I blink at my son, processing the words. “When the fuck did you get so mature?”
Instead of responding, he makes a fart noise at me before going back to his laptop. I can’t help but chuckle. I ruffle his hair before darting away and back into my streaming room.
I sit down and set my water beside my computer. I stare at the screen for a long time, just thinking about what Calloway said. Am I ready to move on? I’m tired of always holding myself back. I’m ready to take a chance but do I want that person I take a chance on to be Rodney?
Rubbing at my eyes, I can’t help but hope that maybe he is the right person. At the very least, I’m not opposed to seeing where this all goes. Maybe it’s just innocent flirting for the cameras? Maybe it’s just a bit of fun? Either way, I don’t plan on shutting it down.
I think I might actually like Rodney.
Gods, that’s a terrifying thought.
After taking a steadying breath, I flip my stream over so that my main screen and my face cam are on. Then I unmute myself, waving at the camera.
“Hello everyone! Welcome to the stream! Thanks so much for being here. As you probably saw, we’re going to be playing Halloween tonight with a few people that some of you probably already know. In case you haven’t met them, they’re an awesome bunch of streamers. RodKneeonComs, BlueStreamer, and PourSomeSuga. It’s going to be an awesome time.”
SnowsOffspring(vip): Let’s goooooo
SnowboardKid(vip): This is gonna be awesome!
billstopay(mod): I can’t wait to see you guys scream
SkateboardKid(vip): …is this a bad time to tell you that I don’t handle horror very well
SnowboardKid(vip): Don’t worry bae I’ll protect you
SkateboardKid(vip): My hero!
SnowsOffspring(vip): Stop filling the chat with your flirting!
Angelic405(mod): *sighs and gets the hose out*
I chuckle at my chat, watching as they all yell at Snowboard and Skateboard to stop flirting. I wonder if they know each otherin real life and if they made their usernames at the same time or if it’s just a coincidence.
“Thank you to all the subs already today.” I look over at my notifications. “Shout out to DebbyDowner49, ClassAct23, 45 dildos in a trenchcoat. Jesus Christ, okay. Sure. Thank you, used condom wrapper. Okay, seriously? Y’all please. Weattemptto keep things PG-13 here!”
SnowsOffspring(vip): Hey Dad? What’s a condom?
“We are not having this conversation. You’re sixteen years old. You know what a condom is. Chat, this is all your fault.”
I look over at Discord, making sure everyone else is ready before pulling up the game and hitting start. We’ll be able to talk with each other inside the game’s built in voice chat feature. Once the game starts up, there’s a little message that pops up, inviting me to Rodney’s lobby. I hit accept.
It only takes a minute before my character is standing inside a warehouse with three other characters. I run over to them, testing all the controls, hopping up and down before crouching.
“Hi!”
“Hey, Snow!” Rodney says right away, crouching up and down in front of me in greeting. It’s adorable!
“How did you customize your outfit?”
“Over here,” he says before running over to a random mirror hanging up in the warehouse. I click on it, opening up the customization menu.
“Chat! Help me decide on an outfit quick!”
I hear someone behind me chuckle. “He’s gonna be busy for the next hour.” That’s Kei.
“Like you’re any better,” Rin says. “You joined the lobby like thirty minutes early so you could pick out the perfect outfit.”
“This ain’t about me,” Kei says before running off to a different corner of the warehouse.
