Page 85 of Desperate Haste

“I’m glad someone finally chained him down,” Hank jokes as he takes his seat.

“She’s truly the only one who has the power to do so,” Bailey adds, moving to stand behind his chair.

“So are you two official yet?” Kolbi dares to ask. My eyes look from her to my friend then back to her.

“I’m certainly not going anywhere. I’m still waiting to see if she thinks I’m worthy of her time.” This gets me an eyeroll and a head shake but I lean in and kiss her again anyway.

“We’ll see. You still have some work to do, I think,” she teases, and I know it’s coming from a good place. I have work to do,wehave work to do, but we’re in it together and we’re both ready to put in the work. I pull away from her and walk to grab a soda from the fridge before taking a seat at the table. Magnolia and Bailey kiss their respective partners, leading Conrad to groan in his chair before they move towards the living room.

“What movie will it be tonight, ladies?” Kolbi asks, looking at the three of them.

“Only an early 2000’s classic.”

“A timeless love story where the down on her luck woman falls in love with a man she thinks she can’t have.”

“Truly a story for the ages and a movie that helped skyrocket JLo into movie stardom.”

“Maid in Manhattan,” they all say together before laughing. They don’t even wait for us to reply before moving to the living room, leaving us to our game. My friends and I glance at one another before looking back at where they once stood.

“Does anyone have any idea what movie they’re talking about?” Hank asks. ‘No’s’ and ‘not a clue’s’ are murmured around the table and we focus on finally starting for the night.

An hour or so later, Conrad’s character has taken significant damage during a battle Kolbi won’t seem to release us from against a traveling group of bloodthirsty vampires. We’ve been stuck in this battle for twenty minutes, doing everything we can to free the townspeople from their control.

“Hang tight, Tolith. I’m coming to get you,” I say, rolling the die across the table. When it lands, I caste Haste on him to double his speed so he can escape the coven that had him surrounded.

“Ahhh, good shit! Nice use of Haste, Denis,” Hank cheers from his seat. His celebratory fist bump nearly punches Ophelia in the face.

“Woah, who knew game night could be so dangerous?” she jokes as she stands next to my chair.

“Need something?” I ask, looking up at her.

“Just to use the restroom…” her voice trails off and she peers around the room.

“Oh, it’s just down that hallway.” Kolbi points.

“That’s right, I remember now.” She takes a few steps towards the table and seems to study the board. “This looks…interesting. What’s ‘Haste?’”

“It’s a spell you can cast if you’re a level ten bard that essentially makes whatever you cast it on better. So for Conrad, it gave him more speed so he could escape the vampires we’re currently battling.” When I look up at her again her jaw has gone slack and her mouth is hanging open into a small ‘O.’

“Holy shit, you really are a nerd, aren’t you?”

“To sit at this table, you have to have some level of nerdiness, yeah,” I reply.

Her fingers rope into my hair along the back of my head and she gently tugs my head further back before dropping her lips down to my ear. “It’s kinda hot.”

“Alright, that’s enough of that,” Conrad barks out from his seat. We all chuckle and she releases my hair before standing up again.

“Has anyone rolled a nat twenty yet?” Bailey shouts from the living room.

“Not yet, blondie,” Hank calls back to her.

“A nat twenty?” Ophelia asks, raising a brow at me.

“It’s the perfect roll,” I explain shortly. In the almost two years of playing this campaign, we have never rolled one as a group. At this point I don’t think it’ll ever happen.

“Ahhh, I see. Well, enjoy the game, boys.” She waves at us before heading for the bathroom.

As I watch her go, I think about how she’s made me better and continues to make me better every day. When I need someone to be there for me, to push me to be better, she’s the one that’s always there. What started out as a desperate haste to have one another turned into this daily promise of growth and improvement. She was always in my corner from the very beginning and while she might not be ready to admit it, I know I’ll always be in hers for as long as she lets me.

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