“I have a commission I need to finish up on but otherwise I’m free. What’s up?”
“Do you wanna try that Halloween game with me and Snow?”
Kei freezes, turning to look at me while Rin hides his smile behind his hand.
“Snow is the man you barked at, right?” Maki asks, tilting his head to the side.
“Yes. Yes, it is.”
“And he still wishes to play with you?”
“He does,” I say slowly. “He’s the one who suggested the game. It’s a horror game where one person is the killer and the others in the lobby have to work together to break out of the house. It should be really fun.”
“Count me in,” Rin says with a grin. “My chat loved hearing you make a fool of yourself last time.”
“I’m also in,” Kei says. “I felt left out last time so this is perfect.”
“I hate you both.”
“You don’t.”
“I do.”
“Nope.”
I aggressively drink my soda but that only results in me spilling it all along the front of my shirt. Kei starts laughing so hard he’s wheezing and Maki hands me a napkin. At least Rin’s boyfriend has some manners! These other two could learn a lot from him, thank you very much!
“Great. Thanks,” I say with a huff. “I’ll let Snow know we’re on for Thursday.”
“We’re delighted to be chaperoning your date, Rodney,” Rin says as I go back to my room.
The rest of the week flies by. Gayle will come say hi during my streams and I’ll go say hi during his. It’s adorable, to be flirting like this. Every time, I can’t help but grin even though chat teases me. Thankfully, I’m not the only one affected because every time I jump into Gayle’s streams, he blushes so prettily. Somehow, between one blink and another, it’s Thursday and I suddenly don’t feel ready.
Time doesn’t really care if I’m ready or not because now, I’m joining a Halloween lobby with my two best friends and my crush. I’m sure nothing could possibly go wrong.
Chapter Six
Gayle
I change my streamtitle to ‘Killer Vibes’ before hitting the ‘go live’ button. I look over at my second monitor, making sure my ‘starting stream’ screen is up. Then I walk out of my room and head into the kitchen, wanting to have a full bottle of water before I properly start.
Calloway is sitting on the couch with his laptop in his lap. He’s typing away with a giant grin on his face. The blankets werecently picked up are tucked around his lap. My heart does a funny little flip inside my chest at the sight. He’s trying to nest. It’s not the best, but it’shisand that’s what matters.
“You excited for today?”
I fill up my water before coming to stand behind the couch, watching chat from over Calloway’s shoulder.
“Yeah,” I say honestly. “I think it’ll be a lot of fun. Hopefully we all vibe well.”
“I’m not worried about that,” Calloway says, leaning his head back against the couch, looking up at me upside down. “You guys all got along during that random run in.”
“I know. I’m just kinda nervous. Playing with new people can be weird sometimes.”
Calloway hums. “It’ll befine. If nothing else, at least Bills will have some clips she can pull for QuickVid. Plus, it gives you an excuse to spend more time with Rodney.”
I cover Calloway’s face with my hands, groaning loudly. “Not you too.” Calloway just giggles in response. “Isn’t it weird?”
Calloway pushes my hands away in order to look up at me better. He turns around so we’re actually facing each other, his brows wrinkled. “It’s weird to watch my dad flirt but that would be weird for any teenager. Is it weird that you’re actually interested in someone? Only because you’ve never been before. Rodney seems nice and as long as you guys are being safe while having fun, then I think it’s great. It’s been like ten years since everything happened, it’s okay if you’re finally ready to move on or whatever.”
