Senior Year Memories Ch. 40

"We set up downstairs?" Tori asked.

"Oh, yeah, definitely, the game room's all set up, moved all the junk away into my room so I don't look like I keep things a total mess down there, haha... okay, right, yes, we're down there, the others are all here and ready to start pre-gaming..." Katie said, her voice bright and bubbly and every bit as cute as she was as she looked from her friends to me again.

"Excellent, we'll get set up down there," April said, cocking her head for Tori and me to follow her.

"Oh, duh, hello, Katie!" she announced, putting a hand to her forehead as if she'd almost forgotten something, before looking at me. "Actually, can I borrow Ryan for a few seconds? Okay, maybe more of a few minutes? I've got all sorts of people vouching for you, and I completely trust them, because they're my friends and I listen to them, but I still wanna get to know you before we get to playing anything, can I ask a few questions?"

Seeing my skeptical gaze, Tori asked, "Is that really necessary, Katie?"

Katie looked almost embarrassed. "Oh, no, I'm not going to be mean or anything, no asking questions about flipping tortoises over and why you're not helping them or anything like that, it's just... there's a nerdy guy I don't know who's gonna be in my house while my parents are out, playing one of my favorite games with some of my friends, and I just don't know him and I want to know him like you know him so I'll, you know, know him?"

Tori smirked. April rolled her eyes at her girlfriend.

Wanting to keep the peace and make this a fun night for everyone, even if I was feeling suddenly quite nervous, I said, "Sure. Question away. You guys get set up downstairs, and we'll catch up to you?"

"Okay..." April said, a little worried for me.

"Holler if you need a barbarian's aid," Tori said proudly, taking the snacks from my arms and following April further into the house.

While I probably should've felt more nervous about being on the spot with a girl I barely knew, this wasn't the case. Putting off D&D (and any subsequent humiliation that may occur on my part therein) a little bit longer felt freeing, and if it meant getting interrogated by the absolutely adorable Katie... well, I was willing to put off game night a little longer.

"I don't wanna make this weird or anything, so, you know, just relax, I just want to get to know you and what you think about a few things," Katie said, leading me toward her living room couch.

I sat down, soon to be joined by her, and had the strange sense that I might well have been at a job interview.

"What kind of things?" I asked.

A faint hint of nervousness snuck into Katie's smile, before she grinned broadly. "Well, it's like, I know you're a nerd, and *you* know you're a nerd, and I'm a nerd and I know what kind of nerd I am, but I don't know what kind of nerd you are and I just wanna know that so I know what kind of night we're all looking forward to, okey dokey?"

There was every chance this was leading somewhere sexy, or every chance this might well have been a moment to simply talk nerdy with her. Either way, I was willing to see where this would go.

"Alright, then fire away," I said.

"Okay... who shot first?" Katie asked.

I grinned at the softball question. "Easy. Han."

"Duh," she replied, giggling slightly. "Playstation, Xbox or PC?"

This one took a little more thought, and a lot more qualification.

"Playstation for the exclusives... PC for just about everything else," I admitted.

"Not bad... not bad... I don't know if I agree with that, but, the points are compelling..." Katie said, looking at me like she was checking off boxes in her head. "Marvel or DC?"

"Both have some pretty good comics... and some bad comics... but for other media, I'd say Marvel for their movies, and DC for their TV shows," I replied.

She looked a little surprised at me. "Not a Zack Snyder bro?"

I laughed. "God, no. His Justice League was an improvement on Whedon's... but that doesn't mean it didn't also suck. It just sucked in different ways. Do I look like a Zack Snyder bro?"

"I don't think there's a particular look for that, but you check off some of the recurring boxes," Katie said, noncommittal. "But if that's not a problem, that's not a problem, and we can keep going! In that spirit, if I were to ask you who played the best Batman, you'd say?"

"Kevin Conroy," I replied, easily.

"Nice," she said, grinning. "Star Wars or Star Trek?"

"I've never really watched Star Trek in any seriousness, so I'm gonna have to say Star Wars by default, though that one's always been a little all over the place," I said.

Katie looked a little wounded by my answer. "Well, if you're ever up for a primer on where to start with Star Trek, believe me, I can get you started down that particular rabbit hole with a few hundred of their best episodes. But once you fall down, there's no getting back out again."

"I'll take your word for it," I replied.

"Who do you think should've sat on the Iron Throne in the end of the show?" she asked, quickly and looking a little more nervous as she changed the subject.

"Jon Snow would have been ideal in a cliched way, but... I'm going to say Sansa. She earned it better than anyone else left alive at the end, I'd say," I said, looking at her and getting the impression that a lot of this questioning was a smokescreen, a leadup to whatever Katie actually wanted to ask me. I saw that her nervousness was starting to rival my own when I'd first entered her house, and I was hoping for her sake that she would soon get to whatever it was she actually wanted to ask me.

Thankfully, that wouldn't be very far off.

"When you look at me... do you think I like anime?" Katie asked.

This wasn't quite what I would have expected her to ask. "I really can't say."

"Why not?" she asked, somewhat defensive.

"Because I really can't tell. I don't really know much about anime myself, so unless your t-shirt is a reference to something, I couldn't tell you with any certainty what you do or don't like just by looking at you now, because there's an equal chance the answer could be yes or no. Why?" I asked.

Katie sighed, letting out a great breath of greater annoyance. "Because a lot of nerdy guys I've known have seen me, cute little Korean geek girl, and think that entitles them to imprinting their stupid erotic fantasies on me and that means I must be totes into anime, which I'm not, by the way. I've tried, it just never stuck, and when I tell them exactly that, it's like they're offended because I don't like what they like and they either try to make me like what they like or get get all pushy and icky gatekeepery and qualifying shit about how they don't like seeing girls or POC or LGBTQ representation, not that they don't mind porn of all of that, and not that there's anything wrong with some good, responsible porn, god knows I've got my favorites, like this clip I was watching the other day with these two blondes where... where was I? Oh, right, hello, Katie! A lot of nerdy guys I've known don't want anyone who doesn't look or think exactly like them in their media and... you're not getting pushy and icky on any of that, so... yeah. Sorry. Don't want to be weird or ranty, but, bad experiences... make it necessary... you don't seem like a bad experience."

"I try not to be," I said, wanting to give her some space while also wanting to be a sympathetic ear. I knew enough from comments sections that I wasn't a fan of a lot of other nerds out there, but it was one thing to know I didn't like it from reading it, and it was another to have lived it like she clearly had.

"I know you're not, your friends say you're not, I just... I had to know because they like you, and I wanna like you, and I think I will, it's just... yeah," she said, sighing heavily. "Sorry for the grilling."

"I'm not," I replied, smiling sympathetically. "You gotta do what you gotta do to make sure you're bringing the right people into your house so you can have fun. God knows I don't want to be bringing assholes into my comfort place."

"Right?" Katie said, laughing slightly as it seemed she fell into a state of greater ease. "Thank you... for your patience, and, you know, getting this. I just had to be sure, and now I'm feeling silly and... I forgot where I was going with this."

"No problem," I said, grinning. "Did you have any more questions? I'm happy to answer any and all."

"Right, yes, that's where we were..." she said, screwing up her face in concentration before smiling brightly. "Okay, I've got one more question for you. You ready?"

"Always ready," I said.

"Okay..." Katie replied, straightening herself up with the dignity one might summon when greeting a world leader. "You are approached by a frenzied scientist, who yells, 'I'm going to put my quantum harmonizer in your photonic resonation chamber!' What's your response?"

This one might have taken the longest for me to catch the reference, but when I did, I improvised, "I'd tell him he'd need to buy me a drink and give me a whole helluva lot of caps before I'd ever consider going that far."

Katie grinned at me, then straightened herself out. "Yeah, I think you'll be a good fit for our adventures. Thank you for indulging my questions."

"I passed the test?" I asked.

"Oh, with flying colors!" Katie explained, grinning cutely. "Join me downstairs, where all the fun begins?"

Smiling back, I replied, "Hell yeah."

***

Growing up in California, I was used to basements being fairly uncommon, but as I stepped into the Park family's basement, I was beginning to understand that I'd been missing out.

For all intents and purposes, it looked like what you would call a "man cave", but one that was meant for the whole family. A pool table and green velvet-covered card table took central place of pride, while the walls were decked out in framed movie and sports posters, as well as a variety of glass-encased memorabilia. Across from a semi-circle of couches was a big screen TV hooked up to a number of gaming systems, next to a rather well-stocked minibar. Opposite this were a couple low bookcases seemingly bursting at the seams with board games of every different experience level.

Yes, if I had to design my own home, I figured it would look a lot like this.

"This is the family game room... we all kinda hang out here and trade off, and Dad plays his video games here... or Mom watches her sporty games here... or I have friends over..." Katie explained, motioning to two doors on the far side of the room. "Bathroom's the door on the left, my room's the one on the right."

"Very cool," I said, still lost in my own world as I felt the plush, clean carpeting against my bare feet.

"Just use coasters and don't spill anything, and we'll have so much fun tonight," Katie explained, smiling at me brightly.

"I can do that," I said, finally snapped from the awe of the sight of this room as I finally took in the sight of the others.

Tori and April were still setting snacks and drinks up atop the minibar, while Rose and Izzy stood around the card table setting out grids, dice, figurines and player's sheets. Leah, dressed in a dark, long, flowing dress that showed off her beautiful shoulders, stood looking at a framed film poster for Rocky on one wall.

I was still pretty damn nervous about screwing something up with D&D and making a fool of myself, but with these people here, I thought I might make it.

Katie broke off from me to head over to Tori and April, so I made a beeline for the game table to see how Rose and Izzy were doing.

Wearing her ever-present dark fedora and hipster garb that she made look effortlessly good, Rose Ferris brushed a lock of her platinum-blonde hair behind her ear, still in the middle of conversation with Izzy.

"-so I told him it was going to take a lot more than a podcast and some loaded half-truths to change my mind on what's right and wrong," Rose explained.

Nodding her head like a particularly energetic bird, the brightly dressed and blue-haired Izzy replied at her usual speed of five thousand miles per second, "Total sense, makes *total* sense; you don't wanna be messing around with guys like that who think they know you but don't know you and just wanna change you to their definition of what they think you oughta be when you can just kick 'em to the curb and find someone who better fits your speed and likes you for you not the you they think they want out of you that isn't actually you."

Easygoing and relaxed, Rose smiled casually and replied in her usual cool demeanor, "Right there, Izzy... you took the words straight from my mouth. And quite a few more. Well, hello, Ryan Collins."

Izzy, who hadn't seen me at first, turned to face me. Her big brown eyes brightened, her smile broadening as the tiny ball of energy bounced over to me, threw her arms around my neck and planted a big kiss on my lips.

"RYAN!" she exclaimed, kissing me again before whispering in my ear. "Thank you for Valentine's Day, that was fucking aaaaaaaaaaawwwwweeeeeeeeesssssssssssoooooooooome!!!"

Izzy dropped her arms from my shoulders and smiled, blushing brightly.

"Yes, he does have a way of making Valentine's rather special, doesn't he?" Rose said, walking over to me and planting a slow, lingering kiss on my lips.

"I, uh, did my best," I said, feeling positively appreciated as these two beautiful women eyed me.

Was I nervous about something? No, I couldn't remember that anymore, not in their presence, not with them, and Tori and April and Leah and... oh, Katie was there too, looking at me with more than a little surprise. She pushed her glasses up her nose, her eyes big and very confused as her mouth dropped wide open in shock.

I wondered... no, she had to have heard about me. Seemingly everyone knew about what I'd been doing this year, she had to know... right? I mean, my friends were her friends, and I knew she lived in her own little world and had a reputation for missing some fairly obvious things, but this was too damn obvious, wasn't it?

"Thank you for coming tonight," Rose said, her voice heavy with a sly confidence.

"It's, uh... no problem... happy to be here," I said, voice a little shaky with what nerves I still had for the game, but enjoying the company immensely.

Rose picked up on this, I think.

Izzy did not.

"Seriously, this is gonna be so cool!" Izzy blurted. "All of us, tearing shit up and trying to mess up Rose's carefully planned fantasy domains only to find out that she's, like, got everything planned out to a crazy degree and there's not a lot we can do to shake her, but it's really fun trying to shake her and throw her off her game and make her do things she doesn't expect and-"

"Down, girl," Rose said playfully, patting Izzy on the shoulder. "Ryan Collins here clearly has his reservations, and we don't want to scare him off, do we?"

Izzy turned to me. "Oh, I so got your back, Ryan! Nobody's gonna fuck with you if I got anything to say about it, skeletons, lich, sex dragons, I got you covered!"

I looked at Rose with a raised eyebrow. "Sex dragons?"

"It happened *one* time, I thought it might be an interesting change of pace and it turned into something else entirely, and nobody's let me forget about it since," Rose said, shaking her head. "Lessons have been learned."

"What, I thought they were fun!" Izzy exclaimed. "Remember how I snuck up on one and-"

"How about we get you another energy drink, Izzy Barnes?" Rose suggested, sneaking an amused glance my way. I grinned at her, nodding knowingly. "Calm you down a little, perhaps?"

"Really, oh, man, that'd be the best!" Izzy chirped, letting Rose drag her away from the table and over toward the minibar.

While I didn't think that an energy drink would help Izzy in any way, seeing these two together was certainly its own particular brand of fun.

I could've followed them, and part of me really wanted to, to keep where the action was, but there was still one face around here I needed to reacquaint myself with before this evening began to move toward its next stage.

I sidled up next to Leah as she continued to survey the Park's wall of movie memorabilia, and felt a shiver pass through my body as I did. We'd begun this month with one of the most singularly strange, and undeniably erotic, experiences of my life when she guided me through her lust spell. This moment had guided almost everything I'd done throughout February, and while Leah and I had not spent too much of that time back together, I could still feel the electricity between us as I approached her.

The slender, olive-skinned beauty looked utterly ravishing in her dark, fantasy-inspired dress, as well as her usual eclectic mix of necklaces and bracelets. As I stood beside her, she half-turned her head to look at me, curling her darkly-painted lips into a warm smile, her nose with its glinting septum piercing curling up cutely in recognition.

"I was hoping you'd make your way over to me sooner or later," Leah said.

"It's easy to get hung up in here," I said.

"Oh, no doubt... there are some positively luscious girls in here, aren't there?" she replied.

"I know that I'm looking at one of them," I said, smiling down at her.

"Ah, Ryan... never change..." Leah said, pulling me in for a quick kiss.

Grinning stupidly at her attention, I replied, "I wasn't planning on it."

I glanced around the room quickly again, and once again caught a very befuddled-looking Katie eying us, only to suddenly look away as if badly pretending to look at something else.

"So, as the final days of our spell wind to a close, do you still find yourself committed to spreading love and lust to those in need?" Leah asked, her hand finding my ass and squeezing playfully.

I returned the gesture, eliciting a soft groan from Leah. "I don't think that's ever going to change, really, but this month has been very special."

"I wouldn't have assumed so, but, the spell has made February particularly enjoyable, wouldn't you say?" she said.

"Certainly," I replied.

"So, with February through... have you thought about your March plans yet?" Leah asked.

Feeling suspiciously like there were eyes on me, I quickly glanced back at Katie, and once again found that distinct body language indicating that she'd turned away from me in a hurry.

"Not really, but something will certainly come up. You?" I asked.

"As you say, something will certainly come up. Our spell has left me with a new outlook going forward, and I think I'm going to open myself to new experiences moving forward. I'm not sure what those are, but... I'm excited to see where life will take me," Leah said, sighing pleasantly as she leaned her head against me.

"I'm truly glad you could come tonight, Ryan," she said.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, and this time ignored the being watched feeling, since I knew that it would involve Katie once again looking at us.

"I'm happy to be here," I said, sighing pleasantly before adding, "Though I gotta ask you something."

"Ask away," Leah replied.

"I keep getting weird looks from Katie," I explained, "when I'm around any of you. I gotta know... does she know about me? About anything I've done this year?"

Leah laughed, softly. "Probably not. Katie is a sweet, and smart, and truly wonderful girl. One hell of a lot wilder than she looks, I would say... but she has her moments where she's not exactly... observant. I'm sure some of the people here have probably told her exactly why we've been smiling before games lately, but unless that was her focus, it might well be in one ear and out the other. If she's giving you weird looks, though, maybe she'll take the message this time. Maybe."

I looked back at Katie, and kept looking at her this time, waiting to see if she would try to steal another glance at Leah and me.