Page 12 of Single Player

In fact, he was ready for food now, and it was just about lunchtime, so he went to find Isabel.

As usual, she was staring at her screen with a frown on her face. This seemed to be her default Friday position. He leaned on the wall of her cubicle and waited for her to notice him.

Eventually she looked up, pushing her glasses into her hair. “What’s up? It can’t be lunchtime already.” She checked the clock. “Shit, wow. Time flies when you’re test-playing levels.”

“Yup. Ticktock. Time to eat.” He tapped his wrist where a watch would be if anyone actually wore watches anymore.

“Give me just another few minutes to finish this level. I’m almost done.” She tugged the glasses down into place and turned back to her screen. “Go find Phil and Caleb. They both said they wanted to come.” Phil, one of the animators working on Caleb’s art team, was always up for Friday lunches. He was more reliable than Isabel in that regard.

“What about Iris? She going to make it?” The HR manager, Iris, had become part of their circle a few months ago. Matthew always enjoyed her conversation and her dry sense of humor that fit right in with the rest of them.

Isabel shook her head, already back to clicking through the level, eyes locked on the screen. “No, she said she’s got a project due for art class on Monday and she’s using all her free time to get it done.”

Matthew watched Isabel speed through the game, checking the various encounters with a look of complete immersion on her face. He knew that look, and knew she was going to be difficult to pry away.

“Five minutes, Isabel, and no more. I’ll carry you away if I have to. You missed last week, and you’re not missing this week, too.”

Isabel nodded distractedly, but Matthew wasn’t sure she was actually listening to him. He went to round up Caleb and Phil from the art department.

The group did eventually pry Isabel away from her work and go out for lunch. At Phil’s suggestion, they ended up at a Chinese restaurant in a strip mall a couple of miles away, which Caleb was quick to question. “I don’t generally eat out in strip malls. Are we going to get salmonella?” He made a face as Isabel pulled him out of the backseat and into the parking lot.

“You’re fine,” she reassured him. “I’ve eaten here before.”

“I’m offended, Caleb.” Phil held a hand over his heart. “Do you really think I’d take you somewhere to poison you? I’d just poison you at work instead.”

Caleb laughed. “Yeah, I wouldn’t put it past you.”

“If you would stop making me redo my sketches, you wouldn’t have to worry about getting poisoned.” Phil gave Caleb a pointed look.

“Okay, you guys, come on.” Isabel wrapped her arm around Caleb’s and tugged him away. “You remember the rules. No work talk at Friday lunches.”

“She’s right.” Matthew held open the door for them. “We all agreed.”

A short, perky waitress seated them at a booth with a glass-topped table and paper red-and-white placemats with the Chinese zodiac signs on them. Perfect. Matthew had a soft spot for this kind of inauthentic, indulgent Chinese food.

Next to Matthew, Phil rubbed his hands together. “What about DiceCon? We can talk about DiceCon, right? Will just asked me yesterday if I wanted to go, and I want the scoop.” His eagerness made Matthew smile.

“I think DiceCon is exempt from the ‘no talking about work’ rule,” Matthew said. “Anything out of state doesn’t count.”

The waitress brought them all water, tea and cups, and four oversized menus. “You’re going to have a great time, Phil.” Isabel poured them each tea from the metal teapot and opened her menu to browse. It was hard to believe that nearly a year had passed since the last DiceCon, which had been Isabel’s first.

“So who all is going?” Phil asked. “Matthew, you’re going, right?”

“Sure am. I always go. Will says I’m a ‘good face for the company.’ ” Matthew sipped the tea, which was so hot he burned his tongue. He knew “a good face for the company” meant “smart, well-spoken, and also ethnically diverse,” and he was happy for the free trip to Boston every year. He knew Will was fishing for him to take on more responsibility at the company, but he’d dodged that so far.

“No other programmers?” Phil sipped his tea as well. “Damn, that’s hot. I burned my tongue.”

“No, it’s just me.” Matthew took his next sip more cautiously, slurping a little. “None of the rest of them seem to think that Boston in March is as good as sunny Florida.”

“And you’re both going?” Phil looked across the table at Isabel and Caleb.

“Yeah, but Caleb’s taking personal time to go. I’ll be the only one of us actually working.” Isabel gestured to her boyfriend. “We thought it would be a fun anniversary for us.”

“So who’s the fourth team member this time?” Phil asked.

“I think Dan’s going to go again.” Matthew had overheard him talking about it. “Isabel, did he say anything to you?” Dan was on Isabel’s team, so she was the most likely to know.

Isabel nodded. “Yeah, he said he’d like to go. It’s up to Will at this point, though. Phil, how’s the crab Rangoon here? Is it mostly crab, or mostly Rangoon?”