Also, let's face it, he didn't want to toilet paper Abraham's truck.
"I'll still help, but I'll project manage and fill in where I can, okay? You're going to need more coders."
Her expression fell. "Oh." Her voice was quiet, too, and the vibrancy of her expression dimmed. "Well...all right. I can make it work."
Now he felt like a slug, and he walked over to her, nudging her with his shoulder, getting her to look at him. "Really, I promise. I will help. Okay?"
She nodded, but she had that tilt to her face--the slight frown, the chin up, ready-to-take-all-comers expression that he was familiar with. "You don't have to. I mean, it'd be great, but one way or another, I'm going to make this work."
"You are amazing," he said, without realizing he'd said it aloud. "If anybody could get this done, it'd be you."
She stared at him, obviously caught off guard. "Um, thanks."
They stood that way for a second, silently taking account of each other.
"You hungry?" he said finally, breaking the odd tension. "I, um, was just going to make some mac and cheese."
"That sounds really good," she said, although she was blushing a little.
It was nice, this new camaraderie, he thought. Funny it had taken them a year to get there, but he could see being very good friends with her.
But off limits, his mind reminded him. She's your roommate, for God's sake.
He blinked, startled.
Where had that thought come from?
Tessa braced herself to enter the lion's den. Or, more specifically, the Dungeon. That was the basement level cubes that the engineers had made their own. It was very industrial-looking, with pipes everywhere, but it seemed to suit their "turf"-esque attitude, and it kept them separate from the character designers, producers, and money people.
She'd thought carefully of how to approach the coding guys for help. She'd asked Felicia separately for help, and had received a surprising "yes" since it was a clear one-time service, not an offer of friendship and socializing. But these guys--she'd need them to do the heavy lifting, and get the game itself workable in the three week deadline. She couldn't do it herself. The more guys she could get to help her, the better.
Rodney, Fezza, José, and Abraham were settled in. As usual, Fezza and Rodney were joking around, José was bouncing his head to whatever was playing on his ear buds, and Abraham was laser-focused on his screen, his large fingers dancing across the keyboard with surprising speed.
"Um, hi," she said, clearing her throat.
Rodney and Fezza looked over at her. "Hey there," Fezza said, with a quicksilver smile. Rodney grinned and nodded. "What can we do you for?"
"I've got a favor to ask," she started, then paused as Fezza smacked José's shoulder, getting him to take out his ear buds and pay attention. Only Abraham refused to turn around. "I'm making a video game for a contest thing, and I was wondering if you guys might help me out."
"A contest, huh?" Fezza rubbed his chin. "What sort of contest?"
"It's for a TV show. They're looking for fan art contributions, and I'm sure nobody is turning in a video game. It would be a slam dunk," she said.
Rodney shrugged. "Could be fun," he mused, glancing at the other two. "What sort of help do you need?"
"Felicia's helping me with character design, and I've got Adam signed on to help, as well," she said--hopefully true, she thought. "But I'm going to need help with the coding."
"A real coder would be able to do it herself," Abraham said, still not turning around. "Just saying."
Tessa felt her back go up at his accusation. "Well, that's the other side. I need a fully working game in three weeks."
That was the exact instant she saw them quickly backpedal. "Whoa! That's not a lot of time, Tessa," Fezza protested.
"That's why I'm asking for your help."
"Even with the three of us..."
"Four," she interjected. "I'd be coding, too."
Abraham huffed out a derisive laugh. She clenched her jaw, trying to keep herself calm.
"Okay, four of us...that's going to be a tall order," Fezza continued.
"What's the show?" José asked. "And what's the prize? Is it something we could split, I mean?"
"Well, no," she admitted. "It's for some friends of mine. If we win the contest, then they would get a celebrity appearance at their bookstore."
The guys looked at her expectantly. "And...?" José finally prompted.
"A celebrity appearance would go a long way toward keeping them in business," she said. "They're having a hard time staying afloat, and this would really be a good boost as far as bringing in traffic and promotion."
"Okay, I guess I'm going to be that guy," José said. "What's in it for us?"
She bit her lip. This was circling the drain fast. "What do you want?"
José leered.
"That I can provide?" she quickly amended, then glared at José when his expression didn't change. "I mean, I don't have enough money to pay you guys for this amount of work. I could...I don't know. Provide you with beer? Baked goods? Clean your house?"
Rodney sighed. "I don't know, Tessa. It's short notice, and I think it's an uphill battle, at best," he said gently.
"I mean, I'm sorry for your friends," Fezza added, "but...I don't know. Maybe if you were clearer about what you need from us exactly, so we had a better sense of how much time this would take, that'd help."
"Absolutely," José said. "Ask Adam. If he can help you draw up the production schedule, get a sense of what sort of work we'd be doing, that would definitely go a long way."
She frowned. They had a point. She wouldn't necessarily want to agree to something that was so amorphous. But Adam had said he wouldn't sign on unless she was sure that she'd have the help necessary. Catch 22.
I guess it's back to Adam, then, she thought, with an internal growl of frustration. "If I get the design brief and the production schedule, will you help me out?"
"We'll talk," Fezza hedged.
"Fine." She stalked out. This wasn't going to be easy. But she'd make it work...one way or another.
CHAPTER 4
"Why am I here again?" Adam whispered to Tessa, close to her ear, as they sat at a local restaurant. He doubted the group of women they were sitting with could hear him, what with all the hustle and noise. As it was, he was hemmed into the very corner of the booth, surrounded by women. It should've been ideal.
His nerves in his stomach said otherwise. He took a calming pull of his draft beer.
Tessa smiled at him. "To meet our clients," she whispered back, close enough that he could feel her breath against his jawline. "Also, because I wanted you to actually talk with them, and realize why we're doing this."
"I already said I'd help."
"You also said you wanted to meet girls." Her dark brown hair brushed his shoulder.
Adam glanced around. Well, he was doing that with a vengeance. There were three women right there--four, if you included Tessa. And they were all pretty, as she'd stated. Rachel at the far end of the table was more than pretty, she was supermodel gorgeous, with jet black hair and ridiculously pillowy lips. But the others, while more unusual, were all good looking in their own rights. The bubbly little blonde had a bit of a Marilyn Monroe thing going, with her sunshine smile and sweetness. Hailey, the one with the purple streak in her hair, looked like a cross between a pinup and a punk rocker.
Tessa was right; he'd wanted to meet girls. And what better way than to surround himself with a bevy of women who actually spoke his geeky language?
Of course, it would help if he wasn't outnumbered and on his own, he realized, feeling a little disconcerted. The guys at work would probably be envious, and call him out for being nervous, but deep down every guy knew: without a wingman, being surrounded by women was a sure way to get your ass handed to you, either through rejection or ridicule.
He felt his palms sweat slightly.
"So you guys want a video game for this Mystics show,
right?" he said, bringing out his Moleskin notebook and a pen. Better to stick to business, where he felt most secure. "I'm thinking first-person shooter. It's easiest, and we don't have a lot of time."
The group quieted, staring at him intently.
"Oh, that's not going to work, " said the blonde--Kyla?--with some hesitation.
Rachel shook her head as well, her violet eyes apologetic. "Mystics isn't that kind of show."
"Have you even seen the show?" Hailey asked pointedly.
He sighed. "Well, no..."
The girls gave each other a worried look.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure it stays true to the show," Tessa interjected quickly, and scooted her chair a little closer to him. She was wearing a long-sleeved raglan T-shirt, her dark brown hair pulled back in its customary ponytail. She smelled like roses, he realized, and almonds. He wondered absently if it was her soap because she didn't really seem like the perfume type. "Here's what I'm thinking. More like a puzzle game. You need to get through a house. There's a kid trapped in the attic, but you need to get through seven levels of paranormal adversaries to save her."
"Seven?" he yelped. "That's a shit ton of coding, Tess."
"Which is why I enlisted you," she said, grinning, and he couldn't help but grin back. "Anyway, we'd have the three brothers making their way...you could toggle between them, because they each have their own specialty..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said, taking notes. "That means setting, character design for three different characters, not to mention enemies and...I'm assuming you want a boss level?"
"Well, of course I want a boss level," Tessa said.
She was going crazy. He frowned, knowing he'd have to rein her in. "We'll talk levels later," he muttered. "All right, artwork. We're going to need to keep this pixelated..."
"This is Mystics, not Minecraft or Terraria," Tessa countered.
"Unless you've got some crazy art skills I don't know about, and a lot of time for rendering, the deadline's just too tight..."
"I can draw." Kyla, the blonde, smiled, but looked a little nervous. "I mean, sort of. I draw designs for my cosplay, and I do a lot of sketches. It's nothing professional, just fan art, but..."
"Oh, that's fantastic!" Rachel said, clapping her hands.
"You should see her drawings," Hailey added. "They are frickin' incredible."
"They're not bad," Kyla demurred.
"Don't listen to her," a girl with short hair and a sharp smile said. He thought her name was Mallory, but with the sheer number of women he'd met at once, he wasn't quite sure. "They're fucking incredible."
"Can you email some to me tonight?" Tessa said. "We have to move it on this if we're going to make deadline."
Kyla nodded. "Okay, sure."
Adam nodded, jotting it down in his notebook. "All right. I'm going to come up with a project plan on this, and get familiar with this show," he said. "Our first step is..."
"Hello, Rachel," a new voice interrupted, pitching a little loud to be heard over the crowd.
Adam noticed immediately that Rachel tensed at the voice and that the other girls were glaring. Adam looked up to see a thin guy with stringy unkempt hair glaring at them. He was wearing a Seahawks shirt, which wasn't that unusual--but he was wearing what looked like a sports coat or something over it. Very Miami Vice.
Combined with the smarmy grin and the way he was leering at Rachel, Adam was pretty sure whoever the guy was, he was a douchebag.
"Harold," Rachel said, her voice arctic.
"Girls' night out, huh?" Somehow, his voice managed to sound both whiny and patronizing. "How's that little used bookstore of yours doing? Heard you might be having some financial trouble."
Kyla frowned at him, while the others stared daggers.
"What brings you downtown, Harold?" Mallory asked, through gritted teeth. "I thought that you didn't like leaving your gated community."
"Oh, I like to head downtown now and then," he said, his eyes never leaving Rachel's annoyed expression. "Unlike others I know, I don't mind slumming it from time to time."
Adam could sense the tension jump up at that. The guy was an obvious asshole, but he couldn't quite tell what the beef was between him and Rachel and the others. Obviously that line stung, though, since Rachel went a little paler.
He rested his hand on the back of the seat, just behind Rachel's head. "Let me know if you ever want me to take you someplace a little more upscale, Rache."
"Sorry. I don't slum. Ever," Rachel said.
"Beat it," Hailey said in a low, dangerous voice, "before I beat you."
He just laughed. "You say that now, but what happens when that bookstore full of bodice rippers goes belly up? Bet you'll remember my number then, huh?"
If Hailey didn't kick the guy's ass, Adam thought, he'd be happy to step in. "Maybe you should just leave," Adam said sharply.
Harold turned his attention to Adam, surprised. "I didn't know they'd gotten a guy in their crew," he said. "Or maybe I didn't realize you were a guy at all."
Adam started to stand up, but Tessa held his arm.
"What are you, anyway? Just one of the girls?"
Before Adam could leap over the table and give this guy the beat down he deserved, Tessa shocked him by laughing.
"Oh, sure," she purred. "He's just one of the girls."
And with that, she turned, put her hand at the nape of his neck, and pulled him forward, planting a kiss on his lips.
Holy crap, I'm kissing Tessa!
Adam was stunned into stillness for a second. His mind went blank. Then, without thinking, he reacted, leaning in a little, kissing a bit more than he intended. Her lips were soft, and he felt surrounded by almond and roses and the taste of her.
Which may have explained why he traced her lips with his tongue, just for a split second. Just to confirm. And when she parted her lips ever so slightly and tasted him...
Oh my God. Then his body went into launch sequence and he didn't think at all.
Without warning, she pulled away just as quickly. His head was still reeling.
Tessa turned to Harold, cheeks flushed, eyes bright and mischievous. The guy looked irritated.
"Look, mister, why don't you run along home," she said, her tone dismissive. "We're busy."
He glared at her. "I could do a lot better than some skanks like you."
"I can only imagine what sort of date you've got waiting for you," Tessa drawled. "Who's the lucky gal tonight? Left hand, or right?"
Adam goggled. Was this really Tessa? His Tessa?
Now Harold flushed, anger in his eyes. "Who the fuck are you?"
"I'm Tessa," she said. "I'm a friend of these girls. And I could ask who the fuck you are, coming over here, trying to be intimidating, and throwing your pitiful masculinity around like it's something to be either proud or afraid of, which is a joke. Since you obviously can't threaten anybody physically--I'm fairly certain Hailey here could pound you into a crimson stain on the pavement in a hot minute--you're trying to overcompensate by making veiled sexual and financial threats, acting like homosexuality is somehow an insult, and basically being an asshole."
Harold was staring at her. So were the girls. Hell, so was he.
"I could ask who the fuck you are," she repeated, with a smile as sharp as a razor, "but I've known a million guys just like you, and frankly, I just don't care."
"You couldn't even handle a man like me," he spat out.
"Please. The only sizeable thing on you is your inferiority complex," she shot back. "So why don't you use that needle dick of yours as a compass, and find the door?"
He took an angry step forward, looking ready to lunge. Adam stood up, hands fisted, but Tessa moved faster.
"You want to try something?" she said, standing next to him, chin up.
To his obvious surprise, the other girls stood up, as well.
A waiter quickly rushed to the table, eyes stern. "Is there a problem here?"
Harold glared at all of
them, including the waiter. "Fuck you," he said to all of them, then turned on his heel and left.
The women watched him go.
"That was sexy as hell," Adam said, before he could think. "The speech, I mean. Well, the other thing, too, but I meant, erm..."
Tessa blushed, shaking a little as she sat down. "I hate guys like that."
"I hate that particular guy," Rachel said, leaning over and giving her a hug. "You were brilliant."
"Seriously," Hailey said, high-fiving her. "I kind of love you right now."
"I just wish Cress was here to see it," Kyla said, beaming.
"Don't worry," Hailey said. "I got the whole thing on my iPhone. I'll have it uploaded to YouTube in...ah, there we go."
The girls laughed. Adam still stared at Tessa, who seemed to be shaking.
"You okay?" he murmured, under the cover of the girls' laughter.
"Adrenaline rush," she said. "I haven't been that mad in a long, long time."
She leaned against him for a second and he reflexively put his arm around her shoulders. "Well, thanks for defending my honor," he said. "Not that there's anything wrong with being gay, obviously. But I'm not, actually..."
"Oh, I know," Tessa said, then blushed.
His body tensed. Was it that obvious? His body was still fairly stirred up.
"I mean, I knew before," she clarified, blushing harder.
"How long have you two been a couple?" Mallory asked.
Adam blinked, quickly releasing Tessa. "What? No, we're not..."
"Oh, no! No. Sorry for the misunderstanding," Tessa said, looking a little aghast. "We're not a couple. We just work together."
"You must have some interesting company off-sites," Hailey said, eyebrows raised.
Kyla started laughing again, and Rachel chuckled.
Level Up: A Geek Romance Rom Com, Book 1 (Fandom Hearts) Page 5
