I was pretty sure he noticed anyway because he stayed quieter as we dipped down into Arizona, following the interstate for what was supposed to be the last two hours of our journey. But we hit road construction and a major traffic snarl almost as soon as we crossed the state line.
Conrad was driving, and he kept fiddling with the stereo while making frustrated sighs at the line of cars in front of us. I wanted to ask him what exactly would happen in Vegas between us, what the plan was. He’d said we could figure things out as we went, which was all well and good, but I needed a strategy. Rules of some kind. Were we only a couple on the road? Only behind closed doors? Somehow I already knew he wasn’t going to be rushing to tell Payton about this latest development when we saw them at the convention. And nothing had changed in terms of either of our motivations to win the tournament.
A good boyfriend, one worthy of the couple label, would root for their other person, even if it meant losing themselves. But I was clearly lacking some important boyfriend traits because I still wanted to win. I’d had another message from Mom asking if I’d come to any conclusions about what I wanted for my future. I figured “Kissing Conrad” didn’t count, so I’d answered only enough to let her know that I was still alive and ignored her real question.
“Can you check and see what time the registration tables are open until?” Conrad drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “I’m worried about missing our window to check in.”
“We’ll get there. We’re almost to the Nevada border.” It was my turn to be the reassuring one, a role I usually sucked at. I fell back on what I was good at, logistics, finding out that the registration area was open later than we’d thought and updating Conrad on how far the highway was backed up. “We can do registration first, then check into the hotel after.”
“Add a late dinner somewhere in there. I’ll feel better once we have our official tournament badges.”
“Me too.”
Las Vegas rose out of the endless desert like a glittering jewel, an ostentatious diamond, a stark contrast to the simple pleasures of the previous day, with the natural beauty of all those overlooks. After so many hours of desert and countryside, it was weird to be back in a decidedly urban area. And this was a metropolis on steroids, everything done on a grand scale, even the clogged highways.
Finished with all those hours fighting the construction traffic, we finally found a parking garage near the convention center, only to have a lot more waiting ahead of us, with endless long lines at the registration area. Odyssey cosplayers jockeyed for space with families, dads in ironically geeky T-shirts, moms chasing excited tweens clutching deck bags. Groups of friends, guys our age, stood around the wide hallways of the massive convention center in big clumps, all different languages and ethnicities represented. I took a picture for my sisters of a group of female gamers, all in matching pink shirts that proclaimed “Ready to Lose?” Serious pro-player wannabes in dress clothes were right alongside actual pro players and internet celebrities, much bigger ones than us, slumming it in faded jeans and ball caps pulled low.
“That guy has a quarter million subscribers,” I whispered urgently at Conrad, not pointing but wanting to.
“Look.” Conrad nodded in the direction of four guys ahead of us in line in black “Gaymer” shirts with rainbow-shaded game controllers on the back. Two of them held hands, and they weren’t the only same-sex couple we’d seen. Two witch cosplayers in long velvet gowns kept kissing each other for pictures.
“I can’t believe we’re really here.” I didn’t only mean Nevada, that we’d made the whole journey relatively unscathed, but also here. This place that had only existed in my most private of fantasies, the ones I hardly ever let myself have, the place deep inside me that had wanted Conrad all along and that couldn’t believe its luck.
I wasn’t quite as bold as the “gaymer” contingent, didn’t want to risk Conrad pulling away if I reached for his hand, but I also didn’t flinch when he bumped shoulders with me.
“Me either.” He grinned at me before the line moved, and he stepped back out of my personal space. I missed him already, even though he was still right beside me. I wasn’t ready for everything to change yet again.
“Next.” A bored volunteer with a purple silk head scarf summoned us forward, and we produced our tickets. She frowned as she tried scanning them. “Hmm.”
“What?” My voice almost cracked. We had not come all this way for our tickets to not work. We just hadn’t. The universe wouldn’t be that cruel.