Chapter Thirteen
Morgan
As soon as I close the door behind us, I drop his hand before I can really let myself think about the fact that I was just holding his hand. The fact that he had a firm grasp on mine and his hand was warm was…well, it was just...nice.
"Sorry about them. They mean well, but Ruby is nosy. Actually, I'll probably be getting a text from her any moment now," I say as we start walking toward the elevators at the end of the hall.
He chuckles and says, "It's ok, we probably would have had the...”, and the whistle of my phone interrupts his thought, and he laughs, "Well Simon and Link would have done the same thing. They wouldn't have interrogated you. They would have tried to make me look like an idiot in front of you, though. Nice text tone, by the way.”
I chuckle, and I pull my phone from my purse. “It takes everything in me not to shout, ‘I volunteer!’ every time I hear it,” I say as I read the text.
Ruby: I was just going to say, that it sounded like your kind of date. ;) You two lovebirds have fun!
I smile and show him the phone so he can read the text himself when it vibrates in my hand to indicate another incoming text. He reads it with a smile. I quickly pull my phone away and read the new text.
Ruby: Also, lover boy looks totally hot tonight. Kiss, kiss!
Oh, my God. I know I'm blushing now, and I know he is looking at me. We enter the elevator at this point, and I don't really know what to say. I open my mouth but close it, not finding the right words immediately. Then I decide on, "So where are we eating?"
He shoves his hands in his pockets after pushing the first-floor button. "Well, what sounds good? We can go anywhere you'd like? Probably not somewhere we have to have a reservation, though, we might have to wait a while. Do you want a burger, or Italian, or Mexican? We could find a steak place too, if you want, or even pizza."
"Well, that all sounds fine. I do love Mexican food, but pizza sounds excellent, right now," I reply.
"Ok, I know a place. It has some of the best pizza in town. It has both deep dish and New York style, but it's in an arcade. Would that totally ruin the mood of our date? Would your friends disapprove?" He sounded really excited at first when he brought up the pizza, but I can tell now he’s worried I'm going to hate the idea of an arcade.
I laugh a little because, for one, he is worried about what Ruby and Gia will think, and two, it actually sounds like a really fun time.
"I think that that sounds like a great idea. I haven't been in a lot of arcades, so if we go there to eat, we have to play some games. Oh, do they have skee-ball? I love skee-ball!" I add with excitement.
"They most definitely have skee-ball."
As the elevator dings, and the doors slide open I add, "Oh, and Dex, it doesn't matter what Ruby and Gia think." He smiles and says ok, and then he holds an arm out for me to take.
We get to his car, and he opens the door for me. I slide into the passenger side seat of some kind of small SUV. As I look around I see that it’s a Ford, maybe an Explorer. It's nice and clean inside, and it smells like him. I take a deep breath right as he climbs into the car.
"So, Mike's Pizza is only about twenty minutes from here," he says, starting the car.
"Good, because like I said, I’m so hungry I could eat a cow," I reply. I can make fun of myself. Sometimes.
He laughs, “I like a girl with a healthy appetite.” He shoots me a quick glance and with a boyish grin adds, “I mean, as in food. I like a girl who has a healthy appetite for food.”
I can tell he didn’t mean that in a sexual way, but the fact that he tries to cover it up makes me smile. Then there is a sudden twitch deep in my belly that immediately has me thinking about what it would be like to have his hands all over me…
Calm down, Morgan! We are only five minutes into the date, I tell myself.
I mentally curse away the blush and lean in toward him and with a sly and flirty smile, “I knew what you were talking about, Dex.”
About thirty minutes later, we find ourselves sitting at a table for two in the center of the arcade. We ordered our pizza and drinks at the front counter and then snagged up one of the only available tables left. I expected a lot more family and kids, but there are a lot more college-age groups here. There isn't much light, but there’s enough over the eating area.
The outside walls are lined with arcade games, and there are several rows of more games toward the back of the room. The table is small but clean and is set with everything you'd find on the table of a pizza place; crushed red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese stashed to the side. Our numbered card is put in the tall card holder in the middle of the table. Our drinks come out in clear plastic cups, but it looks like we’ll be using real plates and flatware, not paper and plastic.
"So, what do you think?" he asks.
"It's like a big kid Chuck E. Cheese! I've already spotted the skee-ball machines," I say a little giddy. "I used to beg my parents to take me to Chuck E. Cheese when I was a kid. I just hope the pizza is better here!"
"I promise, the pizza is amazing, but I remember the pizza being pretty good at Chuck E. Cheese’s, though. Although, I'm an equal opportunist when it comes to pizza. I've never met a pizza I didn't like," he says.
"Hmm, you've got a point. Pizza is pizza, and pizza is good."
"Remind me sometime to tell you Link's thoughts on pizza and sex," he says as the breadsticks he ordered arrive.
Dammit. That twitch of electricity deep in my belly is back, and now all I want to think about is sex with Dex. And this is our first date. I can tell that he’s thinking about it too—he’s staring at my mouth. I bite my lip as I try to hide my smile, and he lets out a slow, steady breath.
"So how did you and Link become friends? Was it through the video game scene?”
He seems to snap out of his daze on my lips and smiles at me like it's funny that I just called it the "video game scene." I don't know what else to call it, though.
"No, Link has been my best friend since, like, kindergarten. We grew up together. We spent our time playing video games, and so it's always been our thing."
"What about Simon, did you know him before you joined the team? Actually, how did you get on a professional video gaming team?"
"I didn't know any of the team before we started playing together. We all get along really well, which is actually why we all live in the same apartment building. It's vital for teams to get along and have good relationships. We have to practice a lot so we spend a lot of time together."
"That’s cool. You live with Link and Simon. But Link isn't on the team."
"No, he was on the team for a while, but he wanted to focus on other things. And to answer your other question; I was contacted by our manager, John. Do you remember him from the club? He reached out and said he was starting a team and wanted me on it. He also reached out to Simon, and then the three of us found Ben and Bernadette. Link joined at that point, more out of the need to round out the team."
"When did you all became a team? Did you guys always plan on making it a full-time thing?" I ask as the pizza is brought to our table, and oh my God, it looks amazing. We each grab a piece, and he continues.
"Not at first. To start, we were not all here in the same area. So it was more of a digital thing. We entered some tournaments, met up a few times a year, but when we started winning a lot and gaining momentum, we began seeking out sponsors. By the time I graduated from college, we had some pretty big sponsors and were able to make this a full-time thing."
"I don't know a lot about video games, so I hope you don't mind all my questions, but it seems that you lead a pretty interesting life, Dex.”
He looks at me with this really thoughtful smile, cocks his head and says, "I can’t complain, but there’s always room to make it more enjoyable. Also, you can ask me anything—whenever you want." I blush, look down at my plate, and realize that I need another piece. I've already consumed a few breadsticks and a slice of pizza. I still have room for at least another one of these massive pieces of amazing pizza.
"So, you told me that you and Gia moved here from Indiana after college. Do you still go home and visit your family?"
The bite of pizza I'm chewing slides down my throat like a heavy rock. The family question. I hate the family question. It always makes for an awkward moment of that sympathetic look on the other person’s face. I take a drink to wash away the pizza before I tell him, "I don't go back home much at all. Once or twice a year, maybe. My dad and I aren’t really close anymore. He works… a lot."
"You aren’t close anymore? But you were at one point?"
I inwardly sigh. "Yeah, before my mom died." I see the instant sadness in his eyes. "When I was sixteen, she died of cancer. My dad didn't handle it well. He threw himself into work. I was on my own a lot. Well, if it weren't for Gia, I would have been on my own. When I went to college, I thought he would realize that he missed me and want to be around more, but his work habits didn't change. I didn’t go home much. That's when I decided that I didn't need to stay in Indiana. I could go anywhere I wanted. Since Gia is a writer, she could freelance anywhere, so we moved here, to Chicago. I actually really love it here."
I don’t know when he did it, but his hand is resting on my knee under the table. It was like my body was in its own little world while I was sharing. Now it's playing catch up, and those little butterflies are awake, and I don't want him to move his hand.
"I'm sorry to hear about your mom, Morgan. And I'm sorry you don't get to see your dad much, but it sounds like you are very lucky to have Gia, and for selfish reasons I'm really glad you are here in Chicago." He says this all with the most genuine look on his face. He gives my knee a squeeze and removes his hand.
Now I’m cold. The warmth of his hand is gone, and now my knee is just cold, and the butterflies go still.
"What about your family? Do you see them a lot?"
"Yes, I'm from Naperville. It's about an hour away from the city, so I see them often. I have an older brother, Wade, who lives in Chicago, too. We go home and spend the day with our parents at least once a month." The look he gets on his face when he talks about his family melts my heart.
"That's great. Are you close to your brother?"
"Yeah, he's a couple years older than me, so we get along pretty well," I smile at the thought of a sibling, I always wanted a little brother or sister. I've finished my last bite of pizza, and I look around. There are not many people still at the tables eating, and that's when Dex says, "Are you ready to play some skee-ball?"
"I thought you’d never ask,” I say with mock seriousness.