Page 93 of The Fangirl Project
My parents are absolutely rubbish at it lol, it’s boring always winning!
@wizeguy
Bloody love Catan. I’m in!
@runicrascal
Sunday 2pm, sounds like a plan. See you all there!
30
“Where did you say you’regoing again?” Dad asks, loitering in my bedroom doorway, car keys in hand, while I hurtle about my room grabbing my jacket, my shoes—no, notthose,what am I thinking?—and being generally very, very late.
We were supposed to leave eight minutes ago. I’ll miss the train!
And I really don’t want to be late to my first proper fan-meet with the localOf Wrath and RuneDiscord, and Anissa’s already waiting at the station for me. She doesn’t want to walk in on her own, I know.
“Board game café,” I respond. “Have you seen—? Never mind, there they are. And where’s…” I cast about for the postcards I made—personalized fanart of everyone’s favorite characters. It’s kind of like the Taylor Swift friendship bracelets, I figure, only nerdier.
Theywereon the desk, but I see Dad’s picked them up to look at.
“Did you say it was with someinternet friends?” he asks. Hefrowns at me. “Your mother mentioned Anissa’s going too, but is this…safe?”
“It’s not just Anissa. Jake’s going, as well. There’s a few of us.”
And Max, too, according to Anissa…My heart squeezes, thinking about actuallyseeinghim again. At least we’ll be surrounded by other people, so maybe it won’t be so awkward? Maybe he’ll be the haughty, annoying guy from those early watch parties, and I won’t evenmindthat he never reached out to me after ourkiss.
If he’s the guy from the party…open, and vulnerable, earnest and confident, andsweet…
I amnotprepared for that.
I shove all thoughts of Max aside. I can’t afford to get distracted by him today; it’s too important.
“And it’s for this…fantasy show.” Dad holds up the postcards, and I snatch them to shove in my bag. “I thought that stuff was always more Jake’s thing.”
“It was. But it’s mine now, too.”
On my own terms.
“Are those pictures for your internet friends?”
“They’re justfriends,Dad, you don’t have to call theminternet friends.Besides, Chloe does stuff like this all the time with other Twitch streamers.” A thought strikes me, and I look at him in horror. “Oh God, you don’t think it’s totally dorky for me to bring them paintings of their favorite characters, do you? Is that really weird?”
He laughs. “It sounds just weird enough, if you ask me. Andthose are really bloody good, Cerys. Nowcome on.You’re late enough as it is!”
I really am, and we make it to the train station with three minutes to spare. Dad spends the whole car ride asking me with great interest about the show that’s inspired my recent artwork and helped me forge new friendships. I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts watching it when he gets home.
Anissa’s waiting nervously between the platform and the parking lot, and I swear I hear her sigh of relief through the car window when she spots me and waves.
“Thanks for the lift!” I say, already hurtling out of the car.
“Of course. Have a nice time with your not-internet friends. And—Cerys.”
I pause, not quite shutting the door, agitated because he sounds serious, and I really don’t have the time for some lecture. Mom already did that. I ended up having to swap numbers with Heather/@silversmithhh so we could FaceTime and Mom could see she was a perfectly normal nineteen-year-old woman. Still, I try not to sound too annoyed when I say to Dad, “Yeah?”
He grins. “Those paintings arereallygood. Maybe you can show me and your mom some more of your work properly sometime? And show us what we’re missing with this series, if it’s inspired you so much.”
“Er…yeah. Yeah, okay. I actually have a showcase coming up with school in a couple of weeks for the Eisteddfod…Maybe you guys could come to that?”
