Page 83 of Level Up
“Is it what you really want, though?” Victory asks. “Or is it just what you think you’re supposed to do when you’re dating someone?”
“I’m not stupid!”
“No one’s saying you’re stupid, Aud,” Pal adds calmly. “But you just told us that you don’t even know if you like sex.”
“So?”
“So that sounds like you don’t actually know what you want yet. Which is okay,” they continue. “You don’t have to do that stuff right away, or ever.”
“Well, how will I ever know if I like having sex with him if he won’t even have sex with me first?” I say, trying to sound mature about this even though saying these words out loud makes my cheeks burn.
Victory looks at me sympathetically. “Have you talked to him about it?”
“I don’t know.” I rub a hand over my face. “Sort of? Maybe?”
As I recall, I word-vomited some things in a panic about wanting him tofuck me—I’m still eternally cringing about that—and then last night I blurted out that we could dosexy stuff, whatever that means.Yikes.
“God, I’m such an awkward loser,” I whine, covering my face with both hands now. I notice that neither of them jumps in to correct me. “I can’t talk about this stuff without freaking out, so I don’t know how I’ll ever convince him that I’m cool with it.”
“You know what I think?” Pal says with a smirk. “You need to do it over the phone.”
“You mean have this conversation with him?”
“That, and…” They make a motion over the table with one hand, like a DJ scratching a record.
It takes me a full fifteen seconds of blank staring to realize what they’re suggesting. “Oh my god, no!”
They shrug, like they don’t know why I’m freaking out about this. “Just if it’s awkward face-to-face. Break the ice a little.”
“It’s not a terrible idea,” Victory agrees, and I’ve never felt more betrayed by her in my life.
“That’s—That’s not an actual thing that people do!” I sputter. “I mean,maybeif they’re long-distance, but we live in the same city?—”
Victory and Pal exchange a look that is at once incredibly guilty and yet not at all ashamed.
“Oh my god,” I mutter down at my empty glass.
“You don’t have to do anything you’re uncomfortable with,” Victory assures me.
“Yeah, and at least he’s not pushing you to do something you don’t want,” Pal adds. They hold up one finger. “Because that is a red flag, and you should GTFO if that’s the case.”
“I know,” I say with a nod. Because I do know. I know on some level that whatever I decide is right for me will be fine. But it’s good to hear it from people I trust, anyway.
I can also see their point, about it being a good way to break the ice. But who under the age of forty actually uses the phone anyway?
Though what other choice do I have? Talk about this in person?
Ugh.
The world is on the verge of a total climate collapse. Extreme temperatures, rising ocean levels, and catastrophic natural disasters have decimated the globe’s population, and now it’s survival of the fittest. The super-rich hoard resources, protected by advanced technologies and private mercenaries, and the fate of the Earth rests in their greedy hands.
Play as Encore, an expert hacker and assassin, on the most dangerous job of her life—turning on her own benefactor. But what other choice does she have, when the whole world is at stake?
Encore will have to fight elite guards and killer machines, sneak past the highest of security, hack the most sensitive data, and seduce criminal masterminds to get the job done and prove that she’s more than the sum of her parts.
Bonus Content:
15 New moddable weapons
