And she’s beautiful. I don’t know what I was expecting Malia to look like in person until I saw her, and she was not what I expected. I realized I had always pictured her as short, with her hair pulled into a utilitarian ponytail or braid, a laptop at her side, and a bulky jacket to hold extra cords and a USB drive. Like she was some stereotypical gamer from a movie. I want to slap myself in the face for thinking that.
It also made me realize that my family will probably easily believe Malia’s my girlfriend because I obviously have a type—beautiful women who are confident and ready to take charge. I get how ironic that is, given the type of women my mom wants to set me up with.
My thoughts flit to Ivy, who was also confident and friendly. Someone who could be your best friend minutes after meeting you.
It’s not like I’ve been pining away for her for the past couple years. Our relationship only lasted a few weeks, even if it was intense and we almost got married. But I’m going to see her tonight for the first time since she cancelled our elopement. So she’s been on my mind.
I keep thinking how grateful I am that Malia was willing to go the fake girlfriend route, because showing up tonight with a beautiful woman like Malia on my arm is the armor I need to face Ivy and her new husband. (Who, can I say, isnotthe guy I expected her to run off and marry? Who is, in fact, my sister’s boss.)
With Jett, Law, and Devin not believing me about having a girlfriend, and with me thinking about seeing Ivy all day, I’m tense. I log in toShadow Heroesto do a few solo tasks to prep for our next big mission for this operation—getting the intel into the hands of a trusted source in the British government. The problem is, we suspect that there’s a mole from another team that’s working with the terrorist group responsible for the assassination.
One of my teammates, Matt, is logged in, so I drop a message in our team Discord server.
BackdoorKnight: Hey bro, what’s up? Find anything?
RedChannel: Nah. Sorry, gotta go.
He signs off a few seconds later. I must have caught him on the end of doing some recon.
I set up my character with clothes that mimic the look of an NPC and head off to find one of the players our team has identified as a possible mole. The game says they’re online, and I’m hoping they’re here in game Copenhagen so I can do surveillance. It’s a chill task to take care of, one that I have to focus on so my mind can’t race, but one that’s not too difficult.Just following the character around to see if anything suspicious pops.
“Yes,” I say to myself when I spot the character just outside a hotel. It means something that they’re in Copenhagen, especially if they know we’ve retrieved the intel and are getting ready to move it.
“Hey, Cal.” Malia’s voice breaks into the quietness around me. “Anything yet?”
I have always liked the way Malia calls me Cal. That there’s a shorthand to our relationship. Getting to picture her real face now adds another layer of comfort. Just hearing her voice makes me breathe in relief, and it reminds me how good of a friend Malia is to me.
“Nope,” I reply. “They’re gathering supplies, but I haven’t been able to see what yet. Are you here?” I do a quick scan of my surroundings, wondering how I missed Malia’s character joining me. But I don’t see the woman with the long, brown braid. That’s probably why I pictured that same braid on the real Malia. The hair color of her character is similar to her own. I wonder what she thinks of the fact that my character has a blond man bun, and my hair is brown and cut short in real life.
“No. Saw you come on and logged in to lurk. If we don’t find the mole soon, getting the intel to the Brits will be a moot point.”
I grunt in agreement.
“I was surprised you’re playing, since you’re picking me up in less than an hour.”
“Ivy’s going to be at the dinner tonight. And the wedding tomorrow, of course.” It’s easy to say when it’s just me and Malia. We’ve texted about Ivy in the past. Malia was shocked I’d do something so rash considering my reputation among our team as being the most careful, the most levelheaded. I remember texting her that the data all lined up, so it was easy to make the choice. It didn’t feel rash. I just didn’t have enoughdata on how Ivy felt about her ex, apparently. “Just needed to calm my brain.”
“Mmmm,” Malia says in understanding.
There’re several moments of silence as the character I’m tailing enters a diner and I carefully follow him in alongside an actual NPC so my mark won’t be suspicious.
“You don’t still have feelings for her, right?” Malia asks as I settle into a table at the counter so I can see the character without being obvious. I’m going to have to give this up in a second if nothing transpires right away. I still need to shower and get into my suit.
“No,” I say honestly. I put that all to rest a long time ago. I was hurt when Ivy called everything off, and it took longer to shake off than I thought it should considering how short-lived our relationship was, but I don’t still love her. “I’m more … embarrassed? I guess. I just don’t want to face her. She just got married.”
“That’s totally natural. Luckily you’ll have a hottie on your arm to make her jealous.”
I chuckle. “That’s very true.”
“Okay, I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you soon, Cal.”
I smile at that. “See you soon.”
A few minutes later, I leave the diner and log off the game to get ready. Funny how just a few minutes of talking with Malia can ease my nerves better than even the distraction of the game. She gets me, and there’s something to be said about a friend who understands you.
CHAPTER 4
MALIA
