I was going to get to see Ryker again.
Word had gotten out before I’d arrived at the venue of the awards show. Videos were popping up of streamers who were excited for a chance to bump into me or get a chance to see me.
Not a chance in hell.
Normally, showing up to an award show in person wasn’t an issue, at least it hadn’t been the few times we’d done it. I would stay in my control room until the speech, give it live, and then leave out the back without anyone noticing. It didn’t happen often, though; most of the time I did the recording beforehand and stayed home or did them live from my gaming room.
This time was different. Someone was going out of their way to make it known that CovertRetriever was here, same as last night. My contact and coordinator for the show, Lisa, was worried that someone had insight into who I actually was, so she had me circle a few times and swap cars twice before creating a new setup for me to exit the vehicle. We thought we’d nipped the leak last night. I wasn’t turning back now; I was getting into that venue.
Beckett decided, with all the attention on me being here, that he would stay in the original car we took and enter the theatre as a normal guest. Our coordinator made sure to set up a few seatsfor us toward the front under our fake names given for the ball last night.
“We are truly sorry,” Lisa started to apologize as I exited the car at a side door down an alleyway. “I don’t know who let this slip tonight and today, but only a few people knew we were making these changes. This will be dealt with.”
“Thank you,” I was appreciative of all the effort that she was putting into this weekend, considering it was all last-minute and nothing was going to plan.
Lisa guided me to a blocked-off control room before leaving me alone.
The show had already started, so I was set to be in the small room for, at a minimum, an hour. I’d gone ahead and prerecorded my acceptance speech and provided that to the show a month ago, but with the updates to how I wanted to attend the event that Beckett sent over last night, we were going completely off script. Lisa had given me a breakdown of the awards with the best times listed for when I could slip out and no one would notice.
But this time was different. Odette was out there in the audience, and I wanted somehow, some way, to be able to see her again, just one more time. Beckett had made that come true in a miraculous fashion.
Last night was not nearly enough.
Her hand in mine, her body against me.
I needed her like a fucking drug, and it was driving me insane.
Get it together, man.
My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out to see a picture from Beckett of the main theatre. I was looking at the stage and who was on it, but my eyes caught sight of someone else on the right-hand side of the screen.
Ryker: Take a better photo of the table in front of you.
Beckett: You caught that.
Beckett sent another photo, this time a far clearer one that showed Odette in a stunning green lace dress, sitting at the table in front of where I would be soon. She was with Jemma, which I knew Beckett would be ecstatic about. He hadn’t stopped talking about her all morning. I didn’t know her well from high school, but Beckett had known her from when they were kids, long before we’d ever become best friends. They had a falling out Sophomore year, but he had never gone into anything more than that. Last night, he kept raving about how amazing she looked and that he couldn’t wait to see her again.
I, on the other hand, couldn’t get Odette out of my head.
I checked the time and saw that there were several awards ahead of when I wanted to move to the main floor, a few that Odette would most likely be accepting. I searched social media to find someone live at the award show. There were a bunch of streamers here; at least one would take the opportunity.
After a few minutes, I finally found one. I cringed when I saw the name.
TheBestParker
Parker was a well-known streamer in the industry, but I never cared for his antics or demeanor toward his fan base. He was cocky at best, but more so misogynistic. While I didn’t want to give him the views, his was the only stream I could find, and I wanted to watch Odette. I wanted to catch a glimpse of her while not being able to physically be there next to her.
The current award up was for Most Anticipated Game. Odette had been working on a new game slated to come outwithin the next year. It wasn’t a spin-off, but a sequel toLeague of Witches,where you got to court Abigail’s daughter. I’d been playing demos of it and giving feedback as a silent investor to the game. No one had any idea that I was helping fund it, but damn, was I excited for the audience to see it.
The entire theatre grew loud with commotion as the nameLeague of Warlocksshowed on the screen. Everyone was getting to see the teaser trailer, finally. The commotion told me already that they were going to love it as much as I did.
At the end of the video, Odette was announced as the winner of the award, and I watched her on my small phone screen as she got up from her seat. She was alone as she made her way to the stage. I’d noticed that she was normally the only one from her team when she went to these kinds of events.
I was trying to listen to her speech when I saw the chat starting to blow up.
Look at your girl go!
You are probably so proud of her!
