Page 48 of Wedding the Werepanther
Dewdrop darts past me to dive through the center of the flock. “You can fly! I don’t know anyone else here who can fly. Will you be my friends?”
I translate for the pixies, who give happy shouts and swarm him.
They move out into the yard to have more room. Dewdrop flies loops and swirls, and the pixies surround him like tiny bright blue moons orbiting a purple planet.
“Did someone say pizza?” Shadow’s deep voice comes from right behind me. He looks downright lickable in black leather pants and a green dress shirt that highlights the color of his eyes.
I’m wearing jeans with my fave gaming sneakers and a tee that reads:Girls just want to have game. He looks like he made an effort, but I’m just me. A niggle of doubt worms through me, and I shake it off. That’s kinda the point of tonight: I’m gonna see how much Shadow likes the real me.
“Sure did.” I lift the boxes and head for the kitchen. I snag paper towels and beer and carry everything into the living room. My serious desktop gaming rig lives in my office, but I keep my Switch hooked up to the television.
I glance at each piece of magical parchment we pass, expecting to see something disapproving from Victoria. She thinks proper dates require fancy clothes and candlelit steak dinners, which is pretty much the total opposite of what I have planned. But she remains oddly quiet.
Dewdrop’s new cat tree reminds me of how hard Shadow worked to make my familiar happy. I used to think the werepanther was nothing but cocky and frivolous. Now I’m just confused. He’s still cocky as hell and continues to talk as ifeverything between us is a game. But he’s also surprisingly sweet and thoughtful. It’s a disarming combination.
Shadow and I settle side by side on the couch, facing the screen, and I hand him a controller. “So this is our date: pizza and beer and video games.”
“Sounds perfect.” He grins and runs his fingers over the various buttons, his right thumb making circles on the top of the joystick in a way that’s seriously distracting to my girl parts.
“Wait. You like video games?”
“I’ve never tried them. I asked Naomi about it, but she doesn’t play. So I watched a few videos.”
“Why?”
“I know they’re important to you.”
He says it simply, as if it’s no big deal, and my heart gives a little skip.
“And Ilovegames,” his voice dropping into a seductive purr.
Ah, there it is. He does love to play, so of course he’s excited to try a new kind of game.
I cover up my flustered feeling by turning on the TV and Switch, then pull up one of the simpler Mario 2D-platformer games that’s a good one to start with. “I’ll go first so you see what it’s like, and you can eat if you like.”
Shadow throws open his pizza box and grins. “Meat lovers! My favorite.”
“You’re not the only one who knows things about what people like.” Okay, so I had to ask the pixies, butnowI know, so it’s not a total lie.
Happy music fills the room when I press start, and soon I’m cruising along, jumping and punching and collecting mushrooms. I usually play this game when I want to relax and not have to think, letting the rest of the world fall away.
That’s so not happening now, because no matter how much I try to lose myself in the game, my body stays hyperaware of Shadow beside me.
When I finish the level, I turn things over to him.
“Explain the controls?” He leans close, his musk and pine scent making my pulse race as I walk him through all the different buttons. The only reason I make it through without stuttering is because I seriously know my gaming shit.
I bite into my first piece of pizza as he starts to play, and damned if he isn’t good. Sure, he makes a few mistakes like anyone learning would, but he’s gotta be one of the fastest learners I’ve ever seen, his hand-eye coordination off the charts.
When he finally finishes the first level, I say, “Are you sure you’ve never played before, because I’ve never seen anyone make that last jump the first time they try. They usually land short.”
“Cats have excellent spatial awareness.” He gives an easy shrug. “We use it constantly to judge jumps when hunting.”
“Huh.” As someone about as far from athletic as you can get, I never thought about transferring real-world physical skills to a game.
Victoria opens the front door, and Dewdrop flies inside, cheeping happily about playing with the pixies. He flies to his new cat tree and climbs inside the leafy sleep nook.
After playing a couple more levels, I mix things up by putting onMario Kart, which is one of the best driving games around, and I’ll fight anyone who says differently. Or I’ll fight them in a game, that is.
