Page 26 of Anti-Player

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Me: It's fine. I'lltalk to him.

Juliet: No. Paige. You have to cut him off.

Me: He was going to meet me for dinner...

Juliet: NO NO NO OMG

Juliet: I've been a VR streamer much longer than you. Please, trust me. Guys like Mikel are always creeps. He expects you to do what he wants, and if you don't stop him now, you're risking everything. Please.

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Chewing my bottom lip, I let my hands hover over my keyboard. There's a hot throbbing in my skull, just behind my eyes. It gets worse the longer I spend debating how to reply. Juliet is my mentor. She's coached me in so many ways. Without her, would I even be a virtual star?

My eyes shift around my tiny apartment. There's candy on my floor. The sight of it makes me feel terrible. I'm so close to tipping over the edge where I can make a difference in the world. If I get famous enough, earn more clout, even more people will value what I say. My honesty... my integrity... I can help everyone.

I can save people from being hurt.

People like... like my—

A loud knocking resonates against my front door, shocking me so that I smack my enter key, sending Juliet a message that only contains the letter “T” and nothing else. I see she's starting to type again, telltale dots flickering in the chat bubble.

The knock is sharper, impatient.

Closing Facebook, I jump to my feet and approach my door. “Who is it?” I call warily.

“Me,” Mikel replies.

My pulse becomes a whirlpool. Part of me anticipated it was him. I'm still not prepared for it, and I don't know what to do, especially after everything Juliet has just said. Moving closer, I put my palm flat on the door, asking, “Well? What do you want?”

“To say I'm sorry,” he says, then, “And to take you to dinner.”

I stare blankly at the door. I told Juliet he was taking me out, didn't like her suggestion to avoid him, but now facing the reality I'm unsure what to do. “Are you serious?”

“We had plans,” he explains simply.

“Yeah!” I snap, laughing derisively. “We did, until you went and dropped an asteroid on my video tonight! What's wrong with you, Mikel? Why would you do that?”

“I thought I was doing something good.”

“Is your brain broken?” I ask, my voice rising like the tide, ready to drag him into the waves, and maybe me along with it. “I told you before! I don't want your money! If I wouldn't take it from you in private, why would I want you to give it to me in public?” I seethe.

There's a moment of heavy silence. I put my cheek on the cool wood, straining to listen, wondering if my anger has scared him off. Finally he says, “You're right. I messed up, I get it. I feel terrible, Paige. Incredibly, immensely fucking terrible. Causing you trouble is the last thing I'd ever want to do. Please, let me try and make it up to you.”

With my ear on the wood I can hear the whistle of my own eardrum. It thumps loud, fast, matching the same rhythm as my heart. I'm not someone who can have their trust restored easily. I'm torn between walking away, leaving Mikel to fester in solitude, or giving him a chance to show his true colors.

If he actually betrayed me on purpose... if his goals are selfish... I'll cut him off as Juliet said.

But if everything has been a mistake, I can find room to forgive him.

Taking a full breath, I open the door. He's standing there in a glorious black suit with a tie the same color as Christmas tinsel. His face is clean shaven, his hair more styled than his usual just rolled out of bed look. He's holding a velvet heart shaped box that's clearly full of chocolate. In the crook of his right arm is a bushel of pale pink roses. “Hello, Romeo," I say flatly.

“Hi,” he replies with a cheeky smile.

“What did you do, Google a first date checklist?”

The bridge of his nose crinkles. “I'm that transparent?”

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