“Yeah, you’re ancient.” Kayn pulled out two birthday candles, one in the shape of a two and the other a six, and centered them on the cake. Darius pulled out a lighter and lit them.
Lessa started singing happy birthday, so the others joined in. They ended with Ezreal doing a beautiful harmony. The four guys actually sounded really good together. As Ahri blew out the candles, an idea tickled the back of her mind about having theguys make a quartet for the fall employee party. Would she even still be here?
“Cut the cake,” Nik cried. “Cut the cake.”
Laughing, she did and then sliced two small pieces for the children.
“It looks like it’s mostly fruit,” Ahri said, examining her piece.
“Pretty much.” Rafe watched her expectantly.
Ahri took a bite and held it in her mouth to let the flavors linger. She hummed softly and smiled.
“I think it’s a hit.” Darius helped himself to a second piece. “You can make this for my birthday too.”
“What’s with everyone’s laptops?” she asked.
“We’re going to have a gaming party,” Kayn said, rinsing off his plate.
“Can I play?” Lessa asked.
“Not this time, Lessy-wessy,” Rafe said putting the cake, now in its box again, in the refrigerator. “You have time for your bedtime story before getting tucked in.”
“But what about presents?” Lessa asked and yawned.
“The four of us are giving her a laptop,” Kayn said.
“Really?” Ahri grinned, a little thrill running through her. She’d really missed hers which had been destroyed in the truck fire.
“That’s boring,” Nik said, his eyelids heavy.
“For you maybe. Let’s finish your story and tuck you two into bed.” Ahri took their hands, and they climbed the stairs together.
By the time she came downstairs, the guys had the five laptops set up on the kitchen table.
“It’s all loaded for you.” Kayn tapped on the chair to his left that placed her between him and Rafe.
“Thank you so much, you guys.” Ahri ran her hand over the large, sophisticated machine. It was one of the top gaming laptops available, and she knew it must have cost a lot. “There’s a community ed class on graphic design that I’ve wanted to take, and this will be perfect.”
“Some would argue that a Mac would be better for graphics,” Darius said with a sly grin.
“Yeah. Yeah.” Kayn tapped away on his keyboard. “You know it’s all in the power of the computer when you’re designing. It’s not the comp’s operating system.”
“They’ll never let that go,” Rafe mumbled on her other side, but the corners of his mouth were turned up.
“Will Alex’s internet handle all of us playing at the same time?” Ahri asked.
“That’s one thing I insisted they let me upgrade for them since I sometimes babysit Lessa and Nik,” Rafe said. “I need a fast, robust connection.”
“I call mid lane,” Kayn said.
“Jungle, of course,” Darius added.
“Bottom lane support,” Ahri said, even though she knew none of the others played that role, so there’d be no competition for it.
“Bottom lane carry.” Rafe lowered his voice. “Ez is a mean top laner. One of the pro teams offered him a position.”
“You’re kidding,” she whispered, glancing at the quiet musician as he typed away at his keyboard on the opposite end of the table. She’d seen his gameplay a few times but hadn’t realized just how good he was.
