Z Day -

  [FYI, the last number was correct. Also, I’m not doing this anymore. -Rhiannon]

  JAMES

  The rest of the summer between my sophomore and junior years was literally magical. I saw Shae nearly every day. She’d come pick me up and take me to a new place. I still got sick occasionally after our more intimate visits, and I was briefly afraid I’d picked up some sort of STD from her. But after a couple of weeks, those symptoms faded, and I forgot about them.

  School started back up, and my days with Shae became less frequent. She’d somehow arranged with her work to be in Austin for the summer. But now, she was back to work and constantly coming and going.

  A month passed, and I somehow convinced her to go to a Sci-Fi convention with me in Dallas for the weekend. I’d told my mother I was staying up there with “the guys,” as I didn’t think she’d approve of me being in another city with Shae. It wasn’t a total lie; Mark and Trent were there, just not in the same room as us.

  I'd exposed Shae to my ultimate geek side at the con. I explained the dealer's room, how panels worked, the cosplay contest, and gaming. I did have to explain hentai tentacle porn to her, which was one of the weirder conversations we’d ever had. She’d caught sight of it in one of the after-hours video rooms and couldn’t wrap her head around it.

  I’d shown her the role-playing games, and while she enjoyed the storytelling aspect, in her words, she didn’t have the “imagination” to keep her interested in the game itself. She enjoyed the war-gaming more as she could see everything going on, but there were too many rules, and it took an hour to do two minutes of a fight.

  More than anything else, Shae enjoyed the dance on Saturday night, even if it was my most uncomfortable event.

  At the end of the weekend, I felt I’d given Shae a good indoctrination to all things geek.

  Things were going well. It should have been a warning, but I was too young to realize it.

  “So, how are things going with you and…Shae?” Liam asked, grabbing a soda from his mini-fridge.

  I turned from the window of Liam’s dorm room and looked at him. “Good, things are good.”

  Liam was the oldest of our little group now. He’d run into Trent at one of the local comic book shops, and they got to talking. Before long, he was hosting our gaming sessions as well as carting those of us without cars around.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  Mark laughed, “I’d say, considering how you two were acting last weekend.” He was leaning back in a chair around the small table covered with maps and metal miniatures depicting monsters.

  “Don’t start with that,” I said, looking back out the window, hoping to see Trent’s car so we could get started.

  Trying to schedule a gaming session was always hard with our various schedules. Trent had full-time work now that he’d graduated, Liam had full-time college, and Mark and I still had various high school activities.

  “All I’m saying is y’all were pretty cozy all weekend,” Mark said.

  “Oh?” Liam said. “Now I wish I could have gone to the con.” Turning to Mark, “What did I miss?”

  “Let’s just say the two of them were inseparable, especially in their own room,” Mark leered.

  “You had a private room, just the two of you?” Liam’s eyebrows rose.

  I didn’t look from the window as I could feel my cheeks burning.

  “Sounds pretty serious. When do I get to meet this mystery woman?” Liam asked.

  I liked Liam. He was always calm, easy to talk to, and took his time before adding to a conversation. His intuition was incredibly sharp. He had this habit of guessing a TV show’s plot five minutes in, and the annoying part was he was always right.

  “Just come to the park,” Mark said. “She’s there all the time now.”

  “I might just do that,” Liam said. “Or, you might consider asking her to join us one of these evenings.”

  When I didn’t say anything, Liam continued.

  “You know that girls do play these types of games, don’t you?” Liam said.

  Mark laughed, “Not that I’ve seen.”

  Liam smiled at Mark, “You don’t count.”

  “What? Why not?” Mark asked.

  “How often do you go out to places where there is gaming out in the open?” Liam asked.

  “Well—”

  “This past weekend, you went to a convention that had gaming. How many women did you see playing?” Liam calmly asked.

  “Uh…actually, now that you mention it. There were several,” Mark frowned in thought.

  “There are a lot here on campus as well. Check the commons sometime. It's open to everybody. There are games going on there all the time, and plenty of girls take part.” Liam turned to me, “So how about it? Want to invite her along sometime?”

  I turned and walked over to my chair before flopping down. “Yeah, she’s not into role-playing so much.”

  “What about wargaming? I could always set something up. Or just a board game,” Liam pressed.

  “OK-OK, I’ll introduce you,” I said, shaking my head.

  “Why so reluctant? You ashamed of your girlfriend or something?” Liam asked.

  Mark snorted with laughter.

  “What?” Liam looked at Mark.

  “Wait till you meet her. It's more like she should be ashamed to be seen in public with James here,” Mark laughed.

  “Oh?” Liam turned to me with an almost fatherly expression. “Did someone out of your league take an interest?”

  I felt my cheeks burning again and grabbed my soda to try and cover my embarrassment.

  “Out of his league?” Mark scoffed. “She’s not in his galaxy, Liam.”

  I shot a glare at Mark and considered a rude hand gesture.

  Liam leaned closer to me with a serious expression on his face. “James, there’s no such thing as ‘out of your league.’ That’s something bad writers made up. Anybody can care for anybody. It doesn’t matter their class, race, age, or even sex. Love is love, man. If you’ve found it, cherish it.”

  Just then, the door opened, and Trent came in.

  “Oh, thank Christ!” Mark said.

  “Sorry I’m late, I had—” Trent stopped in the doorway, reading the strange tension in the room. “What I miss?”

  “Nothing, Trent, just Liam’s love lessons for James here,” Mark said.

  “Oh?” Trent said, closing the door.

  “Just wait,” Liam looked at Mark, “your time will come.”

  “Can we just game?” I said, grabbing my dice bag and hoping to avoid any more discussion of my love life.

  “Sure,” Liam grinned broadly at me before turning to Trent as he sat down and opened his backpack. “What’s your opinion on women in gaming, Trent?”

  “Oh, come on!” I groaned.