“I— Yeah, sure.” Fallyn’s tone fell to match.
Bullshit. “There’s no reason to cut the morning short.”
“We have work to do before go-live tomorrow,” Elliot said. “And I’m sure Fallyn has her own work to get to. Videos to edit. Preparing to find what we missed.” There was no malice in his voice. Or much of any emotion at all.
I could push back. Point out he was doing this to keep his distance from her. That wouldn’t make the situation better. “He’s right.” I couldn’t hide my wince on the words, and there was no hiding that I didn’t believe them. “I need to get back to my computer.” I stood and grasped her fingertips. “Fallyn, it was a lot of fun. I’ll see you more this week?”
Her smile was shy. Nothing like on camera but just as alluring. “Count on it.”
I said my farewells to Elliot, warned him quietly to be nice, and headed home.
We did work the rest of the day. It was amazing how many little things there were to do before a game went live, even though it had been open for early access for a few weeks.
Monday morning we were back in the office like the weekend had never happened. Except the pleasant memories still rang in my thoughts, and a giddy anticipation hummed under my skinthat I’d see Fallyn again. I’d be lynched if nearly anyone in the office knew I was having thoughts like that.
I was in Elliot’s office, talking through some next steps. A sign hung next to his whiteboard with a silhouette of Fallyn from her video thumbnails. The text across it saidHours Since a Phallusies Attack, and it had a counter on it. She called her channel Fallyn’s Phallusies, and yes, we kept a countdown of how long it had last been since she roasted our game.
The sign hit me differently today than it had in the past, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Fallyn would probably laugh it off. I hoped she would, anyway.
Nigel walked in, waited the few seconds it took for us to look up in acknowledgement, and closed the door behind himself.
Odd.
“How’s your houseguest?” Nigel asked.
I looked between him and Elliot. “He knows?”
“She called him when I wouldn’t let her in,” Elliot said.
“For hotel recommendations,” Nigel added quickly. “She didn’t sic me on anyone.”
I knew there was more to that story.
“I assume you’ve already checked in with her.” Elliot looked at Nigel.
“She told me she was safe and such. I was looking for your side of the story.”
With a blank expression and a dismissive wave, Elliot turned back to his monitor. “She’s fine.”
Nigel looked at me.
Fortunately, the answer was easy. “She really is. Great last time I heard.” She was so amazing. How was I smitten already?
“With that smile, no details, please.” Nigel seemed to relax. “Are you telling anyone?”
In the office? That seemed like a really bad idea, though if we talked to her at all at RinCon it might be hard to hide that we knew her.
Elliot shook his head. “No. I’d appreciate it if you kept it under wraps too.”
“For Link, but not for you.” Nigel and Elliot could produce almost as much friction between them as Elliot and Fallyn.
“And also because we don’t need that kind of tension in the office. Especially this week,” I added.
Elliot and Nigel agreed onthatat least.
This launch meant so much to everyone. It was one of the biggest milestones in my life. Other people had engagements and weddings and babies… This game meant that much to me, as had the last two I saw launched with fledgling companies.
We’d poured the last six years of our lives into making sure this was the best game we could produce, the last year watching select people play it, and today at ten in the morning, we were going to let the world have at it.