by Mia Archer
“Or the incident with the inflatable doll that he tried to sit in on our gaming session.”
I shivered as I thought of that night. I was pretty sure that was Dave’s idea of a joke, but then again he was so out of touch when it came to social graces that it was entirely possible he was serious about wanting a blow up doll to have a position in the party, played by him talking in a weird falsetto voice, no less.
“Honestly,” Travis muttered. “Would it kill him to order a pizza or something? He could get it from the place down the street that sells’em premade and it wouldn’t cost that much more than what he’s putting out for these chips.”
“We could always try to chip in to pay for some extra stuff again,” Arnold said.
We all turned and looked at each other for a beat. Then we all grinned and started laughing. The last time we tried doing something like that it hadn’t worked out so well. Dave ended up yelling at us asking if we were too good for his hospitality or something. I was inclined to agree, but Arnold had talked him down. Still, it was fun to laugh about it.
“Remind me why we’re even playing this game at his place?” I asked. “Who let him be DM?”
“We’re playing because this is a game that’s gone back three decades with different characters subbing in and out as people graduated and moved on,” Travis said, coming back over to us with a paper plate loaded with greasy chips and off brand Mountain Dew. Fuel for cheap gamers.
“Well I know it’s a game that’s gone back for decades, but is that the only reason?” I asked. “I mean we could have a hell of a lot more fun if we were doing this somewhere that didn’t smell like moldy socks and we didn’t have king jackass running the place.”
“Where would we go if we didn’t have king jackass?”
I thought about that for a moment, and then the perfect idea occurred to me. It was so perfect that I wondered why it had never occurred to me before.
“Well I have the pool house.”
Arnold and Travis both stopped what they were doing and looked at me. Both of them looked a little surprised.
“Are you serious? Your parents would let us use the place?” Travis asked.
“Yeah, I always thought that place was strictly off limits or something,” Arnold said.
“What would give you that idea?” I asked.
“Well, I guess because you never brought it up? We’re always complaining about playing the game down here. I guess I figured if the pool house was an option then you would’ve said something a long time ago.”
I sighed and leaned back in my chair. I had to grab at the flimsy card table to keep from falling back as the cheap old metal folding chair nearly folded right out from under me. That, in turn, nearly sent the card table flying. It would be much better to use the game table my dad had in the pool house. That thing was thick and sturdy, and it’s not like he had people over all that much anymore to have a game night.
“Yeah, well maybe that’s something we should think about moving forward,” I said. “Because if I have to put up with many more weeks down here…”
I stopped when I heard movement from upstairs. The wood floor was thin enough that you could hear every time someone moved around up there. Another drawback of having our game night down here. It was really annoying on nights when Dave’s mom had company over and yelled down at us to keep quiet.
“Sounds like Dave’s here,” Travis said.
The weird thing is there were to sets of footsteps moving across the floor. Over to the door to the basement. I’d been down here often enough that I had a sound map of the entire first floor of his house laid out in my head.
“Sounds like Dave has a friend with him,” I said.
We looked at each other in turn, each of us more surprised than when I’d suggested using the pool house for the game night instead of the mustorium down here. Dave didn’t have many people that he considered friends. He was usually too abrasive for people to be interested in hanging around for too long. One of the only reasons we put up with him is because he ran the game, and there was the tradition of the thing to consider.
“Is that the big surprise he was talking about?” Travis asked.
“Must be,” Arnold said. “I don’t recall having a vote on letting someone else into the game, though.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he forgot that we were supposed to take a vote before we invited someone new in,” I said. “After all, he’s been in charge for a couple of years now and it doesn’t look like he plans on giving up control any time soon.”
“Well maybe we’ll have to remind him of that,” Travis said.
“Yeah, I don’t want him inviting someone that I don’t… want… to… Holy shit,” Arnold said, trailing off in a major way there at the end.
I followed his gaze over to the stairs and my mind short circuited for a moment as well. There were two sets of steps on the old wood stairway.
The first was Dave, no surprise there, but then he was followed by a girl. And what a girl. Somehow Dave had managed to pull Lisa Soren. Homecoming queen, prom queen, head cheerleader. I’m talking you name a stereotypical thing that popular girls in high school were supposed to achieve and chances are she was right there achieving it while I was in school.
I’d hated her for it at the time, though I’d backed off on some of that “hate everything because it’s popular” bullshit since going off to college. I knew some friends who’d doubled down on that. They’d be horrified to know I was in the same room as Lisa, but then again I wasn’t really friends with them anymore so fuck it.
As she came down the stairs I found myself staring in awe. She looked gorgeous even in a plain T-shirt and a pair of shorts that weren’t nearly as short as the sort of borderline stuff she used to wear at school. I blushed as I thought of the other reason why I tried to avoid Lisa in school. The other reason why I tried so hard to hate her.
It was a silly thing, but it had caused me a lot of angst back in middle school. It was just something that popped into my head. The thought of what it would be like to kiss a girl, and that girl had been Lisa. It was crazy and it had caused me a lot of worry back then wondering if I was gay or something. I’d dated plenty of guys since to prove there was nothing to that, but I always felt a little bit of heat when I looked at Lisa.
That was a heat I hadn’t felt in a couple of years. I mean maybe a little when I saw a pretty girl on campus who looked kind of like Lisa, but having her out of my life meant I didn’t have to deal with that lingering bit of confused sexuality from the onset of puberty.
Maybe that confusion came back when I saw cute girls on campus. Maybe she was the start of something that was more than a little scary. Something I’d never indulged in.
And now that she was walking down the stairs? Well that confusion was coming roaring back with a vengeance.
Great. Just fucking great. Even when Dave pulled something that should have me happy it ended up being a complication instead. But holy shit what a complication.
“Hi everyone!” Dave said.
He had a huge grin on his face as he looked at each of us in turn. It was obvious he was relishing this moment of triumph. There was no doubt he thought this was a triumph.
Getting the prettiest girl in our class to come to game night? I’m not sure how the hell he pulled it off, but that grin said he thought it was one hell of a feather in his cap.
“Um, hi Dave,” Arnold said.
Travis just stared. His mouth moved like his brain was trying to get something out, but it was obvious he was just as short-circuited as the rest of us.
I felt the same way. Dave wasn’t a ladies’ man. Dave wasn’t good socially with anyone. Dave shouldn’t have even been allowed to run the game, but of course his family connection had assured he took control and he’d kept his jerkier impulses under control to the point that we could tolerate him.
Mostly.
How had he pulled this off? I wanted to know his secret, and I hoped it didn�
��t have anything to do with chloroform.
No, if he’d done something like that then she wouldn’t be standing there awkwardly behind him on the steps looking at everyone. Her gaze moved to me and we locked eyes. She gave me a little smile and I felt an electric jolt that was stronger than anything I’d felt for anyone in awhile.
Not that I’d done much dating lately.
Damn it. It seemed that those old feelings were still very much there. Lurking under the surface and waiting to break free.
“Oh, and this is my friend I brought down to join us for game night tonight,” Dave said. “I believe most of you know who Lisa is, right?”
“She can’t play here without a vote!” Travis shouted out. And immediately looked embarrassed for saying it. It looked like he’d discovered his voice, only the only thing to come out was the last thing in the old memory buffer.
Dave looked pissed off. I could understand the feeling. He probably went to a lot of trouble to even get Lisa down here in the first placed, it’s not like he could promise to do her homework which used to be his prime way of getting in touch with girls who were well out of his league, and now that achievement was being called into question?
“What are you talking about? If I say she can go to the game then she can go to the game,” Dave replied.
Amazingly both Travis and Arnold looked annoyed at this. I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a few curses under my breath. A couple of years of minimal asshole outbreaks from Dave and now it happens when it could scare Lisa away?
I could see where this was going. They were more annoyed at the idea of Dave lording it over them than they were at the idea of letting a pretty girl join the game for a night. Both of them opened their mouths and looked like they were spoiling for a fight, and I could see that Lisa was plainly reconsidering whether or not it was a good idea to come here in the first place.
I needed to step in before she decided it was definitely a bad idea. Complications aside, I realized that I really wanted her there. I told myself that it was because another girl at the table would be nice, but I knew I was lying to myself.
“Lisa! So good to see you! How about we take a quick vote just to make this all kosher, how’s that? Who’s in favor of letting Lisa join the game?”
I held up my hand and stared pointedly at Travis and Arnold. Both blushed and seemed to realize what they were doing. They were both acting like fucking idiots and they both seemed to realize it at the same time. Both sheepishly raised their hands.
“Good. Glad you both agree with me,” Dave said, as though he wasn’t just trying to pull his authoritarian bullshit on them moments ago. Of all the times for old Dave to make an appearance. “Now let’s get started!”
Dave moved to sit in his traditional spot at the head of the table. If you could even call it the head of the table considering it was a round table. It was the spot closest to the paltry food offering he had out, so I guess that was something. He looked more than a little annoyed when Lisa came around the table to sit next to me.
I looked up at her and smiled. She smiled right back and I had to suppress a shiver. Damn it. This was going to be a very distracting night if this kept up. I wasn’t supposed to even like this girl, let alone find myself shivering because she smiled at me.
I wasn’t supposed to like girls. Not that guys did much for me. I guess I could deny all I wanted but it wasn’t going to change reality. Anyone who said this sort of thing was a choice was full of shit.
“Mind if I sit here Kylie?” she asked.
I stared for a moment. “You know my name?”
Well then. It seemed Travis wasn’t the only one opening his mouth and saying stupid things now. Why would I be surprised she knew my name? I mean I guess I was surprised, but we went to a small enough school that everyone knew everyone else even if they weren’t exactly BFFs.
Lisa giggled and blushed, and when she spoke it was barely above a whisper. “Of course I know your name.”
I blushed right along with her. “You do?”
Her voice was even lower and she looked down at the table as though she didn’t want to make eye contact with me. “We went to school together for years, after all.”
I leaned in closer to whisper. “So what the hell are you doing here tonight? How did Dave get you down here?”
Lisa blushed and looked away for a moment. I wondered if Dave had some blackmail material on her or something. That was the only other thing I could think of that would get her down here. Finally she looked back and bit her lip, and I had a hard time concentrating on anything for a moment.
“Honestly? I didn’t have anything else to do. All my friends are out of town now or still off at college, and I didn’t want to spend a night all alone at my parents’ house.”
There was something about the tone in her voice that had me wondering if that was the whole reason she was here. I wasn’t going to press her too much though. If she had her reasons she had her reasons.
“I guess that makes sense,” I said. Though that still didn’t feel like the full story to me. She was hiding something, but considering this was the first time we’d met and talked to one another despite knowing of each other for years it didn’t seem like a good time to get into all that.
“So have you been playing this game for long?” she asked. “I’ve never played anything more complicated than monopoly and I have no idea what’s going on here.”
I grinned. “Well don’t worry about that. I can explain a few things to you. First we’re going to have to roll a character for you.”
“A character?”
“The person you’ll be playing as. Here, you can borrow my dice to roll your stats. I’ll explain all about that here in a minute.”
I held out my trusty dice and Lisa reached out to grab them from me. For a moment our hands brushed against one another and I felt that electric shock running through me again. Lisa seemed to hesitate for a moment then smiled, but I chalked that up to either wishful thinking on my part or just her being friendly.
I spent the next twenty minutes or so getting her up to speed on creating a character and how to play the game. I found myself leaning in close to go over things and I kept getting distracted by how it felt being that close. Those old feelings really were roaring back with a vengeance, but I tried my best to ignore them. It was bad enough that all the guys at the table were staring at her without adding me into the mix.
I had a feeling this might be Lisa’s one and only night of tabletop gaming, and I wanted to make sure it was memorable! Besides, every time I leaned in close I could see Dave scowling as though he’d wanted to be the one doing that tonight. Anything that annoyed him was worth doing in my opinion.
6: Captivated
Lisa:
I sized up the monster standing in front of me. The thing wasn’t very big. Maybe it came up to my waist. It was about the size of one of the pint-sized wannabe cheerleaders who got dragged out to the clinic I used to help out with during the summers by moms who loved living vicariously through their little princesses. It was a problem I could identify with considering my mom had the same issue.
“So what is this thing again?” I asked, turning to Kylie.
“It’s a kobold,” Kylie said. “A sort of little monster thing that will really ruin your day.”
I tried not to let myself get distracted by how close Kylie was. I’d definitely found something that got the blood pumping just as much as drunk dancing with other girls. I never expected to find that with Kylie down in Dave’s basement, but life was full of surprises.
“Right, I said. So what do I do?”
“Here, you roll the dice and the number tells you if you hit it, and then this next number tells you how much damage you did to the little thing.”
“Right,” I said. “I’ve got this. I just need to concentrate.”
I got back in the game. It was weird how easily I was able to go back and forth between the real world and the fake world in my imaginatio
n. This really was sort of fun!
I raised my hands and they started to glow. A fireball flew out and slammed into the creature throwing it back several feet. The thing fell to the ground screaming and burning until it was finally silenced. I’d beat it!
I clapped my hands back in the real world, a huge smile spreading on my face. “I beat it! I beat the monster thingy!”
“Good job Lisa,” Dave said from across the table.
He had that creepy smile on his face. The one I recognized from back when I asked him to help by tutoring me in math. I could really do without the look, but whatever.
“Wait a second,” Arnold said. He seemed like a nice enough guy, though I’d never really seen him before. I figured that said something in our small school where everybody knew everybody else. He looked confused now. “How could that attack have possibly killed that kobold?”
“What are you talking about Arnold?” Dave asked.
“Well if you look in the book here it shows that their minimum hit points are still higher than the amount of damage Lisa just did with that attack. Even a critical wouldn’t kill it, and she didn’t exactly roll a critical.”
“I said that she landed a critical blow and so she did,” Dave replied. “I’m the one running the show. I get to call the shots. Remember?”
Arnold sat back in his chair with a frown on his face. “Yeah, I remember,” he muttered. He didn’t seem too happy about the decision, but I didn’t care. If Dave was going to make the game a little easier on me because it was my first time then I was more than happy to take the gimme.
“Right, well the rest of you are surrounded. What are your actions?” Dave asked.
Arnold was up first. While Dave was preoccupied talking to him I leaned in closer to Kylie. As I leaned in close I couldn’t help but notice that she had some sort of perfume on that smelled nice. I also noticed how smooth her skin was. This girl could be a model if she hadn’t gone for the whole goth thing. I quickly chased those thoughts out of my mind, though.
“This game is actually a lot of fun!” I whispered.