Page 153 of Talk Nerdy To Me
I deserve it. I really have talked a lot of stupid shit about them.
“I’ve had some time to reflect,” I assure him tightly.
He releases me completely.
“Is this where you tell me I’m not good enough for her?” I ask him. “Because I’m still working on that.”
He snorts derisively.
“I don’t get to make that call. She already reasoned how right you were with your demands, and hated herself for not—”
“I know I fucked up, but I’d rather not talk about it right now. Another time?”
He cracks his neck to the side before giving me a slightly annoyed look.
“You’re the first person she’s allowed herself to care about who has walked away from her since the day she came to live with Dane. Remember that too.”
“Form a proper assembly!” Harley calls in warning, as I stare at Dale for a minute. “Form a proper assembly!”
“My relationship with her has to be different from yours—for obvious reasons—and I know where I fucked up. I should have just pushed and backed off. Then pushed and backed off again. You get the picture. But challenging Britt on any level is a win for me. I’ve spent three months putting a lot of thought into this.”
I step toward him, feeling slightly more confident again.
His lips thin as he glares at me. It’d suck to be punched by him when I’m wearing his clothes.
“I really wanted to hit you today,” he says like he’s annoyed with me.
I pat him on the shoulder. “I know,” I tell him before turning and walking away.
It’s been a shit time of getting here, but it all immediately feels worth it when I work my way closer, finding a gap to squeeze through to the front as Britt finishes up whatever she’s saying.
“What if they come in from the right?” a dude with a larger-than-necessary smile asks, drawing her attention to him before she can even notice me.
I notice Dale going in the opposite direction, and I finally glance around to see something…happening behind me. Dark tents are dropping down on top of the lighter ones, and men are scurrying around to make the change.
Wait…this isn’t the same tent section I was in earlier. Where did those black skull torches come from?
Why is there ominous drumming going on?
Everyone else starts looking around as well, and excited chatter starts flitting through the air. I turn back around in time to Britt walking away in an outfit similar to the one I saw her in that day in the park.
Shit.
I make a move to follow her, but she disappears into a tent that immediately gets blocked by two dudes in chainmail. Before I can attempt to figure out what’s going on, fireworks burst into the air, and a screen that wasn’t hanging just above the tents before suddenly lights up.
A collective breath is inhaled by almost everyone around me as I look around, trying to figure out what magic show is about to go down.
Loud, suspense-thumping music begins a slow build as the game I barely understand starts running a trailer on the screen. The words in the game’s language, so I don’t understand a single one.
I catch a glimpse of digital avatars before the glare of the moon interrupts it again.
“It’s happening. It’s really happening. Oh, my sister is going to hate me even worse than she already does,” a girl says from close to me as she sways, eyes on the screen.
I have no idea what’s going on, because that glare is terrible, and cutting off half the screen from my angle. What I can see makes no sense. It’s all swirling dark magic and a convulsing avatar’s mummy-wrapped body.
I’m not as advanced of a player as all the rest of them. Obviously. Have to start somewhere.
I swear, some people even squeal like they can’t believe their dreams are coming true, and it’s driving me insane with the suspense.
