Chapter six
Gemma
Rule #14: Be reasonable, you fucking tyrant.
Ilet French techno-pop soothe away my worries. It blasted in my ears, and I cranked up the bass setting on my headphones, drowning out any possibility of thoughts or feelings. Because when I'd woken up this morning, I'd had a lot of both, and after fretting over my coffee, worrying my way through a grocery shopping trip, and panicking my way into lunchtime, I was thoroughly sick of myself.
At least I'd taken the time to set up my computer desk in the living room. It gave me something to do while I bounced my head to the beat of the music and ignored my dumpster fire of an existence. While I lost myself in Indila's voice, I worked on a particularly hard quest in my MMORPG. If my eyes and hands were occupied with my half-elf character and my earswere stuffed with music, then I couldn't worry myself into a disastrous state like I had last night. I'd slept on the couch fitfully, staring up at the white ceiling bathed in blue light and straining my ears for any sign of my roommate's existence. I couldn't believe I was living with Rook.KnoxRook. It had eaten away at me all night until I'd finally found sleep somewhere in the early morning hours.
Rook apparently had to work on Saturdays too, which was just fine with me. If he was gone, then I could pretend like I hadn't gotten myself into this mess. I could pretend that my apartment hadn't come withmarriage stringsattached to it.
That crazy bog witch. She'd used my weakness against me and tried to set me up with her termagant of a son, and I could just strangle her bony neck with her pearls if given the chance.
I clicked the mouse rapidly, sending a daily attack at the reaper. The monster retaliated, and although I tapped the A key to dodge, I took a direct hit. My character died instantly. I growled in frustration and folded my arms. Truth be told, I was a terrible gamer. I'd only started a few months ago to keep my mind off my dating failures, and I hadn't improved much since then. I kept forgetting spells and potions to beef up my defenses, and my reaction times were slow.
My stomach gave an uncomfortable twinge, and I rubbed it absently. I was pretty sure my period was gearing up to start, and that was honestly terrible timing. It wasn't just the bleeding, the bloating, the runs, or the cramps. It was my endometriosis. My cramps were next level—one-hit K.O. level. Sometimes my period would take me out for days, and I just had to suffer through it. Having your period wasn't a good reason to miss work, I assumed, but that didn't make it any easier to endure. I made a mental note to stop by the store and grab supplies.
A message in the game chat popped up.
Emmaculate94:
Hey babes! It's been a while.
Smiling, I tapped back a message as the game took me back to my respawn point.
GemsNLace178576:
Emma! Yeah sorry, work and life got crazy. How are u?
Emmaculate94:
The usual. Did u see the new skins? Halloween themes!
GemsNLace178576:
Yeah, I like them! Might have to buy next month tho. Had to get a new apt. Expensive.
Emmaculate94:
O for real? I hate moving. It's impossible to find places here.
GemsNLace178576:
Same.
Emma and I had been friends since May, and she had introduced me to gaming. I hadn't seen her in a while—she only lived in Portland a couple hours away, but we always seemed to be too busy to meet up. I'd met her at a singles mixer, but instead of Emma walking away with a date, she'd walked away with a friendship with crazy me.
She was my go-to cyberfriend for dramatic shit that Ruth did not get. Like dark romance novels and webtoons. She had a boyfriend that she sometimes talked about, but for the mostpart, we talked about books we liked and juicy reality TV shows that were making a buzz. I had my doubts about her staying with her boyfriend, Dain, for very long. I'd met him once when Emma and I had gone to a movie together, and he had tagged along, but I couldn't say I was a fan. And anyway, Emma wasn't one to jump into marriage, and she sometimes talked some sense into me when I thought I might be falling too hard for a guy. Not that I was in danger of doing that with my roommate. And Icertainlywasn't going to marry him, even to get out of a shitty lease.
Christ, the thought had me raging again. With spontaneous frustration, I typed out a message to Emma.
GemsNLace178576:
I have a new roommate I hate. It's driving me crazy.
Emmaculate94:
Oooh tea. Spill.
