Page 34 of Level Up
“Oh my god, cut her off!” I plead to Mom, who just shrugs like this is perfectly fine dinner conversation.
“I’ve spent over fifty years listening to her,” she says nonchalantly. “You don’t get a free pass.”
“You’re lucky,”I say, glancing at my second monitor where I have a video chat window open with Damien. We’ve never been on video, outside of streaming, and it’s weird to see his whole face in this context.
“Why’s that?” he asks, though his attention is clearly still focused on his game in front of him. His brows furrow in concentration when he’s in combat, but he has no problem chatting right through it, whereas I tend to get pretty quiet during battles.
“You don’t live with your family,” I tell him. “Must be nice.”
“You technically have your own place, right?”
“Yeah, but I still see my mom and grandma all the time. And we have dinner every Saturday.”
“Wow.” He doesn’t say anything else for a minute, frowning more deeply at his monitor, before turning his attention to our chat window as well. “I’m hoping you at least like your family more than I like mine.”
“You seemed to get along okay enough with your sister.”
“Yeah, she’s fine.” He shrugs. “The rest of them, though. Bunch of conservative assholes.”
I laugh and then clamp my hand over my mouth and shake my head apologetically. “Sorry, just—My family is like the furthest thing from that. At dinner my grandma was talking about orgasms.”
“What?” He laughs. “I don’t know if that’s badass or mortifying.”
“Both is gooddot gif,” I say flatly, and he laughs again. “They drive me crazy, though. I think my sister is the only normal person in our family, which also drives me crazy.”
“If she’s normal then what does that make you?”
“Oh, I’m completely bananas.”
“Yeah, what a party animal,” he says sarcastically as hecontinues his game, though his forehead is relaxed enough that he must no longer be in combat.
“I didn’t mean in afunway,” I say, a laugh undercutting my defensive tone.
He shrugs. “I think you’re fun.”
I try not to beam at that, as if it’s the best compliment I’ve ever received. “That’s because you are also an introverted weirdo nerd.”
“Those three words seem kind of redundant.” He adjusts his huge headphones with one hand. The motion nudges his glasses slightly askew, and he straightens them as well, eyes still focused on his game. “Actually, my last girlfriend was an introvert, but she wasnotweird. So obviously that didn’t last.”
“Girlfriend?” I’m not sure if my voice pitches up in curiosity or jealousy. Either way, I regret asking immediately.
He turns his attention to our chat again with an awkward smile. “Um. Yeah, maybe that wasn’t—It was a couple years ago,” he says, shaking his head. He sounds like he’s trying to assure me of something, though I’m not sure what. “And very short-lived.”
“So, you haven’t dated in years?” I try not to seem too relieved to hear that, but it’s nice to feel like we might have that in common.
“Uh, well…” He looks back at his game, brow furrowed again, but I don’t think he’s in combat this time. “I went out a couple times with this guy about a year ago, but he was anextrovert, so that didn’t last either.” He laughs half-heartedly. “Besides, I’d rather spend my time playing video games than trying to get to know someone.”
He saysget to know someonelike it’s a form of torture and it makes me laugh. Because I get it.
“Yeah, I definitely prefer video games to dating,” I tell him, though I don’t bother mentioning the wholeacething yet.
His attention is back on his game, but he nods. Eventhough we’re not the same, it’s nice to talk to someone whogets it,too.
Before I can say more, I’m startled by movement out of the corner of my eye, and I look over at the window to see a cat perched outside patiently. It’s too dark to make out more than the basic shape of it, but I can tell by the fact that it’s not trying to shred my window screen that it’s Bitte, not Danke.
“Hold on a sec,” I say to Damien as I reach over to slide the window and screen out of the way to let the cat in.
She does a little hop onto my desk and sits right next to my mouse, so I won’t be able to play anymore until she’s got her treats. She knows how this works.
