Page 52 of Saving the Halfback
I rolled over to my computer, shaking the mouse and waking the screen up. The RPG game I played with Chase was already up and loaded. Chase didn’t know it was me he played against, but when I saw his screen name—a name he used for all his games since we were kids—and heard his voice, I knew right away it was my best friend. So many times over the years, I had come close to telling him, but it had gone on for so long, I didn’t think I could ever come clean. This was the only way I could be a part of his life, so I had to take it.
He was currently offline, but I opened the chat, anyway, and sent him a message.Online, need to blow off some steam.I knew the chat message would go to his phone.
As I waited, I added a couple upgrades to my character and searched for a quest. It wasn’t too long before Chase, or rather GreySeeker, replied to me.I’m in, be there in ten.
It was less than ten when I got the notification he had logged on.
“Hey, GreySeeker,” I said into the mic.
“Hey. Where are we going today? I need the fuck out of here.”
Maybe it was the weed, maybe not, but the moment I heard Chase’s voice, I felt my body sink into my chair. “Oh, you too? What were you doing?”
There was a pause before he said, “Swimming.”
I teleported to Chase’s character online, and it wasn’t long before the two of us settled into a quest and fell into our normal banter.
Two quests and many hours later, I leaned back and stretched. My phone pinged, and I looked to see Bailey had texted back. It was nearly one a.m.
Bailey:Hey.
“You still there?”Chase asked.
“Yeah, I’m here. Remember the friend I told you about before?”
“Which one, the silent asshole or the girl you were making up with?”
Oh yeah, I forgot I had vented to him about Ethan. Even though Chase didn’t know who I was—for all he knew, I could be on the other side of the world—I remained vague about my personal life. I didn’t want to give myself away. “The second. Seems she may have an ex bothering her.”
“What?” He seemed pissed, though I wasn’t sure why. I narrowed my eyes at the computer. No…he didn’t know who I was. If he did, he would’ve chewed me out, the same way he did Bailey in the parking lot. Chase can’t stay quiet worth shit. “Bothering her how?”
I shrugged but knew he wouldn’t have seen it. “She didn’t go into details.”
“Ask her.” Chase was impatient.
“There’s a thing called boundaries. And she drew them today—no talking about the cowboy.”
“Cowboy?”
“Never mind.” I typed out a message to Bailey and sent it.
“Are you talking to her right now?”
I chuckled.
“Tell her to tell you his name, and we will make him disappear.”
“And how do you propose you do that? You don’t know where we are.”
There was a curse.
I sighed. “Enough about this. I needed to get this out of my mind.” I lit my joint, opening my window to allow the smoke to drift away.
“Right, fine. There’s a horde of—”
My phone pinged, and then there was silence. I flipped it over and read her message.
Bailey:I’m okay.
