“No,no,no!Don’tgo in there, Jenna! We should go around!”
“Oh, don’t worry. I got this. How many times do I have to tell you? I can tankanything!”
Nico groans in frustration, but he pushes the knob on his game controller forward, guiding his character to follow Jenna’s througha doorway and down a hall.
I follow with my character, too, casting a regeneration spell on our whole group, but I also keep arguing with her. “Notthisboss, you can’t. He’ll one-shot you, and then I’m dead next, and—”
“Trust me, guys!” Jenna’s voice comes through the speaker from my laptop, and then, on the TV in front of us, we watch as her character rushes in, axe and shield raised, to meet the massive minotaur waiting at the opposite end of the room.
Nico groans again. “I’m gonna kill her.”
“I heard that!” Jenna laughs. “Look, see, guys, it’s easy! All I gotta do is not let him—”
Her character’s health suddenly drops from nearly full to nothing as the giant beast’s two-handed battle-axe drops right down on top of her.
I didn’t even have a chance to cast another healing spell.
Nico boldly holds his position, spamming fireballs at the boss until it takes him out as well, and I turn and run, morphing my character into a sleek black panther as I dash toward the exit.
Jenna’s laughing and teasing me for running, and Nico nudges my leg with his foot.
“Just let him kill you,” he says with a smirk. “You can rez and then get me. We can let Jenna run back, though. Give her time to think about how her actions affect others.”
“I heardthattoo!”
With a sigh, I stop, and the beast catches up to me within seconds. He raises his axe, stomps a foot, and bashes my character just once, draining all my health.
“I’m kinda tired of dying,” I complain, hitting a few buttons to resurrect my character once the monster is gone. I backtrack to find Nico’s character first and bring him back to life, and then inch my way forward just enough to reach Jenna’s warrior and bring her back to life as well.
“Yeah, I’ve gotta run, actually,” Jenna says. “My Con Law class starts in about an hour, and I need to finish writing this case brief still.”
“Procrastination is still the key to success, even in law school?” I tease, and Jenna laughs again.
“Maybe. I’ve gotten by so far, but this class is killing me. Anyway, it was nice tofinallycatch both of you online at the same time. It was fun!”
“It was, totally,” I agree.
Nico adds a quick thank you, and we all sign off. I take our controllers and put them away, back in a drawer in my nightstand, and Nico shuts my computer and pushes it over to the other side of the bed. Then he collapses onto his back with a dramatic groan.
Grinning, I crawl over and cuddle up next to him to nuzzle his neck. “So, how are you feeling now?” I ask softly, and I press a series of kisses up from his collarbone to his jawline. When I reach his mouth, he smiles and meets me halfway, his hands coming up to frame my face. He feels good. Happy. Not as tired as he did earlier.
“Mmm, better. And hungry. Is it lunchtime yet?”
My heart leaps in my chest, and I glance toward the kitchen. The clock on the microwave says it’s one fifteen. I nod and lean in to kiss him again. “I have an idea. You can veto it if it’s too much. Okay?”
He eyes me with a cautious half smile. “Yeah, okay. What?”
“How about”—I kiss the tip of his nose—“we grab a couple slices of pizza, and then, if you’re up to it, we can catch the bus to the Japanese garden. The weather’s perfect today, and it shouldn’t be busy.”
I’msurehe can see right into my brain and justknowswhat I’m planning or at least that I’m planningsomething. But his expression just softens and he nods.
“Yeah, I think I can handle that.”
“Great,” I say, and I kiss his lips, lingering there for an extra few seconds, before I roll over and away from him to stand up. “We can get dressed and leave in five?”
When I glance back at him, he’s nodding and pushing himself up to sit. I get that sense again that he’s comfortable and happy and that whatever weight had been on his shoulders this morning, making him so exhausted, has lifted a bit.
And seeing that makes my heart stutter.
