle side by side on the couch, facing the screen, and I hand him a controller. “So this is our date: pizza and beer and video games.”
“Sounds perfect.” He grins and runs his fingers over the various buttons, his right thumb making circles on the top of the joystick in a way that’s seriously distracting to my girl parts.
“Wait. You like video games?”
“I’ve never tried them. I asked Naomi about it, but she doesn’t play. So I watched a few videos.”
“Why?”
“I know they’re important to you.”
He says it simply, as if it’s no big deal, and my heart gives a little skip.
“And I love games,” his voice dropping into a seductive purr.
Ah, there it is. He does love to play, so of course he’s excited to try a new kind of game.
I cover up my flustered feeling by turning on the TV and Switch, then pull up one of the simpler Mario 2D-platformer games that’s a good one to start with. “I’ll go first so you see what it’s like, and you can eat if you like.”
Shadow throws open his pizza box and grins. “Meat lovers! My favorite.”
“You’re not the only one who knows things about what people like.” Okay, so I had to ask the pixies, but now I know, so it’s not a total lie.
Happy music fills the room when I press start, and soon I’m cruising along, jumping and punching and collecting mushrooms. I usually play this game when I want to relax and not have to think, letting the rest of the world fall away.
That’s so not happening now, because no matter how much I try to lose myself in the game, my body stays hyperaware of Shadow beside me.
When I finish the level, I turn things over to him.
“Explain the controls?” He leans close, his musk and pine scent making my pulse race as I walk him through all the different buttons. The only reason I make it through without stuttering is because I seriously know my gaming shit.
I bite into my first piece of pizza as he starts to play, and damned if he isn’t good. Sure, he makes a few mistakes like anyone learning would, but he’s gotta be one of the fastest learners I’ve ever seen, his hand-eye coordination off the charts.
When he finally finishes the first level, I say, “Are you sure you’ve never played before, because I’ve never seen anyone make that last jump the first time they try. They usually land short.”
“Cats have excellent spatial awareness.” He gives an easy shrug. “We use it constantly to judge jumps when hunting.”
“Huh.” As someone about as far from athletic as you can get, I never thought about transferring real-world physical skills to a game.
Victoria opens the front door, and Dewdrop flies inside, cheeping happily about playing with the pixies. He flies to his new cat tree and climbs inside the leafy sleep nook.
After playing a couple more levels, I mix things up by putting on Mario Kart, which is one of the best driving games around, and I’ll fight anyone who says differently. Or I’ll fight them in a game, that is.
When Shadow loses control of his kart, sending it flying off a cliff, he turns to me and makes a silly face.
When I laugh, he grins. Then he starts playing badly on purpose, sending his kart over the cliff, driving backward, or racing toward each Thwomp, begging the blocky bad-guys to squish his kart.
He does a fantastic job of playing badly, using that hand-eye coordination of his in ways that get zanier and more elaborate each time until I’m wheezing, barely able to breathe, and his rich laughter rolls through the room.
“You’re never going to win like that,” I say.
He points to the screen and leans close, voice deep and wicked, like chocolate and sin. “What if that isn’t the game I’m trying to win?”
My heart picks up speed, and I lick suddenly dry lips. “Then what are you trying to win?”
“You.” He reaches up to coil a lock of my hair around his finger.
“Thank you for sharing this with me, my wife.” He smiles, as wide as his usual grin but more real.
It takes me a moment to figure out the difference, but it’s his eyes—they’re full of warmth.
“It’s a lot of fun. I see why you like it so much. ”
My heart leaps against my ribs. Tonight’s going even better than I imagined. I hoped he wouldn’t hate gaming, but I didn’t expect him to love it.
I cue up Paper Mario to give me something—anything—to do other than think about how much I want him to kiss me. “So this is a role-playing game. It’s designed for multiple people to play at once, helping each other—”
Shadow grips my hand, his knee pressing into mine. “I’ll be more than happy to play it next time, but I want something else right now.”
“What do you want?” I ask, while a voice in my head chants: kiss, kiss, kiss. My entire body thrums, and I feel like my skin’s too tight.
“I want to try one of your games.” His hand tightens around mine. “I realize it’ll probably be too complex for me to get far, but I want to at least watch you play one.”
“Oh,” the word puffs from my lips in a soft sound of surprise.
Even though Bradley was a gamer, he never liked that I was the better player, so he never asked me about my work or played any of my games.
For Shadow to want to play one of mine is so supportive that it takes my breath away.
Forget being jazzed about him liking video games.
This right here just catapulted him straight to the title of Best Date Ever.
“I’ll, uh…” My throat tightens, and I have to clear it to continue. “I’ll have to connect wirelessly to the computer in my office.”