Last summer at the Mallory Family Beach house…

Ryan put his arm around Nora. “Do you want to go inside?” He asked, “It looks like it’s going to rain soon.”

“Yeah but let me get a few more pics first.” She said, shaking him off to set up another photo with her fancy, adjust-every-single-setting manual camera. It would take her forever to get even one and anyways he wasn’t as concerned about the rain as he was about some stranger that kept staring at her.

It was a regular occurrence since she was gorgeous, but she was dressed in a billowy shirt and shorts and not a bathing suit while on the beach and that tended to get overlooked. Even if there were looks, they were generally in passing. But a guy with a military buzz cut was walking back and forth at the shoreline and looking over at her every minute. Was he trying to catch her eye? Did he recognize her from somewhere? 

Though Ryan wasn’t sure how to rate the attractiveness of guys, he was fairly certain this one was on the low end of the scale. But that wouldn’t matter if Nora knew him from somewhere. He hated being surprised by some guy she all the time knew that she never told him about. It felt sort of stabby in his heart whenever it happened.

“Do you know that guy over there?” He asked abruptly.

She sighed and looked. Buzz cut was facing away at the moment.

“No, never seen him before. Why?” She asked, clearly more interested in returning to her camera settings. 

“I don’t know, I’m just getting a bad vibe from him.” He said. “He keeps staring at you.”

“He’s never seen green hair before.” She fluffed her hair with one hand and smiled.

“Yeah, that’s not it.” 

While Ryan was stewing about whether he should go over to the potential stalker and make sure he knew Nora was his girlfriend, she suddenly grabbed his shirt. “Stand right there.” She said while directing him to the left. “Don’t smile, just pretend you’re looking at the ocean.”

“Okay, but when I’m looking at the ocean… I’m not pretending.” He laughed.

“Don’t smile.” She said again. He relaxed his face into a serious look.

After what felt like too long, she announced she was done, and they could go inside. He lost sight of buzz cut in the middle of trying to remain still and serious, so he shrugged it off.

As Nora was cleaning the sand from her legs and feet with the outside spout, Ryan took his shoes off at the door to his family’s beach house. 

“Lunch is ready.” His mom announced, opening the door to him.

Nora acknowledged she heard and as soon as he was inside, his mom handed him a sandwich.

His brothers Gerald and Duncan were on the couch watching sports, their spouses and kids apparently still on the beach.

Ryan sat down with them, though he had no interest in watching the game. He was itching to get back to Excalibur Rising, or ER as he took to abbreviating it, and opened his laptop with one hand while eating his sandwich with the other.

His mom put a wrapped sandwich on the table next to him. “That’s Nora’s, so don’t eat it.” She told him.

“I wouldn’t even think about it.” He winced. Nora hadn’t eaten meat in years, so her sandwich was lacking the good part and was of no interest to him either way. 

“I love these shelves so much.” His mom said as she passed by the wall behind him and patted his shoulder. “Thanks for making them for me.”

“He didn’t exactly make them.” Duncan chimed in. “Dad did most of the work.”

“Not so.” Ryan protested. “I could build those in my sleep now.”

“Took you long enough to learn a useful skill.” Duncan laughed.

“Yeah, sleeping is my specialty.” Ryan returned, purposely misunderstanding him. 

Loud cheering on the tv drew Duncan’s attention and he went back to his usual silently bored self.

Ryan took another large bite of his depleting sandwich.

“So, when are you going to pop the question?” Gerald asked. Ryan almost choked. Gerald was never subtle.

“Say it a little louder so Nora can hear when she comes in the door in a few seconds.” Ryan said.

“I’m just saying, what are you waiting for? Her to move on because you won’t give her a ring?”

“Yeah, this isn’t the 1800s where people married right away because by the time they were 18 half their life was spent.” Ryan said logging into ER. “And I think I’ll let Nora decide if she wants a ring or not.”

“That’s not how it works.” Duncan interrupted, “Especially since Nora isn’t exactly the most outspoken girl ever. She’s waiting for you to man up or she’ll find someone else who will.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “We have a good thing going and-” 

He stopped short when he saw Bee was logged into the game and trying to talk to him. He didn’t bring his headset because he didn’t want anyone to overhear him talking to her and have to explain that his platonic, faceless gaming buddy was a girl. Especially with the way this conversation was going, he knew they’d take it wrong and make a big deal out of it.

He messaged her that he was away from his desk and couldn’t talk but wanted to check in quickly.  

“Who’s BlackEyedBee?” Gerald asked, glancing over at his screen.

“Just another gamer I co-op with.” He said stuffing the rest of his sandwich in his mouth, so he didn’t have to answer any more questions. He suddenly realized Nora was taking a long time outside and got worried that buzz cut guy might be hassling her.

Shutting his laptop and placing it safely on the kitchen counter, he checked outside for Nora. 

“These are all good, but this one I’d love to frame in my shop.” Ryan overheard his brother Keith saying to Nora as he approached. “I mean, if that’s okay with you. I’d give it to you after the summer’s over.”

“Yeah, if you really think it’s good enough for that.” Nora replied, letting her hair drop into her face as her cheeks turned pink.

“Definitely.” Keith nodded, “Just text it to me and I’ll show you when I get it all printed and framed.”

“Okay, yeah.” She responded taking her camera back, obviously happy about the praise.

“Are you guys done nerding out over landscapes?” Ryan interrupted. Nora didn’t respond, just started drying off her legs and feet.

“Yeah.” Keith laughed, then turned back to Nora and said, “Let me get your shoes.” He laid them out neatly on the dry stone pathway in front of her and she stepped into them. 

Ryan wasn’t sure how to take his brothers’ undermining him like this. First them giving him unsolicited advice and now trying to show him up by acting like it was normal to get a girl her shoes that were only a short step away. Besides, they didn’t know Nora like he did. She didn’t like public displays of affection or being carried or even holding hands. And she absolutely didn’t want him to act like she couldn’t get her own shoes or that she needed a ring from an outdated possessive practice to be okay with their relationship. 

Before he left with Nora a few hours later, his brothers had enough time to question other things about his life, including his lack of a degree choice, his refusal to care about professional sports teams, and his undecided facial hair. Nora didn’t bother to defend him over any of those things, pretending instead to be overly interested in Keith’s vacation slide show. She avoided conflict; she’d rather ‘good vibe’ it and ignore everything.

What was supposed to be a relaxing day at the beach house with his family had turned into a judgement session about all the things he was doing wrong in life.

On the long drive back, he paused his complaining about their lousy day to test something.

“What’s your favorite type of stone?” He asked.

“That’s like asking me what’s my favorite color. I couldn’t possibly decide.” She answered absent-mindedly while looking out the window. “And it all depends on what it’s used for. You mean what I like to wear or what I like to keep with me? Or what I like to keep in my room?”

She had already complicated the question to the point where he knew he wouldn’t be able to decipher the answer even if she gave one.

“Like to wear, I guess.” He shrugged and adjusted his hand on the steering wheel.

“As in a belt or a necklace?” She asked.

“No, more like a ring.”

She paused. “I thought you knew I didn’t really like wearing rings. They get caught in my hair.”

“That’s what I thought, I just wanted to check.” He said reaching to turn up the volume of the radio since he knew she thought he was acting weird.

“Ryan, don’t get me anything.” She said in a quiet voice a moment later. “I’m really picky about jewelry and I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”

“I’m not getting you anything, don’t worry.” He sighed. “It was just a dumb question to get you talking since you’ve said hardly anything all day.” Although, what he really meant was she hadn’t said anything to defend his honor all day.

“There’s just not anything to say.” She returned, “And it’s the first time you’ve noticed, but you talk 90 percent of the time, so it was a normal day for me.”

“I don’t talk 90 percent of the time!” He protested, glancing over to meet her eyes.

“It’s not an insult, it just is.” She said softly while sinking down in the seat. “I don’t mind it.” 

It wasn’t convincing. She wouldn’t have qualified it if she didn’t mind it.

“Alright, well I’ll give you a break from my talking.” He said rolling his eyes. “And we can listen to your playlist.”

“Really?” She perked up, taking out her phone and linking it immediately.

He wasn’t particularly happy that she was deliberately ignoring his sarcasm. Now he’d have to listen to meditations for the next two hours.

For the rest of the drive, he tried to keep calm and think about ER. He’d be playing it soon and nothing else mattered. And he’d have all day tomorrow to do it without being bothered.

After he dropped Nora off at her apartment, he was relieved to be able to get to his. To be alone in his own room and return to Camelot.

As he unlocked his front door, he paused a moment before kicking it wide open. Then on the count of three he ran between the door posts, slamming the door shut behind him. When he was clear, he scanned the wall. Nothing but off-white paint. This time. But he would continue this precaution until the giant spider that lived above the doorframe died. He knew it was still somewhere, hiding, biding its time before appearing again, and he wanted to be ready for it…

Ready to run, that is.

In his room, he put his headset on and opened his laptop, leaning back in his office chair.

“I was going to call it a day, but since you finally decided to take the mission seriously, I’ll hang on for a little longer.” Bee said.

He laughed. “Trust me, I’d rather be here.”

He felt better already. Just hearing her cartoony disembodied voice while playing was like having a specialized AI that knew his humor exactly. It had been almost a year since he first teamed up with her and he liked the imaginary world they existed in. He never had to worry about her giving advice about what he should be doing instead of playing ER. They understood that gaming time was a frequent ritual that shouldn’t be marred by talk of reality. 

“Oh honey, I know you can’t get enough of my burly man muscles.” She said in her ‘tough guy’ voice. “But I’m married to the life of a mercenary.” She sighed, “And love ain’t my style.”

He had his Morgana player blow a kiss to Bee’s Knight in the game. It made a lipstick mark on his cheek for a second before disappearing. This particular taunt cost him fifty gemmies and was totally worth it.

“You know when two people partner up for a long quest it’s inevitable they fall in love.” He said referring to their gaming characters as they always did. “Especially if they protest it often and they both look like models.”

“That’s true.” She said with finality. “That is the only criteria for true love.”

As he leaned forward his arm accidentally bumped into something on the desk. He caught it before it hit the ground. It was his precious Morgana figurine that matched the character he played in the game. This dazzling figure was sent to him randomly in the mail because he preordered his subscription to Excalibur Rising. It was a unique stroke of luck since blind box gambles usually resulted in him getting the worst, most undesirable one.

He dusted her little green dress off and placed her on his desk again.

“Hey what’s going on?” Bee asked, “You go silent and now I’m having to defend you against cheap shots?”

“Sorry, I had some dirt on my dress and had to clean it off.” He laughed. “I’m back.”

“So prim and proper.” She said with a British accent. She didn’t even require context for anything he said, she’d just go with the flow.

If she was worried whenever he stopped talking for more than a minute, then he knew for sure she didn’t think he talked 90 percent of the time. Plus, if anything she talked more than him. She did impressions and would read any text or dialogue in the game aloud for the both of them. He liked that she was consistently high energy like a busy little bee buzzing all the time. He knew she’d never just tell him they had nothing to talk about and want to put on her playlist so she could ignore him.

They played for several hours until she announced her departure. He put a protective shield bubble around Bee’s Knight so she wouldn’t be attacked while she was inactive in the game.

“Bye, Ninja.” She said with a yawn, “Hold down the fort until I get back.”

“You bet.” He replied as she put her Knight to sleep in the bubble and logged off. But in that second before she left, something pulled inside to know she was leaving the game before him, and he almost made a grave mistake. He almost asked her when she’d be on again. 

But that just wasn’t their thing. 

Want to learn more about this and other fantasy sci-fi books I'm working on? For more on maps, world building, and stunning art by amazing artists of my two worlds - Drea and Hiraeth - check out my website at: Corrinamp.com