A/N: Thanks to MsSassyKassie and NaughtyHisBella for beta-ing this crazy attempt at writing something else and making sure not too much of my inner geek got out to confuse you all. I own neither Twilight or World of Warcraft, but I'd be a whole lot richer if I did. I just enjoy both...yes...I'm that much of a weirdo ;-) This story is partially based in reality and a whole lot of made up at the same time. Read. Enjoy. Let me know what you think!
Choose a server?
There are different servers? What does that even mean? Akama? Boulderfist? Icecrown? Silvermoon? I sit staring blankly at his computer. This is going to be harder than I thought, I'm in waaayyyy over my head.
"Hey, Ben?" My voice is a little gravely. I've been sitting here, not speaking for over an hour just staring at his computer. Ben, my boyfriend's roommate, walks over to where I'm sitting and takes a look at what I've been staring at for the last hour of my life.
"Whatcha need, Bella?" he asks.
Ben is such a sweet guy. He has been my boyfriend's best friend since they ended up in the same freshman dorm room 3 years ago. He and his girlfriend, Angela, have been together that long too. We'll be at their wedding soon enough, I'm sure. I used to think that about us too. Maybe if I can get this stupid thing figured out, it will help us get back on track.
"Um...I've decided to do this, to give it a shot...but, I don't know what any of it means. Can you give me a hand? I'd like to be done before he gets back from class," I say as I glance at the clock. Shit. Only 2 more hours.
Ben chuckles and shakes his head slightly. "Sure, it's not too hard, just a few little things to figure out." Good old Ben, always willing to help. I knew I could count on him.
"First off," he starts, "you need to decide, are you going to play with us?"
"Um, yeah, I'd like to...that's kind of the point, you know?" I reply nervously. I'm feeling less and less sure of this decision every second.
"Okay, so we play on the Bloodhoof server, so you'll need to pick that one." Easy enough, I think as I click the little checkbox next to 'Bloodhoof.' "Next, you need a name and to design your character. What kind of character do you want to play?"
These questions were kind of flying over my head. There are kinds of characters? This really is going to be harder than I thought. "What kind of character should I be? I have no idea what any of this means, Ben." My hands cover my face and I growl lowly in frustration.
"Well, since you're playing with us, you're going to play on the Horde side. That's what we all play and that way we can help you out and do stuff with you. That means you have to chose if you want to play an undead, orc, taruen, or troll. And before you ask, no, trolls are not like those weird little creatures with the pointy hair that you stick on your pencils." He laughs lightly at his own joke, effectively lightening the mood.
"Wow, Ben, um, I don't know about this whole thing - there's so much I just don't get. Are you sure this is a good idea? I'm not even sure you were just speaking English."
"Bella, you have no idea. This is going to be such a turn on for him. I've been trying to get Ange to play for the last 2 years. She's so stubborn, won't even consider it."
"Well, alright then, I guess. Are there any, um, people I can play? Instead of pointy-haired dolls or cows or whatever?"
"There are humans in the game, but you can't play a human, they're alliance..." he says with a twinge of disgust to his voice. Apparently I'm supposed to know that this is obviously unacceptable. "But you could play an undead, they were humans once, now they're kinda like zombies," he says and smiles.
"Alright, I guess. That's probably as close as I'm going to get, right?" He nods. "Now what?"
"Now you have to pick what your character does. Do you want to be a fighter or a healer?"
"Well if I'm going to do this, I want to blow some shit up, or whatever it is you do in this game..." I reply with a smirk.
"There's my girl. Let's set you up to 'blow some shit up.' You'll want to play a magical character then, I would suggest a mage. They're magicians and you can throw fireballs and stuff like that. You know what? That's what he plays too, so he'll be able to help you easily and show you the ropes a bit."
Ben was a little like an older brother to me. He was my sounding board when I needed one, and he was the best beer pong partner ever. That is to say, when we could get him to come out of his room and put down his organic chemistry book. That's why he's helping me with this. Ben knows how much this means to me, how much he means to me. He wants to see this work, but he also knows just how hard the last 6 months have been.
I'm here almost everyday. Usually I get here and head straight up to his room. My laptop lives here. I have clothes in the bottom drawer of his dresser. We might as well live together, but this is a Jesuit college and campus housing. There is no co-ed housing, besides which, we're both Resident Advisors. We have our floors and buildings to take care of. In fact, that's how we met. Resident Advisor training - 2 years ago. I was a sophomore, he was a junior. We lived across campus from each other, but I offered to let him borrow my markers and construction paper (What? I am an education major...) to work on his bulletin board. I may have offered to help him do it too. That might have been mistake number one. Who knows.
Where did we go wrong? We've been together for 2 years and things, for the most part, have been amazing. He was my first. He is my first. Real boyfriend that is. I know, I know, sophomore year of college and he's my first boyfriend? But, yes, it's true. I was shy in high school. I was the awkward girl who could trip over absolutely nothing in the hallway. Not even tripping over my own two feet; just, nothing at all. I had guy friends, but that never went anywhere. I had crushes. Oh, how I had crushes, but those feelings were never reciprocated. It was beyond frustrating. So when I got to school, I decided that I was going to put myself out there so to speak. I wasn't going to be the shy and awkward girl anymore. Well, there wasn't much I could do about the awkward, but I could talk to people. Yes, that would be a good first step. Talking to people.
I lived in the freshman girls' dorm. Like I said, Jesuit college, with single sex dorms. This was a great way to make friends and it was how I met Lauren and Jessica, my two 'besties.' But, it wasn't such a great way to meet guys. I wanted step out of my comfort zone even further than my single on the 5th floor allowed. So, I decided to apply to be an RA during my sophomore year. Toward the end of freshman year, when they made their selections for next year's staff, there was a meet-and-greet. A new-staff-meet-old-staff kind of thing, since they'd be helping to train us and we'd be on staff with them. I walked into the basement lounge of one of the dorm buildings on campus, where the party was being held, and saw him. Even from across the room, just, wow. It took some time to convince myself, but I decided I was going to talk to him. I was going to walk over there and just...say hi. And I did. The rest, as they say, is history - I suppose. We chatted, then proceeded to go our separate ways home for summer. Well, then, that didn't quite work like I had planned.
I had almost forgotten about him until I showed up for our week of training before the semester started in the fall. I walked out onto the quad that late August Friday afternoon and saw him again from across the grassy space. I had to remind myself to go say hi. We'd met, we'd chatted for a good hour at the meet-and-greet. But, he probably didn't remember me. I'm forgettable. I look up from my insistent staring at my shoes wondering what he's been up to and he catches my eye. He smiles and waves, then starts walking toward me.
His smile is blinding and I instantly feel my cheeks warm. He remembers me. I'm not sure how, but he remembers me. The rest of the evening is a blur as we play 'get-to-know-you' name games and eat burgers and hotdogs as a staff. The week of training was intense to say the least. We were scheduled from 7am until at least 7pm every night. On top of that we had bulletin boards and door tags and students to get ready for. By the time Thursday night rolled around, I was exhausted. We'd been learning policy and counseling techniques. We had walked and run. We'd been carted around to different facilities on campus to learn where they were and what they did. We practiced with fire extinguishers on the quad. We even went on field trips to places nearby that could host our floor programs. It was fun and tiring and enlightening and overwhelming all at the same time. All the while I'd been watching him and wishing.
I was wishing that he'd notice me as I had him. I was wishing that somehow he'd want to get to know me. Although I knew that was preposterous. He was popular and gorgeous and an upperclassman. There was no way that he'd want anything to do with me. Although, he did say hi to me that first night. Thursday afternoon, we were at a workshop about campus security or something, I can't remember exactly now, when it happened. He walked over to me as we were gathering our things to leave and asked if I wanted to come over and watch a movie later that night. My mind was reeling. Was he seriously asking me if I wanted to spend time...alone...with him?
"Uh...I mean...yeah, sure, that sounds great. What time?" I stumbled through a rambling, almost incoherent response.
"How about 8? I'm in room 212 over in the guys' building. Your card will get you in the building. Perk of being an RA." He winked at me and smiled. We exchanged numbers in case I had problems getting in the building.
"Sure, sounds good. I'll be there."
After dinner I'd rushed back to my room to shower and change. We had been running around in the August Chicago heat all day and I felt gross. No way I was going to hang out with him feeling like I did. I put on a cute but comfortable outfit and was just about ready to walk out the door when I heard my phone beep, letting me know I had a text.
Hey, you don't happen to have any markers I could borrow, do you? I was
hoping to have this bulletin board done before you came over, but my red and blue
markers just died. If you have some, would you mind bringing them over?
Now, this was something I could do. I could help him. That might make him really notice. I'm an education major. Of course I have markers. I typed out a quick reply, grabbed my mega-pack of Crayola classic markers, some construction paper, just in case, and headed out the door.
I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. Thinking back on where this all started always made me sentimental. I loved how we met and got to know each other, I loved how knowing him had opened me up to knowing others and making a huge group of great friends. I got along amazingly well with his roommates, and his residents. It was a fairytale beginning.
Ben cleared his throat lightly. He'd been used to me getting lost in my thoughts lately, as memories and worries about my relationship riddled my brain. There was a huge part of me that really wanted this to work out. I loved him. We talked about our eventual marriage. We talked about the future. But, somewhere, there was a part of me that was worried about what would happen if it didn't work. He was so totally interwoven in my life that I was afraid of this not working. My friends were his friends, my plans were his plans. Somewhere along the way I'd lost myself. But I did love him, or so I thought, and so I was willing to try just about anything to make it work.
"Bella, you're sure about this right? You don't have to do anything you don't want to. This is supposed to be fun. It's a game, for God's sake. It should be fun, not stressful. Relax. Everything will be fine. I've known him for quite a while, and he's never been as happy as he has been now that he's with you."
I let out a soft chuckle. "Yeah, I'm sure. I'm just feeling overwhelmed, like this is going to backfire in my face or something. I know he's been happy. I have too, just these last few months have been different somehow. I can't seem to put my finger on it."
"I'm sure he's stressed out too, Bella. Graduation is a big deal and I'm sure him having no idea what he really wants to do after isn't helping things. Just give him a little time and it'll all work out. Besides, if it doesn't, he's an idiot and you aren't going to lose us as friends Bella. But we don't need to even think about that cause you'll be fine. He'll love that you're doing this for him. Trust me."
I smiled at Ben. He always knew just what to say to make me feel better. He pulled his desk chair over to the computer and helped me through the rest of the set-up process. I created my character, who I named Bellena, because I'm super creative like that, and Ben showed me some of the basic functions of the game. I learned how to target and hit enemy creatures and where to get supplies. I also learned how to pick up quests. I couldn't help but giggle to myself as I picked up my first series of tasks to complete. This whole playing the game thing was kind of like my own quest. A quest for love.
About an hour later, when he came back from class, he wasn't surprised to see me in his room, or even at his computer, as this often was a scene he found when returning from class. Our schedules were almost polar opposite so we each got a lot of our school work done when the other was in class. That left us most of our off-time together. He smiled slightly and leaned down to give me a peck on the cheek. As his head turned I saw his eyes grow wide, taking in what was happening on the computer screen.
A/N: Thanks for reading, and for the review I know you'll leave. There won't be a posting schedule for this but as of right now I have the whole thing planned out...but we'll see where these two take me. It's loosely based on some true stuff with a whole lot of fanfic spin thrown in for fun.
Who do you think he is?