Part ways and continue the tour.

“You were way too kind to them,” Ashley said after we said our goodbyes and Elizabeth and Sebastian were comfortably out of earshot, “those two are so full of themselves. Sebastian even insulted you.”

I shrugged, trying to hold back laughter at the idea that anything I had done to them was even remotely “kind”. Instead, I just smiled and turned to my old friend, “Is there no more satisfying and disarming way to react to cruelty than with kindness? I could have just made them angry and upset, instead I made them ashamed of themselves. That will be a much better preventative method in the end.”

Ashley rubbed his chin as we approached the Victoria Building, “I guess.”

“Who are they, by the way?”

“Elizabeth is kind of a big deal. She is in charge of one of the sorority houses on campus, the raven house.” That sounded sufficiently edgy enough to be goth. “It’s dedicated to the cult, but she just uses it to stroke her own ego really. Sebastian really isn’t anyone special, he’s literally just Elizabeth’s boyfriend and that’s his only claim to fame. He just loves to flaunt his status over the rest of us, though.”

“Sounds like humbling is exactly what they needed, then.”

Ashley shrugged at this, “Anyway, here we are.”

Though the building itself was comprised of mostly stone, brick, and wood, it was all very sleek and modern-looking. The main entrance had large glass panes surrounding the door which opened into a massive common area. This central room was three stories high, and I could even see each individual floor above the first as I looked up.

The very center of this common area had a monument. It was a ten-foot-tall obelisk of polished black stone, obsidian I guessed. It was the only truly archaic thing about this building, as everything else about the inside was very advanced in terms of architecture and technology. It was very stylish, open, and bright. On the front of the obelisk was a gold-plated plaque that read:

These commons were built in 2014 by Dean Persephone Williams to honor her late mother and former Dean, Victoria Williams 1931-2014 (83). Her ashes are buried under the foundation beneath this monument. She will be missed.

“Wow, this place is pretty impressive,” I said, conversationally.

“Huh? Oh yeah, I guess it is pretty cool,” Ashley replied, “this isn’t what I wanted to show you though. Come on!” He then began practically skipping through the common area toward a corridor that seemed to lead to a bunch of suites on the ground floor. He was very excited, I could tell, and it was good to see him this happy. I had always wondered how he ended up, we never managed to keep in touch. But it looked like he was doing pretty good for himself. At the very least he was comfortable with who he was, and that was good to see.

Eventually we reached a door with a plastic plaque reading GAME ROOM on it and Ashley wasted no time in opening the door to let us through.

The room was absolutely loaded. I didn’t know exactly what I had been expecting, but it wasn’t this. One of the walls was lined with shelves full of videogames. Current ones and even retro ones. Another wall had a series of TV sets with consoles connected, and the middle of the room held a series of tables with high-end computers set up and comfortable-looking ergonomic chairs. It was no wonder Ashley wanted to show me this, it was going to make staying here so much nicer to know this was a place I could just go to.

“Hey Ash,” a man standing behind the counter greeted us. He looked middle-age with a stubble and dark grey hair pulled back into a ponytail. A pair of dark, beady eyes examined me from behind a pair of glasses, “friend of yours?” He asked, nodding to me.

“Yeah, he’s a freshman and a childhood buddy. Jack Lantern.”

“Nice to meet you,” I greeted, holding out my hand to shake his.

“Eric Sweeny,” the man replied responding with his own firm handshake, “I’m one of the computer technology professors here.”

“Is all this yours?” I asked.

He nodded, turning to the wall with a measure of pride, “I’ve always collected this stuff, but one day I decided to open up this room here because all of it was just gathering dust in my basement. I’ve got all sorts of games; you’re welcome to come in and play whenever you want. Just treat my stuff well and don’t be nicking anything. I’ll even lend out games if you’ve got a few bucks to spare.”

“Wow, that’s pretty awesome,” I said.

“Dude, you know what we have to play to celebrate our reunion?” Ashley asked.

I knew immediately what he was going to say, “Crash Kids?”

“Hell yeah!”

The fighting game Crash Kids Melee had been a huge chunk of our time together growing up. I remembered spending an entire weekend at his house unlocking all of the characters while high on sugar. Just for laughs we’d have only explosive items on so any one attack could spell doom for us both. And when the inevitable happened, we would be laughing until there were tears in our eyes and our stomachs hurt. These moments were contrasted by the truly agonizing tests of mettle as we both used our best characters and fought each other in intense battles of will. He usually came out on top, but I always gave him a run for his money.

There had been three sequels to the game since then, and I quickly found out that we were both familiar with them and even preferred the latest installment. But something about the nostalgia of playing this version of the game was undeniable and satisfying in the moment. It was a great way to rekindle our friendship again by playing one of our childhood favorites. We began with our classic bombs-only match which still managed to get us both into laughing fits as fully grown adults; and we even ended on one of our classic serious-mode battles that was so intense that a few other people had gathered around to watch us.

Back then he had been Jason, a spazzy nerd whose bouts of ADHD-fueled hyperactivity were offset by his truly intense passion and focus when it came to videogames. Now he was Ashley, a frankly smoking-hot crossdresser with sass and sex appeal, but still just the same in every other way. Most importantly, we were still friends.

“Fuck, man I was so close,” I lamented, defeated.

“You almost had me at the last second, dude, I almost flubbed that block!” Ashley replied.

These words were followed by a round of “good game” sentiments coming from the people who were watching before they dispersed and went on about their businesses. A couple of them clapped a reassuring and sympathetic hand on my shoulders as they did.

“I think I could probably be a better fight in Ultimate,” I said, “I don’t main anyone from Melee anymore, I mostly play the newer characters.”

“Oh, no kiddin’?” Ashley asked, “Well, right after we trade phone numbers, I’m gonna send you my friend code so we can do that, then. Lindsey and I also have a pretty nice TV in our room so we can always do it the old-fashioned way too.”

“That would be awesome,” I smiled and looked at the clock. It was getting late, and my classes started tomorrow morning.

Ashley followed my gaze, “What the fuck? We’ve been here for three hours? It felt like fifteen minutes.”

“Yeah time really flew, huh?”

“Well, let’s start heading back then.”

We gathered up our things and tidied up our areas before leaving. The commons area was even more amazing after nightfall and all the lights came on. It was well-lit and interesting. But we didn’t linger, instead leaving and making our way back to the Delta building.

“You know,” Ashley began, “I was honestly really worried.”

“About what?”

“I’ve changed a lot since we’ve last seen each other, it has to be pretty jarring for you. I was just worried I’d changed too much, you know? Like we’d have to reforge our friendship from the ground up.”

“Honestly it was jarring at first, but at this point I’m actually pretty sure you haven’t changed very much at all. I mean, you look a lot different, you’re much hotter now. But you’re still the same friend I had before.”

“Shut up dude, you’re gonna make me cry,” Ashley replied and chuckled, making a show of wiping his cheeks.

“It’s true. The only thing I feel like I need to adapt to is not accidentally deadnaming you. Sorry if I do it by accident, by the way.”

He shrugged, “You’re making an effort and that’s what matters. It’s more than some other people have done. My dad still calls me Jason. Also, remember Carson?”

I did, he was another of our friends we used to hang out with before I had to move away, “Yeah.”

“Total douchebag now. Antigay, antitrans, just an all-around piece of work. He still deadnamed me on purpose until the day I moved up here.” That wasn’t all that surprising to me. Carson had been one of those kids I had always been pretty sure only hung out with us because he was rich and liked to show off his stuff to someone. He had his moments, but I had never been too attached to him. “I got back at him by TPing his house and leaving a note on his porch that said ‘Love, Ashley’, though. It rained that morning too. God, that was satisfying.”

I laughed, “See, that’s exactly what I mean.”

Ashley looked at me, eyebrow cocked.

“You haven’t changed a bit. You were always a pranking little shit.”

He responded with a wide grin, “Yeah, that’s true. I basically lived in detention, didn’t I? And if you thought it might have gotten better in high school, you’d be wrong. I was even worse.”

We both laughed as we made our way back to the dorm, and he spent the entire time relaying a few of his favorite hijinks to me along the way.