Page 36 of Played By Design

Ten fifty-two.

His interview has to be over by now.

My fingers open the messaging app.

Bunny

How’s it going?

I stare at my contact name for a minute. Kain changed it again. I don’t know why he keeps doing that when he can personalize my name on his phone. It doesn’t matter what I call myself.

Changing it back would take two seconds.

I'll save that battle for another day.

The message joins the last one I sent in the thread. No read receipt. No three dots.

My beanbag catches me as I flop onto it and grab my farming sim.

Eggplant time.

One sleeve covers the notifications in the upper right corner while I seed a row in my garden. The pixelated soil darkens as I sweep the watering can over the patch.

A little notification pops up.

+2 Farming XP.

I don’t care.

The phone finds its way back to my hand.

Bunny

Are you done yet?

Nothing.

I put the phone down and plant another row of eggplants. Soon, I’ll get that kitchen upgrade. But it doesn’t spark the same excitement I had before the Pulse Riot competition.

The phone rests on the bean bag beside my knee. After another moment, I pick it up again.

Bunny

What’s the office like?

Is Julian there?

Kain.

Kain.

KAIN.

Still no response. The messages stack in the thread until the phone goes dark.

I set it down and stare at where my farmer stands frozen mid-field, watering can raised, surrounded by pixelated sprouts that will take four agonizing game-days to grow.

The device drops into my lap, and I lean my head back, beans shifting beneath the base of my skull as I stare up at the ceiling. My toe taps the floor, a quick one-two-three. Restless energy buzzes under my skin with nowhere to go.