Page 298 of Well Played

She grinned and handed him the rest of the taco. “Told you.” She picked up her other taco and took a bite. “There’s more on the table if you want another one.”

“I’ll finish these off first.” Taking a swig of his beer, he asked, “So tell me about you.”

“What do you wanna know?”

He leaned back onto the couch. “Did you always want to be a… blood… whatever?”

“A vampire?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, that.”

She shook her head. “Nah, I didn’t plan on being one. Phlebotomist, if you wanna be technical. But it pays the bills, and it’s can be fun.”

“What did you want to do if you didn’t want to be a vampire?”

“I wanted to be a dancer when I was younger. I took lessons and even joined the local dance crew. We were gonna try out for AGT and everything.”

“What happened?” he asked.

“Obviously you’ve never been around a Filipino family.” She took a pull of her beer. “I’m allowed to dance as a hobby, but the only acceptable professions for a Filipino child are healthcare, engineering, or education. I can barely program my phone, and I hated math, so medicine it was. And this was better than most of the other tech positions in medicine.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. I have a cousin that’s an amazing performer; she sings, plays and writes music, dances and acts. But because of her family, she went to med school.”

“Is she happy?”

Lila shrugged. “I hope she is.” Setting her bottle on the table, she picked her plate up and went back to the table to put together a few more tacos. “I think she made the best of things, you know? I mean she’s a good doctor and loves her work and all, but I wonder what would have happened if she actually did what she wanted to do and not what her parents wanted her to.”

“What about yourself? Do you ever regret not trying to go pro as a dancer?”

She paused, giving him a thoughtful look. “I used to. But what can I do? I can either be pissed off at the world, or just roll with it.”

“So, you’re just rolling with it?”

“Yeah.” Settling back onto the couch, she gave him a crooked grin. “Wouldn’t help if I did otherwise.” She chuckled softly, “I mean I can’t really complain. I have a roof over my head, a good job that I like, I don’t have to worry about food or anything like that, and I get to meet cute guys who will buy me dinner after I beat them at Tricky.”

Nando returned her smile with one of his own. “Cocky for a girl that’s gonna end up buying me dinner.”

“Whenever you’re ready, poser.”

They finished their first plate of tacos, then while Lila powered up the console, Nando made a second plate of tacos and grabbed another beer. He took his seat while she loaded up the save file. “All the players and courses are unlocked if you want to practice.”

“In a minute,” he answered. “Go ahead, I’ll get next.”

Lila brought up the character select screen. With Kaori customized to her liking, she picked a random course and started to play. Nando felt transported back to middle school where he’d play with his friends on days he didn’t have baseball practice. The music was on surround sound and playing on the huge screen was like a dream. The character did jumps, spins, stunts, all to an adrenaline pumping soundtrack.

Now he wanted to play this in the clubhouse before games.

She finished her run with a ridiculously high score and set her controller on the table. He brushed his hands on his jeans and took the second controller. Brodi had been his favorite in the past, so he selected the toon and away he went. It had been a while since he’s played, and it took a bit for him to remember the controls. The first run was terrible, and he couldn’t help butwince as Lila giggled next to him. “Just a little rusty,” he said as he restarted the course. The second time through was better. Lila shifted in her chair as she watched him take the course.

“Ready?” she asked.

He finished the course in first place and grinned. “Let’s go.

Lila picked up her controller with a grin. “Bring it, poser.”

The countdown tones sounded, and the race was on. Nando jumped to a quick lead but didn’t count on Lila being as skilled as she was. She hit one of the high-scoring shortcuts, caught big air and when she landed, she was ahead of him in points and position.

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