Page 21 of Campus Crush
He nodded like it was settled. Like it always was.
I tuned out after that, letting his words blur into meaningless noise—percentages, contracts, profit margins.
I stared at the sandwich my mom placed in front of me and thought about how college had been my one escape.
And now even that was slipping away.
The longer I sat there, the tighter the walls closed in.
By the time I made it back to my old room that hadn’t changed since high school, I felt hollowed out.
I sank onto the bed and pulled out my phone, needingsomethingto tether me back to myself.
A notification blinked across the screen.
PeachyKeen:
You alive over there, BigBear?
A shaky breath escaped me, and I didn’t realize how tightly I was wound until that tiny message unraveled the helplessness in my chest.
I thumbed out a reply, fast.
BigBear88:
Barely. Visiting family. Send help.
She sent back a crying-laugh emoji, then a GIF of a little bear waving a white flag.
I smiled in spite of myself.
My thumb hovered over the keyboard. I wanted to tell her everything.
About how fake everything felt here.
About how trapped I was.
About how it was easier to be someone else when I was with her—even if it was just behind a screen.
Instead, I typed something simpler.
BigBear88:
You busy?
PeachyKeen:
Nah. Just messing around on my farm. Wanna hang out?
God, yes.
Gaming suddenly seemed like the best way to escape reality right now.
But playing with Peach wasn’t enough anymore. Not when the real world kept closing in tighter.
My fingers hesitated.
I knew she went to CFU, but we hadn’t shared more specifics about our lives besides that. We’d both seemed content to keep our game personas separate from real life, but what if our connection in the game could be real?
