Filed to story: Outplayed Story (Brooklyn & Ethan) Book PDF Free
‘It wasn’t so bad …’ Niro began.
Something flashed on the screen. Her phone buzzed at the same time.
‘What’s that?’
‘The game chat, I think.’ Brook flipped her visor down and opened the chat. There was a message from Blaze.
Hi. It’s pretty overwhelming being filmed, huh? Don’t worry. You’ll be a natural in no time. Just pretend that the only people around are your friends. Chat a bit. Keep it light. Maybe practise the fight moves before round one. Looking forward to working with you. B
She knew that the same message would be on the chat app on her phone.
‘What does it say?’ Niro nudged her.
Brook realised that the chat messages weren’t displayed on the TV screen. She read it out loud.
‘That’s nice of him, trying to put you at ease,’ Niro said.
‘Especially after I was so bad.’
Niro gave her a hard look. ‘You have to stop beating yourself up about not being instantly good at things.’
Brook shook her head. ‘I need to practise quite a lot so that I don’t let him down.’ Carefully, she switched the headset off and removed it. ‘I was hoping to spend the evenings doing more research for my Shanthi Bags pitches. Maybe I should start going in to work early, so that I can have the evening as game time-‘
‘Uh-huh. So, are you going to reply to him?’
She should message him back. He had been so kind. It would be churlish to stay quiet just because she was embarrassed at making an idiot of herself. When Brook didn’t respond, Niro said, ‘You have to reply to him. Come on! This is your chance to chat one to one.’
‘What do I say?’
‘I don’t know. “I’m looking forward to working with you too” maybe?’
Brook opened the chat app on her phone and typed that out. She added,
I’m sorry I was so clumsy. I’ll do better next time. ‘Should I say anything else?’
Niro shrugged. ‘Such as?’
‘I … don’t know.’ She stared at the lines that she’d typed. It would have to do. ‘I’m going to send this before I chicken out.’ She hit send and closed her eyes.
There was no reply from Blaze. Of course not. There wasn’t anything else to say. ‘I should have asked him a question,’ she said. ‘Don’t worry, that might have looked a little weird anyway.’ Niro tilted her chin towards the game console. ‘Are you going to practise tonight?’
Brook looked at the headset and sighed. ‘I should, but I told Ethan I’d think about how to make the crowdfunding site more personal.’ She collected the headset and wrapped it up in its original bubble wrap. ‘I really need to do that.’Ethan opened his chat app to catch up on his messages.
There were a few from his friend Flick, who was another pro-gamer on SyrenQuest. He had known Flick through game chats for a while. About two years ago, he had met her at a convention and they’d got on well in real life.
Flick:
So, how’s your newbie? Any good?
Blaze:
No. Bloody awful. Yours?
Flick:
Not bad TBH. Fast. Decent reflexes.
Blaze:
Yeah, I’m going to be out of this in round one.
Flick:
Haha. You’ll just have to be good enough for both of you.
Blaze:
Like I said. Round one max. She’s awful.
Flick:
I hope you didn’t tell her that! This is just a paid gig for you, but to a newbie this must be terrifying.
Blaze:
Of COURSE I didn’t tell her that! What do you take me for?!
Flick:
You’re being uncharacteristically grumpy, that’s all.
Blaze:
Sorry.