Page 8 of Playing Flirty

Once they had enough money, I was pulled from school for a monthlong adventure and then pushed back into whichever school would accept me afterward.

I blew out a long breath. “I don’t know, Mom. I spent most of my savings on my MBA fees, and my next goal is to buy my own car.”

“Oh, you and those Life Goals. Baby, let loose a little bit. How’s Patrick? We haven’t seen him in a while.”

“How could you? You haven’t been home in six months.”

Mom cackled. “Do you still love him, Rosie?”

She asked this every time, and every time I nodded automatically before she finished the question.

“It’s the least you can do for yourself,” she continued. “Since you’ve decided to hate your job for the foreseeable future, you need to love the person you spend the rest of your time with. Talking about love, look who’s arrived, smelling like fish and covered in sand!”

The camera swung around the room, and Dad’s face filled the screen. His almost-white eyebrows popped up. “Hey, baby girl. How’s your board game coming along? Can we buy it yet?”

My parents sat side by side, looking at me with wide eyes and even wider smiles as they awaited the news of my success based on absolutely nothing.

“Next question,” I said, my eyes darting to where my Board-Game-in-Progress sat waiting for me.

“Still dating Shaun?” he asked, scratching his gray beard.

“Patrick, Dad. Shaun is my colleague. He’s dating Neema. Remember? Actually, they’re engaged!” A fresh wave of joy flooded over me.

My mom squealed. “Oh, wonderful. They’re a lovely couple. So much passion in their eyes when they look at each other.”

She was interrupted by my dad staring at her with their noses almost touching.

“Can you see the passion in my eyes, love?” he finally asked.

My mom howled with laughter and pulled him closer for a kiss. I truly wished the camera was positioned farther away.

“Gosh, get a room!” I begged.

“All right, my little hobbit. I think we have to go get that room. Can’t delay matters of the heart. Chat soon. Love you forever and wherever,” she called out.

The call ended, and I was thankful that this time she remembered to end it before dealing with “matters of the heart.”

Perhaps it was the conversation with my parents, but my fingers found their way to the edge of my board game’s box as I thought back to when I was eighteen years old and attended San Diego Comic-Con for the first time.

I had arrived in my best homemade hobbit costume. My hair was cropped short and naturally curly, much like Frodo’s, but pitch-black. My little fangirl heart could not handle being around anime characters and superheroes, and neither could my phone’s battery. It died before midafternoon, and I ended up sitting in the parking lot by myself, in costume, waiting for my mom to come and find me.

Aside from the general activities, I was there for two reasons. One, to find the board-gamers, and two, to introduce my board game to them.

The gaming area was much less crowded than the rest of the convention. Everyone was either playing or discussing games, and for the first time in my life, I wished I could break myself into multiple pieces and take part in everything.

Standing on the sidelines, I watched as a Gandalf annihilated a Hulk at a Yu-Gi-Oh! duel. I was frozen in place with my own deck of cards burning a hole through my backpack. Iwouldn’t have dared challenge Gandalf; maybe the fourteen-year-old Percy Jackson was more on my level.

When Gandalf won the next round, an accidental cheer escaped me. His gaze shot upward, and I burst into a fit of giggles—which he joined in.

“Thanks for being my very own hobbit cheerleader,” he said, approaching me during an intermission.

I chuckled and looked up at him for what felt like miles. “Well, I mean, I’m Frodo, so it made sense.”

He smiled, and my insides fluttered. Even with the beard and wig, he was very cute, and I wished I was wearing something that didn’t involve covering my feet in fake hair.

We spent the next few hours discussing our favorite games, and I mustered up the courage to show him my board game. He listened to the rules, and as it was my first time explaining it to someone that wasn’t my mom or dad, I discovered all the loopholes.

“While these rules don’t entirely make sense, I’m ready to play,” he announced with a grin far too cheeky for Gandalf.

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