Page 45 of Lucky Shot
“Angry sex is hot,” Kyst says, nodding.
“You volunteering?” I ask, looking at him with a wry smile.
When we first met and the conversation would lend me to saying something like this, they’d all sputter and do the whole slightly horrifiedI’m totally straight, manbackpedaling. Now, they roll with it a little more every time.
“Not today, but I’ll let you know if I get dick-curious,” Kyst says, smirking at me.
I shrug. “Your loss.”
“I’m sure,” he says, laughing.
“So you really met no one that you were interested in? Even on Kala?” August asks.
When I hesitate in answering, they jump like vultures, talking over each other as they ask questions.
“Okay, okay,” I finally say, raising my hands to calm them down, laughing despite feeling my cheeks redden. “I kind of met someone, but… not exactly on the trip.”
“We’re going to need more details,” Asher says as he pulls himself out of the water. “Like how you met him, but not on the trip.”
I sigh. “I play this game. It’s an online RPG where you can be whatever you want to be.”
“Second World or Scroll something?” Kyst asks.
“There are a lot more than two, but Second World. I didn’t know you’ve heard of it.”
“You don’t know everything about me, hockey man.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “So yeah. We literally ran into each other in the game and… well, we’ve been talking for hours every night. For two weeks.”
“Like sexy talk?” August asks, grinning.
“Do you make your characters fuck? I hear you can do that,” Ibis says.
“No, to sexy talk and yes to character fucking. I think that’s more to keep the characters from wandering than it is for… any other reason. But… we talk. About nothing. About everything. The last like five nights, we’ve fallen asleep talking. Well, texting through the game.”
“Why aren’t you talking to him now?” Asher asks.
“He’s busy until this evening.”
“You know, he could have like a wife and kids. Hell, he could have like eight different lives,” Ibis says, eyes wide with excitement.
“Dude, he’s not you,” August says, rolling his eyes. “Not everyone is a creep.”
“Do you have a hidden wife and kids?” I ask.
Ibis rolls his eyes. “Not yet. Give me time. I have a self-imposed quota to meet. But for now, back to this guy. What’s he look like? What’s his name? What’s he do for a living?”
When I realize I can’t answer any of those questions, doubt starts seeping in. I chew the inside of my lip and stare at the pool. “I don’t know. That’s not the kind of things we’ve talked about, I guess.”
“What do you talk about, then?” Kyst asks.
“Everything except… real things. Which now seems a little weird, right?”
They don’t answer and I deflate a little more.
“Hey,” Asher says. He doesn’t say anything else until I look at him. “We’re not damping your high on purpose, Noah. Besides, those aren’t the qualities in a person that make you fall for them. Right?”
I nod. “I know. But now I’m wondering why we don’t share that stuff.”
