BF(F)

“Your total is ten twenty-five,” I told the customer in front of me. “Are you military or passholder?”

“I’m a senior,” the man said as if his gray hair and wrinkles didn’t give it away.

I didn’t ask. “You total is ten twenty-five.” Perhaps, I could have been more polite but it was a long day and I’d heard this several times already.

“No senior discount?”

I told you the discounts. “No, sir.”

“You should have one.” He gave me the money and moved on.

I decided not to explain that I have no control over those things as I looked at the clock. Just five minutes to go.

“I’m going to cash out,” I told my coworkers, taking the money out of the register and heading to the office. I counted it as quickly as possible, changed out of my uniform and sped to my friend Jeb’s house.

I didn’t bother to knock as I entered and greeted his mom, a middle-aged woman with dark hair and a friendly smile. She sat in the kitchen, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Her thick hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail. A half-finished puzzle took up much of the table in front of her.

“Hi, Amy. Did you have fun at work?” she asked, setting another piece.

“Yeah and I promised I’d hang out with Jeb tonight.”

“I know. You two have fun.”

I made my way to the living room where he was waiting. “Tell me you got it.”

Jeb sat on the couch in his usual sweatpants and plain t-shirt. He was always one to prefer comfort to fashion. I didn’t know how he could be comfortable in pants, at all though, given the humid summer’s day occurring outside. I’d opted for denim shorts and a tank-top. My blonde waves were braided over my shoulder to keep it out of my face and off my neck.

He didn’t bother to look at me. “The line was really long. It was pretty much impossible to get if you didn’t show up in the middle of the night. Just how popular is this game?”

“Ridiculously popular because it’s sure to be amazing.” I flopped down on the couch next to him. “Did you get it or not?”

He held up the game. “I got it.”

I squealed and hugged him. I’d been waiting months for this video game to come out, but had to work the day it happened. As some sort marketing ploy, they weren’t doing digital release, yet (much to my annoyance). Fortunately, my best friend enjoyed video games almost as much as I did, so he was able to get it. “You’re amazing! Did you have to stand in line long?”

“A while, but it was fine. I had no other plans today.” He pushed some of his dark, shaggy hair away from his face and offered me a controller. “I have it set up if you want to play.”

I took it without hesitation. “It’s a co-op, so try to keep up.”

First was character set-up. I spent several minutes making my girl look perfect. Jeb just went with a default male avatar. Typical. I figured he was in a rush to get to the gameplay.

“You want to start on casual mode since it’s our first playthrough or should we go straight for nightmare?” I asked.

He leaned back into the couch. “Whatever you want.”

I nudged his shoulder. “You could show a little more enthusiasm. You were excited for this game, too, right?”

“Right.”

I knew Jeb well enough to know he wasn’t going to give me a proper answer, so I settled on a medium difficulty level and the game began. Unfortunately, his character died within the hour.

“He’ll come back after the battle,” I assured him, continuing the fight. I leaned forward and mashed the buttons as my opponent dodged.

“That’s fine. I need to take a break and get some work done.” He sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, where his laptop was set up.

“Working on your new book?” I never took my eyes from the game. Jeb was a popular writer of teen romance. He’d gotten his first book published when he was fourteen. We were in our senior year of high school and he now had four bestsellers. Any free time he didn’t spend on video games was spent writing his next hit.

“Which sounds better: romantically optimistic or optimistically romantic?”

“You’re the writer.” I used a healing potion as an ogre joined the fray. “I like the second one, though.”

I heard him typing and focused on the game, knowing he wasn’t likely to need more help from me.

Jeb and I had been friends for as long as either of us could remember. We lived across the street from each other and he was born just a month after me, so our mothers had done all the pregnancy stuff together. I always said he was like my brother. When kids bullied him at school, I used to step in and take care of it. We discovered our love of video games together in middle school and spent almost all our free time together after that. Of course, in high school, I started dating and he started writing, so that decreased how much we hung out, but we were still close. Currently, the main thing eating up our time together outside of school was my job.

“You never told me what happened with that guy you were dating,” he suddenly commented.

I slammed down the button, cutting off the ogre’s head. “I got busy with work and everything. He wanted a girl to focus on him. Pathetic, right?”

“Everything being…”

I frowned. “He said I was too obsessed with video games.”

“You are obsessed with video games.”

I scoffed at that. “Whose side are you on here?”

“I didn’t realize there were sides to this.” His gaze remained on the computer screen.

“There are always sides in a breakup,” I informed him, “and, as my best friend, you should always be on mine.”

“Is that how it works?”

“Of course.” The battle ended and I looked at him. “Trying to find some inspiration for your book?”

It certainly wouldn’t be the first time he’d used my relationship drama for one of his novels. I’d never been serious with the guys I’d dated so it didn’t really bother me. I didn’t think this one would help, though.

“It’s slow-going,” he admitted. “My publisher wants the first draft in four months.”

“Well, you presented the idea a few months ago, so that’s normal, right?” I saved the game, so I could focus on him for a second. “You don’t usually have too much trouble, do you?”

He shrugged noncommittally. “It varies.”

I chewed the inside of my lip as I considered the issue. “We could try a game with romantic elements. Maybe, that would inspire you.”

“No, it’s fine. You’ve been waiting for this game. You should play it.” He closed the laptop. “Besides, it might help for me to focus on something else for a while.”

He picked up his controller and returned to his place beside me on the couch.

“Well, I am more than happy to distract you, then,” I said.

We played the game late into the evening. The graphics were as good as promised and the storyline was interesting. After we got the hang of the battles, I switched to a higher difficulty. Jeb died a few more times, but he didn’t seem to be worrying about his book, at least. Of course, it could be hard to tell with him, sometimes.

Jeb tended to have trouble expressing his emotions. It was part of why he got bullied when we were younger. Some people thought he had a disability, but he really just kept his thoughts to himself. It never bothered me much, though. I knew him well enough to know he’d tell me if he had something important going on in his head.

“Oh, I forgot I was supposed to call my dad.” Jeb looked at his phone. “He should still be up, so I’ll do that if it’s okay. It’ll just take a minute and you can practice solo play.”

I scrunched my nose. “You could just text him.”

“He prefers for me to call.”

“But you hate making phone calls,” I pointed out. Jeb was easily the most introverted person I knew.

“I’m trying to be considerate.”

“He could be considerate.”

“It’ll just take a minute. Besides, he’s coming to visit next week, so we need to work out our plan.”

“Something that can be done via text.”

He studied me. “Do you not want to do solo play?”

“It’s fine.” I realized I risked making him feel guilty if I argued further. “Go make your phone call.”

“I’ll tell him you said ‘hi’.”

“No need for that.”

He went to the other room and I loaded a solo game. I didn’t like Jeb’s dad. He was an emotionally abusive jerk and that why his wife left him. However, Jeb insisted his dad was doing better and they only saw each other a couple times a month, so I did my best to stay out of it. Jeb was always excited to see his dad and I didn’t want that ruined.

I saved the game as Jeb returned and picked up his controller. “How is he?”

“He’s fine. We’re having dinner when he comes.”

“Fun.” I bit back any other concerns I might have, telling myself there was no need to get involved. “Let’s kill a boss, then.”

We played for a few more hours before I had to return home. I had work the next day, so I couldn’t stay up too late.

“Will you come play after work tomorrow?” he asked as I headed out.

“Of course.” I grinned at him. “You know I can’t stop a game once I start.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“See you tomorrow.”

“Did you have fun with Jeb?” my sister, Leah, asked as I returned home. She was stretching in the living room, apparently just back from a run.

“He got the game,” I told her, excitedly. “I’m sure he’ll play with you while I’m at work if you want.”

“I’m not that into video games, you know.” She bent down to touch her toes.

“You used to play with us when we were kids.”

“That was years ago.” She leaned to the side. “I lost interest.”

“Fair enough.”

Leah was a year younger than me. Since we were close in age, we’d usually played together when we were younger. She used to always join Jeb and me, whatever we were doing. Of course, that was back when he spent most of his time at our house, avoiding his dad and relaxing. I guess it was too much trouble for her to go over to his house so much.

“I’m glad you two still have fun, though,” she told me.

“Of course, we have fun,” I said. “He’s my best friend and always will be.”

“Next door, please,” I called as somebody tried to use the “Employees Only” entrance. There was a sign on the door, but we still had multiple customers an hour who didn’t bother to read it. I worked at the Biltmore Estate and always did my best to be professional, but some of the customers made it difficult. However, the pay was decent and I liked the company, so I tolerated it. Besides, I had a goal in mind.

Video games had always been my passion. I was fascinated by every aspect of them. In elementary school, I’d started learning to code and had been practicing ever since. I’d gotten into graphic design as I got older, too. I was determined to work on the video games I loved so much. That meant I’d need a good school for video game design. Good schools we expensive, though. Jeb and I had talked it over, deciding to attend the same school. Eventually, we could join the same company with him writing for the games while I designed them. Of course, he was going to be able to pay for school with his book royalties. I settled for part-time jobs at places like this.

“Amy?” an all-too-familiar voice said.

I held back a sigh as I faced Luke, my latest ex-boyfriend, from across the counter. I plastered on a smile. “Hey, what brings you here?”

“Just hanging out with Hannah.” He indicated a girl by his side.

“Hey, Amy,” she said. I recognized her as one of my classmates. At that moment, I happened to glance down and realized they were holding hands.

What high schooler comes to the Biltmore House on a date? “Hi, Hannah. So, what can I get for you two?”

They got some pastries and we made polite small talk before they left. I took a breath and smiled again for the customers. “I can help the next guest.”

“I want a mimosa and a Bloody Mary,” an older man said.

“Sorry but we don’t serve those here. Would you like to try our Summertime Lemonade? Otherwise, I could get you a wine or beer,” I offered as I resisted the urge to tell him to read the menu. It was a giant billboard behind me, yet so many customers failed to see it.

“You don’t serve those?”

“No, sir.”

“I got one yesterday.”

“That was probably from the grill.”

“Where’s that?”

“Well, we have the grill on Sundays.”

“And you can’t get me a mimosa?”

“No, sorry.” I kept the smile plastered on as usual.

“Well, never mind, then.” He walked out with nothing, despite having waited in line for a while. There was just no pleasing some people.

“I can help the next guest,” I called, reminding myself that I just had a few more hours before I could play the video game with Jeb again.

“Sometimes, you’re too hard on people,” Jeb commented as I recounted the irritating customers I’d dealt with throughout the day.

I took out my frustration on a troll we were fighting. “I know I’m horrible, but I can’t seem to help it. You don’t know what it’s like to deal with customers.”

“I would be terrible at it.”

“That’s true,” I didn’t feel the need to lie to him, “but I’m not particularly good with them.”

“You’re great with people.”

“I hate people.”

“But you handle them well. I could never do that.”

Jeb wasn’t wrong about his difficulty interacting with people. When his book was published, it was done so under a pen name and they got a woman to be the face of the author. As talented as he was, Jeb wound up being a ghost writer just so he wouldn’t have to worry about things like book signings and author events.

“I mostly just smile and do my best not to let them know how annoying I find them,” I explained.

“Good technique. I could try it.”

“You could…” The only problem was that I’d seen him put on a fake smile. It was unconvincing at best and disturbing at worst. “You shouldn’t worry too much about it, though. Being a writer like you are saves you from having to deal with stuff like that.”

“But the experience could improve my writing skills.”

“I thought that was why you kept me around,” I said. “I give you stories to use.”

“I keep you around for more than that.”

“I have a terrible personality and the only thing I’m really good at is video games. What reason do you have to keep me around?”

“You don’t have a terrible personality.”

“I really do.”

“Other people like you. Plenty of guys even ask you out.”

“Because I’m good at hiding it, but you’re my best friend. You know me.”

“And you know me. My personality’s worse than yours.”

I chuckled at that. “You’re nice, though. You don’t just act nice like I do.”

“Everybody’s acting sometimes,” he pointed out. “Nobody starts out being nice, after all.”

“See? You’re even nice about me not being nice.”

“Like you said: we’re best friends,” he reminded me. “Besides, I happen to like your personality.”

“You’re really too nice.” I toggled my character’s view, so I could look around the environment on screen. “Speaking of guys that asked me out, Luke was at the Bake Shop today.”

“Luke?”

“My last boyfriend.”

“Ah. How did that go?”

“He was on a date. How does a high schooler afford a date like that?”

“Maybe he has a summer job or their parents paid for it.”

“Maybe. It was just surprising to see him.”

“Did it bother you to see him with another girl?”

I thought about it. “Not really. It was a little awkward because we dated, however briefly. The girl he was with is nice, though. She’s in our class.”

“Do you wish he had taken you on dates to Biltmore?”

I snorted. “I don’t even care to go there, now. It’s just a good job.”

“You realize you’re one of the few people who would feel like that, right?” he said. “We’re talking about a mansion full of gorgeous art and history. That’s not even including everything there is to see on the grounds.”

“Well, I guess I just don’t appreciate something like that. Like I said: I’m horrible.”

“You’re not horrible.”

“The only thing I like about the grounds is how many PokeStops and gyms there are.”

“That may be a little horrible.”

I laughed then. “You’re a jerk, sometimes, you know that?”

“You’re the one who can’t appreciate culture except to catch imaginary creatures and collect supplies for them.”

“Don’t pretend you’re not keeping up with me on that.”

“I said no such thing.”

We focused on the game for a little while, primarily talking about our next moves.

After about an hour, Jeb suddenly asked, “Hey, Amy, did you mean what you said about not being good at anything and having a terrible personality?”

I shrugged, wondering why he would suddenly ask. “Yeah. Why?”

“You’re wrong.”

“If you say so.”

“Amy?”

“Yeah?”

“Go out with me.”

I paused the game so fast I dropped my controller. I scrambled to pick it up and looked at him. “What?”

“Go out with me.” His tone hardly changed and he didn’t bother to meet my gaze.

“On a date?”

“Multiple dates, ideally.”

“You want to go out with me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Do you usually ask that when guys ask you out?”

“Well, no, but…other guys aren’t you. You’re my best friend, so this is a little shocking. I wondered if there was a reason for it.” I looked at his laptop as a thought struck me. “Does this have to do with your story?”

He remained silent for a minute before answering. “I’ve never been in a relationship before, but I write about them. It seems like I might write better if I entered into one.”

It was a relief to have a reason like that, even if it was a little odd. “Why me, though? There are plenty of girls you could ask out. You’re handsome and cool. I know a few cute girls who have crushes on you.”

I wasn’t just flattering him. While the other kids thought he was weird when we were younger, he actually was attractive and his failure to show emotions made him seem interesting in high school when the other boys were mostly acting like idiots.

“I don’t want to date them. I want to date you.”

“Why?”

There was another pause. “You’re my best friend, so it makes sense, doesn’t it?”

My mind was racing to find an explanation. “Are you thinking you’d be more comfortable dating me?”

“Probably.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good basis for a relationship.”

“Are you refusing?”

It felt wrong to refuse outright. “You’re sure you wouldn’t rather date a prettier girl?”

“You’re the only one I would want to date.”

“I don’t get that.”

“You’re not dating anyone right now, but do you have another reason to refuse?”

“Not really,” I admitted. “I just wasn’t expecting this.”

“But will you do it?”

I considered the question a few seconds longer. “Okay. If you’re sure that’s what you want, I’ll go out with you.”