by Mia Archer
“That’s not fair at all!” Lisa said. “Why are you being a jerk like this Dave?”
“I’m not being a jerk! She’s just not obeying the rules!” Dave replied.
“Oh yeah? Well why don’t you show us what you’ve been scribbling on those papers then?” Lisa asked, suddenly smiling and giggling. I blinked as I stared at her. Who was this girl and where had all that anger she’d been spouting just seconds ago gone to? I looked over to Dave and suddenly it hit me what she was doing.
Because Dave was pulling aside his screen for the first time ever. He did it without thinking. It was as though he was under some sort of mind control, and I guess in a way he was. The sort of control that a hot girl has.
Wait, hot girl? Did I really just think of Lisa as a hot girl? I mean sure she was pretty. But wasn’t I thinking of her as pretty like I’d think any girl looked pretty? It’s not like I thought she was pretty pretty. Not in the same way I’d think a guy was hot, right?
Maybe Dave wasn’t the only one who was falling under a spell here tonight.”
Dave pulled the screen aside and revealed… Nothing. He just had some scribbles on a notebook. Nothing else. He hadn’t been writing anything down. He didn’t have anything planned. Just a crude stick figure drawing of my character being killed while he stood off to the side laughing maniacally.
“What the fuck Dave?” Travis said.
Lisa looked at me with a triumphant grin. Amazing how she was able to do that. Hot and devious? I was liking this girl more and more with every passing moment. Maybe liking her a little too much, all things considered. Talk about confusion I could do without on top of everything happening in the game.
“Seriously. You’ve just been doodling pictures of our characters dying? Are you mental or something?” Arnold asked.
Dave looked down at the paper. Looked up at each of us in turn. In particular he looked at Lisa with a shocked expression that said he was plainly trying to figure out how she’d managed to bamboozle him into revealing that he had nothing going on behind his screen. He’d been making this all up as we went along. The prick!
“This isn’t what it looks like,” Dave said. “I have…”
Before he could say anything Travis snatched the notebook away from him. Dave tried to grab at it, but Travis jumped out of his chair before Dave could do anything. He took a couple of steps back and finally I jumped out of my own chair and stepped between them. I raised a fist at Dave.
“Take another step and I’ll take out a whole lot of saved up rage on you buddy,” I said.
Travis flipped through the pages, but they were all blank.
“You haven’t been keeping track of the game tonight. Or for awhile now,” he said.
“That’s not true! I keep my notes in other books. That’s a new one I just started tonight and with Lisa here…”
“Oh no you don’t,” Arnold said. “That’s the same book you’ve been bringing down here for a couple of months! You’re fucking terrible at this!”
“Oh yeah? Well what are you going to do? This is my game. It’s the same game that’s been going for twenty-seven years,” he said.
I glanced over to Lisa. I was afraid of how she might react to all this. Her first time playing a game that didn’t seem like her idea of a good time and now we were arguing over that game? It wasn’t the best introduction to the hobby, for sure. I figured after this we probably wouldn’t see the head cheerleader at the gaming table in the future, which was a damn shame. I liked having her around.
Because I liked having another girl around. Yeah, that was it. There was absolutely no other reason why I wanted her hanging around for game night. I mouthed a quick “sorry” to her and she smiled and shot me a thumbs up. Well then. Maybe she wasn’t as freaked out as I thought she should be. The way she smiled almost made me wonder if she was interested in me…
And I stomped down on that thought. Hard. I shouldn’t wonder if she was interested in me because I wasn’t into girls and there certainly wasn’t a chance that Lisa was into girls. That would’ve made the rumor mill a thousand times over if there was any hint of it. Then again there’d been rumors about me for no other reason than I liked to dress differently from everyone else and those certainly hadn’t been true.
Mostly. Sort of. It’s not like I told anyone about that intrusive kissing fantasy. Or that I’d pretty much stopped dating entirely because I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted and I’d been a combination of too busy with school and too unwilling to come to terms with what I might really want.
Either way I figured I was projecting on her right now. That made me no better than Dave the asshole. I needed to be better than Dave. Luckily that was a pretty low bar to clear.
“What are we going to do about this?” Travis shouted.
That brought me back to the argument at hand. Right. We were getting pissed off at Dave and I was getting distracted by the pretty. Because I was worried about her and not because I liked looking at her. Even if I did sort of like looking at girls. Lisa in particular. I liked looking at her enough that I was almost willing to confront some of those buried feelings.
Later. Right now I had an argument to win. Old Dave was back in full force and it was time to shut him down. Maybe. Trying to shut him down had never worked all that well in the past.
“We’re going to have the game at Kylie’s house!” Arnold said.
“What?” Dave said.
“What?” I said right around the same time.
“You were the one talking about it before Dave got here with the cheerleader,” Arnold said, which earned him a sharp look from me. Lisa was more than a cheerleader. Sure I’d thought of her like that once upon a time, but we were supposed to be older and wiser now that we were all in college.
“You were talking about having a game somewhere else?” Dave said. “You traitors! You can’t have this game anywhere else. This is my game!”
I’d been all ready to try and make peace. To try and keep the game here if it would keep the gaming group together. Only now it looked like fully three fourths of our group was interested in going to my place. Four fifths of the group if I counted Lisa. Something told me she wouldn’t be too interested in coming to a gaming session that consisted of her and Dave all alone in this basement, as much as he might’ve liked that. I wouldn’t mind having a gaming session all alone with her in my pool house, come to think of it.
That anger at Dave mixed with the potential of getting Lisa out to my place was what decided me more than anything else.
“Yeah, we’ll just have the game at my place next weekend,” I said. “Everyone cool with that? Show of hands?”
Arnold and Travis raised their hands immediately. Lisa didn’t raise her hand but she did smile and nod. That vote of confidence almost meant more than Travis and Arnold backing me up, even if there would be no game if they decided they wanted to stick with Captain Asshole and his doodles. Maybe she didn’t feel like it was her place to raise her hand since this was her first night at the game.
“You guys can’t do this. This is my game!” Dave said. “This was handed down to me by the former Dungeon Master and I will not let some girl take it over after all the hard work I put into it!”
“Fine. You don’t have to be part of the new game. The old one is over, though,” I said. “Looks like it’s pizza and all night gaming at my house next weekend for anyone who wants to come.”
I almost didn’t include Dave in that invitation as I looked around the table, but I figured that wasn’t the right thing to do. He might be a dick, but he had been our dungeon master for a couple of years now. Even if he had stumbled into that position more through nepotism than anything else. I figured I could be magnanimous in victory. Besides, something told me that little asshole wasn’t going to show up to any game run by me anyways. After all, he was the one who just said he wasn’t giving up his hard work to join a game being run by a girl. He could sit down here with his misogynistic fantasies of glor
y and play the game by himself.
It would be about like his sex life. Zing.
“We’re done with this tonight,” Dave said. “I will not have this kind of insubordination at my table. If you all come crawling back next week then I might consider letting you continue playing at my table.”
There was a collective rolling of eyes as everyone pulled away from the table and stood. I couldn’t believe it even as I could believe it. Even when he’d obviously been shove aside by everyone at the table he still insisted on acting like he was the one in control. That was such a Dave thing to do. The prick. I really hoped he decided to take the hint and didn’t show up at the game at my pool house next weekend.
I glanced down to Lisa and grinned. She’d arrived with Dave, but I’d just thought of one more way that I could twist the knife. He’d been so proud of having her here tonight and he’d acted jealous of me getting close to her even though there was nothing that would make him think either of us swung that way.
“Do you need a ride home?” I asked.
“Actually I only live a short walk from here,” she said. “Dave insisted on taking me home.”
I glanced over to Dave. He was too busy whispering to Arnold and Travis to realize I was over here stealing his girl from him. Not that she was his girl. Not that I was really stealing her in the sense that I was interested in her. Was I? It was all damn confusing, but the idea of spending a little more time with the former head cheerleader was certainly intriguing.
“How about a walk home, in that case?” I asked.
Lisa’s smile lit up the room. I was stunned by that grin. I could see why she got all the things she got back in high school even if I’d been more than a little annoyed by it at the time. This girl was gorgeous, and now that I’d had some time up close and personal with her she also seemed to have a sweetness, an innocence, that made it difficult to dislike her.
“That sounds like a great idea,” she said, her eyes darting to Dave and leaving no doubt in my mind that she was thinking about the awkward ride home with him.
“Why don’t we get out of here before he realizes you’re gone?” I said.
“Good idea,” Lisa said.
We’d reached the top of the steps before I heard Dave.
“Hey, where the heck did Lisa go?”
We looked at each other and shared a giggle, something I hadn’t done with anyone in years, before making a hasty retreat from Dave’s house. With a little luck that would be the last time I was a prisoner in that basement ever.
8: Walk Home
Lisa:
I stepped out into the cool night air. Well not that cool. Cool compared to the summer heat earlier in the day. Dave’s car didn’t have air conditioning which meant it almost would’ve been more comfortable if I’d walked.
The cool night air was a nice contrast to the heat I felt looking at Kylie. I couldn’t explain it. I didn’t know where it came from. I just knew that looking at her made me feel all twisted up and excited inside like I did right before running out onto the football field or the basketball court to get a crowd riled up. I might not know where the feelings came from but they were feelings I’d learned to live with.
Feelings I’d learned to keep bottled up. Looking at Kylie made me want to let those feelings burst out though. Just like bursting out onto a football field or a basketball court.
Now there was something I missed. I still couldn’t bring myself to go to football games or basketball games because it hurt looking at girls I’d tried out with out on the field while I was stuck in the stands because the stupid university didn’t think I was good enough for their squad. The idiots. They didn’t know what they were missing out on.
“Something on your mind?” Kylie asked. “Worried about Dave chasing you down to hit on you or something?”
I gave her a sidelong glance. Dave hitting on me would be unfortunate. It also wouldn’t surprise me if he pulled something like that. I even glanced over my shoulder to make sure that talking about him wasn’t enough to summon him.
Kylie laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s just us girls. I promise I don’t bite, hard, no matter what you might’ve heard about me.”
I blushed and looked away from her. I found myself thinking about how interesting it might be if she did bite me. Or maybe did something else with her lips. And her tongue. I found myself wondering what it would feel like to kiss her, and I needed to chase those thoughts away. I was not into girls. I’d been with enough guys over the years to prove that. I don’t know why I was letting myself go crazy over Kylie of all people.
“I don’t think I heard any bad rumors about you,” I lied. It seemed like a nice lie to tell, though. Everyone knew the rumors that went around about the resident goth girl. Rumors that included her preference for the ladies, though come to think of it I don’t think I’d ever seen her with a girl.
Probably just a stupid rumor. Why was I disappointed that it might’ve just been a stupid rumor?
Kylie threw her head back and laughed. It was odd seeing her like this with a smile on her face. When we passed each other in the halls back when we were in school together she’d always seemed pretty angry. As though there was something about the way the world worked that pissed her off. It was enough to make me walk well around her whenever I saw her, even as at the same time I always admired her just a little for being willing to break out and pull the whole look she’d thrown together.
Now I wondered if there’d been more than fashion jealousy to those staring sessions.
“Come on Lisa,” she said. “You’re a terrible bullshitter. You can let me have it. You might have even heard a couple that I didn’t hear back then, and I heard a lot of it.”
I looked down and blushed. I’d never exactly participated in those gossip sessions when it came to Kylie. I wasn’t a fan of gossiping about anyone, no matter what some of those mean girl bitches on the squad said just because they were jealous I made captain and their cow selves didn’t, but at the same time I hadn’t exactly come to her defense when I did hear people talking about her. Why would I? She was just the scary goth chick I passed in the halls from time to time, after all. I didn’t know her.
Now, thinking back on those days, I felt bad about that.
“I really don’t want to talk about this Kylie,” I said. “We had such a good time tonight. It seems like a shame to open up old wounds.”
Kylie fixed me with a sidelong glance and arched an eyebrow. “Really? You had a good time tonight at the dork table?”
“Why is that so hard to believe?”
“Sorry. Seeing you doing the whole bubbly cheer thing makes it hard to imagine you playing a game like that with a bunch of dorks like us,” Kylie said.
I felt a flash of irritation at that. It wasn’t fair. Not fair at all. I opened my mouth and something less than bubbly came out before I could stop myself.
“You know the only person I see standing here judging me for playing that game tonight is you,” I said. “I never said anything about you guys being dorks or anything like that. I decided to give something new a chance and I don’t appreciate you giving me shit for it.”
Kylie stopped and I had to do a quick one-eighty to see her. She looked at me for a moment with an unreadable expression that made me wonder if I’d put my foot firmly in my mouth. One of th reasons I tried to go with the cute and bubbly thing was because I knew I had a temper that could get out of control if I let it. Like right now. Oops.
Kylie sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t act like that. I guess I’m still getting over the surprise of you showing up. You were the last person I expected to see arm in arm with Dave coming down those stairs.”
Maybe because the entire time I was arm in arm with Dave I was thinking of being arm in arm with someone else at the game night instead. Not that there was a chance in hell I was going to talk about any of that. Especially with Kylie being the object of my sort-of-affection. The less said about that to her the bet
ter as far as I was concerned.
That was dangerous ground.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m not really mad. I guess I’m just so used to people judging me for judging them when that’s not what I’m all about. It gets exhausting after awhile, y’know?”
For a relief Kylie smiled. It was a small, knowing smile. Nothing like the grins and giggles we shared down in that basement. Still, it was better than the frowns as we shared a heavy moment.
“You’re right. I guess I’m so used to people doing that to me that it never occurred to me I might do it to someone else.”
“Apology accepted,” I said.
“Hey, that wasn’t an apology, prom queen,” Kylie said, but the tone of her voice made it clear she was joking around. “I was just saying I can understand where you’re coming from.”
We started walking again. We went on in silence for a block or so and I ran over everything that just happened. It felt like I’d just shared something with Kylie. I’d never let anyone know about how irritated I was about other people judging me like that. It was like some sort of weird fucked up reverse mean girls people pulled where they assumed I was going to be a bitch because of who I was and I hated it. It was nice to finally get out some of that irritation, though I was still a little surprised that Kylie was the girl to draw that out of me.
Maybe she was more than a pretty face. Then again wasn’t that something I always wanted people to stop assuming about me? Who was being the hypocrite now?
This was all heavy stuff. I wanted to enjoy the summer night. Time for a change of subject.
“So what the heck was going on back there anyways?” I asked. “Seems like you guys have a lot of anger brewing under the surface.”
Kylie sighed and looked up at the stars twinkling above. A small breeze carried the scent of something flowering off in the distance. It was one of my favorite parts of living in a small town in the summer. There was enough light that some of the stars were lost above us, but there were still a heck of a lot more overhead than what I’d see at school.