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“So, um… what did you want to play?”
He shrugged. “You pick.”
I stood in front of the entertainment center, eyeing the games. Since he said he never played before, I wanted to pick something easy. The easiest system to learn on in my opinion is Nintendo so I picked a game from there and handed him a controller. While it loaded, I wandered into the kitchen.
“Did you want something to drink?”
“I’m fine.”
When was the awkwardness going to end? I thought it went away when we fell on our asses outside but it rushed back front and center once he came into my apartment. Normally if my friends introduced me to new people, I’d be easing past the intense awkwardness by now, especially when video games were involved. Then again, my friends never introduced me to hot bodyguards who randomly kiss you when you aren’t looking. My face flushed whenever I thought of it.
“How long are you going to hide over there?”
I flinched. Damn him and his observant ways. “Shut up.”
He smirked at me, sitting sideways on the couch so he could watch me anxiously pace around the kitchen. I couldn’t avoid him anymore when the game finally loaded so I dropped myself onto the couch and did my best not to look at him unless I absolutely had to. He made me nervous.
I explained the controls, pointing out things as we went along. He caught on pretty quickly. I let him win a few times because who wants to play games with the jerk who keeps kicking your ass. I hated when people did that and tried my best not to be that person. Once he was more comfortable with the controls, I switched games to something a little bit more difficult but also more fun. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy playing Mario Kart?
I started to relax around him and stopped jumping every time he shifted positions. I kept thinking he might kiss me again. I didn’t realize how long we sat playing together until his phone rang. He answered it almost immediately. I didn’t want to eavesdrop so I went to the kitchen, grabbing myself a drink. I was going to offer him one when he stood. He gave me a rueful smile.
“Sorry, I gotta go. Something came up.”
I bobbed my head, trying not to look disappointed. It was fun hanging out with him. He was more easy going than I thought he would be. He made jokes and when he teased me it wasn’t cruel, it was lighthearted and friendly. Of course, if he teased me, I would purposely beat him at the game but I don’t think he noticed that yet. He may have thought it was luck.
I chewed on my lip, standing near him as he pulled his jacket back on. “Today was fun. Thanks.” I didn’t really know what else to say. I didn’t have the nerve to ask him to come over again. He probably stayed because he was being polite anyway. He was a gentleman like that.
He turned to face me while he fixed his collar. “Next time you can stop letting me win.”
My jaw dropped not only because he noticed that but also because he said next time. There would be a next time?
“I, uh, didn’t want to discourage you. People don’t like playing if they lose the whole time.” I was rambling at this point.
He walked up to me, toe-to-toe so I had to tilt my chin up to look at him. He tilted his head slightly, regarding me before he cupped my cheek and leaned to brush his lips lightly over mine. I didn’t freeze this time, my eyes fluttering closed. I lifted onto my toes, pressing my lips more firmly against his. When he drew back, his thumb stroked my cheek and my breath stuttered.
Just as he was about to leave, he paused, grabbing a pen and a sticky note I had laying on the counter. He scrawled out his number, handing it to me. “Here, let me know when you’re free again and I’ll try harder to win.”
“I’m always free.” It slipped out before I could stop myself and I squeezed my eyes shut. He does not need to know that you have no life!
I heard him chuckle and I peeked up at him. “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
* * *
I spentthe rest of the evening in a daze. I wandered around my apartment, not really paying attention to what I was doing until I got a text from one of my friends trying to figure out why I haven’t logged online yet. I rushed to my room. Dropping into my chair and pulling on my headphones as my computer whirred to life. I’ve never been late logging on before but I was so dumbstruck over James I completely lost track of time.
I barely logged onto the game when I was bombarded with messages. I turned on my mic and logged into our chatroom.
“Finally! Where have you been? We can’t do shit without you,” Justin carped.
“Sorry, I’m here now. What’s the plan?”
“Hold up, you can’t show up twenty minutes late and not tell us why.” Charlotte was sometimes more interested in chatting than playing but I didn’t mind. I kind of wanted to tell someone anyway.
“I was… on a date…” I mumbled.
“Huh? I couldn’t hear that, could anyone else?”
When everyone started wondering if my mic was broken, I finally shouted, “I was on a date!”
