Be My Valentine

Quest IRL -Jaylie Wright

Quest IRL - Jaylie Wright

Song: The Chainsmokers, Something Just Like This

“In case you missed it, Ridlee Robbins has not only released a new book featuring the beloved character, Nova Jump, but she has also set the release date for the new edition of the online role playing game, Sweet Escape, based on the Nova series, to coincide with her first ever appearance at London’s famed MCM Comic Con next month! We’ve got details on how you can attend as well as details concerning these new releases on our website. Next up: what you should do to make traveling by subway safer. This is Jeanette Stephens.”

Kellee switches the television off and turns to her friend, Sofia. “Four weeks to get this ass in shape before I make a public appearance.”

Sofia sets the opened pack of Oreos aside and brushes the crumbs from her fingers. “First of all, I’m the one over here eating these evil, crunchy delights. Second, you don’t need to do a damn thing. You are gorgeous!”

“You’re just saying that because you’re my best friend!” Kellee groans loudly, throwing herself down on the sofa, facing Sofia. “I’ve gone nearly ten years without having to make a single appearance. I am so much more comfortable behind my computer screen, writing my books and designing the games. What if people see me and think, ‘No wonder she’s hidden herself this long!’?”

“What would ‘Kelleena’ do?” Sofia queries, with a smug one-sided smile appearing.

Kellee knew what she was doing - Sofia was trying to get her inner sass to surface. Kellee’s avatar on Sweet Escape is “Kelleena”. Her avatar, much like herself, is a smart, full figured woman in her mid-thirties, but that is where the likenesses end. “Kelleena” is also the type to live life to the fullest, to call out other players on their s**t, and to exhibit confidence in even the most challenging circumstances. She is as bold as Kellee had created her to be, and her bright magenta hair and electric green eyes are a testimony to the fiery personality she has. Kellee, on the other hand, has ash brown hair and hazel eyes which she did not feel were special enough to attract anyone’s attention. She is shy, quiet, and sweet to others, though the sarcasm in her mind would turn heads - hence why she writes! On any given day, Kellee could be found holed up in her penthouse; whereas “Kelleena” would be battling some Bhosyte with a team of people that she had only just met during her campaign in the game.

“Mmhm. Once again, you are trying to get me to act like my fictional character when you bloody well know I am nothing like her!” As soon as the words left her lips, her hand clamped over her mouth. She knew that Sofia caught her mistake as soon as she said it, too!

“‘Bloody well’? I take it you were chatting it up with ‘SuperM@n55’ again last night. Are you two going to meet up in London? Oh! You should send him a comp ticket to the convention! Think of it like a real life quest!” Her Cheshire grin combined with the excited energy radiating from her causes Kellee to cringe.

“No. Not going to happen! We just game together when we both happen to go online at the same time. If we don’t make plans to quest together, then why on earth would we make plans to actually get together?”

“Procreation.” Sofia deadpans.

Kellee scoffs in reply. “I am fine without having a man between my legs. Thank you.”

“Fine? I’d argue that you are lonely. Besides, you can do more than just the nasty. You might actually,” she gasps, fanning her hand against her chest in mock shock, “build a relationship!”

Kellee throws a decorative pillow across the room at her friend. “It’s not like you are dating anyone right now!”

“Not right now, no. But if we look at the past twelve or so months, there have been four men that I’ve spent time with romantically. One was a womanizer, one was in love with himself, one had a sick attachment to his mother, and the last, well, he was just a little too vanilla for me. I mean, there are so many more options than missionary in the pitch dark!” She rolls her eyes dramatically.

“Four reasons to not even try,” Kellee responds.

“Don’t give me that bullshit. You know as well as I do that people find their perfect partner every single day. I’d be willing to bet that they do each minute of each day. So stop giving me excuses and send him the damn comp ticket!”

Kellee groans loudly and buries her face into another pillow. After a few seconds, she pulls the pillow down abruptly and looks at Sofia.

“If I do - and that is a big f*****g ‘if’ - what the hell should I wear? I am a writer! My entire wardrobe consists of leisurewear. I have a couple nicer outfits, maybe three dresses…I just don’t know what would be comfortable to wear while standing there, but also look better than this.” She waves her hand down her body to display her fuzzy socks, well-worn cotton yoga pants, and oversized hoodie.

“Not to mention make-up,” Sofia mumbles, causing Kellee’s face to twist in agony as though she were being tortured. “Listen, he’s a gamer, right? So he probably would dig this look. I mean, gamer guys are pretty laid back, right? How many are going out in designer suits?”

With that point, Kellee started feeling the sparks of hope stirring within her soul. “Maybe he would,” she murmurs, her mind reeling with the possibility of there being a man on this planet that might not actually want to date a lingerie model. Sure, when she writes romance, there is always a guy out there for her quirky female lead, but the thought that it could actually be true never really donned on her. Could she really be some guy’s ideal woman?

“Are you writing in your head again? I see the gears going, but those eyes are fairly vacant. Besides, you totally missed my joke about your granny panties,” Sofia states bluntly.

“There really might be some guy that would want me,” she mumbles.

“Well, duh!” Sofia exclaims. “I mean, if I swung that way, I’d freaking choose you myself. I just prefer a natural c**k over silicone.”

“Ugh! Why are you so crass?”

“Because deep down, you know you love it. Not to mention it gives you lines to use in your books. I should hit you up for a percentage of those royalties you’re getting!”

Kellee rolls her eyes. “We’ll call it even considering the torture you put me through with their initial use. Besides, you haven’t bought groceries in years, and we aren’t even roommates.”

“Touche’.”

As Kellee stands up to make her way to the kitchen, she jumps in response to Sofia’s high-pitched squeal.

“Kellee, I’ve got it! You want to feel attractive for your fans, you want to turn on ‘SuperM@n55’, and you want to be confident like ‘Kelleena’ - why not dress as ‘Kelleena’?! It’s Comic Con! You can cosplay your own avatar!”

“I don’t know,” Kellee says with hesitation. “If any of my top fans are in the upper levels of the game, they’d figure out exactly which avatar I dressed as. Either they’d realize that Ridlee Robbins is ‘Kelleena’, or they would think that I have a favorite user in the game. If it is the former, then my anonymity is gone in the game. If it is the latter, they might accuse me of giving ‘Kelleena’ an inside edge, which could end up on every gossip rag in the world. My sales and stocks would plummet!”

“What ever happened to publicity is publicity? Even adverse publicity gets your name into more people’s minds. I think your sales would jump!”

“I like having a clean reputation,” Kellee persists. She grabs her favorite mug from the cabinet and begins making a peppermint dark chocolate cocoa for herself.

“How about this? How about we do a muted version of ‘Kelleena’ - a Kellee-‘Kelleena’ combo, if you will? You can check the game, make sure that everything we do is close to ‘Kelleena’, but also not something that anyone else has chosen for their avatar. ‘Kelleena’ has the whole punk rock look going on. We can imitate it, but change the colors up a little and make it a bit less intense. What do you think?” Sofia’s eyes blew wide open in excitement as she nodded her head quickly in an effort to convince Kellee that her idea is a good one. She sees the moment Kellee succumbs to the pressure and begins bouncing on her toes in celebration.

“Let’s go check out the other avatars in the game,” Kellee acquiesces.

“Hello, and welcome to MCM Comic Convention! We are grateful to each of you for your involvement. As you know, we cannot be successful without you. Your writing, your designs, your artwork, your acting, your vocals, and your musical creations have captured the hearts of each of our attendees. During your time here, please reach out to any of the staff to fulfill your needs…”

The speaker’s voice was lost to Kellee’s overactive mind as she stood in a mass of people, most of whom were well known in the geek community. She almost chuckles as she realizes how being called a geek in her childhood often elicited tears. Yet now, the geeks join together to rule the cinema and celebrate events like this comic convention. She does her best to not draw attention to herself as she runs her eyes over and through the crowd, attempting to identify people in the room.

Even in a joint event, Kellee can tell people have grouped together by profession and genre. She identified a group of sci-fi actors, a group of songwriters, a group of comic book artists, and a group of lesser known actors from comic book based movies. Still, the crowd was fairly well pressed in, except for one guy standing off to the side, leaning against the wall. He was tall, seemed a bit fit, and was wearing jeans with a black hoodie pulled down so far that she could not identify his face. His arms were crossed, as were his ankles, and he seemed to not need to listen to the introduction speech.

Kellee dragged her attention away from him and back to the speaker. He obviously wasn’t someone with whom to concern herself. The doors are yet to open, so only vendors, speakers, and staff are in the building. That is probably who he is, one of the staff, Kellee thought to herself. He had a security guard or undercover cop appearance. Obviously, if he didn’t belong there, he’d have already been escorted off the premises.

“Those of you who have assigned dressing rooms, please feel welcome to use them now. The doors will open in one hour. Thank you for making this year our biggest year yet!”

With that, the speaker stepped down, and the crowd dispersed. Kellee looked at her team and gave them instructions for the setup of her desk and area. They had already gone over everything back in the states, but one last reminder couldn’t possibly hurt. As her team walked away, Kellee linked her arm in Sofia’s and started toward the dressing rooms.

“Show time!” She exclaimed nervously.

“Stop worrying! This plan is amazing! When the photographers get here, Kellee will be nowhere in sight, only Ridlee Robbins dressed slightly like ‘Kelleena’ will be in their shutters. You’ll still be able to leave your penthouse without anyone recognizing you,” Sofia whispered in her ear.

The two entered the dressing room and went straight to work. Carefully, they pinned Kellee’s thin brown hair up against her scalp. Next, she slipped on a pair of plaid pants with multiple black zippers adorning them. Once her Dr. Martens boots and black deconstructed sweater were on, they added black cat-eye eyeliner with a tiny black eyeliner heart next to each eye. She opted for simple, sheer glossed lips to avoid having to re-apply color throughout the day. After doing a light powder finish, they painstakingly began putting the dark red wig on. When the look was complete, both ladies stood before the mirror in awe. Any doubts of being recognized evaporated as Kellee took in the new look.

“Well, if this doesn’t make one hell of an impression, f**k ’em!” Sofia exclaimed, making Kellee grimace.

“Please try to rein in that tongue. There might be kids here today and I don’t want to hear parents complain that their little one heard foul language from my group.”

“Only because I love you. Otherwise, I’d tell them to get bent. Last I checked, f*****g was what got the kid here in the first place!”

“Sofia!”

“I know, I know,” Sofia grumbled. “Are you ready? The doors open in about ten minutes.”

Kellee sucked in a deep breath and released it in a sigh. “Might as well go now or I’ll second guess everything.”

“That’s the spirit!” Sofia’s sarcasm was met with a glare. “What? It’s not like you can back out now. Let’s go!”

The pair walked out and through the convention center until they found the massive staging area set up for Kellee and her staff. A massive back drop and framework gave her tables an enclosed appearance. The tablecloths were made of black satin with her signature screen printed all over it. Piles of swag and books adorned the tables for people to shop. Overall, she was pleased with her team’s hard work.

Just as she took her seat behind the main table, they opened the doors, charging the air with excitement! She sent Sofia out to get an idea of how other tables were set up and to get the lowdown of who was there and what the public was saying. Her plan was to let one of her staff walk through each hour, both as a break of sorts and to bring back information. Sofia had barely walked out of reach when a large crowd approached her group. After signing countless books and merchandise, Kellee began wondering if Sofia was ever going to return.

“You can make it out to ‘SuperM@n55’, please,” a deep voice with a beautiful British accent crooned from across the table just as Kellee had craned her neck to see if she could spot Sofia on her way back.

Kellee immediately turned toward the voice to see the last person on earth she’d ever expect to see standing before her! It was him - Superman. Not the avatar that she had befriended over the past few months, but the Superman. Well, rather, the actor who plays Superman in the movies. Rather than being in costume, he is wearing jeans and a hoodie - the same clothes as the man from earlier.

“I, uh, saw you come in this morning,” he says hesitantly. “While I love the ‘Kelleena’ look, I have to admit that I thought you were stunning in your natural look. Would you fancy having dinner with me this evening?”

As Kellee did her best to gather her wits, “Something Just Like This” by The Chainsmokers started playing in the overhead speakers.

“Ah!” He said with a broad smile, “I believe this will be our official song.”

The End

The author details are just below. As a fun extra we have a spotify playlist! Each author chose a song for their piece. Does this short story remind you of a song? Or is there a romantic song that captures your heart? Leave a song and artist in the comments and (if it’s on spotify) it will be added to the play list.

Pen Name: Jaylie Wright

Books: Zari on Dreame, Always Choose Dare on Resurgence Novels

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