"Hello?" I asked.
"Quinn, I'm glad I caught you. Please don't tell me you have to study this weekend. There's a great tournament in Vegas. Low-key, just gathering players for the bigger events, but I want you to come with me. You'll have a really good time, I promise," Owen said.
"Whoa, wait, slow down. You want me to join you in Vegas this weekend?" I tried to grab Darla's hand, but she had already stood up. She went to my closet, pulled out my small suitcase, and started packing. "For a video game tournament?"
"Honey, who cares if he wants you to dress up as a blue alien? You're going," Darla whispered.
"I told you I think you have potential as a player. And you said it yourself, you love playing. Come on, Quinn. Live a little," Owen said.
"You know I should be studying. I have hundreds of assignments to catch up on," I said.
"Come with me, Quinn. Don't make me beg. We'll have fun. Unless you're scared of a little fun?"
I stood up. "I am not scared of fun. I am fun."
"Live a little. I dare you," Owen said.
I could hear his smile, and it was infuriating at the same time as sparks sizzled in my stomach. "Fine. You're on. I'll call when I'm close."
I hung up the phone, and Darla squealed so loud I had to clap my hands over my ears. "That's my girl! Oh, Quinn, thank God! This is just what you need."
"Did that really just happen?" I asked. My phone rang again, and I was sure it was Owen calling back to tell me he'd called the wrong girl. "Oh, great, it’s my father."
"Quinn? Shouldn't you be studying?" my father asked.
"I saw it was you. I thought it might be important," I said.
"Well, it is. Your advisor has asked me to meet with her regarding your nursing program. She said she had time on Monday."
"Sorry, this weekend is shot. I've got so much to catch up on. I'll talk to her and get back to
you with a better time. Gotta run!" I hung up the phone and froze in place. "I just lied to my father."
"Like I said, girl, you need this," Darla said. She handed me my suitcase and smiled.
#
I drove the long and arid stretch between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in a blur. I was lucky the route was straight and easy. My heart swung on a hard pendulum between wild hopes and certain embarrassment. Had Owen invited me as his date or as his friend? Was I like his kid sister or his secret crush?
It was ridiculous. There was no way that Owen was interested in me. We got along great, but I would always just be Sienna's kid sister.
Though, there had been little signs and hints and moments. My mind could not seem to leave those alone. It occurred to me that Owen had always seen me in a certain light, and I was the one whose eyes were just opening.
No, that was too good to be true. I was bound to embarrass myself that weekend and I knew it. So when I parked in the Wynn parking ramp and immediately got lost, I took it as a sign. I was out of place.
I shared the elevator with four ultra-blonde swimsuit competitors who had shapes I had only seen molded from plastic. They even wore bright pink and impossibly high-heeled shoes. I was short, dark, and completely out of fashion next to them. The elevator doors opened and a few people chuckled as I tripped out of the elevator after the swimsuit models.
Next up, I was almost trampled by a train of showgirls. That disaster spilled me into the lobby where a sea of gamers had taken over. I did not even fit in there amongst the black-clothed, pierced, tattooed, and fiercely well-informed crowd. Most of them seemed to be speaking a language I would never understand.
"Conjuring takes too long. If you play with a keyboard instead, you can program the F keys," a tall and surprisingly rotund young man said. He was wearing a black T-shirt that said “Flag Off.” It depicted a red flag flapping atop an extended middle finger.
"There are a few redundancies in the x-level play," a young woman with blue hair and a black stocking hat explained to her friend, "but it depends on your operating system. Just go to the app store and download the latest."
Not only were they speaking rapid-fire in foreign terms, but everyone else seemed to know where to go but me. I finally reached up on my tiptoes to squint at the lobby signs. Just after I spotted the registration sign with a large arrow, I saw Owen.
He was surrounded by a tight knot of people holding out Dark Flag booklets. Owen smiled and laughed and answered a dozen questions, plus signed four booklets before I even remembered to breathe again. I had forgotten he was Light Slayer, the hero of this world. Why on earth had he invited me to join him in Vegas for the tournament?
At that moment, Owen turned, and somehow, across the sea of fans and gamers, he saw me. A slow smile spread across his square jaw, and I saw more than one woman hope it was for her. It took me a full four seconds to realize he actually was looking at me. Then, instead of standing in an overwhelming crowd, I felt like I was in orbit. One sigh and I would whirl away to the farthest regions of the universe.