Page 79 of Knotty, Nice, & Holiday Lights
“What should we watch?” Will asks as he grabs all our game controllers and sticks them on the charging cradle.
“I’m always in the mood for action or horror,” I chime.
“There’s some new movie on one of the streaming services that’s based on MI-5,” Asher offers. “Bound to be a lot of action in that one.”
“Load it up.” Matthew plops himself on the couch beside me, and I automatically lean into him with a sigh.
Will makes some popcorn in the air-popper, drenches it in buttery heaven, and we all huddle up to watch the movie.
Once it’s ten minutes to midnight, excitement sizzles in the air around us.
Anticipation for the future. An eagerness for a fresh start in life. Together.
We flip on the TV to a channel that’s airing some local festivities as Will and Asher bring out the champagne flutes and a cold bottle. At five minutes to midnight, Asher pops the cork with an expert twisting method, low noise and no mess, then carefully pours champagne into each flute, and I help pass them around.
In a blink, we’re counting down the seconds.
“Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”
“Happy New Year!”we all cry in unison, clinking our glasses and sipping in celebration before each of their mouths captures mine, one at a time, sealing our promises to one another for a lifetime of love, support, and adventure, both the real we’ll experience and the fictional we’ll begin creating together.
Soon.
Epilogue
Four Months Later...
“Are we really doing this?” I breathe.
I sit with my Alphas, my beloveds, in a small office that belongs to Steven Bauer, an Alpha who once lived in one of the super-fancy penthouses at the top of the building where I used to rent my shoebox of an apartment. Steve is a financial advisory genius, and comes highly recommended by everyone we know, and even some people we don’t.
He brought in an attorney from the same building so we could make one stop and be done for now.
In front of us is paperwork. Alotof paperwork. Covering everything from a business license and tax ID, to insurance and startup loans. There is an unbelievable amount of money on the line. But, we have a lot of help to make this business a success. Some help in unexpected forms.
Matthew’s hand squeezes mine. “We’ve got this, Iz.”
“We’re all in this together.” Asher’s voice holds so much assurance.
Will seems a little pale as he swallows and forces a smile at me. “This is our future.” His voice is steadier than I expect.
And so, with a million signatures, repeated notarizing and thumb-print presses,Rekt Competition Gamingis born.
And I may just throw up.
After handshakes and congratulations, Steve tells us all he’ll see us in a couple of months for more loan paperwork, this time, real estate.
Will and Bec agreed on a sale price for The Cozy Crescent and a transition date, and we had all been packing for the past couple of weeks. Well, a lot of my stuff was still in boxes from my move to Crescent Lake in January, so I mostly helped the guys.
But it didn’t end there.
We’d found a house. To buy. And live in. Together, of course.
It’s a gorgeous multilevel home that has a basement apartment with a separate entrance, which we’re going to convert to a workspace. Hopefully, a temporary one, if all goes according to plan.
The more we sat together and really planned our future, the more enthusiastic we became about it.
“I know it’s not your normal style, Iz, but I think this is perfect for our first indie game.” Matthew had shown us all some mock-ups of a 2D puzzle platformer, telling us that this style was allthe rage right now in the indie sector. “We can start with a small production to get our name out there, earn some revenue, then see where to take the business from there.”
