Chapter 14: Games About Fucking

"So we're just characters in a game? But who's playing it?" Coby asks, laughing at her crazy ideas.

"Well, people, like us. But they're out there," Ti says, waving up at the sky.

"And they control everything we do?"

"No, we have a certain amount of autonomy. But they can direct us when they want. Mostly they just watch."

"I don't know, Ti, that sounds really boring. I mean, watching people get up, pee, eat breakfast and go to work...why would anyone do that?'

"Well they do get to watch us fuck, too."

Coby laughs, "So you're saying the gods or whatever are basically just perverts?"

"What do you say we give them a show?" she suggests, smiling coyly.

"I have to get up early and hit the beach," Coby says. Ti pouts. "Oh, all right," he says, laughing as he reaches over to unsnap her bra.

When she wakes up late the next morning, Coby is already gone, out surfing. Having nothing better to do, Stina heads out to go to class. On her way out, she runs into a new resident in the lobby.

"You're the guy that moved into the apartment across from mine," she says, "My name is Stina. Stina Bowman."

"Rainier Lecocq," he introduces himself, taking her hand.

"Le what?" she asks, suppressing a laugh.

"Lecocq."

Unable to hold it in any longer, the laugh forces its way out.

"Something is funny?" he asks.

"Oh, no," she gasps, wiping the tears from her eyes. Getting control of herself, she asks, "Are you French? Your accent..." 

"I'm Belgian. I just moved to L.A.," Rainier explains.

"So, what, you're a musician? Artist? Actor?" she asks. They all move here for something, and those are the usual suspects.

"Game designer," he says, "My colleagues and I have just started a small company."

"If you aren't doing anything, we could go play some games," she suggests.

Rainier takes her up on the invitation, and she takes him out for a game of pool.

"Tell me Stina, do you have someone in your life? I can't imagine a lovely girl like you being alone," Rainier says, waiting for his turn.

"Oh," Stina gasps and blushes, "I...no, no one special."

Since she has the attention of an actual game designer, Stina pitches her idea of the world as a vast multiplayer game.

"A game about regular daily life? And the goal is what? Advancing in a career, getting married, having babies? There's no market for that," he says.

"Well, they'd also have affairs and break ups. And you'd get to watch them fuck."

"Hmm, there might be a market for that in Europe, maybe Japan. But here? Non, you are all too prudish for games about fucking."

"Well, not all of us are that prudish," Stina says, leaning in closer to him. He's really attractive, she thinks. He moves closer to her, and she's quite sure he intends to kiss her. She'd like that, she really would, except for that stabby guilt feeling nagging at her. "I...it's getting late, I have to...meet someone," she says, pulling away from Rainier before it's too late.

Since they live in the same building, they go back to the apartment together. When they get to the lobby, they run into Coby waiting for the elevator.

"Oh, hey, Coby," Ti says, flustered and awkward, "This is Rainier. He just moved in across the hall."

Rainier realizes right away that Stina lied when she said there was no one special in her her life. This Coby is obviously her lover, but he's also not important enough to her to stop her from flirting with him. All the better, Rainier thinks, games are better played against others, and he likes the competition.

The three of them ride the elevator to their floor together. As they exit, Rainier takes Stina's hand and kisses it. "Thank you for a lovely afternoon," he says "We should do it again."

"What the hell was that?" Coby demands when they're back in her apartment.

"What was what?" she asks, coy.

"The hand kissing bullshit? What's going on, Ti?"

"Oh, that was nothing," she assures him, "He's just European."

Coby rolls his eyes, "'European' isn't the same as 'asshole', Ti. What went on between you two today?"

He does have a point, Ti thinks, the hand kissing was kind of a dick move on Rainier's part. But even so, it sent her heart fluttering. "We just played a little pool, Coby," she assures him.

"You're my guy," she says, hugging him, "You don't have to worry about Rainier."

When she makes love to him, she actually believes her own bullshit.