Page 30 of Level Me Up

Chapter Seventeen

Dex

We start the night in an awkward haze of tension. Something is up with Simon. While I don’t know Gia, I have a hard time believing Morgan and Ruby would be friends with someone horrible enough to make Simon act like a total tool. Fortunately, he seems to ease out of his funk once we start eating.

Link and Ruby are definitely entertaining. I can tell Link is interested in her. She’s cute and spunky, and she challenges Link over almost everything he says. He’s used to girls who don’t give him a hard time about anything. That’s actually what he seems to prefer. The guy is like a serial dater.

Bernie appears to hit it off with all three of the girls, which is good. As the only female member of the team, she is like a sister to us. She pulls her own on the team and is a valued member. She spends so much time with us that she doesn't have a lot of friends of the female variety, and she almost always hates the girls we date. I know we drive her nuts a lot, so the fact that she seems to have already accepted Morgan is a big deal.

I don’t know what it is about Morgan, but I just want to touch her all the time—not even in a sexual way. I just seem to crave her touch in general. It’s like I want to make sure she is always next to me, which is totally bizarre because I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. This is only our third date; I can’t stop wondering when I will get to see her again.

Now, we are all sitting around the TV playingMario Kart. Morgan warned me that she is horrible, and I have to admit she was pretty awful at first, but she seems to be getting the hang of it. Ruby, on the other hand…she was true to her word; she is really good at these old-school games. She kicked Link’s butt when we playedDoctor Marioearlier. When Link suggests we playBomber Mannext, she just smiles like the Cheshire cat and agrees that it’s a good idea.

We’ve been playing for a while when Ben comes by. Ben is a good guy, but he really likes to do his own thing. I didn’t have the instant “dude, let’s be friends” moment with him like I did with Simon, but after getting to know him, we became friends and not just teammates.

Chuck, on the other hand, isn’t very social, and if there are girls involved, he draws even deeper into his hermit shell. Except with Bernie; it took him close to a year to get used to her. While there are times when I can see he wants to come out and hang, he just doesn’t have it in him. Instead of confidence, the guy is arrogant; it really makes no sense. We were all used to it since he really is a nice guy, and we knew it was all just misplaced. To people who don’t know him, though, he comes across as a douche. I hate to admit it, but I’m thankful that he didn’t accept the invite to hang out tonight.

At the moment, I’m sitting on the couch, and Morgan is sitting on the floor in front of me leaning against the couch and my legs. I get the feeling that the constant need to touch the other is a two-way street. I feel like I’ve known her forever, and it’s hard to believe that I’ve only known her for a couple of weeks.

“Dude, I know you’re aiming those shells at me. Every time.” Link grumbles to Simon. Right now, it’s Simon, Link, Ruby, and Bernie racing. We’ve all played several rounds, and the four of them are by far battling it out for the title of champ. My money is on Ruby.

We actually have a bet going. Morgan and I think Ruby will win, while Gia, Ben, and Bernie think it will be Link. Neither of them knows we are betting on who will win. Now that the final of the four races is coming to an end, it’s clear that Ruby is taking this last race. What is unclear, is who will have the most combined points in the end.

We are all on the edge of our seats, waiting for the final score to show on the screen.

“What?! No way!” shouts Link as he tosses the controller on the coffee table.

At the same time Ruby does this little victory dance and almost sings “Yeah, that’s right. I kicked your ass, gamer boy.”

“Ok fine. You’re decent atMario Kart,” he replies.

“Um, wait a second, are you saying that you’re only decent at this game, too? Because I just outraced you, by like 200 points,” she interrupts.

“What? No, no I’m better than decent. Let’s race again.”

Everyone else in the room says “No!” at the same time.

“She beat you fair and square man,” I say

“I think it’s time forBomber Man. I’m really interested in seeing if Ruby can beat Link, yet again tonight,” Bernie adds.

The rest of the group mutters their agreement and Morgan gets ups and quietly informs me and Gia, who was sitting next to her, that she is taking a bathroom break.

“You can use my bathroom. I promise it’s cleaner than Link and Simon’s. She smiles, says ok and heads toward my room.

Shit. My room. She will be in my room alone. I’ve been dying for some alone time with her.

I notice everyone seems to take a break as well. Gia and Ruby are refilling drinks and chatting with Bernie at the bar. Simon and Link are discussingBomber Mantactics. Hoping, but not truly caring, that no one notices, I get up, and walk into my room.

I’ll just wait for Morgan in there.

I sit down on my bed, and a minute later she opens the door. She doesn’t look startled to see me like she expected me to be there waiting for her, but she smiles and says, “You know, my fortune cookie tonight said that I would be coming into some money. Seems as if betting on Ruby was the right choice.”

With a laugh, I say, “Usually, those things are filled with meaningless advice, looks like you got lucky tonight.”

I realize what I said as she cocks her eyebrow and gives me a sly grin and walks over to the bed and sits down next to me. She sits so close that our legs are touching. I clear my throat because sexual innuendo wasn’t really what I was going for, but now all I can think about is getting my hands all over her gorgeous body—which would be entirely unexpected because this is only our third date, and she doesn’t strike me as the type of girl to let the guys she’s dating get lucky on date three.

But I wouldn’t deny it, I’m really hoping she’s into it.

---