Page 71 of From Drummer to Gamer

Why was me playingFantasy Legendssuddenly the hot topic of conversation? Only yesterday, his sister gave me the same reaction when she saw me gaming and asked a bunch of questions that I had no problem answering at all. When it came to her, words just flowed out of my mouth on their own accord.

“Yes,” I answered Raphael.

“Man, I can’t believe that little shit.” He grinned, scrubbing a palm over his face.

I frowned.Little shit?

“Have fun,” he called out, still grinning as he headed back to Emmie, who was too busy smiling at his phone. Pretty sure he was texting Evy, whom he’d just seen a few hours ago, and she was just a floor away, yet here he was acting like a sappy fool. It would take me more than a hundred tries, and I still wouldn’t understand their love.

Thankfully, Mikey was already snoring, deep asleep so I could play in peace without being interrupted every five seconds by his offhanded remarks.

I shook my head as I switched to my gaming headphones and connected them to the chat. A static flowed through before a feminine voice whispered, “Hello.”

Her voice sent a pang through my chest for some reason.

It was soft and deep, like it held a ton of maturity, yet the undertones were almost innocent and young. And something was oddly familiar about her voice that I couldn’t put my finger on, but maybe all girls spoke on the phone that way.

“Hi,” I mumbled back.

“Hmm, so what do I call you?”

“Matty… that’s my name.” I clearly wasn’t thinking when I said that. I’d actually given a random person on the internet my real name. But Matty was pretty common, right? It wasn’t like she could connect me with just my first name.

“Nice to meet you, Matty,” she replied softly. “You can call me Luna or Daisy. I really don’t mind.”

“Okay, Luna, ready to play?”

“Hell yeah,” she said, and I could almost hear the smile in her tone.

Sixteen minutes and forty-five seconds was all it took.

All it took was for us to win the game.

To say I was baffled would be an understatement. I remember the days I used to spend hours playing a match and losing terribly.

And now here I was. Even then, the credit wouldn’t go to me.

I didn’t do much except follow her around like a bot while she fired commands at me. She aced the enemies like a pro, flying and jumping in the air with her dagger, the movement so fast and fluid that it was almost a blur.

“Told you we could do it, Matty. Change the setting to advanced. Let’s play another one.” Her excited voice came through the microphone.

I hesitated. I’ve only played amateur level. “You sure?”

“Yes. Don’t worry, Matty. As long as you have me, I won’t let you down.”

“Okay,” I muttered as we entered the game.

“So… what’s your story?”

“My story?” I asked as we both farmed the minions for gold and extra XP.

She cleared her throat. “Yeah, everyone’s got a story, right? What’s yours?”

“Nothing much.”

“Hmm, you’re a man of very few words, aren’t you?”

“You could say that.”