Page 83 of It's in the Contract
“Oh, you do, bro.” Dan grins. “At least, compared to me and my job at Starbucks.”
“You work at Starbucks?” I say. “I loooove coffee.”
“Callie’s addicted,” Zeke adds.
Dan gives me another critical look. “Well, I can already tell you are an excellent person, Callie,” he says. “Make sure you take good care of Zeke.”
“Ahhh, Dan, knock it off,” Zeke says.
Will gets settled at a desk, and the room behind him is neat and orderly with bookshelves lining the walls. I see a few titles that are familiar, books I’ve seen Zeke carrying around.
“I’m serious,” Dan says. “He needs a good friend.”
My heart warms seeing how Zeke’s brothers truly care about him. “I promise I’ll watch out for him,” I say.
“He needs you, Callie,” Will adds.
“Guys, quit.” Zeke runs a hand over his face.
I wonder if Zeke’s thinking what I’m thinking. That he’s just as alone as he was before he met me.
The thought hurts my heart.
“You guys ready to get started?” Dan asks, rubbing his hands together with glee. “Just wait until you see what I’ve got planned for this armored troll.”
“Dude,” Will says. “You would be nowhere without my level thirty healer backing you up.”
I smile, listening to the brothers trash talk each other. I grip my character sheet, ready to experience D&D.
I truly can’t believeI’m saying this, but I’m having a blast. It’s been over an hour, and the time has flown by. Zeke, Dan, and Will get super into their roles, doing voices and grand gestures. Will seems to be holding back laughter half of the time, but Zeke and Dan are perfectly serious.
At first, it’s hard for me to get into the game, but Zeke is such a good . . . dungeon master? . . . and storyteller, that I can’t help it. He enraptures me into the narrative he’s created about a village gone missing and mercenaries (Dan, Will, and me) hired to find them. We explore a deep castle, run into a goblin called Meepo who gives us directions we’re not sure we can trust, and make friends with the goblin queen thanks to a charisma roll of the dice by me. Will and Dan applaud, and I practically glow with pride, even though it was all luck.
The queen helps us on our way, and I find myself wanting to know how the story ends, wondering whether we can rescue the villagers. Soon I’m fighting trolls and goblins and making decisions about which spell or weapon to use against which enemy. I almost die but then Will’s healer character saves me, and he gives Dan a smug look, who rolls his eyes.
“Dinner’s ready, people!” Caroline calls.
Zeke gathers his dice back into a black bag. “Time to go.”
“But we didn’t save the villagers!” I protest.
Zeke looks over at me with a huge smile.
“The lady has spoken,” Dan says in his mage voice, his glasses sliding down his nose. “We must play but a few moments more.”
“Mama’s calling,” Zeke says. He turns back to me. “But that’s why we play every week. It’s a campaign.”
“I leveled up Onara so much!” I say with glee. “When can we do this again?”
Dan grins, and Zeke’s face lights up. “I’m glad you had fun.”
“I’m out,” Will says with a wave. “See you guys next week!” His picture blips off. Dan salutes and follows suit.
Zeke grins at me. “You’re a natural! But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
I elbow him and follow him out of his room to the dinner table, where amazing smells hit my nose. I remember that I basically only had sugar cookie samples for lunch, and my stomach growls.
Zeke and I take seats at the table, where Mia is already chugging a cup of milk. Caroline places a 9x13 casserole dish of gooey lasagna on the table, and my mouth waters. She sits down next to Mia, but then the doorbell rings.
