Page 15 of Confessions of a Virgin on a Dating App
Devin made an elaborate show of presenting the deck box to me, that stupid cocky grin still plastered on his pale face. I proceeded to unceremoniously snatch it out of his hands and scurry off toward the gaming table.
Weirdo.
But once I was settled in my seat, I couldn’t help but glimpse back at him out of the corner of my eye. His black sweatshirt, one containing a band logo I didn’t recognize, slid up his torso as he placedC&C TCGbooster boxes onto the top shelf behind the counter. It exposed about an inch of his lower stomach, revealing the bottom of another of his tattoos. One that I had never seen before.
My face seared red as I quickly turned away.
“So where is everyone?” I asked, pulling Cassidy and Aaron away from their starry-eyed conversation.
“There’s anotherC&C TCGevent going on downtown,” Aaron explained, running a hand through his lime-green hair. “At the convention center. I bet it’s attracted all the game shop nerds like a magnet.”
I sighed. As much as I wanted to go to one of those events, they were incredibly expensive, nearly rivaling Disney ticket prices. Cassidy and I weren’t quite ramen-noodle-level poor, but the rising cost of living in Orlando had taken a big bite out of our paychecks for thepast year.
“Indeed, the event is going on all weekend,” Devin’s voice crept up behind us as he sat down at the head of the table.
“Speaking of which, why doesn’t Critical Games attend?” Cassidy asked.
Devin shrugged. “I don’t have the staff to man both the shop and the event. And if I went myself, I’d lose too much money closing the shop for the weekend.”
Ah, that makes sense.I had always wondered what it was like to maintain a game shop. Devin had one or two employees that managed the shop on Mondays and Tuesdays when he was off, but other than that he was the sole staff member at Critical Games. I wondered how long it had been since he had a weekend to himself.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen.” Devin gestured around the table as he adjusted his Crypt Master screen. Normally, multiple tables were playing on Sunday afternoon, but today there was only one. There were five of us players—me, Aaron, Cassidy, and the two boys, who introduced themselves as Liam and Cole.
“Okay, does everyone have their characters? Remember, at this point, you should be level eight.”
Eight!?It really had been a while since I played.
I reached into my backpack and pulled out a folder with my character sheet. I stared at my handwritten notes from several months ago and sighed. My character, an Infernal sorcerer named Sorcha, was a measly level three.
I sighed. Which was louder than I had anticipated, because everyone’s heads swiveled towards me.
“Sorry, don’t mind me,” I muttered, embarrassed. “I’ll level up while you guys start.”
“That’s okay,” Devin replied. “I’ll start everyone off with some roleplay at the pub.”
“Thanks.”
I gripped a borrowed pencil in my hand, my eyes flipping back and forth between my character sheet and myPlayer’s Guideas I updated my stats and spells. But while I worked, my ears kept tabs on Devin’s roleplaying session, especially the two boys. They were preteens, both about twelve years old, and each had the same wiry builds with mops of sandy brown hair. I wondered if they were twins.
Devin ran a roleplaying session at theDrunken Donkey, the in-game tavern that Aaron had stupidly named while he was intoxicated. But the name made Liam and Cole giggle, and they burst into full-on hyena laughing once Devin started roleplaying at the barkeep in a ridiculous Scottish accent.
I couldn’t help but laugh myself. He sounded like a drunken Shrek.
Within ten minutes, I was all leveled up and ready to enter the bar scene. My Infernal, a demon-like character with horns and a tail, was all charm and sass. I couldn’t wait for her to mess with Devin’s dopey, dwarven barkeep.
“Well ‘ello ‘ere, ‘lil lassie,” Devin turned the accent up to eleven, and my face was turning bright red from trying not to laugh. I usually hated how his antics prevented my character from keeping her composure, but today I needed the humor.
Between Devin’s accent and my stupidly red face, the whole table was cracking up. We were all so preoccupied that we barely noticed the doorbell chime as someone stepped into the shop.
But as soon as I saw the visitor, all the laughter drained from my face.
Is that… Anthony?
Chapter 5
What the fuck is he doing here?
He strolled through the front door, hands shoved in his pockets as he whistled quietly. At first, I told myself to calm down. Maybe it was just a coincidence that he was there. After all, he did playCreatures & Crypts.
