I shake my head. “Not even a little bit.”
“Oh, thank fuck,” Jude breathes a sigh of relief. “I thought I had just ruined everything by being an asshole.”
“No way,” I insist. “It would take a hell of a lot more than that for me to think you were an asshole.”
“Good. As long as we avoid any type of competition, then.”
“Oh?” I lean in, intrigued.
“I’ve been told I’m not a good sport,” Jude explains. “Especially when I’m losing.”
“That just means you’re passionate,” I argue. “You like to win. You don’t like to lose. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Jude shakes their head. “You say that now?—”
“Listen, I have two younger stepsisters who throw tantrums when they lose at anything. Also, do you remember Harrison from the other night?”
Jude nods. “The Tech guy, right?”
“Yep. He’s one of the smartest, most reasonable people I’ve ever met; an absolute sweetheart. But the second he picks up a controller, it’s like Jekyll and Hyde, dude.Super Smash Bros.turns him into a monster.”
“Smash Bros.,” Jude sighs, almost dreamily. “God, I haven’t thought of that game in forever. I used to be so fucking good at it.”
My heart nearly leaps into my throat. “We play it all the time! We have it back at the dorm. You should come over and play sometime!”
Jude scoffs. “Nah, that would be a bad idea.”
“Come on, it’ll be fun! You said it’s been a while, right? You can practice solo first and rebuild that muscle memory.”
“I don’t know…” Jude runs a hand through their hair. “I might relapse back into my own version of Mr. Hyde.”
I try to imagine it—a formidable, aggressive version of the warm, gentle friend I’ve come to know over the past few days. “Not possible,” I conclude. “You can’t be any worse than Harrison.”
“Then I guess you’ll have to learn the hard way,” Jude says with a smirk. “Because I’m absolutely taking you up on that.”
My face breaks out into a wide grin. “Hell yeah.”
“Fuck off! You’re such a dick!”
“Says the one playing as Sonic the fucking Hedgehog!”
“You keep using all the stupid items! It’s cheating!”
“It literally isn’t cheating at all.”
“Then beat me without them, fucking coward!”
We’ve been at this for over an hour now. Jude was spot-on—they’re a bit rusty but clearly very good. I’ve had to rely on assist trophies and other items just to keep up with them.
Right as I’m about to throw yet another Bob-omb at Jude’s Sonic avatar, a familiar voice interrupts.
“Is everything okay out here?”
I pause the game to see Vimlesh standing in the hallway, watching us with a concerned expression.
“Hey Vimlesh!” I call out. “Yeah, dude, all good here.”
“I’m so sorry,” Jude says. “Are we being too loud?”
