Jason had always been a good friend. In fact, he was the sort of guy who couldn’t be a prick if his life depended on it. That was a great quality for a person, but not for the head of a growing company. Fortunately, Digital Dreamers had more than enough professional pricks to make up for Jason’s good nature.
“Since I’m being forced away from here,” Cole said, “maybe I could do more than just sit around my apartment and try to get my hands under Nora’s blouse.”
“What more do you need? What more would anyone need?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sure you do,” Jason replied as he picked up a controller for himself. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have said anything.”
“Maybe I can get away and do something exciting. After putting together so many games, I’ve been thinking I could do an even better job if I had something real to draw from.”
Jason glanced at Cole just long enough for his character to get blindsided by a hulking swordsman wearing glowing armor. “You mean something more than those trips to the firing range or those ninja classes? Were those even real, or just semiclever ways to get some research money?”
“I still go to the firing range,” Cole replied, “and those classes were real.” After inputting a specific sequence of button presses, his avatar reached over his shoulder and drew a new, impossibly big, weapon from an undersized holster. The weapon was a spear with a grip that wrapped around both of the warrior’s fists. The upper end narrowed into a gleaming point, while the lower end forked open, which came in handy to block an incoming blow from one of the game’s demons. “I just put that weapon in. Pretty cool, huh?”
Jason didn’t reply. He was too busy glaring intently at Cole.
Finally, Cole buckled. “All right. I went to two of those ninja classes before I quit. Too much jumping. I only paid for a month of lessons anyway.”
“Consider it my contribution for this vacation you need so badly. Although I don’t think you’ll find a getaway advertised anywhere that’d put you close to the sorts of things you put in your games.”
“Not even on the Internet?”
Without taking his eyes from the screen, Jason shook his head. “Not even on the Internet.”
“What about one of those extreme vacations?”
“Jesus, Cole. Didn’t they stop doing that kind of crap ten years ago? If you want to snowboard, just do it.”
“Not snowboarding. Something better than that. Like a hunting trip.”
“Hunting? When have you ever hunted?”
“Never.”
“Then what made you think of it?”
Cole paused so he could skewer the last enemy on the screen with a flourishing combination. He then walked his character over to Jason’s guy and stabbed him in the gut.
“You’re fired,” Jason replied in a monotone. “Clean out your desk.”
Ignoring his boss, Cole said, “I got an e-mail a while ago about some kind of hunting trip in Canada. It’d be pushing it, but I should be able to get a seat on that plane before they’re all booked up. Firing some rifles and crawling around outside would be great research for when I start in on
Jason shook his head and let out a breath. “Seems more like a lame attempt to get Digital Dreamers to pay for your vacation.”
“Was it that lame?”
“Yeah.”
“Whatever. That hunting trip in Canada is short a man. It’s so cheap it’s almost free, and I’ve even got my own gun.”
That caught Jason’s attention. “Should I be worried by that?”
Cole did his best to scowl, but didn’t need a mirror to know he wasn’t pulling it off. Aborting his attempt at intimidation, he said, “My dad took me out a few times and left a rifle at my place last winter. I don’t know what kind it is, but it should be all right for hunting.”
“You really don’t know how to hunt, do you?”
“Sort of. Well…”
Chuckling even harder, Jason set down his controller and leaned back into his chair. “Personally, I just wish I could be there to see you on a trip with a bunch of gun freaks.”
“Hunters, Jason. They’re hunters.”
“It sounds like a good deal. Just promise me to take plenty of pictures and some video when you shoot yourself in the foot. I want to post it on our website.”
Rather than try to stick up for himself, Cole said, “The plane leaves the day after tomorrow.”
“Isn’t that short notice?”
“That’s why the tickets are so cheap, moron.”
Rather than trade any more insults with Cole, Jason said, “Take your vacation. Since you decided to pick up and leave this close to deadline, you get to apologize to all the websites and gaming magazines for the delays.”
Cole got up and tossed his controller onto the chair he’d just vacated. “Or I could refrain from telling H.R. about how much you admire Nora’s—”
“Go!”
Cole’s apartment was on the fourth floor of a beige, stucco building on Yale Avenue. He didn’t think it was quite worth as much as he paid to live there, but the owners were doing their best to give the place a better image. Mostly, that consisted of spending money to print newsletters convincing tenants that the chipped paint was stylish, rather than just repainting the damn walls.
The apartment had acquired an even more rumpled appearance once he put his own things into it. A new couch and recliner sat amid a coffee table and lamps that had been with him since high school. His bed was fairly new, but the dining room table and chairs had come along with him after he moved out of his parents’ home in Yakima. Of course, like anyone else in his line of work, the television and entertainment center were top of the line and got upgraded whenever he received a bonus, or simply couldn’t control himself while walking through one of the many electronics stores he frequented.
For the most part, Cole could relax in his apartment. At the moment, however, the main thing on his mind was getting out from within those walls, even if he had to scrape and claw to do so.
“This is a nice place, Cole,” Nora said as she wandered through the one-bedroom dwelling. “Kind of a mess, though.” She was a nice person and a good friend. Any man with functioning senses would readily admit that she was appealing to every last one of them. Her voice was soft. Her hair and skin were smooth. Her touch was gentle. Her curves were nicely proportioned. She even liked to play video games, which was a bonus if not absolutely necessary. All in all, Nora should have been everything he was looking for in a woman. The real mystery was why having her in his apartment made him want to bolt for the street.
Cole looked up from the bag he was packing just long enough to glance around. The apartment wasn’t in the best shape, but it had sure looked worse. “Messy? What do you mean?”
But Nora wasn’t biting. She lowered her chin and looked at him over the top of her glasses in a way that had made nearly every man in the Digital Dreamers offices melt at one time or another. “Where should I start?” she asked. “How about the fact that you invited me over just so I could watch you throw clothes into that old duffel bag?” Suddenly, her eyes widened and she clapped her hands together. “Are we going somewhere for the weekend?”
“Actually, I’m the one that’s going away. Just me.”
The disappointment in her eyes wasn’t obvious, but it was there for anyone looking closely enough to see it. “Oh.”
“I asked you over as a way to…wrap things up.”
“Oh,” she said in a more somber tone.
Cole tossed the last pair of socks into his bag and walked over to her. Nora was almost as tall as him, which put her well above an average woman’s height. Straight, dark blond hair hung past her shoulders, and perfectly even bangs made a straight line over her eyes. Her glasses had quirky plastic frames and lenses that were too thick to be mistaken for a fashionable attempt to look smarter. She always wore skirts to accentuate her shapely legs, but never wore tight blouses or sweaters.
