Games.

We’d been playing music for a bit, and though the bulk of my repertoire was game music, the girls were still glad to hear me play. It was hard to tell how much of it was them being nice and how much was them genuinely liking this, so I was thinking of setting the guitar aside and offering to do something else, but then Mila dropped a bomb on us that I didn’t like.

“Hey, why don’t you upload videos of you playing, Oliver? I bet you’d go viral in a second.”

I winced. “Me? On camera? On the internet? No thanks.”

“But you’d do so well!” she insisted.

“Yeah, you’d get a bunch of views for sure,” Grace said. “And Mila is practically an influence at this point, so she could link your channel and give you a head start.”

Mila nodded fervently.

“But being an internet personality…” Just the thought gave me chills.

“No one’s saying you have to be a celebrity,” Sarah said. “You could just upload the videos and let people enjoy them. We don’t know much about music or games, but even we can tell you’re good. Though it is true that things can be unpredictable on the internet.”

“...Well, I couldn’t do it even if I wanted to,” I said. “I don’t have the equipment for it.”

“Hm? What would you need?” Grace asked.

“For starters, an audio interface or similar to…” I blinked and stopped myself in the middle of that sentence. I had no proof, only a vague feeling, and I didn’t want to think she would, but there was a non-zero chance that Grace would end up buying an audio interface for me if she knew I needed it. They weren’t THAT expensive, but expensive enough that I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of receiving it as a random gift. “It doesn’t matter. It’s a hassle.”

Grace pouted with puffed cheeks. I got the feeling I was right to stop myself.

“Well!” Sarah suddenly clapped her hands and drew all eyes to her. “Listening to you play guitar is one thing off the checklist, but I’m here with a specific purpose, Oliver. I’m a woman on a mission, and we don’t have all the time in the world.”

I tilted my head in confusion.

“His mom is downstairs, Sarah,” Mila whispered. “We can’t do naughty things!”

“Who said anything about that? I told Oliver I’d kick his ass at fighting games, and I’m not backing down on that.”

Ah. That day. “Sarah, I was just joking,” I said, smiling wryly.

“But I want to try! I’ve never played a video game before.”

I blinked. “Wait. Never? Not even on your phone?”

“Okay, sure I’ve played on my phone, and they aren’t fun. Maybe this’ll be different? I don’t know. I’ve never tried.”

“Sarah’s parents hate video games,” Mila said. “They prefer to have their kids play in the yard and socialize.”

“I’m just curious. Come on. Can we play?”

There was no way I could say no to that. Still, I wanted to tease Sarah a bit, so while I got up to put away my guitar and set things up, I said, “And you wanted to beat me when you’ve never touched a controller before?”

“It can’t be that hard. You just push buttons, right?”

Grace snickered loudly and looked away from all of us. It made me raise an eyebrow, and I would understand why a little later.

I turned on my computer, brought out a gamepad and my arcade stick, the latter of which raised some “Oohs”.

You know, the more I mention the things I have in my room, the more it sounds like I have a lot of money, but all these things I got for cheap. The arcade stick I bought broken off the internet and fixed it by buying spare parts. It cost me like three times less than buying a new one, but I had to learn how to put it together. The art books I got on sale over the years.

“Can I use that? It looks cool,” Sarah said.

Considering she’d never used a controller, it didn’t make much difference if she used an arcade stick or a pad, right? I gave it to her and she started pressing buttons, enjoying the clicking sounds they made.

I started my fighting game of choice and sat on the desk chair while Sarah sat on the bed with the arcade stick on her lap. My bed and the computer weren’t very far from each other, so it worked well enough.

It went about as expected. Even after teaching her the basics, Sarah had zero idea what she was doing. And while it was funny to hear her scream at the screen, I don’t think I’d ever felt worse for winning at a game.

“Okay, I think I get it now,” Sarah said. “Another one!”

“Oliver,” Grace said, reaching out her hand. “Can I play against her?”

“Hm? Sure.” It would be better if two beginners played, I thought. But then I realized why Grace had snickered before.

She was clearly a novice, but even though she was clumsy, she played with more intention. She knew how to block and do jump attacks, and that was enough to beat Sarah without issues.

“Wait, what the hell?” Sarah asked. “Since when do you play games?”

“I play with my cousin from time to time. He always beats me, sure, but I’ve played.” Despite her humble words, you couldn’t erase Grace’s smug grin if you tried.

“Okay, I want to play too, now,” Mila said.

Grace handed over the controller to her. Were we going by ‘loser stays’ rules?

Mila was as much a beginner as Sarah, though she did seem to know how to use a controller, at least, but the match was much more balanced and intense, to the point they each took a round off each other and Sarah did end up winning.

“YES!” Sarah fist-pumped.

“Oh God, I’m shaking!” Mila laughed while looking at her hand. “Let’s go again!”

It was surreal. Just like when I played guitar, the girls were not only willing to give my hobby a try, but seemed to be enjoying it. Compared to them, I…

…

I shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss their invitation to a party. We may not have been officially dating at that point, but it didn’t matter. The girls came to my house, praised my amateur guitar skills and played games with me despite them never caring about this stuff before.

…

Next time I’d go with them to a party, if it wasn’t a bother. I had to put in the effort, too. I wanted to share the things they liked.

The girls were laughing, cheering and yelling at the screen as their characters did or didn’t do what they wanted them to, but then a knock on the door made us all go quiet.

“C-Come in,” I said.

Mom opened the door, and the first thing she did was scan the room. Pleased with what she saw, she smiled and spoke. “I just noticed we’re completely out of tea and coffee. I’ll go out to buy some. I’ll get some sweets, too. Also, you girls are welcome to stay for dinner if you want.”

“Ah.” Grace grimaced. “Thank you very much for the offer, but I already told my dad I’d be back to eat with him.”

“Same for me,” Sarah said. “I promised my folks I’d be back by eight.”

“Sorry,” Mila said.

“No, don’t worry. I understand. Next time you can tell your families that you’re welcome to eat with us.”

“Definitely. Thank you, ma’am,” Grace said.

“I’ll be going now. I’ll be back in 20 minutes.”

“Okay. Be safe,” I told her.

Mom closed the door, and we all continued to stay silent, hearing her walking down the stairs. We didn’t hear the front door, but we did hear her car leaving.

That was their cue. Sarah put down the arcade stick, stood up and grabbed my hand to pull me up as well. Then, speaking in a husky tone, she said, “She said 20 minutes.”

I should’ve resisted, but I didn’t want to.