“You got it.” Rob slid a beer down the counter and Brendan picked it up.
“I do really appreciate the fact that you were there when Penny fainted,” James said. “But I think it’s probably best if we don’t make it a habit to hang out here.”
“Calm down, James. Brendan’s cool. He even apologized for hooking up with your girlfriend. That’s a quality guy,” Rob said. “Besides, you can’t blame him for trying. That’s the risk of having a hot girlfriend.”
“I’m not sure I’m completely comfortable having two guys here hitting on her,” James said.
“I’m not hitting on Penny,” Rob said. “She’s the one that clearly wants me.” He winked at me. “Was she a good kisser, Brendan? I bet she was a good kisser.”
“A great kisser.” Brendan smiled at me.
“I knew it,” Rob said.
“Okay,” I said. This was so ridiculous. “Will you all just stop? Stop talking about me like I’m not standing right here. James, Brendan’s just a friend. I told you that. And actually, you should be thanking him because I talked to him that afternoon when I left your place confused. And he told me to choose you. He was actually really nice and helpful.”
“That’s true,” Brendan said. “She told me you were a better lay than Tyler, so I told her she should choose you. I didn’t even hit on her. Or wait. Maybe I did. I think I probably said that if she really wanted to know what a good lay was she should call me.”
“I said stop talking. But yeah. See. He was just being a good friend. Despite that last part. And Rob,” I said, turning to him. “I don’t want to sleep with you. I’m in love with your brother. So please just stop saying super weird things to me. It’s really inappropriate.”
“I do like you,” Rob said. “You’re like a million times better than the troll. Feisty too. I like a girl that can stick up for herself.”
“Oh my God. I asked you to stop.”
Rob smiled at me. “Stopping.” He pretended to lock his mouth and throw away the key. “And Brendan’s not going to hit on Penny anymore either, right Brendan?”
I wasn’t at all surprised that Rob had immediately started talking right after he had thrown away the key.
“Sure, I won’t hit on her anymore,” Brendan said. He took a sip of his beer.
“How about you two go hang out at Brendan’s place?” James said.
“But I just set up the Xbox! Let’s all play Golden Eye. We can shoot it out.” Rob patted James’ chest and walked back toward the living room. “Besides, Penny promised to school us.”
“I doubt that,” Brendan said and followed him back to the T. V.
“Of course Rob had to befriend Brendan,” James whispered to me. “I don’t like this at all. I want you all to myself.”
I laughed. “James, they’re just joking around. You do have me all to yourself.”
“They’re not joking around.” He looked down at me and smiled. “Even three men flirting with you isn’t enough to make you realize how beautiful you are.”
He didn’t seem as mad as I thought he would. Maybe he was finally understanding that all I wanted was him.
“You’re the only man that makes me feel beautiful.” I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Hey, love birds! It’s game time!” Rob called over to us.
James put his lips against my ear. “Let’s take them down.”
“Okay, partner.” I reached down and squeezed his ass.
He laughed and grabbed my hand. “Rob is right. You are feisty. And all mine. I can’t wait to move and have you all to myself again. There are so many things I’d rather be doing than playing videogames right now.”
The way he was looking at me made me gulp.
He led me over to the couch and pulled me onto his lap as he sat down.
I laughed as he wrapped his arms around me.
“You guys can’t seriously play like that. Come on, I need help killing Brendan.” Rob handed us each a controller.
Instead of moving off of James’ lap, I looked down at the controller. “Wait, why are there two joysticks?”
“This is going to be hilarious,” Rob said and restarted the game.
“Wait, you have to tell me how to use this.”
James kissed the side of my neck. “So, the right joystick lets you move your view up and down. And the left one lets you move your guy around.”
“Why did they make it more complicated? Aren’t advancements in technology supposed to make things better, not worse?”
James laughed and kissed my neck again.
After we selected our characters, the screen split into four quadrants. It took me awhile to even realize which one was me. Unfortunately, I was the one continuously running into a wall. “Crap, why is this so hard?” I slid off James’ lap and tried to focus. I was stupidly good at N64. I was a huge nerd growing up and I loved sitting on the couch after school playing videogames. And I even used to crush my boy neighbors in Golden Eye. But this wasn’t anything like N64. I was currently running around in circles staring at my feet.
“Speaking of hard,” Rob said. “Penny sitting on your lap got you a little excited there, James.”
“What?” James looked down at his pants. “I don’t have…”
Rob snuck up behind him in the game and shot him in the back of the head.
“Asshole.” He shoved Rob’s arm. “Game on. I’m going to kill you next.”
“I have a better idea,” said Brendan. “Let’s see who can kill Penny first.”
“No! Just give me a second to figure this out.” I had just titled my head back up when blood filled my screen.
“Gotcha!” Brendan said.
“Damn it, Brendan!”
He started laughing as my girl came back from the dead. Rob immediately shot me in the face and started laughing too.
“What is wrong with you guys? Just give me a minute to learn what to do.”
James had started laughing with them.
“Hey.” I nudged his shoulder.
“I thought you said you were good at videogames,” he said and smiled down at me.
“I am good at videogames! I don’t know what this crap is.” My girl reappeared on the screen again. James’ character was standing there holding a gun to my face.
“Don’t you dare, James.”
He immediately shot me.
“James! You’re supposed to be on my team!” I started laughing too. I really was terrible at this.
“What?!” Rob yelled. “You’re both supposed to be helping me kill Brendan!”
“I can’t kill anyone, this game is impossible.” I fired my gun at the floor.
“Maybe we should all play a different game?” Rob said. “I know you’re fond of pool, Penny.”
I could feel my face turning red.
“You’re good at pool?” Brendan asked. “We could play that instead. It’s too easy to beat everyone in this anyway.” He shot Rob in the chest.
“Shit,” Rob mumbled.
“No. Actually, I kind of suck at pool,” I said. I had finally gotten my character to run in a straight line. I hid behind a column. Someone’s character was approaching me from the other side of the column. I still wasn’t sure what I was doing, but I was determined to kill whoever it was. And he didn’t seem to realize he was walking into a trap.