"How are you so good at this?”
“Haha, I don’t know.”
It’s been raining for god knows how many hours. They got stuck in this skyscraper, which is the most dangerous spot they could be. They liked adrenalin though.
“Do you have a med-kit?”
“Oh yeah, sure.”
She looked at the pretty girl, and took the med-kit from her hand, with its monstrous hands.
“Why do you use this skin all the time?” the pretty girl asked.
“Well, it’s boring to be pretty.”
“How would you know? You look like this in real life too.”
The giant monster laughed.
“It seems like we’re stuck here, at least for 15 minutes. Gotta wait for the next circle.”
“Yeah. Can I ask something?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“How does the touch sensor work with this skin?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“What I mean is, like, you have a huge and weird hand. Where do you feel if I touch it?”
“I guess I’ll never know if you don’t touch me.”
Pink-haired girl walked slowly next to the orange and horrifying monster and touched its finger.
“I mean, that’s my finger too.”
“What about your lips?”
The giant monster cracked out a laugh.
“You don’t want to kiss me, right?”
“Maybe I do.”
Its green, reptilian eyes were almost cute, staring at the girl in front of it, with fear. It was almost like the huge monster was scared by this skinny girl in her 20s, at most. With one sweep of its hand, it could easily kill her.
The girl leaned in and left the softest kiss next to its mouth. The monster smiled.
“Well, that felt nice.”
“Was it on your lips?”
“Just next to it.”
—
“Zoe wake the fuck up. Right now.”
“I was in the middle of a fucking match.”
“Yeah sure you loser, you can kiss your duo some other time. You have a fucking photo shoot.”
“Oh shit.”
She instantly ripped her gaming suit, while her roommate stared at her, laughing.
“Stop, Mario.”
“You are so cute.” He kept laughing, in a sarcastic voice, “You don’t want to kiss me, right?” he said.
“Literally, leave me alone.”
“So, when do I get to meet your lover?”
“She’s not my lover!” Zoe burst.
She needed to be ready in ten minutes. She ran around the room, and put on some random clothes.
“How can you look hot in that outfit is insane to me.”
“I definitely do not look hot in these.”
“Sure thing supermodel.”
She got out of her flat’s door and took a deep breath. Then everything hit her.
She kissed her. They’ve been flirting here and there, gaming and spending time nearly every single day, but she thought the other girl was just having fun.
She wondered what she looked like in real life. Not that she’d care. She’d be still into her the same way. The thing she loved the most about this was she didn’t even know how she looked. How she sounded like.
There were a lot of reasons why she went with the monster skin. She felt like nobody was actually into who she was. People were telling her she was pretty. Maybe that was true, that’s how she got her job.
She kind of hated it.
The second reason was, that she was -lowkey- a celebrity, hence anyone in the game could pick up that it was her. The skin was muffling her voice. You could tell that she’d a female, but that’s it.
She watched the street from the window, while her cab was moving slowly in the traffic. Did she have actual feelings for her? She was thinking about her all the time when they were not together. All she knew was her name and age. That’s it.
And the stuff they probably tell no other, too. She hasn’t felt this comfortable with anyone since forever.
She entered the building, dodged all the magazine people at the entrance. She wondered for how many hours they waited there. For her. “That’s fucking stupid.” she whispered to herself.
She finished with the photo shoot. The famous photographer was one of the rare ones that made her comfortable in her photoshoots.
“Oh, the cover one looks amazing. Look!” he said, happily.
“Yeah, it looks really good.” Zoe replied.
“Working with you was amazing Zoe. I would like to invite you for dinner, a family dinner. No pressure.”
“Likewise. I’d love to but I need to check my schedule.”
“Are you available Tuesday evening? 8 PM or so?”
“Sounds good.” Well, that was her gaming date. I’ll tell her tonight she thought.
—
“Hi. Sorry for quitting like that. I forgot to do something really important and my roommate had to wake me up.”
“It’s okay. Don’t worry.”
She sounded a bit distant.
“Did something happen?”
“Nothing, why?”
“You seem a little bit, off.”
“I’m not.”
Was it about the other day? Zoe started feeling terrible. She regretted it, she thought.
“You know if it’s about the other day we can just forget about it.”
“Do you want to forget about it?” The pretty girl stopped, and looked at her.
“I don’t.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“I feel like I do. I feel like you know me better than anyone else too.”
“You don’t and I don’t either.”
“Okay.”
Zoe started fighting her tears, while they were looking for loot.
"I hear a squad I think."
"Where?"
"Right behind the rock, Northwest 80."
"Oh I see them."
Then the girl instantly got on the ground. Zoe started crying. "I can't do this anymore." she thought to herself. 3 people were pushing the little wooden cabinet.
"I'll save you."
"Why the fuck are you crying?"
"I'm not! I think my mic is bugging."
She was. Zoe was embarrassed of herself, she couldn't even distinguish what is real and what isn't. The door explode from the grenade they threw, one guy rushed in the cabinet. She bit her head off. Then she killed 2 of them jumping from the window, instantly.
"Holy shit! That was insane, I fucking love you!"
"Thanks." She smiled, still crying.
"Why didn't you say it back?"
"Huh?"
"Nevermind. I got to go. Good game."
Zoe took her suit off and cried herself to sleep.
---
While she was waiting for the door to open, she looked at the pink flowers she bought. The color suddenly reminded of her. Zoe started thinking about the other day. She knew she had to let go of this, so badly.
"Hi Zoe, come on in!"
"Hi, I bought these for you."
"Thank you, you are so sweet, I hope you are not vegan because we have beef wellington."
"I'm not, all good."
The photographer and Zoe walked in the giant house, they sit on the dining table.
"My daughter should be joining us soon. I think she was doing her homework."
"Oh okay."
The photographer went to the hallway, then the chef kindly asked for her starters. "This guy literally hired a chef." she thought to herself.
The photographer and blonde haired girl approached the table. The girl said something to her father, and went to the bathroom.
"Being a single parent is hard sometimes." the photographer said to Zoe.
"I'm sorry for your loss again."
"It's okay. She's been moody lately, don't take it personally please."
"She's a teenager, right? It's completely fine." Zoe replied.
"She's been gami- Oh here she is!"
"Hi." the girl introduced herself.
Zoe completely froze in her seat. She heard that. Hundreds of times before. This wasn't real. She was just having a bad dream. She pinched herself under the desk.
"You should be Zoe right? Wow. You are even prettier in real life."
She wanted to kill herself. Right now.
"Yes, hi. Nice to meet you. What's your name?" Her voice was shaking.
"Emma." She replied.
Zoe couldn't look into her eyes. This was not happening. No. She didn't fall in love with a fucking teenager, through a fucking game. This wasn't real.
The chef started serving their meals. Zoe knew she could not eat right now. She was sick to her stomach. Then she looked at her. She had long, blonde hair. Blue eyes, big and ugly glasses somehow looked cute on her.
Zoe needed to leave.
"By the way, I need to go in 30 minutes, I promised my friend to play."
"Oh well, she won't be coming." Zoe thought to herself.
"Emma games a lot." The photographer said, smiling.
"Hmm." said Zoe, and she pretends to be an adult online too. She did not say that part, of course.
"Which games do you play?" Zoe asked, like she didn't know.
"Oh, I play twinflamez a lot. It's a battle royale game." Emma replied, still looking at her plate.
"Never heard of it." Zoe said.
"I mean, people at your age don't play that much." The girl looked up at her.
Zoe wanted to laugh, cry, slam the desk, toss the plates around. She didn't. She smiled.
"I need to use the bathroom girls, I'll be back." The photographer said. "Please don't leave." Zoe cried, internally. As soon as the man left, Emma started staring at her.
"You sound really familiar." she said.
"I do?"
"Yeah."
"Probably a lot of people sound like me. That might be why."
"Can I ask you something?" No you can't, Zoe thought.
"Yeah, go on."
"I heard that you are gay. From the internet, you know. I've been trying to come out to my father and since you know him, do you think he'll be okay with it?" she asked, whispering.
Zoe coughed. "I'm pretty sure he will be." she replied.
"Sorry if I made you uncomfortable in any way."
"You didn't."
"I have to go right now, nice meeting you Zoe." She got up from the chair, started walking towards the hallway.
"Nice to meet you too, have fun deathwish99." Zoe said, behind her.
The girl stopped walking.
