Dungeons and Dragons

Emma messaged me a little before noon asking when a good time to meet up was. We decided on one at our normal place. Packing up my backpack with the math textbook and a few printouts of practice problems, I headed downstairs.

“Isaac?” My mom’s voice stopped me before I got to the door. Turning, I found her peeking around the kitchen corner. “Where you heading?”

“Library,” I said.

“Are you stopping at the store on the way home?” I normally made a trip out to the store on Saturday to stock up on snacks and drinks for the gang. I didn’t have to host our sessions, but it was decided that my place was the best to hold them. Out of my friends, my house was the only one with a finished basement. It gave us a large space to work with and was private enough to not bother the parents. Not to rub it in my friends’ faces, but my family was also the most financially secure. Dad made great money, and my parents were kind enough to spend forty or so dollars every week on snacks and pizza.

Maybe they thought it was a small price to pay to keep me from being a complete hermit.

“Yeah.”

“I have some things I forgot to get. If I text you the list, can you get them for me?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. Be safe!”

I waved and headed to the garage. Grabbing my bike, I walked it outside before hopping on. I could technically drive, but it was a waste. The autumn weather wasn’t too bad yet. Usually I walked, but I figured the bike would make it easier to get home with the groceries.

Despite the anxiety I was feeling, the day was a bit of a dud. Emma was stunning as always, but it went like any other of our study sessions. We worked for a few hours, then we went our separate ways. Disappointing was another way to describe it. I wasn’t even sure what I was expecting out of it. We accomplished exactly what we set out to achieve. The only thing different was her vague promise to thank me later before we left.

At least hanging out with the guys was great fun. I’ll admit that our friendships were built more off social pressuring than any real bond, but we got along and shared enough common interests to enjoy each other's company. All of us were victims of the Great Clique Formation freshmen year. As groups coalesced and friendships were formed, most of us were the castoffs that didn’t connect with the others.

Mike was a great guy but was a bit self-conscious when it came to what other people thought of him due to his weight. I considered him my academic rival and our friendship went way back. We had the most in common. Studying was paramount, but we also found time to play video games and talk about DnD. Most of the stuff I came up with was inspired by conversations with Mike. Even if he had a vague idea of what was going to be coming up, he enjoyed it all the same. He had a deep Mediterranean tone thanks to his Italian mother and we lovingly joked that he should change his name to Mario and go into plumbing. He was a dozen pounds and a mustache away from permanently cosplaying the character.

Ben was a tall and lanky guy that had been fighting a losing fight with acne since freshmen year. He was a good baseline. Average in about everything, the one thing he excelled at was a sense of humor. The clown of the group, he usually led the group on the wackiest misadventures—much to my dismay. Nothing was more frustrating than hours of prep going down the tube because the group fell down the rabbit hole Ben dug.

Out of all of us, Trent was the best looking. He had that charming, All-American farm boy look with bright blue eyes and wavy blond hair. It was actually kinda annoying how handsomely innocent he looked. If attractiveness was a weapon, the man was a walking nuclear weapon. In the hands of anyone else, those looks would have captured the heart of any girl in school. Yet even though Trent had the best chance of ‘fitting in,’ he was absolutely terrible at it. Painfully shy, the poor guy would have been a loner his entire high school career if Mike and I hadn’t practically dragged him to our first couple DnD sessions.

Finally, the last of our little group was Owen. Owen was an asshole most of the time and the main source of conflict in the group, but he was one of us all the same. I think a lot of his anger came from how short he was. Barely passing five three, he was shorter than a lot of girls in school. I swear, he always thought everyone was coming after him for something or other. He wasn’t all bad though. Out of all of us, he was the one most willing to stand up against anyone and everyone. Some older guys had tried bullying Ben sophomore year and Owen shut that shit down fast.

We may have been a band of misfits, but it was our Fellowship. When it came down to it, we had each other's backs through our perilous journey through high school.

The group had been working their way through the latest dungeon for the past three sessions. This was going to be the climax of their struggle, finally reaching the cultists who had **** several noble families' children to fuel their ritual sacrifices. I was looking forward to this fight and the twist that I had for them at the end. Not even Mike knew what I had up my sleeve for them, and I was excited to see their reactions.

“Let’s see,” Ben muttered as dice clattered against the table. “Shit. My rolls are terrible.” Leaning over, Mike looked at the dice and wrinkled his nose. “I do a whopping… twelve damage.”

“Slapping them with my dick would do more damage than that,” Owen said with a cackle.

“I rolled two ones and a two,” Ben said with a helpless shrug.

“Well the guard doesn’t go down,” I said with a smile. “Quite the opposite. Now he is screaming in pain and you can hear it echo down the tunnel.”

Trent looked sad as he shook his head. “Looks like this is going to be a fight after all,” he said in a near-whisper.

“Fuck it. I say we slaughter them all. Bastards have it coming. Besides, wasn’t that the plan anyway?” Owen said with bloodlust in his eyes.

“Well, yeah,” Mike said with a sigh. “But not all at once.”

“We can take them.”

The fight went quick, with Owen leading the charge, the four quickly dispatched the lone guard. I let them have a moment to enjoy their victory before dropping the hammer. “You hear shouts coming down the hall and the sound of armor clanking together.”

“We need to prep for this,” Mike said, cracking open another soda.

“I can stand in front of the door,” Trent said in his whisper voice, glancing down at the crude map I had set in the center of the table.

Ben was nodding, joining him in looking things over. “Between his plate and shield, and with Mike healing, we can hold the door for awhile. Whittle them down one by one.”

“Or you could just fireball their asses and I’ll finish them off,” Owen said cheerfully.

“I want to save spells. No idea what the leader is going to have.”

“Meh. Won’t matter much if we don’t live long enough to get to the boss.”

My phone chirped. I figured I would give them some more time to plan things out as I glanced down at my phone. I expected it to be an app notification and was surprised to see I got a text from Emma. Unlocking my phone, I glanced over the message.

Hey. In the middle of nerd things?

I glanced up to find Owen arguing with Mike over the best use of their available spells. Ignoring them, I focused back on my phone.

I wouldn’t call it that but for the sake of simplicity I am.

A few seconds passed as I waited for her response. Even though I really wanted to listen in on the chaos my friends were planning, I couldn’t help but wonder what Emma wanted. This was the first time she was texting me without it being about meeting up.

Your friends are all there then?

Yeah.

More waiting. Glancing up, I think Owen and Mike were about to throw down, with Trent and Ben doing their best to calm them down.

The chime brought my attention back to the phone.

You have been going above and beyond for me these past few weeks and I want to thank you.
Enjoy!

What followed those two messages almost made me drop my phone. It was a full-body picture of Emma standing in her room. She had a flirtatious smile on her face as she held the phone in front of her. The shocking part was what she was wearing—or rather, what she wasn’t. She wasn’t nude. I think that might have given me a straight heart attack. Instead, she was still in her bra and panties. That was all. Every well-toned curve was visible as I gazed at her confident pose.

Holy shit.

“—ac. Earth to Isaac!” Locking the phone, I looked up to find the others staring at me. “You okay there?” Mike asked.

“Sure, just…” I shook my head to clear the remaining traces of shock. “Anyway, where were we?”

Suspicion crept over Owen’s face. “Who were you texting?”

“No one,” I said, already on guard. Owen was temperamental at the best of times. What I needed to do was direct their attention to the fight.

Before I could try, Owen was already talking. “We are all here, so it wasn’t one of us… It wasn’t Emma, was it?”

That shocked me almost as much as the picture had. How the hell did he know that?

“Emma?” both Mike and Ben said at the same time.

“Yeah, Emma Wright,” Owen said, eyes never leaving me. “I heard through my contacts that she’s been hanging out a lot with Isaac after school.”

“Wait, that Emma? The stupid hot one?” Mike looked at me with a shocked and betrayed expression. “Dude.”

I held up my hands. “It’s not like that. She wanted some extra help studying, so that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Owen didn’t believe me at all. “Right. ‘Studying.’”

I frowned, giving him a heated stare. “Believe whatever you want, but I’m telling the truth. Every once in a while she joins me in the library and we do homework and look over notes together.” Before anyone else could say anything more, I gestured to the map in the middle of the table. “How about we focus? What did you guys finally decide?”

It was a bit of a struggle, but their attention slowly turned back to the game. I went through the motions, but my mind wasn’t completely focused. Not when my phone was still sitting on the table where I’d placed it last. Every time I glanced at it, I was reminded of what was waiting there.

I didn’t know why Emma had sent it, but I wasn’t going to complain.

It was a nice photo.