𝐑𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞

A L E X A N D E R

Bringing up the family is never a good idea. I wish that I had brought Moony in order to take some of the attention away, but I haven't changed my mind about wanting to be alone with Charlotte.

Before I can think of a topic to change our conversation to, Charlotte speaks up. "Do you maybe want to play volleyball? I don't mind losing." She grins and it's a beautiful thing to witness, especially from so close.

I feel my face scrunch up and her smile fades. "Maybe next time. I'd rather just talk. Maybe while we walk?" I ask her and she perks up again as soon as the words next time leave my mouth.

"That sounds lovely. Do you think it's okay to leave our things?" She asks, looking down at our blanket and I shrug.

"Yeah, just grab your phone. Best not to sweat the little things." I smile and stand, grabbing a ball cap from off the blanket to shield my face from the sun. It's partly cloudy, but the sun is uncovered at the moment and I somehow forgot to bring sunglasses.

We aren't walking for long in comfortable silence before I decide to speak up—running the back of my hand along Charlotte's forearm and dragging it down to intertwine our fingers. "I would love to play a game with you, but I'm extremely competitive, in a completely unattractive way."

She glances up at me and quirks her lips to the side. "I see. Well you did say next time, so I'll hold you to that I'm afraid."

I nod, barely holding back a smile of my own. "I'm a sore loser."

"I've heard."

"R—eed?"

She pauses, looking ahead with her hand covering her plush lips. "You almost just called her Rat, didn't you." She calls me out, noticing my stutter. I can't help but laugh, nodding.

"It stuck, I don't know what to tell you."

"What an awful nickname," She says and I shrug, not disagreeing, but silently loving the way the word awful doesn't sound awful at all when she says it.

"So why our program? Why computer programming and not...I don't know, med school or something? You're way too pretty and way too smart to sit behind a screen at a desk all day.

"I'll most likely be in different classes next year, as the studies become more specific. Hopefully, by then, my first game will be well underway, I'm still working on securing an artist. I also have a lot to learn—"

"Wait what? Like video games? That's so cool, Charlotte." I turn to her, my voice becoming louder with excitement.

"Yeah, console games specifically. Reed cannot wait to test it out and she tells me so every other day," She laughs and I can't take my eyes off of her perfect teeth, smiling at the sight.

"Sign me up for that, Reed and I can battle or face off. What kind of game? Why games?" I rattle off questions, wanting to know everything that there is to know about this girl.

"Well, alright, I can put you on my beta tester list. But it's a single-player RPG, so I'm not sure if it's something you'd be interested in..." She trails off and I bump her arm with my own, our hands still held together and despite the heat and sweat, I still love having her close.

"I'm interested in you," Her head snaps towards me, bright green eyes wide, "Therefore, I'm interested in your game. Genuinely though, I think that's the coolest thing I've ever heard. Let me know if you ever have any code that needs debugging. Happy to lend a hand, or another pair of eyes."

"Thank you, Alexander, I really appreciate that. It's a struggle, especially for something so large. It's not a basic game by any standard. Anyway, I could talk about this all day so let's move on."