Page 54 of Level Up for Love

Chapter

Fifteen

Over the past few weeks, I’ve learned that Sunday evenings are unofficial video game nights for Wesley’s crew. Originally, he created our Discord server for discussing and organizing our D&D game, but it’s since grown into an all-things-go chat room where the others coordinate times to play video games together, share memes about our D&D game (mostly Colin, honestly), and more. Still uncertain of my position in the crew, I don’t participate much beyond posting emoji reactions and sharing a living document containing my very detailed notes from Blood of the Tyrant.

Sundays always seem to come and go so quickly, and after meal prep and laundry, I’m desperate to use the last hours of this weekend to keep working on Afterwards—but I can’t stop glancing at the group chat on my leftmost monitor as messages flood in.

BallinColin: @warlocke when you gonna send me your new demo, dracula?

BallinColin: i vant to play

sashayaway: me too

TheOnceAndFuture: I also want to play

missflowers: …can I play, too?

I laugh at Mona’s uncertainty. It’s a fair question; I wonder if Wesley will risk the possibility of her sharing it with the enemy: me.

warlocke: not til it’s ready. maybe later this week, after I make some updates.

BallinColin: you say that every time and it’s always perfect

sashayaway: YEP

BallinColin: well if i can’t vamp it up, at least run a few dungeons in LoL with me?

TheOnceAndFuture: I’ll join

sashayaway: me too

missflowers: I’ve never played LoL before

BallinColin: WHAT?

sashayaway: BABE WHAT?

TheOnceAndFuture: Here we go

As the others try to convince Mona to play Legends of Lore with them for the first time, I send a private message to Wesley.

WitchRiley: You let the others play your game? You don’t keep it a secret?

Wesley doesn’t respond, and though it’s what I expected, I’m surprised to feel a pang of disappointment between my ribs. Instead, he replies in the group server, saying he needs twenty minutes to eat dinner and then he’ll jump online with them.

But immediately after that message comes through, a loud ringing blasts through my headset. It’s so unexpected that I nearly send my desk chair tipping backward as I jerk to sit up straight, and it takes me a moment to realize that it’s an incoming call from Wesley.

I give the option of ignoring him only a heartbeat’s consideration, really, before I answer.

“…Hello?”

“Of course I let them play.” A thread of amusement weaves through his voice, despite the way he’s got it pitched quiet. Does he not want Colin to hear? “How else can I improve it if I don’t open myself up to feedback?”

“If I do that too early in the process, I lose focus.” I don’t know why my voice sounds so breathy.

“Mona hasn’t played?”

“Mona doesn’t count.”