My screen flashes, frantically I click my mouse. I'm completely absorbed in the game. "Down left!" I hear on my headphones. It's one of my game mates. "I've got it," I say, and I'm moving my character to the place where I'm needed. "Can someone throw me a heal?" A golden flash glows on my screen and I see my health bar fill up again. "Thanks."

"Shut up, Eli. Less talking, more damage, 'kay?" Says one of my teammates.

I use my character's ability to make her invisible before I get where I'm needed and I sneak up onto our opponent. I slide into position, stun him and perform some stabbing actions, while my character moves around like a whirlwind. The icon that says I can use a special ability flashes and with one click on it I kill my opponent.

"Ha! Eliminator strikes again." I yell through my microphone.

"Yeah, yeah, stop being so cocky and come and help us here. We're going to take their base." I hear Al mumble. As quickly as possible I move my character to the rest of the team, but I don't think I'm really needed here. They control the game, so I just vanish in the shadows, ready to get into action, and soon we have won the game.

"Everyone up for another one?" someone asks.

I check the time. "Not me, I've got a date." As soon as I speak the words, I know I made a mistake. The voices of my friends fill my headphones with sexual innuendos and a lot of whistling.

"Does he have some nice equipment?"

"Don't you forget a stamina potion?"

"Hehe, don't forget to bring some protection spell."

"Okay guys, that's enough, got to go now." Quickly I log out. I grin. The bantering always cracks me up, even if I'm the subject. This will not be the last thing I will hear about my date. The whole dating thing freaked me more out than the test I aced this afternoon, so I logged into the game to calm my nerves a bit and it worked like a charm. Maybe it worked a bit too well, I think when I check my phone and see I have only twenty minutes left to get dressed. I wish Megan was here.

Megan hasn't returned yet. She doesn't react to my messages and she hasn't been back to her room. If I wasn't worried already, I would be now. Meg never leaves an opportunity to go full out with her makeup on me. I have to do all the work myself now. I pick a simple blue dress. It's elegant, tight-fitting and it has a low back. Not that I have that much choice anyway; it's the blue dress or some black glittery thing I bought once for a glitter and glamour party. I pull my hair back in a ponytail and apply just a bit of makeup. I think I look okay, my eyelashes don't look like crawling spiders and there's no lipstick on my teeth, but the whole dressing up makes Meg's absence more poignant. 

I don't have to wait long for Dan. Actually I'm barely ready when I hear the bell. I throw one quick look in the mirror, just to check if my makeup is still there where I applied it, and I walk to the door. Before I open it, I hesitate. A thousand what-ifs go through my mind, but I shove them all away by opening the door.

Of course, he looks stunning and he throws me a dazzling smile. Awkwardly I raise my hand. 

"Hey." Great way to greet the guy you were drooling over the last couple of days, I say to myself. 

"Hey, you." He says. "Are you ready?"

I nod. "Yep." He takes my hand and together we walk to his car. It's the same one as Sunday morning

"Where are we going?" I say when we drive away.

"You will see..." A slight smile appears on his face.

I don't really know what to say to him, several times I try to say something, only to have the words get stuck in my throat. I don't want to destroy the silence, as it somehow feels like something hopeful. Everything is possible, as long as nothing is said. One word and destiny would have been chosen, destroying all other outcomes. Or at least, that's how I excused myself for being weird.

"So... How did your test go?" he interrupts my thoughts.

That bloody test. "I think it went fine." I stare at him from under my eyelashes.

"I probably aced it." I know I aced it, but do I sound too confident now? This whole dating thing is one swamp of social interaction, and I can only hope I don't screw up.

"Nice one. So you're a doctor now?" He throws quickly a glance at me.

I chuckle. "I wish. I still have some years of study in front of me, but now I can actually work with real patients."

"You make it sound like the rest of the world has to be afraid."

"The rest of the world should be fine. I'm just starting in South Valley, taking one city out at a time." I crack my knuckles. "I hope I get an apartment soon."

"You're moving away?" he says.

"Yep, as soon as I find a place. I had some offers in the mail today, so I will leave soon probably." 

We enter the parking of some fancy, too expensive restaurant, and the thought I'm probably underdressed crosses my mind. When I walk to the entrance, Dan puts his hand on my back and leads me to an emergency exit.

"This way."

The feeling of his hand on my bare skin is distracting. It feels like someone is almost tickling me, but it's not an unpleasant feeling at all.

"You seem to like emergency exits," I say. "What's so special about them?"

"You'll see." Again that smile.

Where ever he's taking me, it's not the fancy restaurant. That's clear when we leave the parking. Somehow it's a relief, they always put the contents of a full cutlery drawer next to your plate, so I never have a clue what to use. People say that you have to use the outer cutlery first, but that trick made me use a butter knife on an oyster once and making me a complete fool out of myself. Dan walks through some dark alleys with me stumbling behind him. I'm trying to dodge some piles of trash and hoping he really is this nice guy I thought he was. Finally, we arrive at some small restaurant.

"After you," he says, while he keeps the door open for me.

Thick yellow curtains hang in front of the windows and the tables and chairs are made of dark oaken. The walls are all yellow with some randomly painted dots.

When the waitress hands me the menu, I begin to laugh. The main ingredient of every dish on the menu is cheese; cheeseburgers, cheesecake, cheese fondue, soufflés.

"This is so..." I want to say cheesy, but it seems redundant. "Corny."

"I really hope you do love cheese." He says with a twinkle in his eyes.

"How did you... When did I..." It's true, I really do love cheese, but I can't remember telling him.

"You said something about loving cheese in the hospital, so I thought this would be the right place for you." He says while he studies the menu.

My cheeks turn red when I think of how his chest felt that Sunday morning. "Wow, I can't even remember saying that, but it's true. How did you find this restaurant?"

"It was actually Kate who suggested this place, I've never been here. So cheese connoisseur, what can you recommend?" He looks me straight in the eye.

Quickly I stare at the menu. "I don't know, I've never been here either, but I think it's awesome" I look the list up and down. It's hard to pick a dish. In the end, I just close my eyes and use my finger as a pointer. When I open my eyes I say: "Soufflé it is."

The waitress takes our order and soon we get our drinks.

I take a sip from my water. "So if you've never been here before, where do you normally go?"

"The place where I parked my car. That's pretty much it."

"Seriously?" I say. "I think I would have been uncomfortable in that place."

"Yeah, I thought so." He plays with his glass. "Ruben told me you are actually a pretty well-known gamer."

My eyes fly from one side to another, and I notice I'm chewing on my lower lip. "Did he?" How did this Ruben guy know this about me?

"Yeah, he thought your username had a familiar ring to it, and he showed me some articles." His eyes are resting on me. I'm sure if I tell a lie he will see right through it. He's an actor, he's sort of a professional liar, I keep telling myself.

"Did you google me? That's just..." I don't finish my sentence, but my heart is pounding. "It's just a game. It's nothing." How much could there be about me on the web? It's been six years, most articles should be gone by now, or at least that's what I try to tell myself.

"Ruben told me there were rumors that some company offered you a big deal, but you turned them down and retired. Everyone was shocked when you backed out." He takes a sip of his drink. It's not really a question, but I still feel the urge to answer.

"I quit because the whole gaming thing interfered with my school," I say more snappy than I wanted. "Listen, can we please talk about something else?"

My cheeks are flushed and I feel like I'm sitting here completely naked. If his questions didn't unnerve me enough, it feels as if his gaze is trying to uncover every secret I might hide. 

"You're intriguing." 

I laugh after hearing his words. "No, really, I'm not. I'm probably the most boring person you'll ever meet."

"I beg to differ, Mrs. I'm-turning-down-the-opportunity-of-a-lifetime-to-become-a-doctor-and-saving-drunks-in-my-spare-time." He looks intently at me. "So why did you want to be a doctor? Why didn't you study computer science?"

I raise one eyebrow. Is he serious and still trying to find out why I stepped out of the deal? "First of all, being a good gamer doesn't mean you're a good computer scientist. Second, I always wanted to be a doctor, even before I played computer games."

Just before he can ask me another question I don't want to answer, the waitress brings us our food. It looks delicious, and I hear my stomach roar in approval.

When she leaves, I decide it's my turn. "So, what got you into acting?"

He cuts a piece of his food. "Actually it was my brother."

I raise one of my eyebrows. "He was in drama class in school and pulled you in?"

"You can say that." He gulps down a bite of his food. "This is actually good stuff."

I eye him up and down. "Hey, stop distracting me. We were talking about you."

"There isn't really that much to tell." He shoves his food around with his fork. "I joined the drama club, I was good at it and I liked being on stage."

He's not telling the truth and I know it. But who am I to call him out on it?

"And then you got discovered during the performance of Romeo and Juliet and boom, you became famous?" My mouth twitches to a crooked grin.

He chuckles. "Wow, it sounds like you were there."

"You're such a bad liar." I throw my napkin at him. It lands somewhere between us.

"That makes two of us." He says.

I stare at my plate. It's half full, but I'm not hungry anymore.

"Let's go somewhere else." He finally says.

I follow him when he takes the emergency exit again. I'm not going to ask him where we're going, as I expect he's going to be all mysterious about it again. I follow him, while he walks through the alleys. Until he stops at the door of some high old building.

"Here it is," he says and he opens the door.

We end up in some littered stairway. Dan is several steps in front of me.

"What are we doing here?" I say. "And don't even think of saying 'you'll see'!"

He laughs. "This building has the best view of the town, and I don't mean my butt, that's in front of your face right now."

I groan. "Doesn't this place have an elevator or something?"

Dan keeps walking. "Nope, that's the charm of old buildings."

Dan didn't lie about the view. It's amazing. It feels like the whole town is at your feet. The street lights are just turned on. The sun has just set and a full moon is rising. It's almost orange with the last light of the sun and the view leaves me speechless for several moments. Dan is standing in front of me.

"And, worth the climb?" He looks expectantly at me.

A gust of wind blows a strand of my hair in my face. Gently he puts it behind my ear. We stare at each other until he pulls me closer. His lips... I can't stop staring at them until he kisses me. The first touch of his lips is soft, but then he gets more demanding. My lips part and our tongues find each other. He pulls me closer and I wrap my arms around him. His body is hard, I feel his muscles ripple under his shirt and I feel almost ashamed of my untrained body.

Suddenly we're interrupted by a buzzing phone. I try to ignore it, getting lost in his kiss, but it keeps buzzing.

"It's yours," he whispers hoarsely in my ear.

"Fuck." I grab the annoying thing from my purse and I want to switch it off until I see who's calling me.

It's Megan.

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AN: Thanks for reading! If you liked the chapter, please vote for it by pressing the little star :)