Gamer's Love

Chapter 1: "Hi there"

Cheryl slid her little brass key into the matching deadbolt on her front door and let herself in, making sure that she re-locked it before heading to her upstairs bedroom.  Shedding out of her work attire, her floor became a littered maze of silk and undergarments.

Stepping under the hot stream from the shower, she sighed with satisfaction as the water soaked through her hair to her scalp.  It burned a little, just enough to help loosen the tense muscles in her neck and shoulders.  Today had been busier than usual at the hospital that she worked at downtown, and she had gotten quite a workout delivering medical records to the emergency room in her fashionable heels.

Her lackadaisical co-worker, Judith, had called in sick again, probably so she could go to the rave that she had been babbling about all week, so it was completely up to Cheryl to ensure that the medical records department ran smoothly until the evening shift arrived.  The added pain was that the records delivery tube system was down, so she had to walk every request after hunting it down.  Honestly, the work wasn't hard, but it got very tedious and time-consuming.

Taking a little bit of time for herself, she rinsed off the last remnants of lather just as the hot water began to sputter out.  As good as it felt, she stayed under the cooling jet until goosebumps began to cover her body.  Turning the water off, she wrapped herself up in her favorite terry-cloth robe and twisted a fluffy towel around her hair, wearing it turban-style as she sauntered into the kitchen downstairs.

While waiting for the tea kettle to boil, Cheryl decided to hop onto one of her favorite mobile games on her phone.  It was fun to play and a great way to waste some free time, not to mention that she had another world to disappear to for a while when life became too much to handle.

She waited in anticipation as the load screen finished, and went to the kingdom chat to see what she had missed.  There were some great people in her kingdom; some were funny, and others were just pleasant to have conversation with.  Then, of course, there was always that one who had to be the instigator to the people on the team that they were battling, making most people laugh because they knew he was just having fun with them.

As she scrolled through the conversation, she noticed that they had two new members as of this morning.  One of them was called Rocker80 and the other was a system generated username.

"Hmmm...I wonder if the name does the person justice."  Hers was simply CherBear.  It was short, simple, available, and it worked, not to mention that it was also very cute and memorable.

Just as she was getting to the end of the chat, the tea kettle began to whistle.  The new guy, going by Rocker for short, seemed pretty cool.  He was also a higher level than her, with some of his war leaders at level sixty.  Her highest one was level twenty-eight.  He also had a great knowledge with tactics and how to use some of those leaders to their greatest potential, which really helped Cheryl out because she was not the greatest at offensive battles.

Letting her tea brew on the table, she returned to the game and started one of her five available attacks for the day.  She could probably get a few more in tonight before going to sleep, but she would have to wait for her energy to replenish.

While placing her troops in her opponent's territory, her phone chirped.  I was a private message in the game.  Thinking that it was her best friend, Mimi, she finished her battle and opened the chat list.  It definitely wasn't her bestie sending that message...it was the new guy!

"Hi there!  Saw u online.  How are u?"

Cheryl was used to getting messages from the leaders of the kingdom, as she had befriended many of them.  However, it was quite rare for a new member to send her a private message.  They usually posted in the kingdom chat where others could join in and talk about life or the game.