Page 28 of Level Me Up

Chapter Sixteen

Morgan

Before we have a chance to break the awkward tension in the room, someone knocks on the door, and Bernadette lets herself into the guys’ apartment.

“Hi! Morgan, Ruby, you’re here already!”

“Yeah Bern, you’re late,” said Link.

From the couch, I say, “Hey Bernadette, this is my roomie, Gia.” Gia waves.

“Oh, please call me Bernie,” she replies. “So, when will the food be here? I’m starved.”

Link chimes in, “I just ordered it. So, in about thirty minutes.”

“Wonderful. What are we doing tonight?” she asks, looking at Dex and me.

“Ah, well. We could watch a movie or find something else on Netflix. Anyone have any ideas?”

“What? You guys are professional video game players; you aren’t going to show us your skills?” I ask, leaning away from Dex.

“Well, I didn’t know if you’d be interested in that,” he says, surprised.

“Hey, I plan on giving you a complete tour of my book collection, so you might as well show us the way of the video game.”

“Ha, ok, sure,” he replies. I really don’t think he expected me to be interested, but I am.

“Do you guys only have, like, one type of game, as in the game you guys play professionally, or do you consider yourself general video game connoisseurs?” Ruby asks, thoughtfully. I know what she’s trying to find out. She wants to show off her old-school video game skills.

This time, Link, who is sitting next to her on at the bar, says, “Oh, we have it all. But they specifically playCoB.”

Ruby rolls her eyes “Yes, I know they playCall of Battle.” I’m sure she says this to point out she does know a little bit about video games. Like me, I think she has done a bit of research on professional gaming and video gaming in general since we went out with them in California, but her reaction to Link is pretty entertaining.

“Ooo. Someone is a smarty pants, I see,” he replies. “Ok, do you play video games?”

“I like the old-school stuff. I kick butt at anything Mario,” she says proudly.

Then Bernie squeals, “Yes! Mario tournament! This is going to be so fun. Who’s in? I’m in, obviously so is Ruby and Link…” She looks over to us, and I’m nodding my head before I realize it, but I’m laughing because of Bernie’s excitement, and I can see the competitive look on both Ruby and Link’s faces.

Dex, behind me, says, “Heck yeah!” And that just leaves Gia and Simon.

Gia shoots a look to Simon, then back to Ruby and says, “Sure, I’m in.” Simon nods his agreement. He must really be bent out of shape with her here because I remember him being super nice and friendly back in California.

I peel my gaze off them and look back to Bernie as she says, “I’m going to go get the Wii. It has all the old-school Mario games on it.” With that, she scurries back out of the apartment. Then I remember Dex telling me that she lives in the building, too.

Dex leans forward and asks, “You want to see the rest of the apartment?” I nod, and we stand up. I want to be alone with Dex, but I refuse to leave Gia in this room by herself with a sulking Simon. As we walk by the chair, I reach down and grab her arm and pull her up. “C’mon. Dex is giving us a tour.”

She stands up as Dex walks to the opening in the kitchen and waves a hand. “This is the kitchen,” he says. “You can see it’s clean. We take turns cleaning it, but Link is the slacker of the group.”

I hear Simon mutter, “In more ways than one.”

We then head back to the living room and across the room with the couch. Dex opens the door and says, “This is Link’s room. See, it’s a mess.”

We peak in, and the first thing I notice…

“Oh my God. You have a bunk bed? How old are you? Eight?” says Ruby, who seemed to magically appear next to me.

Yup, that’s what I noticed first, but in his defense, it is a loft bed. Underneath the bed is an ultimate gaming center. There is a desk that holds two large computer screens, a computer, and a lot of other equipment that I am entirely unfamiliar with. It’s a pretty small room, so it doesn’t surprise me that having a loft bed works out best for him.

---