Gaming.

Alice and I took a bus back to my house after leaving her brother’s shop. I gave her the window seat, we sat down and… went completely silent. I held it back as much as I could, but the question itched in my tongue.

“So… You got tickled so hard you farted?” I asked, though discretely enough so that none of the other passengers would hear.

Alice went red again, groaned and answered. “I was eight, okay? Eight! And it was my grandma!”

I laughed again. “Sorry, sorry! I just don’t get to see you flustered very often.”

“Oh, and you think it’s funny?” she asked, pouting with crossed arms.

“Cute, more like.”

Alice blushed even deeper, groaning again and shaking her head. “Okay, now it’s your turn. What were you talking about with Alex?”

“About you, of course. I’m on probation under the watch of the Big Brother Police.”

“Oh, no…”

“Don’t worry, he was really cool about it. He asked me if I’d be willing to help him rebuild that bike. I said yes.”

“Oh, so that’s why you’ll see him on Sunday?”

I nodded.

“You don’t have to, you know?” she told me.

“But I want to. I know how much you respect your brother.”

“Well… Yes.” She sighed. “It’s not like he’ll tell me to break up with you if he doesn’t like you, but… I’d still rather we had his approval.”

I leaned closer and kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. With your brother, at least. I might lose a hand trying to fix that bike.”

“You’re not gonna lose a hand, Oliver. Though a finger is NOT out of the question…”

Some time later we arrived at the stop closest to my house, got off the bus and walked home. When I opened the door, I got ready to be greeted by Cake, and as expected, she was already coming down from the second floor. However, the moment Cake saw Alice, the cat ran even faster and began to rub herself on the girl’s legs, tail high up and purring like a lawnmower.

“Hello, Cake!” Alice beamed and picked up the cat. Cake let herself be handled, now rubbing the top of her head against Alice’s shoulders and face, making the blonde laugh. “I don’t come over that often. I’m surprised she remembers me.”

“Of course she does. You and Noelle saved her life. Animals don’t forget that.”

“We just pushed her on you and Isabelle,” Alice said, smiling wryly.

“Alice? Oh, hey! Oh, is it just you?” And speaking of, Isabelle seemed to have heard Alice’s voice and was now walking down the stairs to greet her.

“Yep, just me today,” Alice said with Cake still in her arms. “I came over to play video games.”

Isabelle frowned and tilted her head, puzzled. “Huh? Games? But you don’t play games.”

“Exactly.”

Isabelle was further puzzled, to the point she was starting to resemble an owl with how much she was turning her head.

“Let’s just say I’m broadening my horizons.”

“With games?”

“Yes.”

“...Can I join you?”

“Sure.” Damn, I would’ve laughed so hard if Alice had said no. “It’s… not a problem, right?” she asked me.

“I’m okay with it, but Isabelle, you haven’t touched a video game in like six years.”

“It’s not about the games. I just want to hang out! And keep an eye on you two so you behave while mom’s away.”

“W-We weren’t going to do anything like that,” Alice told her.

“No, we probably would’ve,” I said nonchalantly, walking past Isabelle and towards the stairs.

“Oliver!”

Honestly, I was mostly joking. Mostly.

The three, or rather four of us went up to my room. Alice left Cake on the floor and the cat jumped on my bed, sitting and paying attention to what was going to happen. Cake likes having guests now, I suppose. Good thing we corrected her aggressive behavior early on.

“So what are we gonna play?” Isabelle asked. “A racing game?”

“Racing game? There are racing games?”

“It’s a coin flip on whether you’d like them or not, but… Alice, you’ve never held a controller before, right?” I asked her, passing her one. She wrapped her whole hands around the grips alone, and that immediately answered my question.

“Um…”

Oh boy, this was gonna be an experience. What game could I even show her? I don’t like using the term because I find it a bit cringey, but I suppose you could call me a hardcore gamer in the sense that the games I play are relatively complex. I don’t have a console, I only play on PC. I do have a controller and an arcade stick, though.

My first pick was a well known RPG from 2011. It was easy, relaxed and looked nice. I figured Alice could take her time with it and figure it out. The game began and we watched the long introduction together.

“Hey, you. You’re finally awake…” said the character in the game.

It… didn’t work. The game was played in first person view and Alice couldn’t get the hang of twin analog stick movement. It was too alien to her, much like how clutch and shifting originally was to me when she was teaching me how to drive.

It was funny seeing Alice make all sorts of faces, but I could tell she was getting a little frustrated. Better change games. What would be the best game for someone completely new to medium to start with?

…

How about the one that introduced a whole generation to it?

Now… I know I just said I only have a PC, so don’t ask me how I did this, but I installed the most iconic platforming game of the 80s. Hell, the most iconic game from the 80s and arguably even today. I assure you I did it through 100% legal means, by the way. The big N doesn’t need to know about this.

“Oh, hey, I recognize this!” Alice said, cheerful.

“Yeah, this guy is pretty much up there with the mouse in terms of world-wide recognition,” Isabelle said.

So not only was Alice vaguely familiar with the game, this also fared WAY better. Since it was 2 dimensional movement, all Alice needed to do was move either left or right, and for that she could use the directional pad. It clicked far quicker for her, though she still died to the very first enemy. That was when we introduced the jump button.

“You can jump over it to avoid it, or jump on top of it to kill it.”

“He killed me first, so he’s dead meat now,” Alice said.

“Ooof. Brutal,” Isabelle said, laughing.

Alice jumped on the enemy in cold blood and burst out laughing out of nowhere.

“Alice kills a small creature and laughs about it. Oliver, something’s wrong with your girlfriend.”

“It was the sound effect! It’s so silly!”

It was funny how our roles had been reversed this time. Alice taught me how to drive, and now I was the one teaching her something. What she taught me was far more useful, though, but hey, she seemed to be having fun.

“Oliver? Are you home?”

The playing stopped and we all looked at each other, concerned. Mom was home and she wanted to talk to me.

“I’m in my room,” I called down. We heard the sound of the steps coming up the stairs, then soon mom was at my door.

“Oh. I’m sorry, Alice, I didn’t know you were here,” she said. For what it was worth, her expression softened when she saw Alice. Something told me that whatever mom had to tell me wasn’t particularly urgent, at least.

Alice shook her head. “N-No, it’s fine, Ms. Brooks. Um… Should I go?”

“No, of course not, dear.” Mom sighed. “Actually… I suppose it’s better that you’re here. This does concern you, too, in some way.”

“Huh?”

Mom turned to me, serious, but not in a grave or pressing manner. “I asked at work, like I told you, and learned some things about Mr. Luke Allen. You’ll want to hear what I have to say.”

Patreon.