Page 5 of Fetch

“Hi!” a girl shrieks.

“What’s up, bro?” a dude says.

“Welcome,” another guy adds.

“And dudes,” I say through a laugh.

Okay, time to figure everyone out.

“Thanks for the follow.” BratBaby—a.k.a. Juniper Lyons. Check.

“For sure. A friend of mine told me you guys play a lot. I’ve been having a hard time finding a team that can hang with me,” I lie.

More giggling ensues. This is too fucking easy.

I spawn my character over to the part of the map that theirs are at. “You can call me Jack, by the way.”

“Hi, Jack. Everyone here calls me Jill.” Her voice is smokier than I remember. Plus, it was so loud in the bar that I didn’t catch all the nuances or the depth of the rasp in it. I’m impressed she’s still up playing despite the pig who assaulted her earlier tonight.

I notice her character level is thousands below mine. I doubt she has any decent weapons or shield packs. “Come stand over here, Jill. I have something for you.”

I watch her avatar move across the screen, my heart racing, wishing I could physically be in the game just to be next to her. I already love how she responds to me. I can’t wait to see what else I can make her do.

She picks up the package I drop for her and sighs. “Oh, I’ve been wanting one of these forever. Thanks, Jack.”

“Anytime.” I drop a couple of things for BratBaby, Skat, and RageMachine as well, so I don’t look like I’m playing favorites. Or only giving gifts to the female players. There’s a code of conduct online. I don’t want them to think I’m some perv who just joined their group to get to the chicks. Just one chick. My chick.

By the time the sun is coming up outside, this entire crew is in awe of me. We make plans to play again, and they all friend request me before we log off. But the one from JillChick22 is the one I accept first. I need to play it slow though. She seems guarded and a little shy.

I can’t fucking wait to break her and mold her back together the way I want. She’s meant for so much more. And once I have her eating out of the palm of my hand, she won’t know who the fuck she is without me.

Idied. Fuck.Not again.

“Anyone have an extra health pack?”

“Um, are we not going to talk about how ComeFindJack11 joined our crew last night?” Juniper calls out as her avatar drops a care package for mine.

“He’s overrated,” Skat grumbles.

“Ha, you’re just jealous,” I snort.

RageMachine chuckles. “Hell yeah, we are. You two were creaming your fucking pants when he joined.”

“Gross, Rage. But you’re not wrong,” Juniper teases.

I feel a blush sweep across my face. ComeFindJack11 is one of the most well-known players in gaming. He seemingly came out of nowhere a few months ago. It’s baffling that he’d want to play with us. Not that we suck, but we’re nowhere near his level. And then hearing his voice… Fuck.

He sounded sexy, but voices can be deceiving. I once agreed to go on a date with someone I met on here and was severely disappointed. He was ten years older than he claimed to be and missing half his teeth. Never again.

But Jack… I want to imagine that he looks like a thirst trap with abs, like one of those Ghostface cosplayers. At least I can have the fantasy to get me through my dreary existence.

“Hey, you girls okay? We heard about what happened at Joystick. You didn’t mention it last night,” RageMachine asks. While we actually do know each other’s real names, we still call each other by our gamertags on here. Skat’s real name is Laken and RageMachine is really Kole.

“Yup. It happened after we left,” Juniper quips.

I breathe a sigh of relief that she didn’t tell them anything. “Yeah, we just found out about it today,” I add. I don’t like lying to my friends, but I don’t have the stomach to deal with the questions that would ensue if they knew the real story.

“I feel bad for the poor girl he assaulted. But I bet she feels safer now knowing he’s dead.” Skat snickers.

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