Now Playing

Chapter 13

Matthew

Matthew sat distracted, his head propped in his hand. A half-eaten plate of food sat in front of him. The buzz and chatter of the restaurant faded into the background of his thoughts. Spending time alone with Eve had made her impossible to get out of his head. The spark in her eyes when she faced a challenge, the way her eyebrows scrunched when she was deep in thought, the way her bikini clung to her, freshly wet from the pool.

And there’s a chance she’s interested in me too. She’s watched one of my streams before, at the very least.

Matthew searched the faces of his dinner companions, catching the eye of his head moderator, Carl. Carl had managed the chat, adjusted settings, and banned disruptive users in his livestreams for several years. Matthew beckoned him over.

“What’s up?” Carl asked.

“I need you to keep an eye out for a user in the next few livestreams.”

Carl raised an eyebrow. “Okay. Who?”

Matthew pulled up his phone and scrolled through the chat log of the last livestream until he found what he was looking for. “Eve11211.”

Carl noted the username on his phone. “Got it. Do they need to be banned?”

“No, the opposite. They’re quite helpful. I want you to do what you can to make sure I see their messages.”

Carl continued typing, not looking up from his phone. “I can’t guarantee anything; you have a very lively chat, but I’ll do my best.”

“Thanks, Carl.”

As Carl walked away, Matthew noticed John, seated next to him at the dinner table, had been watching them.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” John began.

“Go on.”

“Would that username happen to belong to our Eve?”

Matthew felt his body betray him as a red heat rushed to his ears. He’d been caught. “I don’t know for sure, but maybe.”

John’s eyes darted sideways down the table to where Angela was sitting. The severe woman seemed engaged in conversation and wasn’t looking their way. “Matt, you know why you can’t do this. Eve is a lovely girl, but it isn’t worth it.”

Matthew felt the heat travel past his ears and down his neck. “What do you have against Eve?” He snapped in a hushed voice.

John shook his head. “Not just Eve. I’d be saying this if it were anyone.”

“Well, you don’t need to be saying anything at all, because there isn’t anything going on.” Matthew gestured to the waiter to take away his plate of nearly untouched food.

“I’m sorry, Matt. I don’t mean to be so intense on our day off. I just don’t want to see you get in trouble.”

“I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry so much about me. Let’s just try to enjoy the rest of our day off.” Matthew gave his friend a heavy pat on the shoulder.

“Matthew.” A voice came from behind Matthew’s shoulder. It was one of his security guards. Behind the hulking man stood a boy, no older than sixteen, anxiously twisting his fingers. His hair was buzzed neatly, and he wore an unwrinkled suit jacket with navy blue jeans.

“Yes?” Matthew replied.

“The kid wanted to have a chat with you. I told him I’d ask you if it was alright.”

“Of course.” Matthew gestured to the empty chair beside him. The kid scooted over to him and cleared his throat.

“Hello, um, hi Mr. Cards. I was wondering. Well, you see, I develop horror games and-”

“Let’s start with your name,” Matthew said with a smile.

“Oh, right. I’m Tyler.” The young man stuck out his hand for a handshake, and Matthew accepted.

“Hello, Tyler.” What can I do for you?”

“Like I said, I am a game developer, and I have recently made a horror game that I’m quite proud of. I think that you would really like it. I wanted to ask if you’d consider playing it. You don’t even have to stream it. Just play it and maybe give me some feedback?”

Matthew looked at the boy, surprised. “You’re a game developer? How old are you?”

“I’m fifteen.”

“That’s impressive. Tell me more about your game.”

Tyler’s eyes lit up. “It’s a game where you play as a librarian in a haunted library. You have to determine which guests are real and which are entities, or else you get a game over.”

“I have to admit, that does sound like my type of game. What’s it called?”

“Keep Reading.”

“And could I buy it online?”

“Yes!” Tyler said excitedly. He grew more confident as they talked about the game's design, graphics, and lore. Matthew felt a fondness for the boy the longer they talked. Tyler reminded him of himself when he was just starting out in his career.

“I’ll tell you what, Tyler,” Matthew said, reaching into his wallet and pulling out a business card. “Write down your information on the back of this. I’ll reach out to you with more details, but I do have some availability coming up. I’d love to take a look at your game. If everything checks out, I might even stream it on one of my variety game nights.”

Tyler scrawled his information down with a shaking hand and passed it back to Matthew, who gave him an extra business card to keep. “Feel free to reach out to my team if you need anything in the meantime.”

Tyler stood up, nearly knocking over his chair. “Thank you so much, Mr. Cards!”

Matthew had just pulled out his phone to start researching Tyler’s game when Angela descended on him like a hungry animal. “Matthew. Did you just offer that boy a spot on your livestream?” She hissed.

Matthew jumped back, surprised. He hadn’t even known she had been listening. Angela always seemed to be everywhere. “I told him I’d play his game, and that if it was good enough, I’d feature it on a variety stream night. We have one coming up, actually.”

The thin skin around Angela’s eyes creased, and a blue vein appeared in the middle of her forehead. “You know that you can’t promise that.”

Matthew turned to her. “He’s a kid who created a horror game. I’m a guy who livestreams horror games. I don’t see a problem there.”

“Don’t play dumb. You know that the agency has to approve which games appear on your channel.”

Matthew’s fist clenched under the table. “I hardly think that a game about ghouls in a library will result in any contract violations.”

“You don’t get to decide that,” Angela said. Matthew knew she was right.

“Let’s hope the head of my legal team can get it approved in time then,” he said coolly.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said, smirking.