Page 28 of Level Up
Locate Cartwright’s trousers
— First time meeting Cartwright inThe Stones of Ayor 4
nine
the token straight friend
You would think,after twenty-six years on this Earth, I would be less of a dumbass by now. You would be incorrect.
For, as you can see, I have made a grave miscalculation. When I cancelled my Saturday afternoon coffee date with Victory—with a vague excuse that made me feel like crap—it never occurred to me that she might still end up at Green Bean this afternoon. That in itself is not such a problem, of course, but the fact that I told Damien I would meet him in front of Green Bean was an error in judgment of epic proportions.
I figured I was being practical; if we met outside Ink & Well, then my mother would see him and ask about him and it would be a whole Thing. This would be much more discreet. I thought.
But when I see Victory and Pal heading towards Green Bean Coffee—heading towards me—hand-in-hand, my dumbassery comes into sharp focus. (Why can’t I be as smart as my sister? Marie would never.)
“Audrey!” Victory beams at me as the two of them come to a stop in front of me. She glances at Pal, who seems equallyhappy to have me crash their date, before returning her radiant smile to me. “I thought you were busy today.”
“Yeah… I am,” I tell her, and she deflates a little. “I’m just waiting for—” I cut myself off when I see Damien approaching from across the street, and I think about bodily shoving Victory and Pal into the coffee shop before they notice him. But of course, it’s too late.
Because I am a dumbass.
“Hey, it’s Glasses!” Pal says, raising a hand to wave at him.
Damien stops several feet away from us, in the middle of the road, and waves back uncertainly. A car horn beeps at him, and he jogs a few steps to reach us. (Thankfully the drivers are used to pedestrians meandering about around here.)
Victory looks between the two of us, frowning in confusion. “What’s going on?”
“We were just—I mean, I’m—Damien invited me to go check out his N64.” I stumble over the words as they all spill out too fast. Even though it’s the truth, it sounds like I’m lying. Great.
Pal grins. “Nowthat’sa euphemism.”
Damien frowns in confusion as well. “I have an actual Nintendo 64.”
The awkwardness is palpable, though it’s possible that it is completely my own. I told Victory I didn’t even know if Damien and I were even friends—I still don’t know what that wordreallymeans—and now I’m going over to his apartment like we’re besties, and cancelling plans with my actual bestie to do so. I have committed some sort of friendship crime even though I don’t know what the rules are.
Panicked, I figure my best course of action is to end this scene as quickly as possible.
“Well, enjoy your coffee!” I give Victory a quick hug and Pal a nod before I back away to leave, like I’m ready to make a run for it if need be.
“Okay,” Victory says, eyeing me skeptically as she slowly makes her way to the door of the café. “Enjoy your Nintendo, I guess.”
I keep a forced smile plastered to my face until the two of them disappear inside and then I turn around, glaring at Damien as I march past him. “You were either two minutes early or two minutes late, but either way, you have terrible timing.”
“Sorry.” He shoves his hands in his pockets as he falls in step next to me. “Your friends don’t like me, do they?”
I sigh. “I may have had someungenerousopinions about you before we, y’know, talked. And I may have shared those opinions with them. Loudly.”
“Right,” he says slowly. “And have these opinions changed, or…?”
“I think so?” I glance over at him as we keep walking. “I mean, yes, unless you intend to murder me today.”
“Hadn’t planned on it, no.”
“Okay, then, yeah. I don’t hate you anymore.”
“Youhatedme?” he says with an incredulous laugh. “That’s so harsh.”
