Love Games: A Lesbian Romance

by Mia Archer

  “To be fair it always does.”

  Colin sighed. “You’re going to be like this all weekend, aren’t you?”

  “Probably.”

  He shook his head and a grin spread across his face. “It’s certainly never a dull moment when you’re around, and even though I’m worried for my character’s future I have a sneaking suspicion it’s everyone else at the Gathering who needs to watch out.”

  “Probably,” I said with a grin of my own.

  I felt the car slow as we moved towards an exit with a big sign welcoming Alternate Realms players to the annual Gathering. It said we were still a couple of miles away from the Gathering, but I felt my skin prickling. I glanced down at my area map and it was lousy with bright dots indicating players. There were so many that the phone started to stutter from overload, something that never happened before.

  I blinked. That was interesting. I had a fairly new phone with some decent power under the hood. It had never stuttered for anything. Thankfully after a moment everything loaded and then the dots were moving around. I marveled at the feat of engineering required for ARealms to get that many people to show up on the game screen at the same time. No one ever appreciated just how hard that had been, but as a coder myself I always felt those magnificent bastards deserved every cent they earned on this audacious and addicting game.

  “Do you think we should log out? Gonna be dangerous as we get closer,” Colin said.

  Only no sooner had he said that than all the dots on my screen turned from the angry red of potential threats to a happy green color that indicated everyone in the area was a friendly. I looked out the window. We weren’t even halfway down the offramp and there was no convenient location for people to snipe at players getting off the offramp. There were even a couple of cop cars with lights flashing as though to drive home the point that there would be no funny business tolerated that could potentially snarl traffic.

  It seemed that ARealms had thought of everything.

  “Looks like we’re already in the safe zone,” I said.

  “Good. Means I don’t have to worry about you going crazy and pissing people off before we get to the camp.”

  The camp ended up being a sprawling affair that looked like something straight out of an old civil war picture of a war camp. Except there were far fewer heavily bearded men sporting guns and the tents were a variety of colors and sizes instead of the uniform white you saw in those old black and white photos.

  “Looks like we’re here,” Colin said.

  We parked and got our own tent out. The campground was set up in a series of circles. Each circle had a massive bonfire in the middle, a wider circle of hay bales for people to sit on, and then bare spots for tents. At least in theory there were supposed to be bare spots.

  “Damn. We’re going to have trouble finding a spot,” I said.

  “And we got here early!” Colin said.

  “Not early enough. We need to get our asses in gear unless you want to room with some stranger.”

  Spots were being snatched up and fights were breaking up before security people showed up to break them up. I saw one shouting match break out where a woman was jumping from spot to spot saying they were saved for her friends who were showing up in a couple of hours. She got a sour look on her face when a security person showed up and told her all the spots were first come first serve.

  We eventually found a bare spot in a circle of people who were smiling and seemed to be having a good time. As we pitched the tent a girl and guy who looked to be a few years older than us came over. The guy stuck his hand out to Colin.

  “Nice to meet you! I’m Dave and this is my wife Jessica.”

  “Good to meet you too,” Colin said, shaking the guy’s hand and looking slightly uncomfortable about the contact. I wondered how long it would take for him to surreptitiously pull out the hand sanitizer I knew he had in his pocket and give his hands a once over.

  “So have the two of you been to a Gathering before?” Jessica asked. She was pretty enough with a nice smile, though she didn’t have anything on Erin. My thoughts drifted to the queen and whether she was even here yet.

  “We’ve been to regional events, but never the big shebang,” I said. “Too expensive to travel until it was in our back yard.”

  “Aww, how sweet! I still remember the first time Dave and I went to our first Gathering together. It was right after we got married!”

  “Any wedding bells in the future for you two? Not seeing any rings on those fingers,” Dave said with a chuckle.

  Colin and I glanced at each other. Locked eyes. The smiles came first, but a moment later both of us were nearly doubled over laughing. It wasn’t the first time a breeder couple had mistaken us for fellow travelers when it came to enjoying a nice dish of wieners and clams, but it had been awhile.

  “Was it something I said?” Dave asked.

  “Sort of. Definitely no plans to get married. The supreme court finally granted me that right recently, took the fuckers long enough, but if I do get hitched it’s definitely not going to be to this ladykiller here.”

  “Oh,” Dave said. Then he was laughing too right along with his wife. “Sorry. Saw the two of you together and just assumed.”

  “No worries,” Colin said. “We get that a lot. I guess I’m her fag-hag, or whatever the male version of that is.”

  Dave and Jessica looked scandalized. “Colin! I don’t think we’re supposed to be using that word anymore.”

  “Right. Is that one that I can’t say but you can, or is it one that’s only for gay guys? I’m not getting these memos y’know.”

  I rolled my eyes and turned to Dave and Jessica who still looked a little uncomfortable. Though I suppose I should be happy that their discomfort was from Colin using a potential no-no word and not because they weren’t happy with the idea of sharing their campsite with a lesbian. It never ceased to amaze me how drastically things could change in just a few short years.

  “Honestly. I can’t take you anywhere,” I said.

  “Yeah? Well remember you need me as bait so you can lay traps with those big sp…”

  I smacked him on the shoulder and he clammed up real good and quick. I turned and favored our new campsite buddies with a smile that I hoped communicated that we did this sort of thing all the time. Even if the way Colin was rubbing his shoulder and swearing under his breath put the lie to that.

  I smacked my hands together, looking for a subject to change to. The bonfire was raging behind us and already a few people had food of some sort. Food that looked too well done to be something they pulled out of a cooler.

  “So where can we get some eats around here?”

  Jessica pointed to a building off in the distance that was set up on the edge of a forest. It was nicer than any of the tents set up, but it had the look of a place that had been thrown up pretty damn quickly.

  “You go get your badge registration at the main building, and then there’s a few tents off to the side where they’ve got a cafeteria of sorts running all hours as long as you have your badge.”

  “Free food? Those bastards didn’t mention anything about that online! C’mon Colin. Let’s go get our badges and get some grub!”

  Colin was still muttering as we walked off into the sprawling encampment of geeks looking forward to several days of virtual reality fantasy wargaming.

  When we got back to the camp, burgers and fries in hand, more people had gathered and our moderately sized circle of tents were full. People were laughing and chatting, and we went over to take a seat by Dave and Jessica who were already in conversation with another couple.

  “Are you serious? Someone just attacked her?” Dave said.

  “That takes some serious balls pulling something like that. Whoever did it got away?” Jessica continued.

  My skin prickled. I don’t know why, but I knew they were talking about me and the attack at the gas station earlier in the day. I leaned in and listened, suddenly very interested in t
his conversation.

  “Yup,” some guy on the other side said. He leaned in and whispered, though it was a stage whisper that was obviously meant to be heard by anyone nearby, myself included. “Whoever it was got in, killed a couple of the queen’s friends, and ran.”

  “Amazing,” Dave said. “I wouldn’t want to run into the person who pulled something like that in an empty alley! At least not while the two of us were flagged to play.”

  “You can say that again,” Jessica said with a shiver.

  I took a bite of my hamburger. I didn’t want any of the people to see the huge smile on my face. Chances are they wouldn’t see it and put two and two together, but you never knew when there was going to be an armchair Sherlock in the crowd. By the time I was done chewing the smile was mostly gone.

  “What are they talking about?” Colin asked before taking a bite of his own burger.

  “Seems someone tried to assassinate the queen today,” I said, a little louder than was strictly necessary. I wanted to make sure they heard me talking about this like it was some huge scandalous mystery. “I can’t imagine who would do something that foolish!”

  Colin started coughing and spluttering as a bit of his burger went down the wrong hole. I gave his back a couple of good whacks and a piece of partially masticated cow flew out of his mouth. When I turned back around everyone was staring.

  “Sorry. Choked on my food,” Colin said.

  “So what were you talking about? Someone attacked someone?”

  I was trying to strike the right balance between innocence, ignorance, and interest. I also wasn’t sure how well I was pulling it off, or if it was even necessary in the first place. It’s not like they were going to associate me with the dangerous person who tried to pull off a hit on queeny earlier today.

  “Steve here was telling us that someone attacked the queen and a couple of her friends on the road. Took out her friends but didn’t manage to get her,” Dave said.

  “Cowardly if you ask me,” Steve said. “Attacking someone when they’re not expecting it!”

  “I think it’s impressive,” Jessica shot right back. “If you’re not in a safe zone and you’re logged into the game and flagged for play then whatever happens is your own fault. That’s the whole point of the game.”

  “Have to agree with the wife on that one,” Dave said, patting Jessica on the knee. “I don’t know if the person who attacked her was brave or stupid or both, but whatever they are they definitely aren’t a coward for pulling a stunt like that!”

  “That’s terrible!” I said. “Who would do something like that?”

  Steve leaned forward so I could see him. “They’re saying it’s a faction moving against the queen, but of course all the factions are either saying they didn’t have anything to do with it or they aren’t saying anything at all. One thing’s for sure, it’s going to be a huge clusterfuck when everyone gets out into the field tomorrow!”

  “So what faction are you two in?” Jessica asked.

  “We’re not in a faction,” Colin said. His voice was flat. Annoyed.

  “Really? Are you joining one tomorrow?”

  “I’m not joining a faction, but Colin is welcome to,” I said.

  “Oh, lovers’ quarrel?” Steve asked with a smile that wasn’t entirely pleasant.

  “Not exactly,” Dave said.

  “I keep telling Anna here that we need to join a faction if we want to last longer than five minutes out there tomorrow, but she refuses to listen to me,” Colin said. “Thinks we’ll be able to make it all on our own.”

  Laughter flared up from a bonfire near our own. Almost as though the entire world of ARealms was laughing at me for thinking I could go out there without a faction and make it. Well fuck them and fuck Colin for constantly ragging on me about this. Hadn’t I just proved what a badass I was by attacking the fucking queen of Alternate Realms? I figured that should be worth a few badass points in Colin’s estimation, but no. Nothing.

  “Well I’m not going to tell you what to do,” Dave said in a voice that made it clear he was about to do exactly that. “But if the two of you do decide you want to join a faction we’re in the Thieves’ Faction and you’d be welcome to join us.”

  “The Thieves’ Faction?” Colin asked.

  I rolled my eyes. For a guy who claimed to know more about the game he sure could be lacking in the knowledge department. Or the deductive reasoning part, at least. It seemed to me that a faction called the Thieves’ Faction would be pretty much exactly what it said on the tin.

  “Yup. We’re a group of outlaws led by a Robin Hood type, but don’t let him hear you say that. He can be a bit touchy about how he likes to play the game.”

  “I know the type,” Colin said with a pointed look at me that I pointedly ignored.

  “Well the invitation stands,” Jessica said. “Just think about it!”

  “So do you think the queen is going to say anything about the attack when she comes around to our fire?” Steve asked.

  A chill seized me. “The queen? What are you talking about?”

  “Oh she comes around to all the camps to give a little pep talk before the event starts in the morning. The really important thing is she also gives out a special royal buff to anyone who makes it in time. That’s part of the reason why all the camps are set up in a circle like this. Everyone sitting inside gets the buff and a slight advantage over people who show up late or the day of.”

  “Remember the year someone figured out they could stack the buff by wandering from circle to circle and they nearly annihilated House Blackstar before ARealms realized something weird was going on and shut things down while they pushed out a hotfix?” Steve asked.

  Jessica snorted. “Yeah, I hear they banned the guy who figured it out too. Doesn’t seem fair. It was their bad coding, after all. He just figured it out!”

  Their conversation went on, but I was doing my best to try and figure out what to do. The queen was coming out here. I should probably go to the tent. There was no way she wouldn’t recognize me. Not after that look we shared at the rest stop. Or was I flattering myself? Did I want to stay and see if she remembered me? That could be useful knowledge if she didn’t. Unless she knew that would be useful knowledge and she pretended not to recognize me so it would be that much easier to frag me nice and fast when we were actually playing.

  My mind was running away from me. I needed to get myself under control. I needed to get to the tent and call it a night even though I wanted to stay out here. Better hidden away than getting caught and recognized, I decided.

  The only problem? By the time I made that decision it was already too late. Some jackass dressed in an outfit that looked like an exact copy of the royal herald you occasionally saw on loading screens stepped into the circle and everyone went quiet.

  “Hear ye! Hear ye! She comes! Queen of our digital world! Sovereign over all Alternate Realms! Queen Erin!”

  And the queen stepped into our midst.

  Damn it.

  7: The Big Day

  My face was starting to hurt from keeping this smile plastered on it all night long, but certain things were expected of me and I was going to deliver. I looked around the bonfire with a faint flickering hope that wasn’t nearly as strong as at the beginning of the evening.

  So many campfires. So many people. I’d never stopped to appreciate how truly massive these things were until I decided I was going to search every campfire for my mysterious beautiful assailant from the rest stop. In years past I’d just gone to each bonfire, said a few words, hit the button for the special buff spell that was part of a super secret “for queen’s eyes only” spell panel in the game, and moved on.

  Walking around and getting a look at everyone was exhausting. It also occurred to me that a girl who tried to attack me like that might not want to be found. It could be that she was out there somewhere, flitting from bonfire to bonfire in an effort to avoid me.

  Which would be a damn shame, but I co
uldn’t say I blamed her. Already the massive camp was brimming with rumors of what happened at the rest stop earlier today. Already it was being blown way out of proportion. The only two people who knew what really happened were me and that girl.

  I figured a little conspiracy theorizing would inject some much needed life into what had become an otherwise boring occasion though. Maybe it would encourage someone to finally make a move on me so I could crush them ruthlessly and do the sort of stuff that made being queen really fun.

  Stuff that didn’t involve schlepping from bonfire to bonfire handing out the same old boring buff and hoping, with diminishing hope as I reached each new bonfire, to find that girl.

  “The queen! She speaks!”

  “Thanks Reg,” I said.

  The announcer smiled and bowed with a flourish. I wondered which one of us looked more ridiculous. Him in that getup or me following him around in a tank top and a pair of shorts that were maybe a little too short, too tight, for royalty but would be the perfect thing if I ran into that girl and the promise of that brief look we’d shared turned into reality. They tried to get me to dress up in some ridiculous dress that looked like they dug it out of a surplus sale for a costume company that dealt exclusively in high school productions of Romeo and Juliet, and I flat out refused.

  I paused and took a look around. Expectant faces looked up at me. Some smiles, some neutral. About what I expected from previous years doing this. I did one more glance and then stopped. Looked again. Smiled.

  She was here.

  And from the way she looked up at me and then looked away she knew who I was. Our eyes locked for that brief moment, though, and it seemed like there were volumes of unspoken communication there.

  Though of course that was ridiculous. More than anything I found myself wanting to know more about this girl. Who was she? Where did she come from? What possessed her to attack me and my friends in that diner earlier in the day? And by the way, did she play for my team because if so I’d be more than happy to invite her back to my tent for a little bit of pre-Gathering fun!