Chapter 2: Chapter 1

Em   

 

“Are you going to be there tomorrow?” The instant message appeared on the screen of  my tablet causing me to crease my brows in annoyance and swipe it away. I tried to go back to reading but another appeared. “She would want you to be there Emily.” I could feel my temper rising as I slammed my tablet down on the table, making a loud thump, drawing glances from the group of guys two tables down that had been loudly whispering about me. 

 

I purposefully ignored them and walked up to the counter, leaving my tablet behind. Hoping to delay returning to my booth and the barrage of messages waiting for me, I was disappointed to see there wasn’t a line.

 

 “Another Pentagram  Em?” The barista asked, interrupting my gloomy thoughts.

 

“Yeah, Leo. Another Pentagram.” I mumbled back.

 

Out of the corner of my eyes I could see him frowning at my quiet and abrupt reply, thankfully though we went straight to making my coffee, an obnoxiously sugary latte with mocha, raspberry syrup, caramel drizzle, steamed whole milk and five shots espresso. It was honestly a bit much being a time consuming and overly ‘extra’ drink but it was also my guilty pleasure. I loved it, and Leo was a master at making these kinds of drinks, able to go about timing everything with no hesitation. Normally he worked in quiet concentration but today didn’t seem to be like that though. “It’s a cliche…” He mumbled.

 

I raised a silent eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything in reply, silently wondering where this was going.

 

“It’s a cliche, but you shouldn’t frown like that Em. You're far too pretty to be stuck with that expression.”

 

I tried to glare at him for the unwanted compliment but couldn’t get any heat behind it, as our eyes met and we both held stone faced expressions at each other until I finally cracked and let a single deep sigh, mustering up the smallest smirk. “Is that really the best you can do?” 

 

He shrugged as he topped my tower of caffeine with whip-cream and a fresh strawberry. “How about an extra shot, whip cream, and a strawberry?” He slid it across and waved my phone over the register, giving him just the briefest of honest smiles.

 

“I knew I loved you for some reason.” 

 

He made an exaggerated swooning motion before waving his finger at me. “You shouldn’t fall for your barista like that.”

 

I reached across the counter and poked him in the forehead, smiling at him.“Thanks, Leo.”

 

He responded to their smile with his own and nodded, seeming satisfied with breaking up my bad mood.

 

“Emily…” Another message, appearing just momentarily on my phone, killing my mood instantly

 

I took my drink and sat back down at the table, sipping at it with a straw while keeping my smile on my face, forcing it there. I closed my eyes and focused on the pleasant flavors and took a deep breath trying to manifest the mask into something genuine as I moved my hands over to my tablet and turned it back on without hesitation I swept away the text bubble from James and returned to my reading.

 

I picked up slowly back from where I had stopped, but it made little difference. The entire document was thick full of textbook style language about fringe science concepts all loosely connected to the use of artificial intelligence in gaming and the extents of concepts like ‘machine learning’ and ‘real time adaption.’ I was supposed to summarize the two hundred page essay into a short article but I could barely skim through it let alone turn it into something people would actually care to read. 

 

I was highlighting a paragraph to go back to when another text bubble appeared the same as before. Without even meaning to click on it my finger opened the bubble and I felt the heat rise to my head at the thirty six different messages sent to me over the last two hours.

 

“No.” I finally replied to James with an angry scowl, my typing fast and heavy. .

 

“So you were there.” He replied coldly.

 

“Why do you have to do that?!” I angrily shot back.

 

“I just don’t have patience during this time of the year. To make things worse my best friend fucked off to Nowhere, Wisconsin. This year's team of recruits are...” He rambled about the guys they hired to replace me on the team but I skimmed over it, not caring in the least as he dodged around the important topic, his actual reason for messaging me, today of all days.

 

“What is it, James?” I finally replied after he was done complaining

 

“Why won’t you go, Emily?” Before he could type out another message I cut him off and replied back.

 

“Em. I go by Em. You know that.”

 

“You didn’t use to.” 

 

“Now isn’t then. Things change.”

 

He didn’t say anything after that, not that I expected him to have much of a response anyways. We’ve had this argument every year for the last four and he didn’t have anything to say then either.

 

You are reading story Hide0us_Replica at novel35.com

I closed our chat log and started to put on my headphones I had left off, hoping just a bit, that Leo would take as an invitation to come over and talk with me.

 

“The best strategy is to attack with the King!” One of the guys shouted from the corner booth. Nobody else seemed to notice but there weren't that many people in the cafe to begin with. I tried to ignore them but it was impossible, the argument had only clouded my thoughts. I hadn’t even turned my music back on yet.

 

“If you attack with the King then who's the strategist? If Replica’s strategy proved anything it’s that a young King has the best options for both strategy exclusive moves and purely defensive power, but by charging with the King, even if by some miracle the Rook’s squadron doesn’t get him, you’ll still be left without the ability to shift strategy on a dime, you might as well just quit!” 

 

I cringed as he mentioned the name Replica, instinctively knowing who he was referring to.

A flash of memory from my past was all it took to feel the paper bag over my head that comfortable light dimming as the VR environment builds itself around me. The roar of a crowd muffled in the distance, that sense of anonymity empowering me like nothing else.

 

“But nobody is expecting you to attack! If you plan ahead then your team should be able to work without you guiding everyone. Seriously the RTS side of the game doesn’t even matter, it’s 2021 not 98’ nobody plays RTS games. Besides what are you doing mentioning Hide0us_Replica, she was just a cheating di-” I jumped up, suddenly pushing my chair backwards with a loud screech,  getting ready to swing a fist at him, but Leo beat me to it, slamming his fist on the counter and silencing the entire cafe. 

 

His eyes were like hot coals as his finger pointed at the big bold sign on the door, declaring “WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REMOVE ASSHOLES.” The entire group stared at the scrawny kid, who didn’t look much older than 16, “Good job asshole.” They all started to get up but the kid didn’t budge.

 

“I don’t know where you’re all going, I’m gonna finish. My. Coffee.” He met Leo’s stare without flinching, articulating each word slowly. .

 

Leo shook his head and started to move out from behind the counter, until the oldest of the group turned and glared at him, appearing to have some kind of deep non-verbal argument. Whatever it was, the younger one seemed to lose,  as he swore under his breath and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. The group of guys followed except for the oldest who was rubbing at his head. “Your brother’s a brat.” Leo told him bluntly.

 

“I’m aware. This is the last spot we could go to, but I guess he fucked that up too.” 

 

Leo shook his head. “It’s not my call. My boss will check the tapes and make a choice, but it probably won’t be in his favor, just call ahead next time you’re  on the way.”

 

Leo took their names, Stefan and Lucas Broin, and escorted the more mature of the two, Lucas, out the door.

 

“We’re friends right?” The message appeared suddenly, making me flinch as I slowly looked at my tablet and  slowly replied.

 

“Yeah we’re friends, James.” As I hit send I felt a deep sigh escape from my throat like I was just surrendering him to the currents of a river that extended far beyond my life.

 

“He was totally wrong about the King.” I muttered aloud as Leo walked by, knowing it’d catch his attention, maybe even hoping a little.

 

“The woman of mystery is a gamer. I wish I could be more surprised, though I never took you for the e-sports type.”

 

I had to fight to hold back a deep ironic laugh at that, I  couldn’t let that slip through even if I was itching for a rant, a chance to let loose on the one damn topic I was actually qualified to talk on.

 

“The reason you don’t attack with the King has nothing to do with them being an instant kill target, though that is an obvious reason. The reason is that the king is the only person who holds onto the flag, if he takes to the battlefield he’s just bringing the win condition that much closer to the enemy. Of course you can do that with the rebel strategy but-” I cut myself off. That was too much. If he knew anything about VR-Capture he’d recognize me talking about the Tactical-Respawn. A few tournaments have passed since then but nobody has even come close to imitating that victory.

 

“Wow…” He said quietly as he stared at them. “You are really beautiful when you aren’t lying, you know that?”

 

I blushed but tried to angrily scowl at him. “What do you mean by that? I thought you said I was pretty anyways?” 

 

He shook his head. “What would it take for you to go on a date with me?”

 

My head was spinning. I’d known Leo for two years and he’d never once acted like this. “You're taking the joke too far Leo.”

 

He stopped and slowed down his rapid speaking, reaching his hand out slowly. “I’ve been waiting for two years to see just a little bit of who you really are. Now that I’ve seen a little can you blame me for wanting to see more?”

 

I started to reply when my phone vibrated, “Emily, we need to talk. I want to see you.” 

 

I started to type out a message, to tell him “no,” “I’m busy,” or any of the other  thousand responses I’ve had to use these last four years, but suddenly I just felt exhausted over them all.

 

I let my hand rest on Leo’s, suddenly feeling my heart race rapidly for the first time in almost five years, since the night Esme was murdered, when  the love of my life was stolen from me.

 

“I’d ask if this is OK with you Esme, but this is what you always wanted for me anyways, right? To let Replica die and Em come alive?” I prayed silently to the ghost of Esme, while Leo desperately tried to come up with some plan, the cool and collected barista seemingly thrown into disarray at the success of his own gamble.

 

Suddenly he came up with a plan and shyly asked if they’d be OK with it, after all it's not really a first date that most people would think of,  but the competitor lying dormant within them was yearning for a competition, hopefully he isn’t a sore loser… 

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