Chapter 10: Chapter 10 – Hugh: Mobile, Agile, Hostile

I took several deep breaths while trying to think of anything that was non-erotic. Nothing really came to mind.

Seeing Natalie strip off her dress and show off her underwear to me like that was the single hottest thing that had ever happened to me, and that was a good thing. Any hotter and I would have completely embarrassed myself.

God! Her panties were completely see through in the back. I saw her butt, her naked butt. and she showed me that just because I asked her to. She didn't have to totally take off her dress, either. She was totally getting into this.

Okay. If this kept up, I would have no choice but to marry her. She was too perfect, shy and vulnerable but sexy and powerful at the same time. I was positive that finding her was the luckiest thing that had ever happened to me. I'd never find anyone else like her.

I did feel a bit of regret for a moment, though. Taking off a dress for me was a whole different thing than flashing. That could have got her extra XP. It made me feel really good that she did that of her own volition, though. There had been absolutely no manipulation on my part for that one. It meant she wanted to do it.

I felt much more dissatisfaction at myself for asking her to turn around. Yeah, I was, in a way, totally proud of myself for speaking up. Before today, I'd never have imagined myself to be assertive enough to ask a girl to do that, but I'd gotten carried away in the moment and cost her precious XP. It was one thing to choose to be a decent human being instead of doing the right thing by gamer standards; it was something quite different to sacrifice points in a moment of weakness.

If the world ends and a few more XP would have saved us, that would be on me. My bad. Sorry planet earth.

Luckily, focusing on regrets and game elements eliminated my embarrassing problem by the time I heard the doorknob, so I turned to watch as Natalie exited her apartment and locked the door behind her.

She faced me, wearing the same dress but with a shirt and leggings underneath. Her expression was hard to read. She looked worried, maybe?

"Disappointed?" she asked.

"In you? Never. You are absolutely amazing in every single way. I can't even begin to express how lucky I am to have found you. I want to invent a time machine just so I can go back and profusely thank my past self for stopping at your table in the library that day."

She grinned and all hint of anxiety left her face. I was super happy I'd figured out the right response.

"Good," she said. "I know that leveling is important, but so much has happened today that my head is spinning. I just don't know if I can go any further at the moment."

"That's totally cool. Without all you've done, I would be completely stuck at Level 1 with absolutely no clue how to earn even a single XP. Do not, in any way ever, feel that you're not doing enough, okay?"

She smiled again.

Two for two. What was up with me? I was like a whole new person.

As we walked down the stairs, I pondered the reasons for that and came to the conclusion that it could only be one thing - confidence. I'd never before taken a risk and put myself out there, so I'd never given myself a chance to succeed. With Natalie, I'd taken a risk, exposing the darkest, most shameful parts of myself to her, and she'd responded with kindness and understanding and the possibility at least of affection. Maybe I wasn't so bad with girls after all.

"My car okay?" I asked when we reached the parking lot.

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"Yeah. I'd prefer that, actually. Mine's a little messy."

That was actually one of my strong points. I did tend to keep things neat. I mean, I wasn't OCD or anything; my mom had just always stressed good housekeeping and it was another one of those things that just stuck.

When we reached my Toyota, I seriously considered opening the car door for her, but I held back for a couple of reasons. One, this wasn't a date. I was pretty sure that she and I would eventually end up going on one, but I hadn't properly asked this time. More important was two. I was acutely aware that I had a very vested interest in convincing her to do a quest while we were out, and it was still incredibly tempting to try to manipulate her into doing that. I had to keep a close watch on my actions and motivations to prevent it.

"It's just past 4:30," I said after I'd slipped into the seat behind the steering wheel. "Are you hungry now or do you want to do the batting cages first?"

"It's a little early for dinner for me, but I could eat now if you want."

"No. It's early for me, too. Works great. We'll go to the batting cages first." I hesitated. "Do you know where we can find batting cages?"

She laughed and pulled out her phone. "Give me a second... There we go. Over by the mall."

It was a short drive easily made with the help of GPS, and we soon arrived. And once we did, I was super glad to have Natalie with me as I was totally clueless. Picking out a bat and a helmet. Not dying when the first pitch was launched. Very glad indeed.

Look, I chose agility as my first stat to increase for a reason. Sports and I didn't mix. Sometimes, walking on a flat surface and I didn't mix.

After gearing up and purchasing six tokens, we chose the adult batting cage with the slowest pitch, which was fifty mph. When the first ball whizzed past me, I seriously regretted that I was too embarrassed to go the kids' area.

Each token bought us fifteen pitches, and I didn't do well my first try, only hitting one. The second time, I was able to get into a groove and managed to hit five. Well, I counted five, anyway. Natalie was opposed to including the three that went backward. Yeah. No. Foul or not, I hit the things. We went with five.

The third was very similar with me getting six, and I felt that I'd established a good baseline.

"Time to do this," I said.

Since we'd already had Natalie increase a stat in the privacy of her apartment, I was fairly comfortable with doing it while in public. There had been no glowing light or any other visible indication that anything had changed about her. Still, I glanced around first to make sure that no one was paying any attention to us before confirming the addition of my one free attribute point to agility.

I tensed as I made the change, but, honestly, it was all a bit of a letdown. I mean, this was a momentous occasion - the first time I'd ever increased a stat in real life. There was absolutely no fanfare, no visible change, not even a popup to commemorate the experience.

The result was telling, though - 8/15 then 9/15 and finally another 9/15. It wasn't just that the numbers went up, either. The hits I got were more solid. There were fewer fouls, in actual number not just as a percentage. One little change in my stat sheet clearly made me a better hitter.

Look out world, I was on my way!

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