A-Hole to A-List (PR Girls & Instalove 1)

Digging out my phone, I finally got hold of Mark, one of our techs, who rushed out from the lab to open the door. As the bolts clicked, my heart dropped. I didn’t want Jenna to fall for me because we were trapped, but her sweetness mixed with my directness would make us an incredible couple.

As I led her down the hall to the gaming area, I watched her stiff posture, the lift of her chin. She barely looked at me. It was hard to tell if she was embarrassed or whether she was truly furious.

Either way, I hoped that I hadn’t just ruined everything.

5

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Jenna

R

unning a hand through my hair, I desperately tried to pull myself together. I don’t know what had come over me. I’d had a few little claustrophobic panic attacks before, but usually shook them off in a few minutes. Maybe it was the thought of being trapped with Andrew, and all of the things that could happen, that had set me off.

I was angrier with myself than at him. He’d clearly asked me permission before we kissed. Well, he told me to tell him to stop, which was somehow insanely hot. Yet once the decision was in front of me, and I felt like he was taking control...a shudder ran through me as I realized how much I needed more.

I honestly couldn’t tell whether he was trying to get a little action just because the opportunity was in front of him, or if he was genuinely attracted to me. A guy like him belonged with a much sexier woman, not a quiet, slightly nerdy type. He was likely used to toying with girls whenever he wanted.

Sitting down heavily on the leather couch, I tried to focus on this project instead of the humming buzz I felt in both my lips and my stomach.

“Do you play video games?” Andrew asked, sitting a polite distance from me and calling up a game.

“Not this kind,” I admitted. “Only puzzle games on my phone.”

“Okay, no problem.” He brought up two different games on the massive screens. “These are first-person shooter games, where you walk around killing bad guys.”

“Sure, I’ve seen commercials for these.” I didn’t mention that I wasn’t interested in violence, and walking around in a virtual environment would probably make me dizzy after a while.

“I’ll break this down as simply as I can,” he said. “The system has a map of the environment and renders the backgrounds as you move around. It takes a huge amount of computing power to do this quickly.”

“Okay.”

He turned a character down a busy street with a park on one side, and buildings on the other. “Everyone wants their games to seem hyper-realistic and have as much visual detail as possible. But processors can only do so much. Every new generation of the game gets faster and smoother, but what if there was a processor that could decide which parts required full resolution, and which parts didn’t?”

“So something already fuzzy like clouds could be blurry, but that car in front of them should be sharp?”

“Exactly.” Andrew flashed me a giant grin that sent warmth straight to my knees. “Straight lines on the edges of windows should be crisp, but the panes of glass could be softer. Tree trunks could be softened ten percent, leaves could be softened twenty percent, which would free up more room to make moving objects more vivid.”

“Wow. So you’re using an artistic eye with the technology to make these decisions?”

“Precisely.” He nodded emphatically, pleased that I understood. “And also, when you’re looking at the screen, you’re focused on what’s directly ahead of you. The graphics on the outer edges can be just a bit softer. Ten percent might not seem like much, but throughout a whole scene, it adds up.”

“Are you designing new games that feature this new idea?” I asked.

“No. That’s the beauty of it. This can be added to most newer existing systems. So it won’t disturb a game you’re already in the middle of, only enhance it.”

“So...what do you actually do?” I asked, unable to stop myself.

“I go through the games and make notes on surfaces, textures, and gameplay. Terry creates the algorithms and designs the processors and video cards. I also coordinate testers, doing a security clearance on each person who comes in. And I run the rest of the company. He’s made a few other tech inventions, like our dad did before us.”

“He must be proud that you boys took over,” I smiled.

Andrew stood up suddenly. His face had turned into a mask. “Let’s go to the office and I’ll give you photos of our booth layout for next week.”

Following on his heels, I didn’t know what I’d done or said to upset him. He certainly flashed between moods quickly.

The strangest thing was, I couldn’t help feeling proud of him. It sounded like an incredible product, and he was right – getting it into the hands of the major gamers was the fastest way to get attention.