Chapter 8 - A Touch of Role-Playing

On a friday evening, Jimmy found himself at the Retro Rewind Mall, in front of Roll 20 Games and Gadgets. He double checked his message saying to meet there at 5pm sharp, though he arrived at 4:45. He walked to the counter to see if anyone's arrived, but no one he knew yet. He asked one of the guys working there and he said that there was a room reserved for them, so he was free to enter one of the private rooms. The room itself had a table for six, a TV on the wall and some chairs to use. Since he was early, he decided to kick back for a bit on one of the chairs while he waited For the others. It's honestly taking some getting used to, not being alone anymore if moments like these still feel very familiar.

"Well, well, well!" Cindy entered only a couple minutes later, breaking a short lived moment of Isolation for Jimmy.

"Uh, hello to you too," he waved.

"It's a first to see you arrive early when usually you're running late," she smirked. "I'm impressed."

"Very funny, Vortex." he shook his head. "So, you're part of Sheen's Dungeons and Dragons group too, huh?"

"Eh, mostly cause he got Libby into D&D," she shrugged. "Eventually she talked me into it. It's actually pretty fun!"

"It's like make-believe adventures right?" he asked.

"Something like that." She then thought of an idea. "Say, have you ever role-played before?"

"Can't say I have," he responded. "What's it like?"

"Basically, you have a setting and you pretend to be a character in that setting. It's up to you and whomever you're with to determine how the story goes. Make sense?" she explained.

"I think I have a relative idea," he pondered. "Depending on what you do, a different scenario is made, right?"

"Exactly," Cindy nodded. "So wanna try an example?"

"Sure, why not?" Jimmy said without thinking too much about it. "We have a bit of time to spare, and this could get me a head start."

"Yeah… head start," Cindy said to herself and then proceeded to explain. "So the story I have in mind is of a senior prom. We take each other on a date and we have a blast. Ready?"

"Wait," Jimmy interjected. "Who are we role-playing as?"

"Think of ourselves but a tad younger."

"So, us in high school then?"

"Yup."

"What's our goal in this story?"

"To have the best night of our high school lives!"

"Alright, sounds simple enough," he then thought to himself. Something tells me I'm gonna regret this.

"Ready then?"

"As I'll ever be." It's a pretend experience. What's the worst that could happen?

"Here we go!" She put on a pop music mix to set the mood. They both stood up and faced each other. All the while, they imagined themselves in the dance hall as teenagers. They pretend the game table was for the punch. Jimmy walked up to her as she pretended to look elsewhere. However, Jimmy didn't quite catch that it was his que to speak. After a second or two, she nudged him. "Sure is a nice night, isn't it Neutron?"

"Yeah, uh, very nice," he nodded as he drank his make believe punch. "So, where's your date Vortex?"

"Sadly, I never got one," she shrugged. "You?"

"A likely story," he retorted. "You're way too beautiful to not receive anyone's attention!"

"Well… uh you'd be surprised." Before he knew it, he saw her pause.

Once he realized what he said, he started blushing intensely and attempting to cover it up, while looking away. "I-I mean from a scientific perspective, you have several desirable traits making you "beautiful"."

She then moved to where he was looking while grinning. "Well you certainly have a way with words." Her grin faded a tad. "But yeah, I never had a date to the prom. Sure I danced with friends, but never really had a partner to go with."

She's probably just lying to make it seem fair, but I appreciate it, Jimmy thought to himself. "I can relate."

"So you don't have a partner either then?"

"Nope," he shrugged. Jimmy then looked at her as she was smiling and having a longing look. He didn't quite understand it. "Is something wrong?"

She didn't answer verbally at first as she motioned him to do something. For a genius, he sure is dense when it comes to this kind of stuff, she thought to herself. Come on, you can do it!

Jimmy imagined himself in that scenario, overthinking what she needed. Is this where I ask her to dance? I'm not cut out for that kind of… well it's not real so I can pretend to do it. He cleared his throat. Remember, this is just a fun distraction to pass the time. He felt his heart beat heavily. He was extremely nervous. Real or not, here I go! If this is another challenge, I must face my fears! "So, given how this night is going and how nobody wants to dance with either of us-"

"Eh?" She had a perplexed look. "What kind of approach was that?"

Way too harsh! Just get to the point and ask her out casually! He shook his head intensely. "Let me try that again!"

"Yes, go on!" She played along.

"Miss Vortex!" He looked at her intensely as his face was a severe crimson. "Would you let me have the honor to dance with you?"

Cindy laughed at first with the way he was looking and how he went straight to the point. This caused him to look down. "Neutron…"

At least I tried… he thought to himself as he braced for impact.

"I thought you'd never ask!" she was beaming as she put her hand out in front of him. As he looked at her in the game room, a flash of when they first met as well as the fantasy of them in high school prom had come to life in their eyes. He took her hand as the song "Levitating" by Dua Lipa came on.

"Wait! I'm not that good at dancing!" Jimmy admitted.

"Let me lead then, okay?" Cindy proceeded to lead in the dance which involved some twirls and spins, with some ques form ballet. Jimmy awkwardly followed along at first but started picking up quickly. After a while of pulling some sick dance moves, she almost tripped back over a chair. "Whoa!"

"Cindy!" Jimmy pulled her from falling which made her extremely close to him in a post dance embrace. With his back against the wall, Jimmy had nowhere to go.

"You called me by my first name…" She spoke first as she began to blush.

"Never mind that," Jimmy responded as he kept blushing.

"It's been awhile since you last called me that."

"Are you alright?" He brushed it aside.

"I'm fine thanks to you."

"Sure thing," Jimmy said. As they were extremely close and fresh off the high of a school prom fantasy (of which both of them are still immersed in). Both of them felt each others' breath near their lips. Getting caught in the moment, Jimmy and Cindy almost went in for the kiss…

"Ahem!"

Both of them turned over to see who cleared their throat. It was none other than Carl, accompanied by Sheen and Libby. They immediately split apart, all the while looking away. Cindy ran to her phone to turn off the music.

"Aw come on Carl!" Sheen yelled at him. "They were so close to doing it!"

"Sorry, I had something in my throat," Carl sighed. "Thankfully it's better now."

"No we weren't!" Cindy denied.

"How do you explain the music then?" Libby gave a knowing look.

"We were feeling nostalgic over high school and the-uh, times we missed," he scratched the back of his head.

"Why were you close then?" she cross-examined.

"Neutron caught me from falling backwards," Cindy explained. "Gravity did the rest!"

"Mmmhmm," Libby said doubtfully.

"How long were you guys standing there anyway," Jimmy finally asked.

"Long enough for dinner and a show," Sheen quipped.

"Well since the moment's passed," Carl then spoke. "How about we get started?"

"Huh?" Sheen then processed after a few seconds. "Oh right!" He then pulled the book and sets of dice out of his backpack with some flair. "Get ready Neutron! Because it's D&D time!"