I turned to Jayden. “Hey, Jayden, aren’t Nabil and Alex supposed to be here? I need to check with them about the level they’re working on for the game dev.”
Jayden nodded. “They’ll be late. They’re picking up Alina and Megan first. They should be here before we reach the dragon.”
I sighed. The only thing I’d learned so far was that I didn’t want to be here.
“You were awesome,” Daniel said to me, clearly sensing my annoyance at everything. “You want me to get you anything?”
I smiled. “Nah, I’m good. I’m just a little tense. My shoulders always hurt after a fight like that.” I rubbed the back of my shoulder.
“Here, let me.” He took over rubbing my shoulder with his good hand.
I chuckled. “Thanks. Ooh, you’re good at that. Yet another reason I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’m glad I’m here, too.”
I turned to look at him ... and his face was right there near mine. Daniel’s eyes locked on to me as my breath hitched. It felt like we were alone instead of at a busy gaming party with at least thirty other kids.
I wanted to kiss him. Yes, I’d wanted to kiss him when we sat on the picnic blanket at Hana’s party under the night sky, and again after seeing him fly across the ice at his hockey game, but no moment between us had ever felt as charged as this one. To be honest, I wanted to do a lot more than just kiss ... but I’d start with a kiss. And I’d bet my limited-edition garnet dragon figurine that Daniel wanted the same thing. We were moving toward something that was far from the parameters we’d agreed on four weeks ago. I’d been convinced that he didn’t feel this way, or it would never work between us anyway, but all those excuses and objections just melted away with that look in his eyes. It was ridiculous to fight something that felt this right.
“Ruby griffins are here!” Jayden yelled.
I scrambled my hands back onto my controller. I needed to focus on this fight now. The ruby griffins were harder than the bronze, but we all found our groove quickly and soon were smoking them, too. Hana spun webs around the griffins, allowing Devin to pound at them withhis war hammer. Aimee was shooting flaming arrows on the ones that flew above us. After casting a wide healing spell over the entire party, I stepped back and enjoyed the symphony.
Things did get tricky—it was touch and go at the end thanks to a spectacular mistake the Bard made (they sang a cure-disease song instead of a top-up-the-party’s-magic song)—but we still took out the last ruby griffin.
My adrenaline was pumping now. There was another wait before the final horde—the diamond griffins—appeared. I squeezed my fists on my lap. So many emotions were swirling through me. Euphoria. Adrenaline. Nerves. Joy. Attraction.
Yes, attraction, because I didn’t think I’d ever wanted to be closer to another person—to the boy sitting next to me with his hand on my shoulder—than I did right now.
His hand moved from my shoulder to my knee. I reached down and intertwined my fingers with his. And we sat like that for several seconds, hands clasped under the table, as the other players chattered about the game around us.
What did this mean? My feelings were getting impossible to ignore. But did Daniel feel the same way?
Maybe for him, all this was for show? For the fake relationship?
Was it possible I was the only one who was feeling this way?
Daniel’s phone rang.
“No calls during game,” Jayden said as Daniel let go of my hand to pull his phone out of his pocket.
“He’s not even playing,” I said.
“The rule stands for anyone in the room.”
Daniel looked at the call display, then looked at me, concerned. “It’s Andre. Andre wouldn’t call me at this hour unless it was important.”
I cringed, looking at Jayden. “It’s our boss ... He needs to take the call. There’s ten minutes before the next horde anyway.”
“Rules are rules,” Jayden said. Man, he reallywasan ass.
“It’s not even a real job,” Devin said. “It’s just volunteer work.”
“And it’s not even a real boyfriend,” Jayden added.
Wait, what did Jayden say? My head shot around, not to glare at Jayden, but at Aimee.
In all the gossip—people accusing me of cheating on Devin, people claiming that Daniel and I were in trouble, or that the joy in our pictures was fake, or, hell, even people claiming that Daniel was a pop star, no one had ever claimed that Daniel’s and my relationship wasn’t real in the first place.
