by Krista Lakes
I laughed as he pulled out his phone and pretended to write stuff down. I started telling him just how I would implement each option. The friends list would be imported from social media, the lures could be purchased or earned. I even started telling him how I would code for it.
He kept up with me, asking me questions and making my ideas even better. It was just too bad that no one from Monster GO was there to hear our brainstorming session, because it would have made them millions of dollars.
We were discussing how to do alerts when both of our phones vibrated.
“Must be a Monster nearby,” he said, switching on the application. I shook my head at him, but pulled out my phone as well.
As soon as I looked at the screen, I nearly dropped my phone in surprise. A Legazeus was nearby. Normally, this wouldn’t have meant a single thing to me. But Tommy had been talking about this particular Monster for weeks now, pretty much since the game came out.
He said the Legazeus was one of the rarest Monsters. They only ever showed up in special places, and nobody ever knew when or where that will be. I remembered him saying that the last one to appear was in Central Park and caused a major traffic jam due to people stopping to catch it.
“These are rare, right?” I asked, not believing what I was seeing on the screen.
“Insanely rare,” he said. He grinned at me. “Let’s catch it.”
We held up our phones and lined the camera up with the cartoon looking character. It looked like a Centaur. It jumped around on the screen as I attempted to catch it with the Monster Catcher.
I missed on the first try and I got nervous. I knew it was only a game, but this thing was rare and I didn’t want to see it go before I could add it to my inventory. Tommy would freak out if he saw that I had one, and that was where the majority of my motivation came from.
With a swipe on my screen, I tossed another Monster Catcher toward the Monster and it landed a few feet away from it.
“Darn it,” I said, my body filling with anxiety.
“Don’t overthink it,” Jacob coached. “Just pretend it’s a Fireliz.”
I drew in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. With my nerves calmed, I attempted one last catch. I swiped my screen and watched the Monster Catcher fly up into an arch above the Legazeus. My breathing stopped as it began to fall.
Come on. Don’t miss, I thought.
Relief filled me as the Monster Catcher landed directly on top of the creature, capturing it and adding it to my inventory.
“Thank God,” I whispered. “Did you catch it, too?”
“Not yet,” he said, as he brought his focus to his own phone. He had been helping me catch mine so he hadn’t had a chance yet. Like a professional, though, he tossed one Monster Catcher toward the Legazeus and caught it immediately. “Got it.”
“You’re too good at this,” I said, shaking my head.
Jacob smiled and parted his lips to respond, but before he could, a group of young boys came running up. They walked right across our blanket, shouting in excitement.
“Oh, my God,” one said. “It really is a Legazeus. I can’t believe this.”
There were five of them and they all looked to be about the same age as Tommy.
“This is insane,” another said. “We’ve got to tell Alan about this. He’s going to freak.”
Jacob and I looked at each other and chuckled. It wasn’t too surprising that they had run over for such a rare Monster, but it was amazing at how little they cared that they were practically standing on our picnic.
Not more than thirty seconds passed before a mother and her two kids came up. They all had their phones out, including the mom.
“This can’t be happening,” the mom said. “Barbara is never going to believe this.”
She smiled at me, with a look in her eyes that was more enthusiastic than her kids. The parents were just as into this game as the kids.
The original five boys caught the Monster and after a few tries, so did the Mom and her kids. Jacob and I took a breath as they walked away.
“That was interesting,” I said. “I didn’t expect that.”
“Neither did I,” he said. “Man, they came out of nowhere, didn’t they?”
There was hustle and bustle behind us, coming from the direction of the parking lot. I turned around to see a line of cars pulling up. The parking spots became filled in seconds and people spilled out, all running toward us with their cell phones out. There were folks of all ages making their way toward our private picnic area.
“Jacob, what’s happening?” I asked.
“That latest update, the one that expanded the map and put street names on,” he said. “It must be bringing people from all over. They saw the Legazeus and they’re coming to catch it.”
Things started to look like a movie. Everyone moved like a swarm of zombies, walking quickly across the park, making their way toward us. Their arms were held out like zombies, too. The only difference is that they held cell phones in their hands. It was insane. But what had me even more shocked than their erratic and excitable behavior was the sheer number of them. Hundreds. Literally hundreds of people swarmed the park, all within a matter of minutes.
“Jacob, we should go,” I said. There were more people showing up every minute, and all of them were headed straight for our picnic site. I wasn't sure we were going to be able to get out of the park.
“I agree,” he said. He looked a little despondent.
We stood up from the blanket and quickly rolled everything up in it, stuffing it into the picnic basket. Before we could even finish, though, we became completely surrounded by people. They were all shouting in excitement about the Legazeus. Every single one of them was there for the same reason, and they were all rushing, knowing that this particular Monster wouldn’t be there for very long.
Jacob looked upset as he bundled up the picnic things and pushed through the crowd.
“Is everything okay?” I asked. I had to practically shout to make sure I was heard over everybody.
“Yeah, I just wanted this to be special and it feels like it’s ruined.” When we got to the car, he threw everything in the trunk and then opened the passenger door for me. “It’s kind of cool to witness this kind of craziness from a game, but I wish it hadn’t ruined our picnic. This wasn't at all how I planned it. I should have thought about this a little more.”
I laughed and squeezed his arm. “Jacob, it didn’t ruin anything and there is no way you could have predicted that a Legazeus would show up.”
“If you say so,” he mumbled.
“I mean our picnic is obviously done now, but think about how memorable this is. We’ll never forget this moment, as long as we live,” I said, as I pointed back toward where we had been seated. There was a swarm of people, and where there had once been a picnic, now looked more like a mosh pit at a concert.
“I guess you’re right,” he reluctantly said. “I just had no idea there were even this many people playing the game here. The town isn't exactly a Monster GO hotspot.”
Overhead, a helicopter whirred. I had no idea how this many people had found this spot so fast.
I squealed in excitement. “I’m so excited to show Tommy. He’s going to flip out when he sees it. This Monster is all he’s talked about since the game came out.”
Jacob walked around to the driver’s side and hopped in. He started up the car and began to back up, before realizing there was no way we’d be leaving any time too soon. People and cars had congested the parking lot and the road out of the park.
“How long until the Legazeus disappears?” I asked as Jacob turned off the engine.
“The rare ones won’t last more than twenty minutes,” he said. “I guess we’ll have to wait for a little bit.”
I shook my head in awe as I looked through the windshield. In just the few seconds that it had taken Jacob and I to get to his car, the horde had grown substantially in size.
“At least we have something to watch,” I commented as yet
more people streamed past our car. The helicopter was making another loop over the park and I had a feeling this would be on the evening news.
“How are this many people here?” Jacob asked, annoyance in his voice. “These kinds of crowds are exactly the reason I moved away from the Valley.”
“You don't like crowds?” I asked, looking over at him.
Jacob put on his dark sunglasses and pulled a baseball cap out from under his seat. He shook his head. “I hate crowds. Especially crowds having to do with the game.”
The phrasing seemed funny, but I just shrugged. “I'm sorry. We'll be out of here soon. Do you want me to drive?”
“No, I'm fine to drive.” He sighed and did an attempt at a smile. “I just wasn't expecting this. I wanted a fun, memorable afternoon with you. Not a zoo.”
“Totally not your fault,” I reminded him.
“If you say so,” he replied. He hunkered down in his seat and pulled down the brim of his cap. “Only ten more minutes before it disappears.”
I shook my head, and looked down at my phone. I had caught a monster that most people would never even see in the game. It made me think of my trading idea and for a moment I wished I had the ear of the game designer. It would be so much fun to play the game with him.
Chapter 9
After almost forty minutes, Jacob and I were finally able to get out of the craziness in the park. Luckily, Jacob had a tablet in his car, so we used the time to continue creating the imaginary updates for the game.
I couldn't believe what the game was capable of. I hadn’t experienced anything like it in my life. One minute, we were enjoying a peaceful picnic and the next we were practically getting trampled over by a bunch of tweens and their parents, all in an effort to catch a rare Monster. I was still excited to tell Tommy about what had happened, but that was going to have to wait until I got back home. My date wasn’t over yet.
“Thanks for agreeing to finish our date at my place,” Jacob said, as he pulled off of the highway. “I had no idea that was going to happen.”
“How could you? That was crazy,” I said, as I reached over from the passenger seat and touched his arm. “I didn’t want the date to be cut short either, so this works out perfectly.”
“I still can’t believe what happened back there,” he said. “I know the game is popular, but I never expected that. Especially not here.”
“No kidding,” I said. “Did you see how many parents that were there, too? They seemed just as excited as the kids.”
“Pretty amazing,” he agreed. “I’m just glad we got out of there before we got trampled.”
I couldn’t help but to laugh. “That would have been kind of a lame way to die. I can picture the headlines now. Couple Trampled In Search of Rare Monster.”
Jacob chuckled. “That wouldn’t be cool at all. If we died like that, I’d hope that someone would at least make a better story out of it. Like maybe we jumped in to save a kid from the crowd and we ended up getting trampled ourselves.”
“That does sound a lot better than dying for a phone game,” I agreed.
We drove for another five minutes before Jacob turned into an apartment complex near the edge of town. It was a nice area, one that I didn’t frequent often because I never knew anyone who lived there. It was usually referred to as the 'rich side of town.' This apartment complex seemed to fit right in.
“You live here? At The Boulevard?” I asked. The apartments looked even nicer up close than they did from the highway.
“Yep.” He shrugged. “I pretty much looked up apartments online and this place had the best reviews so I went with it.”
I couldn’t imagine what he was spending for rent at the place. Even the crummy little apartments on the other side of town were renting for almost double what I paid for my college apartment. Housing was scarce in our town, so prices were high.
“They look really nice from out here,” I said, admiring the floor to ceiling windows that adorned the apartments.
Jacob pulled his SUV around to the back and into a multi-leveled parking garage. We drove all the way up to the top, where he parked. “You ready?”
Jacob opened the trunk and gathered the picnic basket, blanket and bottle of wine; all of the things that we’d stuffed in the car during our escape from the park. I hopped out and looked around.
Every car in here is super nice, I thought.
Lexus, BMW, Audi, and even a couple of Tesla models filled the garage. It made me feel like I was at a car show. Jacob walked stepped around the back of his SUV and took my hand.
“This way,” he said, with a fake British accent that caused me to giggle. Now that we were away from the Monster GO crowd, his confidence and positive attitude had come back.
I followed Jacob into the hallway the led to his apartment. He unlocked the door and held it open for me. When I stepped inside, my eyes went straight to the very back where the floor to ceiling windows were. The view overlooked a lake and I could even see the park where we had first met.
“Is that the fountain?” I asked.
“Yes, it is,” he said, glancing over at the window as he set his sunglasses and hat on the kitchen counter. “It's actually the view that made me go to the park that day. It just looked like people were having fun and it was too beautiful not to go look.”
I said a silent thank you to the window for providing Jacob the impetus to go out. Sticking out of the park was the giant white fountain where Tommy had led me that first day to play Monster GO. It was a ways away, but I could still see tiny figures of people standing around it.
“I’ll bet Tommy is there,” I said, with a smile. I went over to the balcony door and held it open so Jacob could carry our picnic outside.
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Jacob said. “Thanks for holding the door.”
“My pleasure,” I replied with a grin as he walked past.
“There we go,” he said as he settled the basket onto the corner of the blanket he'd just rolled out. “We’ve got a view of the park and the sun is still out. It’s basically as good of a picnic as any.”
“I love it,” I said. “Do you mind if I use your restroom real quick? I just want to wash my hands before we have our second picnic.”
Jacob smiled and then motioned toward the upper part of his place. “The bathroom is at the top of the stairs to the right. Can’t miss it.”
I turned and made my way toward the stairs. I glanced around, surprised at how spacious his apartment was. Vaulted ceilings, a gigantic living room with an even bigger TV, and a beautiful dining set were the first things I noticed. There were still unopened packing boxes everywhere, stacked on the kitchen counter and the floor in nearly every corner. It was clear that Jacob had quite a bit of work to do in order to get unpacked.
This place is so nice, I thought. It makes the place that Caroline and I lived in during college look like an actual rat’s nest.
The image of our tiny college apartment flashed into my mind. The thought of the brown carpet and nicotine-stained walls from the college kids before us made me cringe.
Once I got to the top of the stairs, I looked to my left. The master bedroom was there and Jacob’s giant bed was in the center. There were windows filling that room as well. He had the same amazing view from his bed as he did from his balcony. It took a little effort to stop myself from being nosy. Instead, I just turned around and quickly washed my hands and fixed my hair in the nearby bathroom before returning downstairs.
By the time I got back to the patio, Jacob had completely rebuilt the picnic. The blanket was laid out and the picnic basket was in the center again. On each side was a full glass of the amazing red wine, which he had perfect poured in my absence.
“This is great, Jacob,” I said, stepping out onto the patio to join him. “Honestly, I think I like this more than when it was at the park.”
“The best part about my patio is that no matter what, we won’t get trampled over by a bunch of soccer moms,” he said with
a wink.
I took a seat next to him on the blanket and snuggled close. He wrapped his arm around me and handed me my glass of wine.
“Cheers,” I said, clinking my glass against his.
We sipped our wine and Jacob moved his hand gently up and down my lower back. I looked toward him, admiring the way the sunlight blanketed his face. He smiled when he caught me looking.
“You’re cute,” I said.
He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “No, you’re the one who’s cute.”
I caught his face in my hands, and then angled in to kiss him. I had meant it to be a fairly quick kiss, something playful yet more than a peck on the check. But, when he kissed me, it quickly turned into something else.
Heat coursed down my spine, sending tingles of desire through my nerves. Jacob felt it too. He kissed me harder, pulling me into him with his hands and his mouth. I went from simply wanting a kiss to wanting so, so much more.
Panting, I sat back and pulled my hair from my face. I didn't want to be too forward, especially not since the other day where he had turned me down. If he wanted to keep going slow, I could do slow. It was respectful and honorable.
I liked that, but I was ready for a little speed. Respectful and honorable were overrated.
Moving slowly, I brought my hand to his arm and crawled into his lap so that I was straddling him.
I pressed my chest out a little, wanting him to notice. When I did, his eyes moved down my front and then back to my face. His pupils dilated slightly, despite the fact that they were almost in direct sunlight.
He brought his mouth to mine, filling me with the taste of his lips. There was passion behind the kiss that made me heating. There was no way I was going to be able to back off again if he kept this up. I wanted him.
In between my legs and underneath the front of Jacob’s slacks, I felt something that hadn’t been there when I had first straddled him. His cock was already firm and pressing against me. I could feel it through my jeans. It was the sexiest thing to know that he wanted me as bad as I wanted him.
I kissed him again, and this time I found myself grinding down on the bulge. Jacob let out a guttural moan as I guided my body upward along his length. When I broke the kiss, I notice that the expression on his face had changed. He looked at me with wild eyes and licked his lips. No words needed to be exchanged. We both knew what we were feeling. It was an unspoken thing. We wanted each other and clearly we were going to take what we wanted. We were done waiting.