Page 171 of Catch Me
Roman:I don’t want to push him and it wouldn’t matter
Kai:Lies
Roman:Three weeks don’t decide the course of someone’s life
Kai:It did for me
Roman:You’re different
Kai:So is he. You wouldn’t both be acting like this if it didn’t matter
Roman:Doesn’t matter
Kai:What’s it worth to you?
I dropped my phone on the table loudly, then took another bite of my food.
“You good?” Sen asked.
“Ask your fiancé.”
He shot Kai a look. Even though he didn’t know what happened, he could always assume he was being a meddler. Everyone in the group was too similar. They just presented in different ways.
After I drained my coffee, I pulled out my tablet and stretched my legs underneath the table. I’d finished a sketch of the game creature, whose species I couldn’t remember because it was made up and sounded like gibberish. With it uploaded, I could finish it digitally and pray to god that it matched their vision.
Spine is wrong, I wrote off to the side. It was supposed to have these talons that came out of its back like Wolverine’s claws or something, but it looked too much like the spikes on a dinosaur.
More bone-like. Spine extension?
I needed it to be perfect. Even though the game wasn’t made by some huge company like Bethesda, I wanted whoever played it to think the creatures and characters were impressive.
Glancing to the side, I saw Travis looking at the tablet. I just continued, not really caring if he watched. He’d seen me obsessively draw pictures of him, so this was nothing.
People began making their way back to their rooms, but I continued to work. Another coffee had been dropped off, so I was content. It was only when the staff began to clean up that I decided to leave so that I wasn’t in their way.
I turned the corner into the hall and saw Travis standing in front of the elevator. Fucking universe.
Neither of us looked at each other as we stepped on. I watched the numbers rise and wondered if they were moving in slow motion.
“What’s the drawing for?” he asked, still staring ahead.
“Who says it’s for anything?”
He huffed and shifted his feet. When I realized he was facing me, I turned.
“A game,” I said. “Happy?”
“It’s really good.”
“I know.”
The corner of his mouth twitched, but he reined it in quickly. As soon as the doors opened, I rushed into the hallway. I was halfway to my door when I thought about what Kai said.
What was it worth to me? I wasn’t exactly sure, but I wanted to find out. If we were going to keep having these weird interactions, where both of us seemed to be holding back, maybe I was interested in seeingwhathe was holding back.
I turned around and found him already looking at me, which gave me more courage. He watched me approach and didn’t take his eyes off me when I stopped in front of him.
“Hey.”
