Page 56 of One More Round

Simon

While I loved winning The Race last year, hosting this year has been so much more fun. We’ve really gotten to interact with the fans on a whole new level. Link and Bernie both have experience streaming gameplay and communicating in real time with fans. With Link on YouTube and Bern on Twitch, they both brought in more followers than we expected. The giveaways, the guests who’ve stopped by, and the ones who have gone Live on Facebook with us have all been a huge success so far.

And, damn it. My gaming chair, cheese and all, was auctioned off for a grand. It helps that the team offered to sign it. And then the winner asked if Link would sign the nacho cheese stain. Figures.

There are two more full days left of The Race and we have raised more than three-fourths of our goal amount. There is no doubt in my mind we will end up meeting the goal before the end. We may even come close to the number that Link thought we should have gone with. But all that matters is that the check we will get to present to the Endowment Center later this month will be well received.

Right now, I’ve got about two hours left on my current run. At midnight, Bernie and Ben will take over through the night and then Dex, myself, and Chuck will join them for a few hours before we start taking shifts again. Link is sitting here with me, monitoring the comments and it’s easy to forget that we are actually working. But then again, it’s one of the many perks of the job.

I’m running into a building that I’ve never seen before, when out of nowhere, I’m shot from behind. And now I’m dead. I groan and wait for my character to come back to life.

“Oh, bummer, man. That sucks!” Link laughs.

“Tell me about it,” I grumble.

“Yeah, you were on a winning streak. It’s been what, like twenty minutes since you last died?” he says, thinking it’s funny to rag on me. It’s ten at night and I’ve been playing for about eight hours straight and still have two more to go. This was a longer slot for me, but I get a nice, short, six-hour session tomorrow to make up for it.

Link starts laughing as he reads through some of the comments on the screen.

Groaning again, I say to the room, “I don’t even want to hear it. None of you have been playing this game for as long as I have today. So, be nice.”

Link is still laughing and continues to reply to the viewers. To get him and the viewers to cut me some slack, I try to change the subject as I get back into the game.

“Link, check the schedule, isn’t it about time to have another giveaway? How are we doing on the fundraiser? Do we need a boost?”

Link takes the bait and turns on his dumb game-show-host persona. “Well, I’m glad you asked, SezSimon, let's take a look at the board.”

I roll my eyes and smile.

He rolls the big whiteboard we use for strategizing in front of where he is sitting on the couch. On the whiteboard is a drawing of a big thermometer. We were instructed by Bernie to color in the progress every time we hit a milestone.

“As you can see, Simon,” he’s still using the game-show-host voice, “we currently are sitting at two hundred eight thousand dollars. It would be a good time for another giveaway.”

There is a short break from the game while my character travels to a new area and I look at the stream. I laugh when I see Ruby pop up in the chat.

“ComicGem68 says, ‘Now we all know why you don’t have a girlfriend,’” I read out loud. Ruby has been actively harassing us the whole time. Well, Link mostly. She is loving calling him out in front of so many other people. She is on at some very random times, so I’m not sure what she is doing about work and sleep. I know that Gia and Morgan have been watching, but both are inactive viewers. Which is fine with me, because I’ve got too much on my mind to mix Gia in with this marathon gaming session. I’m already missing her like crazy. When she can, she comes and sees me when I’m on break. Other times we’ve FaceTimed. But since my breaks are short and I really do try to sleep, I haven’t gotten a lot of time with my girl.

Link just chuffs, “Ha. Whatever.”

I’m back into the game now but notice her name pop up again with a message. I take a quick look and see that she wrote that he’d have a girlfriend if he wasn’t so immature and strange. Now I just chuckle. Link isn’t bothered though, he plays off Ruby’s jokes and I can tell things are about to get interesting. Hopefully he can get us to the next milestone and raise another two grand before my time is up for the night.

“Oh, I beg to differ, ComicGem68. I think most ladies find me charming. Can I get some feedback from the audience, please?”

I snort. And he starts to read off some of the comments for me.

“I’d date you, Link!”

“Don’t listen to ComicGem68, you would be the perfect boyfriend.” I bark out a laugh at this comment.

“Well, now we know you don’t have a girlfriend!” another one says.

“ComicGem68 says, this islame,” he chuckles.

“Ladies, ladies. I’m flattered by your kind words,” Link says with his hand over his heart, bowing slightly to the screen.

“You’re a tool, man. A tool,” I tell him good-naturedly.

“Maybe, but the ladies love me. They love me.” He slaps a hand on my shoulder. I fight another eye roll.

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