SS Undercover Ch 6

“You good?” Cassie asks.

“Oh, yes.” Apple smiles shyly. “Nobody ever does what the DM intends. Well-known fact.”

“Is it?”

Apple nods. “Thank you for joining us. And for helping me.”

Cassie shrugs. “I’m having a good time. Are you?”

She looks flustered. “I just need to get us back on track.”

That’s what Cassie took away from Colby’s words earlier. “Sounds like Colby’s gonna help.”

Apple nods, looking almost melancholy about it.

“I can help too,” Cassie offers, leaning toward her. “What do I have to do?”

“Oh, no. No. The whole point of the game is that you can do what you like. It’s my job to make sure that it’s fun for you, not yours to make it fun for me.”

“Sounds weird and unfair. How do you win?”

“I win if you have fun,” Apple says, and while Cassie doesn’t fully understand, she detects a certain selfless heroism in the words that she appreciates.

“Well, look. I know I just met you guys, but maybe think about giving the people what they want?” Cassie lowers her voice. “I mean, you know that they’re gonna go straight for a horny option, right? And I’m not imagining it, am I? This is a horny game? If you want them to go a certain way, put the horny thing there. They’ll go. Throw the bone where you want the dog to go, right?”

Apple looks taken aback. “Didn’t think of that,” she admits, blushing.

“On the house. Keep up the good work.” Cassie squeezes Apple’s shoulder and gets up with a yawn. “I’m gonna grab some water. You want some?”

“Please.”

Cassie heads through the next room and into the foyer. The house is intimidatingly big and alien, but the kitchen is right here.

“Hey.”

Mysteriously chic in a plain white T-shirt and pink gym shorts, a quietly lovely girl watches Cassie from the second floor. Her gaze is suspicious.

“Oh. Hi,” Cassie says with a little wave. “I’m Cassie. I came for game night.”

“Were you just up here?”

“Up there?” Cassie points. “No. I’m down here, with, uh, Apple. And Kylie and them. We’re playing a horny fantasy game. Lot of dice rolling. Numbers. Lot of drinking.”

“OK. Sorry to bother you.” Troubled, she moves away from the railing and vanishes.

Cassie isn’t sure what that’s about. She heads into the kitchen, where Kylie works the blender.

“G’day,” the blonde says absently as Cassie passes behind her.

“Yeah. Hi. Everything cool? Who’s the pretty Asian chick upstairs?”

“Probably Ying.”

“She doesn’t like games?”

“She’s here tonight? I’m surprised.” Kylie seems taken aback, but she stays focused on the pink slush in the blender.

“You guys should take it easy on Apple,” Cassie says.

Kylie stops the blender and looks up with a funny expression. “Well, Mary Sue, if that’s your real name, I’ll bet when you read a book you engage only with the surface-level themes of the work.”

“What?”

There’s a snort, and Cassie turns to see Elsa enter the kitchen. “If you need to pee, go through that hallway to the back, then the door on your right. And what Kylie is saying is that for someone who just showed up and doesn’t know Apple well, yeah, that’s right. You want to baby her.” Elsa swats Kylie’s hand away from the blender and yanks the pitcher off. Kylie grabs it, and there is glaring and a brief tug-of-war. “Stop it! Stop it! I have to—I have to,” Elsa grunts, and Kylie lets go. Elsa clutches the pitcher protectively.

“What?” Kylie puts her hands on her hips. “What do you have to do? This is the Bear and I’m the bloke, and you’re mucking with my masterwork.”

“I have to make sure it’s not poisoned.” Elsa takes the lid off and drinks straight from the pitcher. “It’s OK.” She hands it back to Kylie, who holds it up and looks at Cassie.

“Sure,” Cassie says. “What were you saying, sweetie?”

Elsa wipes daiquiri from her chin. “Right. When you first see her, you want to protect Apple. That’s normal. She has that vibe because she’s sad and pathetic.”

Kylie nods. “But if you get to know her, you’ll realize that’s not what she needs.”

“Especially these days,” Elsa adds with a scowl.

“Can I get some water?”

“Right there.” Elsa points.

“What do you mean these days?” Cassie asks as she goes to the fridge.

“She got real depressed after Colby friendzoned her.”

“She perked up a little since Halloween,” Kylie says, throwing a side eye at Elsa, who ignores it.

Cassie has had a full beer and two or three shots’ worth of liquor. “Did you guys hook up?”

Elsa scoffs. “No! Don’t pay attention to Kylie. She’s drunk and stupid.” As she says it, Elsa has a beer in each hand and bumps into the counter hard as she tries to get back to the door. “Augh! Fuck! Ah, Jesus.”

“The object of Elsa’s desire belongs to another,” Kylie says. “There is a mighty angst.”

Elsa points a beer at her. “You shut the fuck up.”

“You shut the fuck up,” Kylie replies disinterestedly, pouring daiquiri into a red cup and handing it to Cassie.

“Can you guys just play the game right so Apple can be happy?” Cassie asks.

“Actually,” Kylie says, ignoring the question and looking straight at Elsa. “You know what would be good? A big pot of decaf and some Tim Tams and graham crackers. No. We put Kaluha in the coffee and use the biscuits as straws. It’s a real thing,” she adds to Cassie. “But I want graham crackers too. Do you know about graham crackers?”

“Uh, yeah. Do they not have those in Australia?”

“We don’t. We don’t have it. Our backward culture has not yet discovered the technology. American progress is truly terrifying.” Kylie gets a box out of the cupboard and takes a bite of a cracker, closing her eyes and making a noise.

“Did you take a fucking gummy and not tell me?” Elsa demands.

“Oh yeah. Mmm. Make the decaf,” Kylie mumbles with her mouth full.

Elsa waves her beers. “Unbelievable. You see this?”

“I see it,” Cassie says, sipping her daiquiri. She was afraid that Kylie had made it super strong, but it’s perfect. “This is good. She is mixing serious cocktails for being stoned and fucked up. She should be working at NASA.”

Elsa’s reply is to roll her eyes and leave.

“Mmm.” Kylie moans outrageously as she loads her arms with the box of graham crackers, another crinkly package of cookies, the pitcher, and her red cup. She sashays none too steadily out of the room.

Cassie stands with a bottle of water in one hand and a cup of daiquiri in the other. Kylie requested coffee, but Elsa didn’t seem to be listening. Cassie is unsupervised. There might be an opportunity here. On the other hand, the game is resuming, and that girl upstairs seems to be on edge. Maybe it’s not the best time to go snooping around.

Make coffee for Kylie? Or go take pictures?