Sketch just blinked up at him, saying nothing.
“The point is, the rankings haven’t changed much over the last couple weeks. Things have kind of settled out more or less where they’re going to be, I think. But I can’t afford to lose my edge.”
“Well, I know I’m not that good,” Sketch said, wanting to help, “but I can practice with you. If you want?”
“Hey, man, don’t sell yourself short. You’re good for a beginner.”
Sketch grinned.
“But sure. I’m gonna play either way. You can join in if you want. That way I can practice kicking grenades back in people’s faces.”
Sketch laughed and picked up the other controller.
They hadn’t been playing very long when Daniel walked in, coming back from dinner.
“Hey, Rush, can Daniel play?” Sketch asked.
“Sure, but you guys would have to take turns. I only brought the two controllers.”
“I don’t mind,” Sketch said. “Daniel, you wanna play?”
“Oh, no thanks,” Daniel said, his mind obviously elsewhere.
Sketch glanced up at Rush, who caught the look out of the corner of his eye.
“What?” Rush asked him, but Sketch just looked at Daniel and then back at Rush again.
Rush sighed. “Daniel?” he tried. “You sure you don’t want to play? We don’t mind, do we Sketch?”
“Naw, we don’t mind,” Sketch said, holding his controller out to Daniel, but Daniel just shook his head.
“No, thanks. Really. I’m OK.”
“You can play your guitar out here,” Sketch tried again. “We don’t mind, right, Rush?”
“Sketch, why you want to hang out with Daniel so bad? Let him do what he wants to do, man.”
But Sketch hated it when he felt like he had to go hide from Marquon in his room, and he didn’t want Daniel to feel like he had to hide from them either. Sketch didn’t say anything else, but Rush saw him droop his shoulders and hunch in on himself. He sighed again.
“Daniel,” Rush said. “For real, man, you can sing or play or whatever out here. You know that, right? The living room’s for everybody. There, are you happy now?” He said this last to Sketch, who smiled and nodded his head.
“I know. Thanks,” Daniel replied, but he headed back toward his room anyway, and Sketch shrugged, satisfied that at least they had tried.
It wasn’t much longer, though, before a light knock came at the suite door. Rush glanced at the door in surprise and then looked down at Sketch, who was looking back up at him expectantly.
“Really?” Rush asked him. “How did I get to be in charge?”
“You’re bigger,” Sketch said, and Rush laughed out loud.
“Come in,” he called out, still laughing.
The door opened just enough for Kaitlyn to poke her head past it.
“Why, hello,” Rush said. “You looking for someone?” He grinned, and Kaitlyn blushed furiously.
“What are you guys doing?” she asked, dodging the question.
“We’re playing HRT Alpha,” Sketch answered her. “You wanna play? We can share.” He held the controller out toward her as a bot shot him in the face.
“I don’t know how,” she admitted. “I don’t get to play games much.”
“I can teach you,” Sketch offered. “I mean, if Rush says it’s OK.”
“Dude,” Rush said, “some helpful advice for a couple years down the road, OK? Never suggest that you have the right to tell a girl what she can or can’t do. Trust me. They hate that.”
Sketch laughed.
“It’s true,” Kaitlyn said, grinning. “That’s good advice, actually.”
“OK,” Sketch said. “So, you wanna play?”
“Sure.” Kaitlyn came in and sat down next to Sketch, the two boys both scooting over a little to make room for her, and Sketch started explaining the controls.
Once Kaitlyn seemed to have the basic idea, Sketch turned the controller over to her for a game, and then Rush handed his own controller to Sketch.
“Bio break,” Rush said. “Play one without me.”
“OK,” Sketch said, and Rush showed him how to start a new match.
After disappearing into his room for a few minutes, Rush came back out again, but instead of sitting down on the couch, he made sure Kaitlyn and Sketch were involved in their game and then crossed the suite to knock softly on Daniel’s door. When Daniel didn’t answer, Rush opened it anyway. Daniel was sitting on the edge of his bed playing his guitar, the instrument plugged directly into a headset.
“Well, that explains that,” Rush muttered.
When Daniel finally looked up enough to catch Rush out of the corner of his eye, he jumped a mile and yanked the headset off.
“Don’t say I never did anything for you,” Rush whispered, walking into the room and putting a finger to his lips.
“Huh?”
“Dude, shh. Just come here. I’m telling you, I’m doing you a favor.”
Daniel set the guitar down and walked over to the doorway, looking out to see Kaitlyn sitting on the couch with Sketch, playing video games. Daniel looked up at Rush in surprise, and Rush placed a conspiratorial hand on his shoulder.
“Yep,” Rush murmured so that only Daniel could hear him. “There you go. Now, follow my lead.”
Daniel just looked at him.
“Dude, just do it, OK? I got your back,” Rush whispered, raising his eyebrows at him, waiting for Daniel to agree to the plan, such as it was.
Daniel finally nodded, and Rush walked out to the couch, sitting down next to Sketch. Daniel frowned in confusion, but Rush immediately turned and looked in his direction, pretending just to notice him.
“Oh, hey, Daniel,” Rush said. “You taking a break?”
“Uh… yeah,” Daniel said.
“Sweet. You wanna come play HRT Alpha with us?”
“Um… sure,” Daniel said, smiling at Kaitlyn, who had turned and grinned brightly at him when Rush had announced his presence.
“Cool. Hey, Sketch, come slide over here so there’s room on the end for Daniel.”
Sketch dutifully slid over, and Kaitlyn followed him to make room for Daniel next to her.
“Kaitlyn,” Rush said, “you think you can show Daniel how to play?”
“Oh! Sure!” Kaitlyn said cheerfully.
Rush nudged Sketch, who handed his controller over to Daniel, happy enough just to sit next to Rush and watch while Daniel did his best to follow Kaitlyn’s directions.
The four of them played several games in a row, switching the controllers around between matches so everyone could play. It took two more games before Kaitlyn finally got her first kill—on Daniel, as it happened. Sketch crowed in his seat and turned to give her a high five.
“You got a kill! Hey Rush, she got a kill! Give her a gamer tag!”
“Oh, hey—” Rush almost admitted that giving someone a gamer tag on their first kill wasn’t really a thing before he looked down and saw Sketch’s expression, realizing all at once just how much that rite of passage had meant to him. “You’re absolutely right!” he continued smoothly.
“What’s her tag, Rush?” Sketch asked, his eyes bright with excitement.
“Well, let’s see…” Rush said, making a show of it. “She’s good at fixing things…” He rubbed his thumb and forefinger along his chin, looking at her thoughtfully.
“What was the name of that place you said you worked?” he finally asked.