“Yes! I could use a lemon shake-up first. Do we want to—” I break off when I see Li in the distance. She’s all alone and walking in the direction of the education and art barns. I still haven’t had that conversation with her. There never seems to be a good time for it…which is why I keep putting it off. If I don’t talk to her today, then we’ll be back in the same position at the D&D game tomorrow.
I bite my lip and glance at Max. He nods subtly.
“Actually, I just saw Li and I’ve been meaning to chat with her about the game.” I turn to Nova. “I think she’s upset that I haven’t included her backstory more.”
“I’m not sure she’s capable of being mad at you. You’re clearly her idol. But Max and I can hold our own, right?”
Max bobs his head. “Do you like corn dogs? I saw a vendor selling them down by the grandstand.”
“I do not. But I like fries, and the best ones are in the same direction.”
They nod in unison and I glance between them. Are Nova and Max actually friends? The idea is both weird and endearing.
“You’re going to lose her if you don’t go now. We’ll find you later.” Nova shoos me away and I jog in Li’s direction with a backward wave to them.
“Li?” I call when I get closer.
She spins around at her name, but I catch the moment of hesitation when she sees that it’s me who’s calling to her.
“Hey,” I continue. “Do you have a second to talk? That is, if I’m not interrupting your plans?”
“I’m just wandering around until my shift,” she says. “What’s up?”
We fall into step with each other, though we occasionally need to dodge strollers and wild bands of middle schoolers running past us as we walk. I think I see Felix ahead of us in the distance, and I’m tempted to call him over just to put off having this conversation for a little longer, but I know I have to stop doing that.
“I was hoping to chat about D&D before the game tomorrow.”
Her face falls. “Oh, okay.”
It hurts me to see how disheartened she looks at the mere mention of the game.
“I want to apologize,” I say. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a bad Dungeon Master, and I understand if you don’t want to play anymore, but I hope you’ll stick with us and give me another shot.”
She glances at me with a furrowed brow. “You’re not kicking me out of the group?”
“What?”
I’m so surprised that I stop walking and someone immediately bumps into me from behind. We need to get someplace calmer, so I steer her into the dim quiet of the 4-H barn and then face her.
“Of course I’m not. Why would you think that?”
She sighs. “I could tell you were annoyed with the backstory Felix and I gave you for our characters. Clearly we went in the wrong direction with it. And I’ve been thinking you’d probably have more fun with people who are more experienced or are at least the same age as you.”
“Omigod, no!” I shake my head adamantly. “You didn’t go in the wrong direction with anything. Youcan’tgo in the wrong direction—those are your characters. You can do whatever you want with them.” She starts to argue, but I keep going. “Listen, we’re all new to this, especially me. I promise I’ll make sure to have you and Felix feel more included.”
“Really? Because I don’t want to stop playing with you all. I really love it.” She looks like she’s about to cry, and it’s breaking my heart, so I pull her into a hug.
“I promise, you’re not going anywhere. So, we’re good?”
She gives me a joyful, but watery, smile. “Yes, definitely.”
“Oh, thank god.” I breathe out a sigh of relief, although it’s occurring to me that Max is totally going to gloat when he hears his advice was helpful. “Now that I know we’re good, I need to clear the air with Felix too. I just saw him a few minutes ago. Do you want to help me search?”
“Right now?” Her voice raises an octave. “You saw him?”
“Um, yeah.” I lift my brows. “Is everything okay withyou two? He hasn’t been rude, right? Because I won’t stand for that.”
“It’s…um…maybe the opposite?” She adjusts her glasses. “We were chatting yesterday at the away game, and then all of a sudden he squeezed my hand in this way that made it feel likesomethingcould possibly be going on between us—although that’s probably all in my head—but the thing is that maybe I’m starting to kind of have feelings for him, and now everything feels so weird and—”
