He turns on the stove, heating a pan. “What are your plans for Christmas Day?”
I shrug. “I forgot to order my pizza last night, so eventually I’ll be forced to eat raw sugar from the cupboard. Most of my friends had plans with their families or significant others today. Last night counts as our big party.”
Hudson nods, pouring pancake batter onto the pan. “Nice. You guys get together once a year or so?”
This time it’s me chuckling. He has no idea. “Yeah, they get together every once in a while.”
More like once or twice a week. Once for girl brunch every Sunday — which I’ve rarely been successful at getting out of — and then usually at least one other time for a made-up party Aspen decides we must celebrate. I’m getting better at coming up with excuses to get out of those. Clare has taught me many tricks.
It’s not that I don’t love my friends. They make San Francisco bearable, but being surrounded by a group of extroverts is tiring.
They celebrate everything.
I swear to God earlier this summer Aspen wanted to celebrate a celebration. Thankfully, at the time Clare was doing her best to avoid everyone as well. She might be the only other person who slightly gets me — at least she used to on occasion. Now she’s been fully indoctrinated to Aspen’s ways and shows up more times than she misses. There’s been more than one trick added to my excuse bin from her list, though. I had to bring home extra work, or my boss wants me to come in early. They’re simple and believable.
“What would you be doing today?”
Hudson stacks a few pancakes on a plate he grabbed from another cupboard without asking where they were. “Ridge, my boss, planned a big family gathering and invited us to attend.”
“That’s nice.”
Hudson nods, not lifting his eyes from the pancakes. “He’s a good guy. Most of the people he’s brought into his security business are out of town. He does his best to make us feel like a family.
Hudson slides me a plate, pancakes piled high, and I stop it moments before it falls off the edge of the counter. Next comes a bottle of syrup from my refrigerator. Where did it come from? I’ve got to get better at adulting.
“Thanks,” I say as he hands me a fork.
The phone vibrates on the counter next to my plate and I read the text with a smile on my face.
“That’s a pretty big smile for Christmas morning,” Hudson says stacking pancakes on a second plate. “Boyfriend?”
My face heats and I slowly slide the phone away without responding to the text. “No,” I say, shaking my head. “A bunch of friends are getting together today to raid. You want to come?”
“A raid?” he asks, a bite of pancake stopped midway to his mouth.
I finish chewing while the realization “going on a raid” probably means something different to Hudson sets in. “Not like you’re thinking. It’s Finn’s new game. You walk around town and capture different animals by throwing balls at them, battle against other friends, and then add them to your collection.”
“Virtual animals?”
I nod taking another bite. It doesn’t sound nerdy until you’re forced to explain it to a hot guy.
“You walk around town and chuck virtual balls at a bunch of fake animals? Do you need to feed them and shit like that? My older sister had one of those digital pets when she was in high school. Tamagotchi something.”
I laugh. “Not necessarily. The game is a lot of fun.” It’s the most extroverted thing I do in my life, considering how many times I sneak away to meet up with a small group of players who started in San Francisco. Most of them aren’t aware I’m so close to the game developer, but every once in a while, I pass on something to Finn for when he considers new upgrades. It’s the nice thing to do.
“And this raid?” This time Hudson completely lowers his fork, the clattering of metal on the porcelain plate loud in the silence. “You want to go on a… raid on Christmas morning after you witnessed a shooting a few days ago?”
I smile. Hudson totally gets it. “Yeah.”
He sighs. “Finish your breakfast and let’s go.”
Grabbing my phone from the counter, I type out a response saying I’ll be there when the raid starts in two hours.
“Do you want to download the app on your phone? I can walk you through the basics before we leave.”
Hudson shakes his head. “No thanks. I’ll watch you.”
A little of my excitement fades. Finn said there would be new hard-to-capture limited-edition animals available for the next few days to celebrate Christmas and the new year, but he refused to give me any more details saying I had to play the game like everyone else. I’ve always known that of the group of RDA girls, I’m definitely the nerdiest. I was playing Dragons Reborn before Aspen met Finn. And I’d also been to the comic shop before we moved our Sunday breakfasts there. A girl can love comics too. Not that I’d admit that to anyone, especially Hudson.
