Game All Night Page 3

  “Soon?” I offer, unsure if I’m really ready to introduce Mason.

  “See, I’m not convinced you even really like Mason,” Bernie says.

  Gia and Morgan both gasp at her declaration but then lean in.

  “Explain, Bernie,” Gia demands, pointing a manicured nail across the table.

  I roll my eyes.

  “Well, it just seems like your relationship with Mason isn’t all that important. He isn’t at the top of your mind, ya know? Like the other day, you didn’t even know how long you’ve been dating him. But you knew exactly how long —”

  All right, we don’t need to get into that right now. I do not want to taint this conversation with the subject of Link.

  I interrupt her before she can get too far with that train of thought. “Look, nine months is a long time to date someone. I just needed a second to do the math. Also, he isn’t at the top of my mind because we haven’t taken our relationship to the next level yet. And no one better mention any more onions!” I shoot a glare around the table in warning. “He isn’t even my boyfriend. At least, I don’t think he is.” I consider this while, in the corner of my eye, I see Gia slam her forehead into her palm and start grumbling.

  “See, that’s what I’m talking about,” Bernie says softly.

  “Are you guys at least exclusive? He isn’t out having sex with other women, is he?” Morgan asks with genuine concern.

  “C’mon, I might not know our relationship status, but you better bet your asses I’m going to make sure he isn’t sticking his Fun-Dip into any other sugar when I’m giving him mine.”

  Really? Do they really think I’m that irresponsible? I’m a one-man woman and I expect the same for any guy I’m seeing.

  “Fun-Dip?” Gia is rocking her forehead side to side in her palm.

  “I’ve got an idea!” Morgan chirps. “How about you bring him to my engagement party? You guys will have it planned in a week or so, and it would be the perfect time to bring him along!” Bernie is nodding with quite a bit of exaggeration, and Gia just looks thoughtful. Actually, she looks like she’s working up a plan.

  “Now what?” I pin her with a stare.

  A slow grin starts to spread across her face before she says, “Oh, I’m just imagining how the handsome sports guy and the cocky gamer boy are going to hit it off.” Morgan’s eyes grow wide as Bernie coughs into her hand.

  Alarm bells start ringing in my head. I should have known Gia would be the one to figure it out. That might have been one of the reasons I’ve kept Mason from the group.

  What I said to them about not wanting to introduce him to everyone until I was sure about him was true. But also, I know Link will hate Mason. And I know Mason will hate Link. I’m almost positive they both already hate each other. But I really don’t want to get into this now. The girls have spent way too many conversations trying to figure out why Link and I haven’t hooked up already. I don’t want to endure another one.

  Rolling my eyes, I try to play it off, “I’m sure it won’t be a big deal. Link is cocky, so I’m sure him rubbing people the wrong way is normal. It will be fine. But really, enough about me, let’s talk about something else.” I offer, taking a big gulp of my drink.

  Seeming to accept my demand for a subject change, the others take sips of their own.

  “Actually, we still have some Ruby topics to discuss.”

  With my straw still between my lips, I slide my questioning gaze over to Bernie who is looking at me expectantly. Then I remember my own news.

  I can’t get the words out quick enough as I set down my drink. “Oh yeah.! I can’t believe I forgot to tell you guys, but I got a promotion!”

  We spend the rest of the evening talking about my job, catching up from the week, and, of course, more wedding talk. By the end of the night, I’m ready to have a talk with Mason and have already texted him to set up our next date. I really hope he is on board for taking our relationship to the next level.

  Chapter Four

  Link

  “DUDE! Get down … DOWN MAN! He’s coming up behind you! Oh shit!” I yell into my mic attached to the sexy new headphones I’m wearing. “Dude, you’ve gotta be faster than that if you want to make it to the end.” I lean back in my chair and run my hand down my face. I’m beyond frustrated with these players tonight. I swear, the people I’m playing with right now are a bunch of newbs and don’t know who their own teammates are.

  “All right, well that’s it for me tonight,” I say into the mic. I’ve just streamed the last 45 minutes of my Call of Battle play for the day to around eight thousand people. While that seems like a lot, I’ll get another 300,000 views over the next 24 hours. With more than twenty million subscribers on my YouTube channel, I expect nothing less. I like to give my subscribers what they want, and they want gameplay. And I give good gameplay.

  I post two to three videos a day, sometimes more. While I create most of my videos before I upload them to my channel, I also stream live every few days. I pull off my headphones and take a moment to admire them. I just signed a new sponsorship deal with Corsair and I have to admit that I had my eye on their new headset since they released it. Now I’ve got my very own pair. They work like a dream and I can’t wait to brag about them to the guys. They already have their sponsored headsets, but as gamers, we are always looking for the best equipment and sometimes your “colleagues” happen to have the better product. In my case, I plan on rubbing it in their faces. I consider it payback for last fall when they rubbed their new gaming chairs in my face.

  In this business, there are lucrative sponsorship offers for people like me, who have large fan followings, or, like Dex, Simon, and Bernie, who are on tournament-winning professional gamer teams. While I’m picky about my sponsorships on gear and equipment — I only want the best and it’s not about what they will pay me to use it — I make a shit ton of money off the ads on my channel. I also promote games, products, think drinks, apparel, and food, during my streams and on my videos. And I’ve got my hand in several other aspects of the gaming industry. I’m a Jack-of-all-trades. Yeah, I’m not cocky.

  In addition to my gameplay videos, I also post strategy videos. In those, I show how to survive rough environments, accomplish tricky quests, and beat badass bosses. The strategy videos are especially popular. They have the best shelf life, if you will. Even though there might be a new CoB out, someone is still playing last year’s installment. Plus, with all the DLC and updatable content the developers push out after release dates these days, it’s easy to re-purpose the original videos. Montages of gameplay clips are also well received.

  You know what else my subscribers love? They love Ruby. They love to see Ruby kicking my ass at just about every old-school video game we play. A couple months ago several of my viewers suggested I post myself playing a retro game. The idea caught on and they begged me to battle against Ruby in a new retro video-gaming series. We’ve posted three videos so far and the views are crazy good, like more than 300,000 within just a few days.

  Since I like to do a daily vlog on my page, the people in my life make appearances a lot. And the few times Ruby’s been around while I record, she’s always been a fan favorite. I’ve never flat-out told her they love her, but I think she knows, and it’s gone to her head. That red-headed, sexy face of hers knows because she cyber-stalks my channel and trolls me in the comments. While being trolled online is nothing new, it’s annoyingly common. As long as it’s for fun and at someone you’re friends with, it comes off as funny. Kinda like, “no real feelings were hurt in the process of this troll.” They eat it up, so she gives her fans what they want.

  But hell, if I’m not one of her fans too. I secretly love that she’s worked her way into part of my world. YouTube world, I mean. Come on, I’m not a tool.

  I just mean that I think it’s cool that she digs the fact that I’m what one calls a YouTube star. I know they’re everywhere, but she embraces it and has fun with it. Not that it really matters, she�
�s just a good friend and that’s all she ever will be. It’s all she’ll ever let us be.

  A knock comes from the other side of my door as I finish up the last of the upload.

  “Yo?” I say, assuming it’s Simon, my roommate and good friend. We’re gonna need to get another roommate. Not because we can’t afford the rent. That’s not an issue, but because we need someone a little bit more clean to move in. I’ve known Dex nearly my whole life and didn’t realize how much of a neat freak he was until he moved out. I’m not opposed to keeping the space tidy, but I guess I never had to do it because Dex always kept the kitchen spotless. I thought we had a cleaning lady, but no, it was Dex.

  “Hey, you want pizza?” Simon asks as he pushes the door open and steps into my room. I swivel my chair toward him, facing away from my computer screen.

  “Pfft. Asking me if I want pizza is like asking me if I want to get laid. That answer is yes, man. Always yes.”

  Simon just blinks slowly at me, his face free of emotion.

  “You asked,” I mutter, turning back to my computer. I make sure to Ctrl, Alt, & Del, because that’s what you do when you share space with other jackasses. You lock your shit down when you leave your computer unattended. If you don’t you come back to naked grandma desktop porn as your new background and a new Facebook profile picture that would make your mom blush. I’ve fallen victim to this before. I’ve also retaliated ten times worse. You know what’s more embarrassing than naked grandma backgrounds? Naked grandparent porn with your own grandma’s face photoshopped onto the wrinkly body in question. You’re welcome.

  Simon leans against the door frame and shakes his head.

  “Get any good gameplay tonight?”

  “Meh, I made it work. But I was playing with a bunch of idiots. I’m gonna have to jump on and play against you guys tomorrow for a while. I need to play with the professionals.” Living with the best pro CoB gaming team right now lends itself well to my CoB fan base, especially since I used to be on the team myself. They jump onto my videos a lot and offer “pro” advice, in addition to my own. I also like to play while they are practicing. We turn on the chat in Discord and I’ll stream my play and we all talk through strategy. It’s a good time.

  “Sounds good to me.” He pushes off the frame and I follow him down the hall into the living room.

  “Is Dex getting the pizza?” I ask scanning the area for the TV remote. We never had a problem finding shit when Dex was living here. I spot it on the floor between the wall and lamp. Odd place for it to end up, but whatever.

  “Yeah, girls’ night and all, he’s gonna grace us with his presence,” Simon says flipping up the foot rest of the recliner and leaning back into the buttery leather of the seat.

  “Dude, is that a dirty sock?” I ask. When Simon looks down at his own socked feet, I point at the dirty sock wedged into the crease of the armrest.

  Simon looks to his left, pulls out the sock and sniffs it. He winces and tosses it on the floor. “Yup.”

  I flop down on to the couch and get comfortable. With the pillow and my arm behind my head I look at the dirty sock on the floor.

  “I’m trying to figure out who the messy one is here. You or me. I thought it was me, but that’s your sock and now it’s just on the floor, and I’m pretty sure there’s a pair of gym shorts behind that chair, too. Again, not mine.”

  He leans forward and peers behind the chair.

  “Yup, those are mine.”

  “I don’t understand it man. Gia still digs you? I mean, why is there a pair of gym shorts back there?” I ask.

  “Do you really want to know?” he answers.

  “No, I don’t,” I say turning on the TV. “We need to get a maid.”

  “Uh, I don’t think they are called maids anymore. I think they are housekeepers, and I’m all for that. Do they do laundry?”

  “Eh, I doubt it. But they will vacuum and clean the bathroom and probably a bunch of other shit that hasn’t been done since Dex moved out.”

  “Do we even have a vacuum?” he asks with concern.

  Thinking about it, I really don’t know if we do. I bet Dex took it with him. Before I can answer, I’m distracted by the douchebag on the TV. The news is on, and it’s the sports segment. Ruby’s boy toy is the local sports guy. I’ve not met him, but I can tell he’s a real ass. I really don’t know what she sees in him. But whatever. It won’t last. I bet he only plays Madden, FIFA, and NBA Live games. Probably on an old ass system. I bet he doesn’t even care enough to buy a newer, better one.

  “Dude, the sneer on your face is priceless,” Simon breaks through my disgust. “Did you say he plays on a Playstation 3? I’m pretty sure he doesn’t play video games at all. I think Gia said he’s not into that kind of stuff.”

  I try not to let this get to me, but really?

  “Why is Ruby with this tool?” I growl and flip the channel because I can’t stand to see him, let alone hear him talk. Plus, I freaking hate the news. It’s depressing. And if it wasn’t for Ruby’s obsession with the news in the first place, she probably wouldn’t have ever started dating the sports dick because she wouldn’t have known who he was. I don’t even know how she met him.

  “Dude. You’re pathetic.” I hear Simon laugh.

  “What? Why?” I ask.

  “You’re over there stewing about Ruby and the sports guy and you didn’t even hear me ask about Amber.” The laughter in his face shows that he’s enjoying my annoyance. Like always.

  “What about her?” I ask.

  “I haven’t seen her around in a while. Not that I mind, but …” he trails off.

  “What? You don’t like Amber?” I ask, but I know he doesn’t. He tolerates her. She’s … she’s special. I met Amber several months ago at a local event. She was one of the organizers and she’s also a fan of, well … me. Well, she says she is, but I think she only became one after she found out who I was. I don’t really care though. She’s into me and I’m into distractions.

  “She’s been super busy with work. So, I’ve been going to her place. Which you wouldn’t know since you are always at Gia’s.” I counter back at him. He makes fun that Dex is always with Morgan but he’s the same way with Gia.

  The door opens, ending the conversation, and the smell of the best pizza in the city wafts into the room as Dex walks down the hall and into the kitchen. We can see him from the open area above the island on the half wall. We’ve got bar stools here on the living room side.

  “Hey man.” Simon kicks the foot rest down and pushes out of the recliner.

  “Yo. I brought Mike’s.” I already knew where it was from the instant he opened the box and the greasy pizza aroma wafted through the air.

  Simon and I pass Dex in the hallway on the way to the kitchen and he snags the seat Simon just vacated. We grab our pizza and head back into the living room.

  We get a few bites in when Dex speaks. “So uh, I asked Morgan to marry me last night.”

  I stop, the pizza halfway to my mouth, Simon in a similar position.

  “And?” I ask but I already know.

  “And we’re getting married.” He’s got the happiest damn smile on his face right now. I couldn’t be happier for him.

  I place my plate on the coffee table in front of me and stand to hug Dex. He’s been my best friend since first grade.

  I thump his back with my hand. “That’s so awesome, man! I knew she was gonna say yes.” Simon stands and gives Dex another hug.

  After our congrats, we get more details. And more pizza. And then we add some beer into the mix.

  “So, I’m sure Simon will be disappointed, but I’m the best man, right?” I ask finishing my beer.

  Simon grunts beside me.

  “Uh, sorry man, but Wade’s the best man. You know … since he’s my big brother and all,” Dex says with no remorse for my feelings on the matter. I guess I’m so emotional because my best friend is getting married. This will be a new chapter in his life. What happens to the
best friend when there’s a wife?

  “But we’ve been friends longer than you’ve been friends with him.” I try again.

  “What?” Simon whips his head my way in question.

  Dex just chuckles at my dramatics, “I was hoping you’d stand up there with me as a groomsman … both of you.” His smile falls a bit, conveying his sincerity.

  I clear my throat. Even with all the razzing, this is serious shit. I’m completely honored that he wants me to be by his side on such an important day.

  “We wouldn’t have it any other way, Dex,” I say, speaking for the both of us.

  “Good. I’m glad,” he says, letting out a sigh of relief. Like he really needed to be nervous about asking us. The three of us are tight. The Three Musketeers, the TMNTs, minus Leonardo — I’m Michelangelo of course. We’ve always got each other’s backs.

  We sit in comfortable silence for a beat.

  “Is that a dirty sock?” Dex asks, his nose wrinkled in disgust.

  I laugh, and Simon finally gets up, grabs the sock and takes it to his room, leaving the pair of shorts and muttering about a cleaning lady all the way down the hall.

  Chapter Five

  Ruby

  Gia and I have been planning an engagement party for the past few days. I know what you’re thinking, the ones in the movies and on TV are all formal events. The process of sending the invitations is an affair in and of itself. Not our parties. Nope. We already have the location: The Bar, our go-to place (really, we should get employee discounts, we are there so often).

  Whenever we invite work friends, gaming friends, and family for a big get-together, we host at The Bar. Sometimes we use the event room and other times, if the party is during the week, we just take over the back corner. Anyway, I’ve got the event room scheduled, and evites ready to go out. Since Dex’s parents live close, and Morgan’s dad and step-mom live only a few hours away, they were both easy to work with on scheduling the party.

  We chose a date that’s only a week away. Why rush? Well, we love our parties, and since Morgan set a February wedding date, and the team will be traveling a lot over the next few months, we decided to have it soon. Plus, Morgan and Dex aren’t into the fancy schmancy stuff, which is why The Bar is perfect. We all love the ambiance. While the name leads one to believe that it might smell like stale cigarettes and deep-fried food, it doesn’t. It has a low-key, hang-out-with-friends vibe. Perfect for us. The music isn’t too loud and it’s always good; a mix of the classics, rock, and pop, and there’s even a weekly karaoke night and monthly trivia nights. And the food is excellent. While it’s got your traditional pub food, the menu also boasts fresh and hip salads and sandwiches.