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“No, I don’t play a lot of video games.”
My mom couldn’t afford to buy me an Xbox or PlayStation, so I did without it. Instead, I focused all of my time and attention on hockey. That worked out better than she had expected.
I sit on the leather couch next to Ethan. “Who’s Coach’s friend?”
“You know Jamie. He comes to some of our games with Alex’s wife.”
“Oh, that guy,” I say. “He doesn’t look like a gamer.”
Will chuckles. “No, he doesn’t. Jamie’s pretty cool for a programmer.”
“You in or what?” Ethan throws a controller at me.
I lift it and nod. “Sure, why not? But if we lose because of me, I don’t want to hear it.”
“You’ve never played a video game before?” Will cocks his
head at me. “I don’t buy that for one second.”
“I’ve played them at my friend’s houses, but I never owned one.”
Ethan and Will exchange a strange look as if they think I’m either a weirdo or lying. I can’t tell which.
After Will sets up the game, he plops down on the other side of Ethan, controller in hand. “You ready to kick some mage ass?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Huh?”
“Mages. That’s who we have to fight in the game. They’re magicians. I’ll explain as we go. Just don’t get us killed.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Great. No pressure or anything.”
Will chuckles.
Midway through the game, I turn the wrong way down a dark hallway in the castle and get my character killed.
“Dude,” Will groans. “What the fuck? You just fucked our team. We won’t get the points we need to advance.”
“I told you I don’t know how to play this shit,” I spit back.
“Get off his ass, Will.” Ethan clicks the buttons on the controller with his eyes fixed on the screen. “We can make it up to the Grand Mage’s spell room without him.”
Will sighs. “Yeah, but we would’ve gotten enough points to buy new gear.”
“It’s only a game,” I point out.
Will’s mouth opens wide, but he doesn’t respond. He’s too busy throwing magic at his opponents that are trying to block them from entering the stairwell. After they reach the top, they have to fight the Grand Mage, but they don’t advance to the next level. Both of their characters are killed with a blast of magic, forced to start the level over.
“Fuck.” Will throws the controller onto the carpet like a spoiled brat.
Ethan lets out an exaggerated sigh and then gets up from the couch. “We should go. I’m sure Dean wants us out of his apartment.”
Will glances over at me for confirmation.
“I have to call my girl. She lives in Chicago and has been waiting to hear from me all night.”
“Coach and Jamie are from Chicago,” Will says. “I wonder if they know each other.”
“Kat knows Coach. Mickey repped her dad and now her brothers.”
