"I know. Things had not been going well for a long time. After she moved to UCLA, we became more pen pals than girlfriend and boyfriend. I knew it was over, but I needed to see her face-to-face."
"And instead, you saw that," I said. The same cliff-falling feeling that had come over me was in Owen's eyes. The scene with Trent and John flashed in front of my eyes and I drained my glass of wine. Even then, the image still swum before my eyes. "She never thinks, thought about what other people might do or feel. Why couldn't she just be the bigger person and break up
with you?"
"Is that what you wanted Trent to do?" Owen asked.
"Yes, but that's totally different. He wants me to be the kind of girlfriend that understands he likes to have a little guy action on the side. He didn't even think it was cheating. Sienna knew she was cheating on you." I stood up, agitated.
"Sienna didn't want to break up because she liked the image of sweet collegiate girl with a high school sweetheart," Owen said. "And I wanted to visit to see if she had outgrown that yet or not. I got my answer and it was alright. We had been over for a long time."
"That's a terrible reason to keep dating someone and you just let her," I said.
"I know, but would you and I have kept talking if I wasn't with Sienna?" The question burned his throat more than the tequila and he cleared it a few times in a row. "Now, wait. This is supposed to be about you. Are you going to take him back?"
I went to pour more wine. My mind was sloshing around, but I tried to stay on topic. "I really liked him. He was a lot of fun. He was funny. He liked to do a lot of the things I like."
"Good grounds for a friendship," Owen said.
"Isn't that the best foundation for a real relationship?" I asked.
Owen poured another shot of tequila. "Does Trent play Dark Flag? Let me guess, is he the Boa I saw you bashing into the ground earlier?"
"No," I laughed. "Trent is not into video games. Now that I think about it, he hates video games."
"Good," Owen said. "Let's play."
CHAPTER SEVEN
Owen
It was hard to keep my mind on the game. Quinn bit her lip every time she tried a new sequence on the controller. It was adorable. No, that was not the right word for it. Seeing her strawberry lips bitten brighter was too delicious. Then they parted in a breathless little victory laugh every time the move worked. It made it impossible to keep my eyes on the screen.
"So, let me guess, you were just running around Dark Flag kicking butt and taking names when your phone rang," Quinn said.
"What?" I blinked and looked back at our avatars. We were on the crest above the Black Fields and my clan was starting to gather.
"When someone called and offered to sponsor your playing," she said. "Were you just sitting around in your boxer briefs playing at noon on Tuesday?"
"Stop talking about my underwear," I said. "I play fully dressed. What have I told you about gamer stereotypes?"
"That's not a gamer stereotype, it’s a guy thing. I know you all take your pants off the first chance you get." She nudged me with her elbow and laughed.
I could not tell her it was her pants I wanted to take off. "Are you asking me how I got my job?"
"Yes. Did someone just notice you were the rock star of online games and track you down?"
"No. It takes a little more than that," I said. "I know it’s hard to believe, but this is a real profession. I started off as a Beta Tester for a gaming company. Before that, I got all kinds of experience writing code. It’s taken years to get where I am."
"When did you learn to write code?"
"In high school. My part time job was to write the code for games other people were creating. It’s why I started to play video games so much," I said.
Quinn flipped back her wavy chestnut hair. "What's Beta testing?"
"It’s when a game is nearly finished. The creators need people to actually play it. Players uncover all the inconsistencies and bugs. Then, the creators go back and fix it all before wide release," I said.
"Is that why you know so much about Dark Flag?" Quinn bit her lip again as she tried a new spell.