Page 17 of Next Level Love


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@pancakesareelite:

Winner gets to complain.

@theanswerisno:

Prepare to hear the whiniest whines you’ve ever heard.

I slipped into my nightgown and curled up on the chair at my desk. The weight of the week lightened as we teamed up against a swarm of zombies—who ended up eating us.

@theanswerisno:

In a strange turn of events, we both lost. What now?

I grinned and replied:I don’t remember what I wanted to complain about.

This was my favorite part. After the game. Where we’d just talk.

@theanswerisno:

Neither do I. So, in a way, I’d say we won?

My cheeks were fixed in a smile. It always was with him. Strange how this stranger managed to do that.

What’s your weekend looking like?I asked.

@theanswerisno:

I have a tedious meeting tomorrow, Saturday I need to learn how to fix a faucet, and then on Sunday, I think I’ll have to fix said faucet. How about you?

I was hoping we’d spend the entire weekend playing together,I backspaced that almost as quickly as I’d typed it. The last time I flirted a little too intimately with Link, it had scared him off. Instead of the embarrassing truth, I said:I’m going out for dinner.

Which wasn’t true. It wasn’t entirely a lie either. I could end up going out for dinner. I just needed to find a date first.

I stood and stretched my legs. It took three steps to put my bowl in the kitchen sink and three steps to my bed. That was about the extent of my apartment, which was tinier than the bedroom I’d grown up in.

But it was mine, and aside from the outright strange rules set by my landlord, I could do whatever I wanted. My time in what could easily be called a mansion was more claustrophobic than these four walls.

Spark welcomed me back as I opened the dating app and started swiping. I wasn’t particularly picky, and I knew how to flirt. Knowing what to say and how to charm people was something I was taught very early on in my household.

A message popped up in-app:I have a fetish for redheads with great tits.

A sigh was born in the depths of my soul.I give up.I closed the app and did something better. I called my grandmother.

“Hello?” she answered with a croak.

“I’m sorry, Gran. Did I wake you?”

“This old bat doesn’t sleep, you know that.” She cackled. “How are you, my Lily? How’s work been? I’ve been meaning to call, but I’m still sorting through your grandpa’s things since his final checkout.”

“Gran!” I said, my mouth dropping open. That was how she referred to my grandpa’s death. He’d suffered for so long that we’d mourned him while he was alive and his passing was a mercy.

She only laughed louder. “That’s what I get for marrying an older man. I should have gone for his assistant, but nope, I went for the boss.” I could hear her lighting a cigarette. “Speaking of bosses, how’s your new boss? What’s he like?”

“He’s… good.”

“Good… at what?” she asked. “Good in bed?” Another cheeky cackle.

“At his job! Behave!” I couldn’t help but burst out laughing too. “I also meant that he seems like, maybe, a good person, because I kinda suck at this job, and he’s still nice to me.”