Gamer Girl

by Carmen Willow

  Martin flung his hands wide. “Sure I do. Andrea and I had dinner with her just last week. Nicole’s asked her to be her maid of honor.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

  “Why should I? You want to know about Sarah? You ask her yourself!”

  Martin’s words sank in. “You said she’s going to be Nicole’s maid of honor?”

  “Yes, Eamon, that’s what I said.”

  “Then she’ll be at the engagement party! She’ll be there!”

  “Yeah? So?”

  “Oh man, she’ll be there.”

  Chapter 32

  She said

  Sarah left the hotel early after being with Eamon and went home to pack. Her lease had another six months to run so she paid a few months ahead and then took her flight to San Diego.

  It was good to be with the parental units for Christmas. Sarah needed her family, needed the hugs and the maternal concern. But after a few weeks in San Diego, she knew she had to go back to Kansas City. Kansas City was home now and whatever her life would be, it was going to happen there.

  Just before she left San Diego, the wire transfer of the thirty thousand dollar bonus she’d been awarded for her work on the DLC appeared in her bank account. Sarah could now do something she’d wanted to do for awhile. She enrolled in an online doctoral program in forensic psychology to finish her PhD at long last.

  It didn’t take long for her to find a fairly lucrative part-time job as a rotating paralegal. Sarah reached out to Martin and Jim who both gave her glowing recommendations. When her team found out that she was back in town, she began getting calls and invites to meet up. Glad to have her friends around, all Sarah asked was that they not mention her around Eamon. “Best to just keep me out of the conversation around him, okay?”

  But John proposed to Nicki and Nicki asked Sarah to be her maid of honor, Sarah hesitated, knowing it meant seeing Eamon. “Look, Sarah if you won’t do it here then we’ll go to Vegas. Hell, you’re the reason we’re together, you’re the reason I’m an artist at Gryphon instead of an administrative assistant. You’re going to be my maid of honor and that’s all there is to it.”

  Sarah agreed but she still had qualms. As she dressed for the party in a soft coral dress made of stretch fabric that flowed over her body like water, she saw how provocative she appeared and wondered if she should try so hard. The dress’ cut was demure enough: a high neckline, long sleeves and a slightly lower back that showed a little of her shoulder blades. It was the fact that her body was poured into the dress that made it so alluring. Finally, she decided to be bold and wear the damn dress. At least her shoes were sensible; she’d chosen them because they had a two inch heel and strap that kept them in place. Her dress might say do me but her shoes said nah, let’s just tango. She brushed her hair, now long enough to stay behind her ear when she tucked it there. It was cut to swing forward when she looked down and to flow when she tossed her head. It wasn’t as much fun as her old cut, but it was…elegant and it went with the small diamond drops in her ears that swayed as well.

  Sarah offered to come to Hard Hearted Hannah’s a little early, but Nicole nixed that.

  “I have it handled, Sarah,” Nicole told her. “All you have to do is show up, give a speech telling my in-laws to be how wonderful I am and have a good time.”

  When Sarah walked in at the appointed hour she found John and Nicole standing near the entrance, greeting their guests. After some hugs and kisses, Nicole said, “You’re at our favorite table, along with the family.”

  Sarah turned the corner into the main area of the bar, and a bunch of the guys got up and waved at her. “Sarah! Hey, come on over!” As she reached the table she was surrounded by her crew who hugged her tight and introduced her to wives and girlfriends. “Guys, it’s so good to see you. Will someone get me a drink?” For the next thirty minutes, everyone filled Sarah in on what they were up to and how far along they were on the new title for the Wickerworld series. Sarah’s eyes grew wistful, “That sounds like so much fun! I wish—”she lowered her head, “—never mind what I wish.” She got a bright smile.

  “So what are you doing, Sarah?” Kyle asked.

  “Working part-time and finishing up my PhD in forensic psychology. Oh, and one of the other companies approached me about doing some work on their music track for the next game,” Sarah told them. “They loved my song on Wickerworld.”

  Kyle tipped his beer up, took a swig and wiped his mouth before saying, “That’s great, Sarah, really. Damn! Now I’ll have to buy their soundtrack.”

  The other guests were arriving in great numbers, and Sarah looked around. “Guys, I’d better go mingle. I promised Nicole I’d meet her parents.” Sarah stood up and turned toward the door.

  Eamon was there with Martin and Andrea. Sarah couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see anything in the room except Eamon or hear anything except her heart pounding. All the defenses she had carefully built in her mind crumbled with a single look. She felt stripped naked, vulnerable and sad.

  Andrea took one look at Sarah’s face and almost ran to her, “Sarah,” she said on a bright note, hugging her. “Good to see you.” Andrea leaned near and whispered, “Look at me, Sarah, just look at me.”

  Sarah did and managed to find a stage smile, kissing the air by each of Andrea’s cheeks.

  Andrea whispered, “You okay now?”

  “Yeah,” Sarah said, but she wasn’t, not really.

  Andrea put an arm around Sarah’s waist. “Let’s get it over with then.”

  Together, they walked toward the table. For a moment, Sarah thought that he was going to make her walk the entire way but suddenly he was hurrying across the floor.

  Sarah held out her hand, “Hello, Mr. Byrne.”

  “Hello, Miss Adams. It is…really good to see you again.”

  “And you,” she managed to reply.

  Sarah let go of his hand and turned to Martin, “Hi, Martin.”

  Martin kissed her cheek. “Hello Sarah, are you sitting with us tonight?”

  “No, tonight I sit with the happy couple, and their families.” Her eye was caught by Nicole and John coming into the main room of the bar. “And if you all will excuse me, I think I see them now.”

  Sarah walked away without another glance until she reached the safety of Nicole’s and John’s group and ushered them to their table.

  Nicole leaned over. “You okay.”

  Sarah drank her water and pulled it together. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. This is your night Nicole.” Sarah took a page from her mom’s book and became the perfect hostess for her friends’ sake.

  At dinner, John’s best man gave the first toast. Then Sarah spoke telling everyone how kind generous, creative, intelligent and utterly right for one another John and Nicole were.

  “They helped me save the jobs of many of us with their talents, and then they saved my life. How can two people so gifted not be right for one another?” Sarah asked as she finished her spiel. “So please, raise your glass to the happy couple and let us wish them peace, long life and a love that lasts forever.” She turned to John and Nicole, raised her glass. “To the happy couple.”

  “To the happy couple!”

  Waiters quickly followed with the food before everyone could get drunk on an empty stomach, and after dinner, John and Nicole started the dancing. Everyone joined them in typical Gryphon fashion: dancing in pairs, in groups, with friends, with strangers. She was just coming back to the table from a dance when Eamon came to her side. She felt him before she saw him and turned. He’d lost the coat and tie a while back, and he looked...great.

  “Will you dance with me, Miss Adams?” He asked quietly, holding out his hand. When she hesitated, he said softly, “You promised me a long time ago, that if I asked you to dance, you would dance with me. Please, dance with me Sarah.”

  Sarah put her hand in his and he led her out to the floor. His arm went around her waist, but instead of holding
her arm out he folded it onto his chest where she could feel his heart beating under her hand. They picked up the rhythm of the slow sexy ballad; she felt his breath stir her hair and resisted the impulse to look into his eyes.

  “I miss you, Sarah,” he whispered. “I miss you every day.”

  “I miss you, too.” Sarah put her head down on his chest.

  “Please, come back to Gryphon—”

  Sarah had to look at him and her eyes were haunted. “Eamon, I love you. I can’t bear to watch…I can’t bear it; it isn’t enough and you know it. Please don’t make me cry in front of everyone,” she begged him softly.

  He lowered his head so that his lips were next to her ear. “Sarah…,”

  Sarah’s breath hitched as her control began to break.

  Somehow he knew. “Okay, I won’t.” Eamon smiled and held her away a little so that they could dance a little less passionately and more artistically. When the number ended, he escorted her back to the table. “Thank you, Miss Adams. It is always a pleasure to dance with you.”

  “The pleasure was mine, Mr. Byrne.” Sarah watched him walk away and sat back down. She remained awhile longer so that it wouldn’t appear that she’d run away once more, and then she said goodnight to Nicole and John and went home.

  He said, Redux

  Eamon watched Sarah leave the party, and it took all his willpower not to run after her and beg her to stay, but he’d already obligated himself to meet up with Heather, a woman he dated from time to time at his condo. Reluctantly he checked his watch and saw that it was time to go.

  Heather met him at the apartment and once inside began pulling off her clothes. Eamon started to reach for her and something clicked inside. I love you. I can’t bear to watch. I can’t bear it. Eamon stopped and stepped back. In his head, saw Sarah’s beautiful face and heard her broken whisper.

  Heather smiled and began to stroke him. “Aw, come on Eamon, let’s play.”

  She was beautiful and he appreciated that, but she wasn’t Sarah. Eamon took hold of her hand and removed it. “Sorry, Heather, but…I can’t…I don’t want this.” She took hold of him once more but he removed her hand again. “No,” he repeated. “I truly am sorry, and I don’t mean to ruin your evening, but I don’t want this, and doing it isn’t going to help either one of us tonight. Let me call the limo to take you home.”

  She started to protest, but she saw the look in Eamon’s eyes and she shrugged her shoulders. “Sure. Whatever.”

  He saw Heather to the limo and went back upstairs, stood in front of the windows and stared out into the night. He saw Sarah’s sad eyes as they looked up into his tonight. Then he remembered how happy he used to feel when he walked into the office every morning and saw her there, saw her smile, heard her laugh. He remembered how happy she was them. He remembered how nice it felt to dance with her, to hold her, to share some silly private joke. He ached remembering how sweet she smelled, how great she felt in his arms and how damn good he felt when he was inside her, being with her, being a part of her.

  So what do you want, Eamon? He asked himself. He didn’t want meaningless sex anymore. It left him empty, had left him empty for a long time now; but he had been too scared to admit it. He didn’t want his whole life to be his business either. So what do I want? He asked himself again but he already knew the answer. I want Sarah. I want to wake up next to her in the mornings and sleep beside her at night, and hold her when she cries and laugh with her when she’s happy and fight with her and make up again. I’ve been so stupid, so fucking stupid!

  He picked up his phone.

  “Martin here. What the hell—”

  “Marty. Wait. I know it’s late, but you have to help me. You have to tell me where she’s working.”

  “Talk to her —”

  “Marty, I need your help. I have to win my lady back. And to do that, I have to know where she’s working.”

  Martin heard the change in Eamon’s voice. “You mean it this time? You aren’t going to hurt her again are you?”

  “God no! You were right! I love her so damn much! My life is empty without her and I want Sarah back. Marty, please!” Eamon heard his friend sigh deeply.

  “All right, I’m in. So what’s the plan?”

  “Is she working at a law firm?”

  “Yeah, she is.”

  “Do you know someone there who will give us a hand?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Okay, Marty. Meet me first thing Monday morning because I have an idea….”

  How to Woo and Win a Lady

  Two weeks after the party, and Sarah had settled back down again after the emotional upheaval of seeing Eamon. She was still sad but calm and once more getting on with her life. Sarah got to work at around nine and buried herself in the ongoing crises of a big law firm when her desk phone rang.

  “This is Miss Adams. How may I help you?”

  It was her supervisor on the line, “Sarah, please meet me on the mezzanine level ASAP.”

  “Do I need to bring anything?”

  “No, just get down here.”

  “Be right there.”

  Wondering what new crisis had erupted, Sarah took an elevator down to the mezzanine level, a large open space above the lobby of the building. As the doors opened, two men in heavy armor took hold of her and started hustling her toward a large open set of stairs. “Hurry, my lady! Hurry, you are in danger! Korsmere has found your hiding place!”

  “Korsmere? Korsmere?” Sarah looked from one helmeted figure to the other as though they were insane. Korsmere was the arch villain who’d been introduced in the Wickerworld DLC. “Who are you?”

  Suddenly, someone dressed in a Korsmere costume came up the stairs flanked by a troop of armed men. Her guards began to fight, but they fell in mock death when assaulted.

  Then, Sarah remembered. In the DLC, Kiaria, the ingénue was captured by Korsmere. “Tie her up!” The Korsmere clone said. Sarah found herself bound with big red ribbons. Astounded and hopeful she gave herself over to the play. Music, game music, poured through some speakers followed by a large commotion in the lobby. Korsmere’s minions dragged her over to the wall so that she could see.

  Crowds gathered in the lobby, watching the show along with people who came out of the elevators and stood in the mezzanine. Then there was a flurry of people crowding into the lobby.

  “Kiaria, I’m coming!”

  Sarah knew that voice, his voice. Tears began to fall from her eyes and a smile lit up her face as Eamon, dressed in full rogue’s costume waved a sword around in the lobby. John, Martin, Nicole and the rest of the DLC team all dressed in full costume battled their way through the evil minions until Eamon and Korsmere stood face to face.

  “You shall not have her, Korsmere,” Eamon shouted drawing a knife in addition to his sword.

  “Come and take her if you’re able.”

  Eamon attacked. Sarah stood there, laughing and crying as Eamon and Korsmere fought a well rehearsed battle. When Korsmere fell, Nicole and John untied Sarah while Eamon came and knelt on one knee, his hood pushed back and sweat beading his forehead from the exertion.

  “My lady, are you well?” He asked, grinning from ear to ear eyes shining with humor and hope and something more.

  Sarah, crying a little, remembered the dialogue. “I am well now that you have come, Wanderer.” She replied, her voice catching a little.

  “I shall always come, for you are my world….” Eamon went off script then. He gathered Sarah into his arms, held her close, buried his face in her neck. “Sarah,” he whispered, “I love you.”

  She turned her head so that her lips were close to his ear. “You idiot. All you had to do was call.”

  Eamon laughed. “I wanted you to know that I love you so damn much I’d do anything for you, even make an ass of myself in front of God and everybody.”

  Sarah leaned back so she could see his eyes. “You’re not afraid anymore?”

  “The only thing I fear is not having y
ou by my side. The rest is…unimportant. Marry me, Gamer Girl?”

  Sarah smiled through her tears. “Oh baby, anytime, anyplace. I love you.”

  Eamon hugged her tight and then turned to face the people who were watching. “She said YES! YES!” he yelled. The crowd went wild.

  Afterword

  I’ve had people ask me if there are that many women out there playing video games. The answer is a definite – Yes! Almost half of all players of various video games are now women, and in the category of people “of a certain age” women actually outnumber men.

  The games women play are different from those men play for the most part, but the number of women who play role playing games or RPGs is steadily growing.

  I have done my best to portray the video gaming industry as accurately as I could from what research I could do, but I am certain that those who work in the industry or study it with an eye to becoming one of the members of its select company will find things I got wrong. Please be kind; I did my best and if you would share a correction with me (along with the appropriate data of course); I would be happy to make it right.

  I am a gamer girl. I love certain RPGs out there and always preorder the new titles that come out in my favorite series, like Dragon Age, The Elder Scrolls, and Mass Effect. It is very exciting to wait in line at midnight to claim your game and then go home and play until the sun rises! I think video games are a new art form in its infancy that promises fantastic new ways to be entertained in the future. I also think that some of the best new music can be found in video games, music you won’t hear anywhere else. If you don’t believe me just YouTube and search for “video game music,” and go listen for awhile.

  Here’s a list of techie acronyms and terms used in the book.

  AI (Artificial Intelligence)—the computer programming used to run Non-player characters (NPCs) in the game. It is the programming that tells them how to fight, how to respond, etc, in the game. In some games you can program your NPCs to fight the way you want them to fight.