Page 4 of Glitched Play

By the time Tyler's team wins, my cheeks hurt from smiling.

After the post-game celebration, I head toward my car.

"Maci."

I turn, seeing Chase jog across the parking lot.

"Hey."

"Hey." He shoves his hands into his pockets, suddenly less confident.

Interesting.

"A bunch of us are grabbing dinner." I already know where this is headed. "You should come."

For a second I hesitate, not because I don't want to, but because another thought slips in.

One I can't seem to shake lately.

I've spent nearly a decade talking to someone I've never met, and somehow that used to feel romantic instead of ridiculous. We exchanged letters through mail-forwarding services, hid behind encrypted chats, used voice changers when we played, and followed all the rules we made for ourselves—boundaries, safeguards, no real names, no photos, no slipping up.

Back then, the secrecy made everything feel exciting, like we were the only two people in the world smart enough to build something that could survive without the normal pieces.

Now, after ten years, it’s exhausting. Because if Glitch walked past me on the street, I wouldn’t know it was him. If he called my cell phone without the voice changer, I wouldn’t recognize his voice. If he introduced himself, I might smile politely and keep walking, completely unaware that he knew me better than almost anyone else. Chase could be him, standing right in front of me, and I still wouldn’t know.

"Maci?"

I blink.

Chase is still waiting. A normal guy asking me to dinner, having normal conversations, that doesn’t include skins, reload or coding.

Maybe that's what I need.

"Sure."

His smile grows. "Awesome."

There are a few beats of silence and I can’t stand silence. I’m a girl that’s used to hearing the rapid clicking of the controller, electronic beeps and the whoosh when you complete a quest.

“So, do you plan on playing baseball, forever?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Not sure, but it pays the bills now.”

I can tell he plays baseball because he’s good at it but not because it’s his whole world like it is for Tyler or soccer is for Lauren or gaming for me.

"What do you do?" he asks.

"I work in software."

His face lights up. "No kidding."

"Why does everyone say that?"

"Because I barely know how to reset my password."

I laugh.

"What kind of software?"