Page 26 of Level Up
“My mom would kill you for calling N64vintage. Though I am admittedly jealous. I haven’t played Mario on N64 since I was a little kid.”
“I haveSuper Mario 64here, actually,” he says. “If you ever wanted to come over and play it.”
“Yeah?” I’m hesitant despite my excitement at the idea of reliving some of my childhood favourites. But going to Damien’s (smelly, cramped, roommate-filled) apartment seems like a bad idea. I mean I’mpretty surehe wouldn’t try to murder me, but is it worth the risk?
“You live above your mom’s shop, right?” he asks, and for a second I think I should deny it and move to another country, just to be safe, but then he adds, “I think you mentioned that the other night when we were chatting.”
“Oh, yeah.” Apparently, I gave him that information. Whoops.
“I have to go drop something off in the neighbourhood tomorrow afternoon,” he continues. “I could swing past and get you and we could take the streetcar back here? If you want, I mean.”
“What about your stream?”
“I’d have a few hours to spare before my stream.”
I want to ask what his girlfriend would think of him inviting me over, but I worry that might make it seem like I think this whole thing is something that it’s not. Which I don’t. We’re friends. Maybe.
I don’t actually know when that label applies, officially. Is it something I just decide? Can I unilaterally do that? It’ssort of what Victory did when we started university; she just decided we would be friends and then told me, and I was on board. Could it really be that simple?
Maybe all it takes is me just saying yes to this sort of thing. Maybe it doesn’t need to be a big deal.
“Yeah, okay,” I tell him.
“Cool,” he says, though he sounds somewhat distracted. Probably in a boss fight, considering the way his cursing intensifies moments later. “Gustav is letting me down, Audrey. Can you believe it?”
“Never trust a man with a moustache.”
Cartwright
Well, this is a little awkward.
You
Are you all right?
Yeah, it’s definitely awkward.
No, not awkward at all.
What happened to your trousers?
Cartwright
