Filed to story: Outplayed Story (Brooklyn & Ethan) Book PDF Free
‘It is though.’
‘I think he’s just shy. He seems like a nice guy.’
‘A nice guy … who likes you.’
Brook sighed. ‘I hope not, because that would be awkward. He’s really not my type.’ She tucked her bag back under the arm. ‘I’m off to get some lunch. Do you need anything?’
Kim made a face. ‘No. I brought soup from home. It’s a low-calorie day.’
While she was standing in the lunch queue, Brook’s phone beeped. It was an email from Niro to say that she’d taken some more photos of the bags. She’d sent a link to a shared Dropbox folder. Brilliant. She could choose a few of these and send them to Ethan to add to the crowdfunding site.
A follow-up message popped up from Niro.
I also found some photos of the full handbag collection that we took for fun. Useful for social media?
Brook typed back a message to say thank you. Sandwich in hand, she went back upstairs. As she turned to go into her office, it occurred to her that she should speak to Ethan in person rather than simply emailing him photos and demanding that he do stuff for her. He was doing her a huge favour after all.Ethan found Phil_the_Vicar’s video from SyrenQuest. It was still pretty long, but not the whole two hours. He set the playback to quadruple speed and kept his finger on the speed selector so that he could slow it down when something interesting happened.
He had just started watching when Pete came back with his lunch in hand and Kyle from the office opposite in tow.
‘I told Kyle we were watching the playback and he wanted to join. Is that okay?’ asked Pete.
‘Sure. Pull up a chair.’
Pretty soon, the three of them were sitting round Ethan’s computer absorbed in the gameplay. The game started off exactly the same as it had for Blaze and Bravura. Phil_the_Vicar’s team did the most cursory sweep of the ransacked hall before heading outside. When they came to the fork in the road, they chose the right one.
‘We- The one I watched chose the other path,’ Ethan said.
‘The one I was watching did too,’ said Pete. ‘They got attacked by these weird creatures with goofy faces and long claws.’
‘Murder sloths,’ Ethan muttered.
‘Ha! Yes. That’s a great name for them,’ said Pete.
He hadn’t thought of it. Bravura had. In his mind, Ethan tipped his hat to his blue elf companion.
He leaned forward, watching keenly to spot the differences. Part of him was studying the game as a player, the other part was trying to work out how they did it as a programmer. He was so engrossed that he didn’t even realise that they had company until Pete said, ‘Oh, hi, Brook.’
Ethan whipped his head round so fast that he almost cricked his neck. ‘Brook.’
She was standing by the door, looking awkward. ‘Er. Hi. I see you’re busy-‘
He stood up. ‘No, no, it’s fine. We’re just watching the replays of SyrenQuest.’
‘It’s this computer game competition that’s going on right now,’ Kyle said. ‘It’s a time trial elimination with-‘
Annoyance flickered across Brook’s expression. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘You told me when we all watched the announcement.’
‘Oh right, yeah,’ said Kyle.
‘Do you want to join us?’ asked Pete.
Ethan shot Pete a warning glance. He would have to have words with his assistant about stirring. Again. He looked towards Brook, torn between wishing she would stay, so that he could hang out with her, and wishing she’d go, so that he could concentrate.
‘Oh. I …’ Brook hesitated, her eyes were on the screen.
‘I think-‘ Ethan began.
‘Go on,’ said Pete. ‘It’ll be better than having lunch alone in your office, right? You might enjoy it. Move up a bit, Ethan.’
‘Oh, what the hell,’ said Brook. ‘As you say, I might enjoy it.’
Ethan fetched the last chair in the office and set it next to his own. He shot Pete a glare. Pete merely grinned back.
‘Here you go,’ Ethan said to Brook. ‘Don’t feel you have to stay, but you’re more than welcome.’
He returned to his seat and skipped the video back a few seconds to catch up. When he sat back, he was all too aware of Brook next to him. She was close enough that he could feel the movement when she brought her sandwich up to take a bite. He stared fiercely at the screen and tried to focus.
‘So, the object of the game is to get a key,’ said Kyle. ‘It’s a quest.’
Ethan risked a glance at Brook and saw her roll her eyes, her mouth too full of sandwich to respond. ‘I don’t think you need to explain it, Kyle,’ he said.
‘But Brook doesn’t play. How does she know what’s going on?’ said Kyle. ‘I’m just trying to be helpful.’
Ethan looked back at Brook, who put her hand on his arm briefly and shook her head. He couldn’t have spoken anyway. Any thoughts he had were drowned out by the sensation of her fingertips on his forearm.
Brook swallowed her mouthful. ‘I know what a quest is. But thanks.’ The look she gave Kyle was cold. She nodded to Ethan. ‘Shall we watch? If I have any questions, I’ll be sure to ask.’
They turned back to the screen. Soon they were all engrossed. Phil_the_Vicar and his partner found what looked like ponies. A shortcut! Damn. If they had gone that way, Blaze and Bravura would have saved all that time they’d spent fighting murder sloths.
‘That’s so unfair,’ said Pete.
Which was exactly how Ethan felt. He reminded himself that he was Ethan right now, not Blaze. But dammit. It was so unfair!
‘You’re just sore because Blaze didn’t get that,’ said Kyle.