Page 8 of Sparks Flying

For the next twenty minutes, we played, argued, and died. Over and over again.

“This is lame. I’m out,” Tybee said. “Check you losers later.”

“Yeah, I’m out too,” Mitch said. “My mom’s calling me up for dinner.”

I snorted. “Freaking kids. Why do I always get stuck with the children?”

But at the mention of food, I looked around and saw my tray of food Mom had sent up had been delivered at some point and was already growing cold.

While we waited for their replacements to join, I scarfed down my food.

“Hate to say it, but I’ve got to bail, too. My date’s here and he’s not much of a gamer,” Foxy said. “It’s been. . .well, something.”

With that, she was gone.

I sighed. “Looks like a pretty slow night, guys. Are you two also bailing on me?”

“Do you even enjoy playing?” JH asked.

“Are you kidding? I love it! I even went to college to learn graphic design and gaming creation with big plans to work in the industry. This used to be my entire life.”

“What happened?” Wolfhunter asked.

“Life. I guess I grew up. Or maybe I’m still growing up. I ended up in cyber security instead and well. . .life.”

“Totally understand, man. Why don’t we just keep it to the three of us tonight?” JH suggested.

“Not for this campaign. It requires six and I’m afraid I don’t have the connections to pull in solid players anymore, just a bunch of snot-nosed kids.”

“Bet you were one not that long ago,” Wolfhunter teased.

“But at least I was good. Those guys sucked.”

They both laughed.

“You really think you’re that good?” JH asked.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Okay, prove it. Let’s go.”

“Still need three more,” I reminded him.

“Not when I have the cloning code,” he said slyly.

“The what?”

“Cloning code,” Wolfhunter said.

“Is that even legal?”

They both laughed.

“Let me guess. You two have played together before.”

“You could say that,” Wolfhunter said.

Suddenly, my screen dinged, letting me know it was okay to proceed, even though there were only three of us in the room.

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