“For sure, laters,” Sam said. A couple of seconds later it flashed up on the TV screen Sam has left the party.
Kevin chuckled. “Actually I’ve got a date. But who knows, if it bombs I might be on here looking for some things to kill.”
Joe smiled. “A date? Seriously, a loser like you?”
“Yeah, well, when you’re watching some noob teabag your corpse tomorrow, think about me getting laid and then decide who the loser it. See ya Joe.”
Kevin signed off and Joe removed his headset with a sigh. He checked the time on his Xbox. Twenty to one. He should get to bed since he had work in the morning. Ah, sod it, a couple more games couldn’t hurt. He entered the game lobby and waited while it found him a free-for-all game.
Eight players filled the slots. Joe scanned down the list trying to figure out each player from their gamer tag; xxSPY-DERxx, probably a decent player but a bit of a tosser; FK1ngURm0m, definitely a tosser, a compulsive corpse humper for sure; TheRealMike, no idea, might be a decent guy, probably an average player; and so on. At the top of the list was his tag CoffeeBean5 (he’d thought that was well clever when he’d come up with it) and at the very bottom LikeanActualGirl. He smiled at the last one. Girl gamers weren’t that rare, but it would look funny when it came up on the screen “you killed LikeanActualGirl” or “LikeanActualGirl” beat you down.
The game started. He gave almost as good as he got, not bad, but nothing special. FK1ngURm0m was predictably unpleasant. A couple of the lower ranked players couldn’t stand the heat and quit out. Typical game really. The chick was pretty good. Well, he was assuming it was a girl, might just be a guy having a laugh with his tag.
After the game he hit the party up button; a couple of the players stayed in the group while some new ones filled the gaps. Actual Girl stayed. Before the next game started he got a message from her.
Got a headset?
Usually he left his headset off playing free for all; listening to a bunch of 12 year old assholes mocking you didn’t add to the experience. He checked the player list. Only Actual Girl had chat turned on so he stuck his headset back on and switched the chat mode to ‘game chat’ so he could hear her.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi.” The voice on the line was definitely feminine. “How much of an arse was that guy?”
“What, Mr F King?”
“Yeah.”
The game finished loading the next map.
“Looks like we’re going in, see you on the other side,” Joe said.
Her sweet giggle made his stomach flutter and he smiled.
The chat cut out for the duration of the game except when someone died. Every time Joe killed Actual Girl or she got him they exchanged a few quips. He caught himself seeking her out, just so he could snatch another few seconds of her voice.
“Thanks for just standing there, you’re a very considerate target,” he said when he took her down again.
“Ass, I had a spree going with that sniper rifle!”
“Not my fault you don’t watch your back.”
“Well you could watch it for me.”
“Na, more fun this way. We could switch to team after, if you like.”
“Yeah su-”
She respawned and the chat cut off again.
At the end of the game he added her as a friend and they partied up properly and went back in to play a couple of team games.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Joe, you?”
“Ah, I get it now. Coffee, love it. I’m Steph.”
They got a decent bit of teamwork going in the game. He was faster and more accurate in a one on one, but Steph knew the levels better and was able to find good spots to pick people off from. So he played bait and she covered him.
“Oh my God that was awesome,” she said as another game finished.
Joe’s heart pounded in his chest from the rush. “I know, right!”
“Think I’m gonna have to call it a night, I’ve got to be up in like five hours.”
Joe looked at his watch. Where the hell had two hours gone?
“Fuck, me too. Umm, do you want to play again tomorrow?”
“It’s a date, night Joe.”
With that she signed off and, for the second time, he slid his headset off and sighed. Wow, she was something. He shut his console down and headed to bed.
He felt so wired he couldn’t sleep. He wondered what Steph looked like, she had a damn sexy voice. Before he knew it, he found himself constructing a fantasy about taking her out. In his mind she was tall and blonde, with smallish, pert breasts and long skinny legs. He imagined bringing her back to his place and took his hardening cock in his hand.
He closed his eyes as fantasy Steph kissed him and took her clothes off. He stroked his cock slowly, imagining it was her hand on him, not his own, and imagining the feel of her moist cunt. Then he pumped himself a little harder and faster imagining the warm, wet pressure of her lips sliding down around the head of his cock, her tongue teasing and squeezing.
Fantasy Steph pushed him down onto his bed and climbed onto him.
“Oh fuck,” he hissed as he shot his load onto the sheets.
The pleasure of orgasm immediately gave way to a wave of guilt. He barely knew her, didn’t even know what she looked like, and there was no way she would want a sad, twenty-three year old virgin wanking over her.
He grabbed some tissues to mop up the mess then rolled over to the other side of the bed. He’d change the sheets tomorrow.
The next day he got home from work, shoved a frozen pizza in the oven, changed his sheets and slumped down on his sofa. His stomach fluttered with anticipation to see if Steph was online.
She wasn’t there yet. He checked out her avatar; something he hadn’t done yesterday. The cheeky little sprite had bright red hair and wore a Halo t-shirt over cargo pants. He smiled, she probably looked nothing like that, but it showed her personality.
Sam (SammySnake) signed on and Joe grabbed his headset.
“Hey dude, how’s it going?”
“Same old, same old, you?”
“Yeah, not bad.”
“Just us tonight then?”
Steph signed in.
“Er, actually I found us a stand in,” Joe said while sending an invite to Steph.
Steph joined the party, Joe introduced her to Sam and the three of them dived into the game. As they got into a groove the points started to rack up more easily.
Joe squirmed in his seat. “Oh my God, did you see me stick that guy in mid-air.”
Steph giggled. “I saw, that was awesome. Ah crap, I got sniped. Go avenge me!”
“Anything for you.” Joe played on with a huge grin on his face; he couldn’t remember having so much fun in the game for ages.
When the round finished they waited for the next one to start while recounting their resounding victory. Joe got a text from Sam.
Feeling a little like the third wheel here, what is it with you two?
Nothing, just met her online last night, isn’t she awesome?
Sure, she’s great, she seems to like you for some reason, lol
You think so?
Oh come on, I’ve never heard anyone flirt so much on Live! I’m gonna quit out and let you two love birds get it on.
With that Sam signed out.
“Where’d your friend go?” Steph asked.
“Not sure, but it doesn’t matter.”
“No, just means I get you all to myself.”
Joe’s mouth went dry. You don’t get to being twenty three and still a virgin if you’re good at talking to girls. For some reason he’d been okay up until now, maybe because she wasn’t actually there and he hadn’t really considered their chats to be flirting… until Sam pointed it out.
“I… er…” he snapped his mouth shut and clenched his fist. Shit!
Steph giggled. “You okay Beans?”
“Fine, fine, sorry. Do you want to play some more?”
“Could do, or we could just chat for a bit.”
“Er, okay.” He dropped out of the game and stretched out on his couch.
“So, where are you?”
“On my couch.”
“No silly, I meant where in the world.”
Joe actually felt his cheeks heating and his stomach fluttering.