Filed to story: Outplayed Story (Brooklyn & Ethan) Book PDF Free
Brook opened the bag and breathed in, just to see if it held any leftover memories. No. This one was too new. Brook herself had used it more often than her mother had. The thought reminded her of Ethan, for some reason. She turned around to Niro. ‘You know what Ethan said? He said I was afraid of the business succeeding and I was pulling my punches. I’m starting to wonder if he’s right.’
Niro stretched her legs out and shifted position so that she was leaning against the bed. ‘Okay. How so?’
‘I think …’ Brook said quietly. ‘I’m afraid of two things. One is that I’ll let my mum down somehow if I fail and the other is that my dad will be upset with me when he finds out I left my “safe” job to do this.’ She paused. That wasn’t the whole story, was it? ‘And that I used Amma’s name for the bags.’
‘He might not be.’ Niro got her phone out and started tapping.
Brook rolled her eyes. ‘Of course he will be. All my life it’s been “study hard, Brooklyn; get a stable job, Brooklyn; work hard, Brooklyn”. Starting my own craft-based small business is pretty much as far from getting a stable job as you can get.’
‘Yes, but-‘
‘
And
I named it after Amma.’
Niro wrinkled her nose. ‘Okay. I can see how that would play badly. Does he still not talk about her?’
Brook shook her head. ‘Only on the anniversary of her death. When we go to the temple.’
Niro clicked her tongue. ‘You’re going to have to tell him at some point.’
‘I know. But I want it to be when the company is successful.’ She tipped her head back. ‘Which it won’t be, at the rate things are going.’
‘How about your brothers? What did they say?’
She hadn’t told them either. She looked at her feet.
‘Oh, Brook. You have to tell them. They might be able to help bring your dad round.’ Niro shook her head. ‘You know, I think I see where this Ethan guy was coming from. It’s almost like you’re hoping you don’t make it so that you don’t have to tell them and have the awkward conversation.’
Which, when Brook heard it said out loud, sounded so stupid. ‘Ethan is right, isn’t he? I’m not giving it my all because success scares me almost as much as failure. Oh crap.’
‘I don’t know about pulling your punches, but if you mean you have to come clean to your family and face the music, then yes. He’s right.’
Brook looked back up at the handbags. ‘I guess I need to own this. If I don’t give it my all, I’ll regret it. This is my tribute to Amma. I’m going to use it as my memorial to her. But it’s also about me giving myself a chance to do something I think is worthwhile. I’m tired of working myself to the bone for other people.’
‘But you’re going to have to tell your dad.’
Brook nodded. ‘I will. I’m seeing them next week – after the convention, and after my presentation on Monday morning. Hopefully, by then, I’ll have worked out a good way to explain it to them. If I could get the crowdfunding to work, then it would be so much easier because I could show them how many people want the product.’
Niro pulled earbuds out of her pocket and popped one in her ear. ‘Uh-huh.’
Brook turned. ‘Are you even listening to me?’
Niro waved a hand at her, eyes down on the phone. ‘Just a second. Oh, wow. That was fast.’
‘What?’
Niro shushed her. ‘Just a sec.’ Her eyes widened. ‘Oh, boy.’
‘What?’ Brook scrambled over to her cousin and peered at the screen, just in time to see a YouTube clip come to an end.
‘Here.’ Niro put the sound on and played it back.
The title screen appeared. ‘Blaze and Bravura flirting for two minutes straight.’ Oh.
The clip was culled from Blaze’s gameplay videos and it swept through their friendship – Bravura looking starstruck on day one, Blaze being annoyed at how slow she was, his giving her an amused smile, her hauling him up onto the monolith, the two of them holding each other steady at the top of the monolith, his saving her from the vines, her giving him her health potion. A romantic soundtrack had been added, making it look every bit a love story.
‘Oh no. How embarrassing.’ Brook stared at the comments underneath as Niro scrolled through them. ‘Still, it’s better than the “she’s rubbish, she deserves to die” stuff I’ve been seeing lately.’
‘Definitely.’
Niro put ‘Blaze and Bravura’ into the search bar.
‘It’s not the only one.’ Niro showed her the other titles: ‘Blaze and Bravura, a love story’, ‘Bravura being in love with Blaze’, ‘#Blazevura’. ‘I hate to say this, but it looks like you guys are a Thing.’
‘We’re not. I mean, he … he doesn’t know me. He’s going to be so annoyed.’ She pulled her knees up and hugged them to her. She didn’t know how she felt. Part of her was delighted. She had loved Blaze from afar for so long. Just meeting him online had been a source of delight to her, but … she had never dared contemplate that he might return those feelings.
‘Hey, you okay, Brook?’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t know. Do you think Blaze feels anything for me? I mean … he’s definitely mellowed towards me since our first game.’
Niro gave her a sly grin. ‘You did save him. He’s bound to be impressed.’
‘And he gave me his hand to help me up. Even though it was just our avatars and it was a pointless thing to do …’ She knew she shouldn’t get her hopes up, but she couldn’t help it.
Niro laughed. ‘I wish I was coming to the con with you next weekend! I’d love to see what happens when you meet in real life!’
‘We won’t really meet as we are, will we? I’ll be Bravura. I’ll look different.’
‘So? You’re still you. I mean Bravura looks a little more … out there. But essentially, you’re still the same person. It’s not like you’ve invented a whole different personality to be online. He’s probably exactly the same.’ She gestured to the screen. ‘According to half of YouTube, you guys have chemistry together online – so who knows what will happen when you meet in the flesh.’
‘If he really looks like his avatar, I’ll just die of happiness,’ Brook said. ‘I’m pretty much in love with him already, regardless of what he looks like.’