Chapter 8: Contestant

I arranged my mouth into a smile. A good one, a convincing one? Probably not. No one could say I didn’t make a game attempt, though. Not even Lena.

I wasn’t sure how to interpret her expression as she watched me. Was she seeking something, or challenging? Maybe she didn’t know, either. Her eyes flickered down, but she kept locking her gaze back with mine.

“I didn’t realize you’d already decided to go,” Erin said.

Which, I thought, made two of us.

“You had to know I’d be into it,” Lena said. “Besides, our channel is kind of a big deal. I’d like to keep it that way. It feels like it would be weird if I didn’t go down there and at least commentate. At that point, why not sign up?”

“Because the first time somebody goes too far, you could get hurt,” Erin said.

I fought the urge to nod.

Lena crossed her arms. “First of all, the only way that would happen to me specifically is if I lost. Didn’t we just establish I was gonna win the whole thing?”

Despite everything, I smiled.

So did Erin, but only for an instant. “I’m sure you’ll do great. You shouldn’t just assume you’re going to win, though.”

“Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer,” I said.

If I’d offered cautionary words of my own, I knew Lena would’ve gotten pissed at me. Because I broke out a Darkest Dungeon meme instead, she just scrunched her nose up for a moment.

Then she uncrossed her arms and gave mine a gentle punch. “Fine. Maybe somebody’s got some sealed secret technique that will totally kick my ass.”

“At which point you once again have to be concerned about getting hurt,” Erin said.

“Kinda?” Lena shrugged. “I don’t think there’s much chance of that, though. Like, way less than of me getting hurt playing a physical sport.”

“In fairness,” I said, “before Third Eye, if either of us had tried to play a physical sport, somebody would have had to scrape us off the pavement.”

“Also, almost everyone who does sports gets hurt eventually,” Erin said.

“Which only reinforces my point,” Lena said.

I raised my eyebrow.

“It does, Cam.” She slid her hand down and laced her fingers through mine. “It’s sweet of both of you to worry about me, but this is not that dangerous. First of all, if I’m not way better than most players, something has gone seriously wrong. I rolled super high for HP, I’m tied for the most Reactant units any of us have, and I’ve seen how Albie used hers. That alone means I’m going to beat anybody who isn’t awesome at the game.”

“I agree,” I said, “you’ve got a good chance of advancing. Even winning. But it also means something that does take you out is going to be an attack none of us see coming.”

“Which, if I were signing up for MMA, might mean I was in more danger,” Lena said. “With Third Eye, I actually think it means I’m even safer.”

Erin cocked her head. “How so?”

“Because,” Lena said, “anybody who’s figured out more about the game than us has to have realized what happens if you hit somebody with no HP.”

I found myself nodding.

“At that point,” Lena said, “the only way I get injured is because not only did somebody beat me, they then decided to deliberately cop an assault charge by hurting somebody at an event that’s being livestreamed.”

“That would not be the stupidest thing I’ve seen someone do at a tournament,” Erin said.

Lena snorted. “And you act like I’m crazy for thinking sports are dumb.”

“I don’t think I could explain the appeal,” Erin said.

“True.” Lena shrugged. “Not the stupidest thing you’ve seen? Okay. How about top five?”

Erin cupped her chin. After a few seconds of deliberation, she nodded.

“I’m not going to pretend I like this,” I said.

Lena’s hand tightened around mine. She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye.

“But. I get why you do,” I continued. “What’s more, as much as I hate to admit it, I agree that it’s good for the channel. By extension, good for any message we want to get out.”

“Also,” Lena said, “we could really use five hundred thousand dollars.”

“Yeah.” I squeezed her hand. “That is also true.”

For OdysseyZZ, for Omar Jefferies, that prize money was pocket change. For Lena and I, it would be a life-changing sum.

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Subsequent posts had clarified that the million represented the entire prize pool, but even the half of it put aside for the winner would change everything for us.

Hell, even the hundred thousand for just *reaching* the semifinals sounded good enough to me. We could erase the credit card debt that crept up every time we fell short of our needs for a month and have enough left over to put aside for emergencies. Hell, we could almost afford health insurance.

What we couldn’t afford was a trip to Florida.

“Well,” Erin said. “It sounds as though you got this all figured out.”

Was that a note of sarcasm in her voice? If so, I couldn’t identify it. When I’d first met Erin, I’d thought her excessively practiced manner of speaking came from either having something to hide, a background in theater, or both. It made more sense to think she’d just worked extensively with a speech coach, though. If anything, she usually seemed too earnest.

I sure would’ve meant her statement sarcastically. But at least until we got home, I would back Lena’s play.

After that?

Since I didn’t want my expression to sour any further, I pushed it out of my mind.

“I don’t know about figuring everything out,” I said. “You can tell Lena thought through entering the tournament, though.”

Lena’s grin wavered. She certainly caught my sarcasm.

If Erin did, she gave no sign. “It would be hypocritical of me to object any further, after I already said I thought the tournament was a good idea. Just promise you’ll be careful, okay? Both of you.”

“You don’t have to worry about me.” I spread my hands. “I’ll cheer Lena on, and help her out with commentating matches if we get the chance to do it, but you’re not getting me in the arena.”

“Oh, sure, he says that now.” Lena let go of me and stretched across the table to stage whisper to Erin. “Once he sees how cool I look during the qualifiers, you just know he’s going to want to get in on the action, too.”

Erin covered her mouth as she giggled.

“And join the ranks of the poor saps getting smoked by The Magnificent Ashbird?” I shook my head. “Pass.”

“I guess it would be weird if we had to match up against each other,” Lena said.

“Exactly. Besides, like you said. You’re going to look so cool.” I reached over, patted Bernie’s head, and rubbed Lena’s shoulders. “Why would I ever take a match myself, and risk losing the chance to watch yours?”

She blinked and fixed her eyes on the laminate of the table.

“That’s so sweet,” Erin said. “For what it’s worth, I’ll be cheering you on from home, watching whatever kind of stream it gets broadcast on.”

Bernie added a cheerful meep.

Lena scooched back into her seat, trapping my arm between Bernie’s back and the vinyl of the chair. No objections from me. She looked out the window and said, “With that kind of support, how could I lose?”

While we waited for the check, Lena shifted enough that my arm slid down to the small of her back. She tilted into my embrace. I caught her glancing up at me.

I smiled, and in the moment, I meant it.

I guess she believed me, because I felt her relax.

A month ago, that would’ve been good enough for me. Hell. Way more than good enough. Her nearness, her affection, those were things I’d thought I’d let slip away. Things I convinced myself weren’t that important to either of us.

You know how I let that happen? How we let that happen? By deciding it was “good enough” to relax after one of us bothered the other. By burying our problems. When something finally had boiled up so much I couldn’t swallow my annoyance, it had turned into a huge fight.

I wouldn’t have been annoyed with Lena at the moment if she hadn’t sprung this on me in front of Erin. On the balance, though, I was kind of glad to have Erin with us now. Her presence forced me to take a step back and consider what I wanted to say, and why.

The hostess returned. She gathered up our empty dishes. “You guys want anything for dessert?”

“Not me.” I couldn’t think of the last time I’d felt so full.

Erin shook her head. “The cheesecake chimichanga is amazing, but I couldn’t put away another bite.”

Lena hesitated.

She gave a harsh shake of her head. “Nah. Got to stay at my fighting weight, you know?”

“Mmhm!” Erin swiped her phone to pay. She didn’t even blink.

I tried to imagine living like that. Couldn’t. Even if Lena won the tournament, even if our YouTube videos popped off so hard the ad revenue made her tournament winnings look trivial, I’d live with the memory of needing to calculate if we could afford the next day’s meal.

Imagine, no. Getting to live it for a while sounded pretty great, though.

You know what didn’t? Racking up another, what, eight hundred dollars of credit card debt for bus tickets to Tampa, plus who knew how much for a hotel.

I pushed it out of my mind as we followed Erin back to the street.

“This was really fun,” she said. “Next time, let’s not wait for one of us to have bad news to share.”

“Hell yeah,” Lena said. “And next time, it’ll be my treat.”

“You really don’t have to do that,” Erin said. “If... when you win, you should do something nice for yourself.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Lena said. “What do you think, Cam? Should we get the Tesla first, or the mansion?”

“I think,” I said, “we should figure out how much those things actually cost.”

“Yeah, I’d probably just go for a new video card.”

“Now that’s just extravagant.”

She laughed. “Remember when you were going to get me a 3080 for my birthday a couple years ago?”

“Not my finest plan.” We’d both benefited from everyone with disposable income deciding to spend it on collectibles during lockdown. It left us with empty shelves, but flush bank accounts. At least by our standards.

So much so, that I’d actually convinced myself I could afford a brand-new video card. In the middle of the 2020 chip shortage. If you didn’t try to upgrade your PC around then, let me tell you: I could not. An electric car might have actually cost less.

Lena’s phone chimed. She checked it, tapped out a response, and pumped her fist. “Aw yeah, the evening keeps getting better and better. Matt’s agreed to get his butt kicked!”

I gave her a thumbs up.

“Good luck,” Erin said.

Lena tossed her hair. “Luck will have nothing to do with it.”

Erin blinked. “Well. I would hope not.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“It’s just... and I mean no offense to either you or Mr. Green.” She shifted from foot to foot. “If you can’t beat him, Lena, then you should probably revise your expectations for the tournament.”