Volume 01 - Dirty Shorts

I always lost at this game so I knew I’d have to speak first. I went with the only thing I could think of. “Why did you join our RPG group?” I sounded harsh even to my own ears, like he’d done something wrong and I was interrogating him. “That came out wrong. What I meant was what made you want to start role playing?” That sounded much better.
    “Well it’s kind of a long story, but a few weeks before I joined the group, I broke up with my boyfriend. And I kind of spent those three weeks bitching to my friend Chandra non-stop about how I always date idiot losers. She tried to tell me it’s because I always went for the same type of guy who I’d meet at a club or party. I told her she was wrong and I just had bad luck with men." He paused to take a sip of his tea. I was trying to suck my thick shake through the narrow straw. “Anyway, we were having a drink at a café and saw Jayne’s flyer looking for new members for a Tuesday and Thursday night RPG group. I guess Chandra was completely fed up with my whining because she bet I couldn’t last two weeks with a group outside of my normal social setting. I didn’t want her to think I couldn’t do it, so I emailed Jayne and you know the rest. After the two weeks, I won fifty bucks.”
    “How kind of you to grace us with your presence, but in case you can’t tell time, two weeks passed awhile ago.” I know I sounded bitter, but it ticked me off he thought we were below his standards when he had to be cock and balled into joining our group and had planned to leave after two weeks. It took two weeks just to get him ready to start playing the game. I’d have been so pissed if he had just stopped showing up after that.
    “Well, Chandra was right. I did need to broaden my social activities. At first I was a little bored with all the character development and learning the rules, but once we started playing I really began to love it.” He sounded sincere, and he hadn’t missed a game yet, but still…
    “Why do you love it?” I wasn’t being antagonistic; I really wanted to know why he loved it.
    He just smiled at me for a few long seconds. “Because I get to say whatever I want when I’m in the game. Sapphire doesn’t hold back, she says what’s on her mind. I work with a lot of sucktards and wish I could say half the stuff to them I get to say when we play. I guess the game is like a release for me, where I get to let everything out of my system. It’s like therapy.”
    “Trust me, it’s better than therapy." He gave me one of his trademarked eyebrow raises at my statement. I shrugged. I’m not going to tell him about my therapy sessions.
    “There was another reason I stayed and why I keep coming back.” He smiled coyly at me. I used my hand to motion for him to continue but he just smiled at me.
    He was going to be a douche and make me ask, wasn’t he? “And what’s that?”
    “There is this really cute guy on the team I wanted to get to know better.” He was still smiling, and even though he just admitted he liked someone else, that smile made me ache in my jeans.
    “Randy?” I asked. I had to know who he thought was cute. “I guess he is kind of cute if he doesn’t talk.”
    “Randy? Are you serious?” He looked a little repulsed. “Have you seen Randy picking stuff out of his hair and sniffing it? It’s totally gross.”
    “Bre—”
    “Don’t say Brett, moron.” I would’ve been snarky about him cutting me off or calling me a moron, except he said it so affectionately, like a pet name. “I’m talking about you.”
    “Me? Why me?”
    “Why you? Because I think you’re gorgeous, and I adore the way you think you’re shy, but you’re really not, you just think too much. The first time I saw you, I forgot to breathe. Then when you looked at me with those big green eyes, I got lost and knew I needed to get to know you better.”
    “If you wanted to get to know me better, why’d you wait until now to kidnap me?” I asked cheekily as I smiled probably the biggest smile of my life upon hearing him describe me.
    “It’s difficult to ‘kidnap’ someone, as you say, when you can’t get them alone. You always rush out after the games and I never had a chance to talk to you. And honestly, I’m used to the other guy making the first move. I’ve never had to plan a seduction before.”
    “This is what you call a seduction?”
    He laughed and shook his head, “The real planning comes into play