by Lauren Helms
I roll my eyes with a good-natured chuckle.
“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m sad that you are moving away, but I’m also really excited for you. I know this has been your dream job for a while now. All your hard work paid off.” She smiles at me genuinely.
“Thank you, Mo. That means a lot to me.” I take a breath. Reality: a hard pill to swallow. “I’m gonna miss you so damn much.”
I can see her eyes start to water, she’s a crier, but shit just got real and I’m probably leaving. Soon.
“It’s going to be really hard being here without you, Gia. We’ve been together, had each other’s backs for almost a decade,” she says, fighting back the tears.
“I’ll always have your back, Morgan, even if I’m not right here,” I say, leaning forward and reaching to grab her hand. We sit like that for a second, both fighting tears, holding each other’s hands.
“OK, just give me another minute or two to be sad and teary-eyed, then I promise I will be nothing but supportive and happy from here on out. Well, until the day you leave. I reserve the right to be a crybaby the day I send you off on your own,” she sniffles.
I laugh and nod as she wipes away some of the tears that just sprang free.
After a few more minutes, we turn back to the stream. Simon and Dex are on similar schedules, so they are currently both running the show.
“Oh my gosh. Isn’t ComicGem68 Ruby’s screen name?” Morgan asks looking at the TV.
“Yeah, she’s been trolling Link whenever he stops by. It’s actually been quite entertaining,” I reply. I look closer at the TV and see that she called Simon out on the mistake he just made. Dex is taking the supporting seat this round and is interacting with the fans. He laughs and reads her comment out loud to Simon. He looks slightly annoyed until Dex tells him who exactly thinks he should throw in the towel and give up—to go take a break because he’s obviously too tired to be playing. His face loses all trace of annoyance and he chuckles, looks right at the screen, making me feel that he's looking right at me and speaks.
“She’s your friend.” I can’t help but let out a bark of a laugh.
“So, I take it the guys know it’s Ruby as well?” Morgan chuckles. I shake my head and smile as I watch the handsome man that I’ve loved for so long in his element. A rush of sadness overtakes me with the thought that in less than a month he probably won’t be happy and joking around with me anymore. That at least, if I want to see him again in the future, I’ll always be able to watch as a fan. And probably nothing more.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Simon
While I loved winning The Race last year, hosting this year has been so much more fun. We’ve really gotten to interact with the fans on a whole new level. Link and Bernie both have experience streaming gameplay and communicating in real time with fans. With Link on YouTube and Bern on Twitch, they both brought in more followers than we expected. The giveaways, the guests who’ve stopped by, and the ones who have gone Live on Facebook with us have all been a huge success so far.
And, damn it. My gaming chair, cheese and all, was auctioned off for a grand. It helps that the team offered to sign it. And then the winner asked if Link would sign the nacho cheese stain. Figures.
There are two more full days left of The Race and we have raised more than three-fourths of our goal amount. There is no doubt in my mind we will end up meeting the goal before the end. We may even come close to the number that Link thought we should have gone with. But all that matters is that the check we will get to present to the Endowment Center later this month will be well received.
Right now, I’ve got about two hours left on my current run. At midnight, Bernie and Ben will take over through the night and then Dex, myself, and Chuck will join them for a few hours before we start taking shifts again. Link is sitting here with me, monitoring the comments and it’s easy to forget that we are actually working. But then again, it’s one of the many perks of the job.
I’m running into a building that I’ve never seen before, when out of nowhere, I’m shot from behind. And now I’m dead. I groan and wait for my character to come back to life.
“Oh, bummer, man. That sucks!” Link laughs.
“Tell me about it,” I grumble.
“Yeah, you were on a winning streak. It’s been what, like twenty minutes since you last died?” he says, thinking it’s funny to rag on me. It’s ten at night and I’ve been playing for about eight hours straight and still have two more to go. This was a longer slot for me, but I get a nice, short, six-hour session tomorrow to make up for it.
Link starts laughing as he reads through some of the comments on the screen.
Groaning again, I say to the room, “I don’t even want to hear it. None of you have been playing this game for as long as I have today. So, be nice.”
Link is still laughing and continues to reply to the viewers. To get him and the viewers to cut me some slack, I try to change the subject as I get back into the game.
“Link, check the schedule, isn’t it about time to have another giveaway? How are we doing on the fundraiser? Do we need a boost?”
Link takes the bait and turns on his dumb game-show-host persona. “Well, I’m glad you asked, SezSimon, let's take a look at the board.”
I roll my eyes and smile.
He rolls the big whiteboard we use for strategizing in front of where he is sitting on the couch. On the whiteboard is a drawing of a big thermometer. We were instructed by Bernie to color in the progress every time we hit a milestone.
“As you can see, Simon,” he’s still using the game-show-host voice, “we currently are sitting at two hundred eight thousand dollars. It would be a good time for another giveaway.”
There is a short break from the game while my character travels to a new area and I look at the stream. I laugh when I see Ruby pop up in the chat.
“ComicGem68 says, ‘Now we all know why you don’t have a girlfriend,’” I read out loud. Ruby has been actively harassing us the whole time. Well, Link mostly. She is loving calling him out in front of so many other people. She is on at some very random times, so I’m not sure what she is doing about work and sleep. I know that Gia and Morgan have been watching, but both are inactive viewers. Which is fine with me, because I’ve got too much on my mind to mix Gia in with this marathon gaming session. I’m already missing her like crazy. When she can, she comes and sees me when I’m on break. Other times we’ve FaceTimed. But since my breaks are short and I really do try to sleep, I haven’t gotten a lot of time with my girl.
Link just chuffs, “Ha. Whatever.”
I’m back into the game now but notice her name pop up again with a message. I take a quick look and see that she wrote that he’d have a girlfriend if he wasn’t so immature and strange. Now I just chuckle. Link isn’t bothered though, he plays off Ruby’s jokes and I can tell things are about to get interesting. Hopefully he can get us to the next milestone and raise another two grand before my time is up for the night.
“Oh, I beg to differ, ComicGem68. I think most ladies find me charming. Can I get some feedback from the audience, please?”
I snort. And he starts to read off some of the comments for me.
“I’d date you, Link!”
“Don’t listen to ComicGem68, you would be the perfect boyfriend.” I bark out a laugh at this comment.
“Well, now we know you don’t have a girlfriend!” another one says.
“ComicGem68 says, this is lame,” he chuckles.
“Ladies, ladies. I’m flattered by your kind words,” Link says with his hand over his heart, bowing slightly to the screen.
“You’re a tool, man. A tool,” I tell him good-naturedly.
“Maybe, but the ladies love me. They love me.” He slaps a hand on my shoulder. I fight another eye roll.
“So, what are we giving away?”
Link looks at our list of prizes to give away. There are still several on the list and we don’t have to give away all of
them, but we have to be running giveaways, contractually speaking.
Link starts laughing and I look up to see what’s got his attention. He is reading the comments again.
“Talk to me, tell me what’s so funny,” I tell him.
“Well, seems as if the lady viewers are all in agreement on the next giveaway items.” He nods his head.
“And what is that?”
“They want dates,” he replies.
I lift my eyebrow and wait for an explanation.
“They want us to auction off a date with each member of the team,” he tells me and seems rather excited about it.
“Ah, well, I can’t speak for the rest of the team, but I can tell you that both Dex and I would have pretty upset girlfriends if we auctioned ourselves off for that,” I tell them honestly. Oh man, the drama. Poor Morgan would probably lose her shit and Dex wouldn’t know what hit him. Gia would probably be a little bit easier to handle, but I know it still wouldn’t go over well.
“Well, then, I guess since I’m the only one here, ladies … it looks like it’s just me up for sale,” he says with a colossal jackass smile.
“You’re really doing this?” I ask him.
“Hells yeah.” He pulls out his phone and looks through his calendar before continuing. “I’m going to make this a ‘ladies-only’ auction though, and if you plan on being at PAX in San Antonio in January, that’s when I’ll take the lucky winner out to dinner. We can even record it and post it on my channel.”
The comments go crazy with excitement. I just shake my head and tell him he’d better start the bidding higher than average if he wants to make a dime. His phone pings and it’s Dex, telling him he’s an idiot.
“OK, ladies, I’m gonna start the bidding at two hundred dollars. Would ComicGem68 like to take the first bid?” he says, awfully full of himself.
It’s quiet for a beat and I look over at him. I see a slightly disappointed look cross his face before he quickly locks it down.
“What?” I say, quieter than normal. I know the stream will pick it up, but maybe it will be a bit muffled.
“Nothing, it just looks like Ruby isn’t online anymore,” he mutters but then jumps back into charming mode and runs the auction, which is already past five hundred.
I could have called that shit from a mile away. We all know Ruby has a thing for Link and vice versa. We are just wondering when they will admit it.
About an hour later, I’m done for the night. I’m gathering a few things I brought down with me while Link talks to Bernie about what he is calling his “charity date.” He raised twelve hundred with his little impromptu giveaway. She smacked him over the head as soon as she walked in the door five minutes ago. But I’m not sticking around to hear her tell him what a stupid idea it was, I’m beat and I need to crash.
Several minutes later, I walk into my apartment and down the short entry hall and come face-to-face with the most beautiful sight: Gia is wrapped up in a blanket from my room, lounging on the couch and nearly asleep herself.
“Hey,” she says sleepily.
“Hey, G, I wasn’t expecting you, but I’m glad you are here.” I walk to her and lean down to kiss her. She accepts my kiss, but she looks a little sad.
“How long have you been here?” I ask.
“A couple of hours. Morgan came over around ten and I came with her. I missed you,” she says.
That must be it. We were going pretty hot and heavy at warp speed and now we haven’t gotten to see each other a lot.
“I miss you too. But I need a shower and sleep,” I tell her, pulling her up off the couch. The blanket falls from her shoulders and she smirks.
“A shower, huh?”
I groan, “G, I want to have hot sexy shower sex, but I need sleep. I’m going to take a lightning-quick shower, then meet you in my bed. Clothing is optional.” Always. Clothing with Gia is always optional. I thought she was beautiful when we were sixteen, but twenty-five-year-old Gia is sexy as fuck and I can’t get enough of her.
“I can’t believe you just turned down shower sex,” she pouts.
I stop right outside my bedroom door and cup her face in my hands. “G, trust me, it hurt my soul and my dick, to do it. But I don’t think I’d be able to perform to the best of my ability. I’m so fucking tired. When we have shower sex for the first time, I want it to blow your mind.”
She smiles up at me. “Fine, I guess we will do whatever you want to do.”
This makes me smile because it’s a phrase I always said to her growing up. I turn her toward the room and smack her butt while she walks in.
“I’ll be quick.”
“Uh-huh. Right,” she mutters.
I close my door and head to the bathroom. During my super quick shower, all I can think about is mind-blowing shower sex and then my head—both of them actually—gets stuck on the word “blowing.” I was planning on crashing as soon as my head hit the pillow, but I’m positive a quickie with the hopefully naked, hot-as-hell girlfriend in my bed will make my sleep so much more enjoyable.
I hop out, dry off and wrap the towel around my waist. Entering my room, I find her in my bed and naked, to my satisfaction. She’s waiting for me with a sexy little grin. I drop the towel and slip into bed. She is on me before I can even flip off the bedside lamp.
While this frisky side of Gia is one that I’ve quickly become enamored with, I notice something feels a little different tonight. She seems a little bit needier, almost desperate. I get it though, I’ve missed her and it's nice to know that she has missed me. It’s like we are finally on the same freaking page.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Simon
It’s the morning after The Race has come to an end and I’m just waking up. The first thing I notice is the slight stream of light coming through the room-darkening curtains. So much for those working, since that's what must have woken me. I reach over and fumble around on my nightstand for my phone, and once I find it, I realize that it’s dead. Wonderful. And I don’t have an actual alarm clock, so I hang halfway off the bed to find the charger cord. After I find it and plug my phone in, I lay it on my chest as I fall back onto my pillow. Scrubbing a hand down my face I realize that, while the past seven days were definitely an experience, I’m glad it's over.
When we won The Race last year, we were all exhausted but not anywhere near how I feel right now. I take a peek at my phone and see that I’ve got just enough juice to power it on. Once the home screen pops up I’m surprised to see that I’ve managed to sleep a good twelve hours.
So maybe it wasn’t the light that woke me.
I scroll through some texts and find a few from Gia. The last one came in around two today, telling me to stop being lazy and to come over when I wake up. I chuckle at this and reply.
Me: I was kind of hoping that I’d get an in-person wake-up call from my hot girlfriend.
A few minutes go by before she replies.
Gia: Are you telling me you just woke up? It's almost 6 p.m.
Me: Like I said, my wake-up call never came.
Gia: Whatever. You obviously needed the sleep. I feel bad about taking up so much of your sleep time the past week.
Me: Sleep is overrated when you’re around.
Gia: You’re horny, aren’t you? So you’re trying to butter me up by being corny.
I laugh, she’s got me there. Despite getting to see her a few hours here and there, we never had time for some full-blown sexy time over the past week. I’m hard as a rock just thinking about her, and sex, right now.
Me: You know me better than anyone else, G. I’m gonna eat, shower, then I’ll be over. You good with that? I won’t be in the mood for more sleeping though. ;- )
Minutes go by and I wonder what’s keeping her from replying. The little reply dots have shown up a few times and then have disappeared.
Finally, I get her reply.
Gia: OK, see you soon.
Really? That’s what took more than five minutes to type?
Maybe Morgan was talking to her. I roll out of bed, pull on some sweatpants and a CoB t-shirt and head out to the kitchen. I’m surprised to see Morgan cuddled up with Dex on the couch. My thoughts, however, are mostly on Gia’s last response.
“Well, hey there, sleepy head!” Dex laughs.
“Haha,” I say, crossing the living room.
“You were the first one out and the last one up,” he replies.
“Hey, Morgan,” I say, ignoring him.
“Hi, Simon. Do you feel rested? We were getting worried about you, I was about to send Dex in.”
I laugh because it’s cute she was worried, and tell her, “I’m still in a fog, but I think a shower will help. I need food though.”
Just then, the front door opens and Ruby and Link walk in laughing with arms full of food.
“Taco Bell has arrived,” Link announces.
“Geez Louise, how many people are you feeding?” Morgan asks, looking at all that they’ve carried in. There has to be at least four big bags full of food in their arms.
“Look, we didn’t take orders, so we wanted to cover all our bases,” Ruby says, setting a bag down on the coffee table.
She looks up through the half wall into the kitchen at me and smiles. “We brought you food too, Sleeping Beauty.”
“Yeah, we figured the smell would be enough to wake you from your slumber and the last thing we wanted was a Simon conniption fit when there wasn’t any extra TB,” Link says, walking into the kitchen for napkins and soda.
I elbow him in the side as I walk by.
“Thanks. I’m starving,” I tell Ruby.
“Why isn’t Gia with you guys? Did she have a deadline or something?” I ask Ruby, who plops down next to Morgan on the couch.
Ruby busies herself with sifting through food bags and Morgan looks away briefly before saying, “I don’t know, but she wanted to let you sleep.”
I just nod and Link hands me a wad of napkins.
Something seems off. But, I guess I’ll find out soon enough.
