Page 48 of Confessions of a Virgin on a Dating App
I spun around. Chris stood behind me, tapping me on the shoulder.
“You’re up.”
I turned back around and noticed Devin was staring at me from behind the counter.
Shit.
The few steps up to the front counter felt torturous. I hated the look on his face; how blank it was. The usual mischievous glint in his eye, the smug grin tugging at the corner of his lips…it was all gone. There was no smile, no recognition, no “hey there, Avie.” He looked at me as if I were a stranger, just another customer in the shop.
“Uh…I’d like to register for prerelease, please.”
His expression was still muted as he typed into his computer, pausing to grab a pen and write my name down on a clipboard.Avery Murphy, written in his scratchy handwriting, at the bottom of the list. It was the only indicator that he knew who I was, that I wasn’t a stranger to him.
That last week wasn’t just a horrible figment of my imagination.
“That’ll be $32.50,” he replied, still not looking away from his computer screen.
I dared to glance up at him as I swiped my credit card. This time, he was no longer looking at his computer. His gaze was now locked on me, but his eyes were still dull. Nothing. No hint of emotion.
As I walked away, I didn’t know what I had expected. Less than a week ago, I had rejected him in the cruelest, most heartless way possible. I had said no to our relationship, and Devin was respecting that answer. He was giving me space.
The problem was that it was the opposite of what I wanted.
I slunk away, feeling dejected as I sat next to Cassidy. My chair made a loud squealing noise as I pulled it closer to the table, but Cassidy barely noticed. Her eyes were locked on Aaron, who sat at a table in the opposite corner of the room. Like Devin, Aaron was engaged in conversation,happily chatting with other patrons while he shuffled a deck ofC&Ccards. He’d decided he was no longer a fan of having green hair and had dyed it back to his usual sandy brown. My gaze flicked back to Cassidy, and I noticed she had the same hazy, longing look in her eyes that I did with Devin.
“Alright, everyone!”
My head twisted over my shoulder. Jordan stood at the back of the shop near the inventory walls with a large cardboard box at his feet. Jordan usually managed the shop on Mondays and Tuesdays when Devin was off, but like with the PvP event, pre-release was packed full of players. Which meant that Devin needed Jordan’s help to manage everything.
As Jordan strolled down the aisles, plopping a pre-release kit in front of every seated player, my eyes flicked back to the front counter.
Devin’s gaze was locked on his computer, with his sweatshirt sleeves rolled up to reveal his tattooed forearms. Every few seconds, he’d stop typing and scrawl notes on a sheet of paper in front of him.
He paid no notice to me, or Cassidy, or anyone else.
I shook my head, peeling my gaze away before he noticed me gawking like an idiot.
“Alright, you have forty-five minutes to open your packs and build a 40-card deck,” Jordan shouted above the chattering crowd. “You may begin!”
The shop went quiet, the sounds of peeling cardboard and crinkling plastic filling the air instead. As usual, I flipped through my packs quickly, eager to reveal the high-value cards hidden at the back of the pack.
I had little luck. Six packs later, I hadn’t pulled a single legendary rare.
“Avery, look!” Cassidy exclaimed next to me, revealing a foil dragon that she’d just pulled out of a pack. I smiled and congratulated her, hiding my envy. I hadn’t drawn anyhigh-power cards, which meant my deck would be at a disadvantage against the players who had.
Just my luck,I grumbled, biting my lip. Maybe it was karma after what I did to Devin.
But as I fumbled through my cards, sorting them into stacks by color like I always did, I realized I had a new problem. My head swirled with nausea, and a deep aching sensation pulsed in my pelvis and trickled its way up my torso.
Oh no.
I swear to God.
I couldn’t deal with this right now. It took every bit of emotional stability I had left to march into the shop with Cassidy and play prerelease. To pretend that I wasn’t pathetically pining for the guy behind the counter who acted like I didn’t exist.
I am not going to let my period stop me tonight.
But ten minutes into deckbuilding, my vision was beginning to blur. The ache in my pelvis was growing stronger, sharper, sending even more nausea and fatigue rolling through my body. My body wavered in place as I struggled to sit upright. I desperately needed to go home and lie down in bed.
