Famous Beginnings — A Short Story
She typed in her password quickly, scrolled immediately to her destination, and then clicked.
“Hi there, stranger!” She chirped, settling back into her chair.
“I’m not a stranger,” the man on the other end of the call grumbled, “We’ve been friends for like a year now.”
Sighing, she pulled out a bottle of acetone and some cotton pads. “You know what I meant, don’t be grumpy. How did the premiere go?”
She could practically see him sighing on the other side of the world. Drama queen. Even over an online call he was so emotive. Each of his feelings were clear as day, especially when he was exasperated or annoyed.
“It was long,” he said.
“I heard people liked it,” she told him, dumping acetone onto a cotton pad and attacking her chipped nail polish.
“Critics,” he sighed, “They all hated it. The crowd liked it though.”
“It’s a fun movie, I am sure,” she consoled. “Don’t worry about the critics.”
“Says the woman who doesn’t have to deal with them.”
“Look, I may not be some big shot Hollywood actor, but I do know that as long as you’re happy with it, and your fans like it, you’ll be ok. That’s what makes movies money, and that is what matters, right? Not like you thought this role would win you an Oscar or anything.”
“I guess, Irene. Just tell me about your day, how were things?” He changed the subject, avoiding entirely the topic of his latest film.
The entire production had been one challenge after the next, from clashes with the director to not vibing with his co-star, he was just happy to be done. She would let him have his topic change. There was no point in fighting with him, he can and would hang up on her if she pushed him too far. He never got mad, but he could be temperamental.
“Well… I did the usual. Sat around, answered the phone, answered customer’s questions. I did manage to drink only two cups of coffee though, so I am counting today as a win.”
He laughed, “Living large, huh?”
“Well we can’t all be millionaires,” she quipped. “Besides, you met me on the internet, clearly you aren’t living super large either. You’re like a dragon sitting on all that money, you never spend it on anything fun.”
“Hah.” He scoffed. “I can’t spend all of it. I am bound to get too ugly to act one day, and by then I plan on buying my own island and living as an eccentric.”
“An actor who isn’t totally full of himself. Will wonders never cease?”
“Ok, Ms. Sass, can we just play the game?”
“I guess,” she sighed, putting down her cotton pads, leaving her nails only 3/4th painted.
From under her desk, she dug up a second keyboard which was glowing in a pulsating rainbow, with large heavy keys. From a box to her right, she pulled a mouse which was glowing with the same colors. She double clicked on a program from her desktop, and her computer also began to glow.
“Are you logged in already?” She asked him, launching the program.
“In and waiting.”
She tapped her nails as she waited for the game to load, “Where did we leave off?”
“World boss,” he said, then hummed as he thought. “Over in that one area. The really green one by the sea with the town behind the wall?”
“So specific,” she teased him.
“Don’t piss off your tank,” he laughed.
“Some tank you are. Remember the first time we did this?” She asked him, “When you were dying, and I had to come in and save your butt? I don’t really think I need you, so I’m not concerned about pissing you off.”
“You saved me one time,” he claimed, his voice pitching up as he defended himself.
“Sure thing Mr. Hollywood, but I did have to save you.”
He huffed. “Smart ass.”
“Back atcha.”
She laughed, but every word was true. Two weeks into playing the game, a new large scale MMORPG called Reborn Legacy, she had been passing through a beginner’s area and spotted one man all alone. He was surrounded by a bunch of frog-like creatures and taking tons of damage. She could see his health, and he was close to dying. Irene knew how much that would suck, so she swooped in and saved his butt.
He had thanked her, and Irene kindly informed him that now he owed her, and they had spent the rest of the evening chatting back and forth, shooting the shit and clearing area after area.
The next day when she logged on, he had found her again, and the rest was history. Almost every day they would log in at six, and spend two to three hours playing Reborn Legacy. They leveled up together, finished quests together, and had even joined a small guild together for quests they couldn’t finish with just two of them. They were to peas in a virtual pod.
It was enjoyable, and their conversation had been light, funny even. Irene often laughed at his dry sense of humour, and teasing him gave her such a kick.
After four months of this, he had messaged her out of the blue, mid-dungeon, Do you want to voice chat? It might be easier than typing back and forth.
Until that moment, they had been making due with the in game messaging, but voice chatting would be miles easier than having to stop mid spell to respond to something.
She thought about it a moment longer, to make sure she wanted to make that step. Moving from just text chat to actually talking felt important, somehow.
Sure. Skype?
He responded almost instantly, Yeah, the name is GCPaladin.
Irene moved over to Skype, typed in the name, and hit call.
He picked up almost immediately, his voice smooth as honey and hesitant, “Irene?”
Pausing for a second, she cleared her throat, “Uh… You never told me your name.”
Silence.
Apparently he needed a second himself to make sure he trusted her. Strangers on the internet were less of a risky gamble these days, at least in the more normal corners of the internet, but it was still a big deal to share your name. Irene knew this, but she had told him her name first, it was only fair, right?
Then again, she had no idea. He was her first internet friend.
“It’s Gabriel.” He said.
“Hence the GC. Makes sense.”
“Yup.”
She couldn’t think of anything to say, and in her panic, Irene went into overdrive.
She clicked back to the game and said the first thing that came to mind, “So about this dungeon, I think we should finish this really fast, and then do it a second time. It’s a good place to gain some experience and the item drops are pretty good.I’ve been hoarding my gold too so I can get this one glamour skin because it’s got this cute little magical girl theme and I’ve been wanting it forever and-”
He cut her off, “Remember to breathe when you talk.”
“Right, sorry,” I’ve never done this with someone I met online before I don’t really know what to say.”
“How about keeping your eyes on the game so we don’t die? I’ve been taking damage the whole time you’ve been talking.”
Gasping, she navigated back to the game, “Oh no! I am sooooo sorry!”
Gabriel was sitting there, his health bar in the read, but his voice was still blasé. “Mind healing me, Irene?”
He said her name so casually, like he had been doing it forever. As if it wasn’t kinda weird to meet a random dude in an MMO and become inseparable. People met in guilds all the time, sure. But these one-off, one on one meetings? They were few and far between.
She clicked to heal him fast, and he muttered a, “Thanks.”
They sat mostly in silence for a while, save for a remark here or there, before his phone rang on the other side.
“One second.” He excused himself, and Irene could hear him picking up the phone, “Hello?”
She waited, directing her character to walk around his in circles, then stopping to dance every few turns. He made his character frown at her.
She laughed, and could hear Gabe say to his caller, “I am a little busy.”
Maneuvering a little closer to his in-game character, she began to wag her finger at him, disapproving. She heard a click and then watched as the in-game Gabe laughed at her.
“Yes, I did say I am busy… I know there was nothing on the calendar. I am busy with something personal.” He waited a second, before sighing, his voice exasperated, “Yes sometimes I do personal things that are not work related. It’s nothing scandalous. I am just playing a video game. Totally normal, non-rumour starting.”
Irene snorted, and sent him a chat message, You have a calendar?
She heard his keyboard and a second later his reply popped up, Yes.
So eloquent.
What do you do? She asked him. Maybe it was his assistant on the phone, and he was some kind of regional manager. Maybe he owned his own business and was super busy all the time, outside of the time he spent with her questing. Maybe he had a super overbearing boss who micromanages him all the time.
Acting, he shot back quickly.
The answer made no sense to her, so she ignored it. Acting? Like in plays? Why were people calling him then?
She paused, and she heard him say, “Look, I have to go. Can you just email me?”
Irene made her character dance again, and swore she could hear Gabriel choke back a laugh.
“Just email me,” Gabe repeated, and then he must have hung up, because he said, “You can stop dancing now.”
“But dancing is fun,” Irene quipped.
His sigh was full and spoke volumes of both his amusement, and how tired he was.
“You ok?” She asked him, actually concerned. “Do you need to go deal with that?”
“It’s fine,” his voice was tight, but his words were reassuring, “Just have a lot on my plate right now. I don’t think I will be able to play as much starting next week. I’m starting a big… project.”
“Projects can be fun though!” Irene chirped, “They give you the chance to do fun things sometimes.”
“I suppose,” he relented a little, but his voice was still tense.
“Why aren’t you excited?”
“I’ll be working with a lot of new people, and the hours will be long.”
She sighed, sympathetic. “Long hours do suck.”
“What do you do?” He asked her, clearly changing the subject.
“I work as an Office Manager for a software engineering company. We make programs for fancy inventory systems and dabble in property management systems for realtors and the like.”
“That sounds… Diverse?”
Laughing, she made her character dance again. “It’s interesting. The people I work with are a hoot, and it pays me enough to be able to keep playing this game so… It’s not bad.”
In the game, Irene circled Gabe one last time, and then began to run to their next destination.
“You still have some time tonight?” He asked her, “It is getting a little late to start another quest.”
“Just one more,” Irene insisted.
And so it had gone on since that first night, the two of them sitting in a voice call, playing their game and shooting the shit. Once his new project began, he was online for less every day, but he still managed to make time. He would ask polite questions about her work, and she would ask him how his project was going.
Until one night, he caved.
“You keep asking me about my project as if you have no idea what it is,” he accused her, “You have to know. I have been very open about my challenges and struggles, what we’re doing. And you just act all uninterested in everything I say. Why?”
“Uh.” Irene said, mid battle and not really paying attention. “You said you act. I had just assumed you were starting rehearsals for a new play or something. I didn’t want to pry because it sounds stressful. Why would I know what play you’re in anyway? Besides, we have a game to play. You’d better move, or you’re going to get hit.”
He stuttered, “You… You really have no idea?”
“Should I?” Her attention was on the conversation now as she tried to both fight and process what he was saying.
“Yes!” He exclaimed. “Maybe.” Then. “I feel stupid now.”
She laughed. “You’re silly.”
He huffed. “I don’t understand. Everyone I meet loses their mind. And then there’s you.”
“Did I…” she killed the enemy in front of her, and then stood there. “Did I upset you? Am I supposed to recognize you or something?”
He remained silent.
“Is that a yes?” She prodded.
“I thought you knew. But then you kept acting as if you didn’t. So I thought you were lying or playing it cool. But then it kept happening, and every time I told you about my day it felt like I was lying because you didn’t know.” He paused. “I don’t like lying to you.”
“Oh.”
Gabe sighed. “I know it’s not smart of me, feel free to tease me.”
Irene didn’t know what to say, but for once, she didn’t feel like teasing him.
He didn’t know what to say either. Silence sat between them like a weight.
“Do you… Want to tell me then? Whatever this is about?” She asked, carefully. She tried to phrase it in as neutral a way as possible.
“Yeah.” He said.
She waited, but he didn’t elaborate.
“Yeah…?”
“I’m… Trying to not sound conceited when I say this,” he said. “But I’m Gabriel Raiden Carter. Supposed A-list Hollywood actor, and secretly an avid player of Reborn Legacy.”
Irene sat there for a moment, and then her gears turned. “Ohhhhh! You’re that guy who was in The Sun Rises in the West! That guy! I was wondering why your voice sounded familiar, but I thought it was just one of those things.”
He laughed, strangled and short. “Yup, that was me.”
“So the project you’re working on then, it’s a superhero movie right?”
“It is. I play a villain in that one. With a British accent.” He sighed. “It’s been a rough road through.”
“I really has,” she hummed. “That director really doesn’t like you. Maybe he knows you’re a shitty tank.”
This time, his laugh was genuine.
“You’re the worst,” he said.
“I know,” she said, proud.
That sealed her place as his confidant. Gabriel had never really had someone treat him normally before, not once they recognized him. It was the yearning for that anonymity that drove him to Reborn Legacy in the first place. He wanted to just be normal, at least sometimes. To blend in with the crowd and live his life like other people. It was almost impossible out in the real world, but online, with Irene, he felt normal.
Snapping out of her memories, Irene sighed. “I don’t want to go fight that world boss, but if we must, we must. It’s going to spawn here in fifteen, we better get a move on.”
Gabe whooped, “Alright! We got this. I’m sure tons of other people will be there too. It’ll be a piece of cake.”
“Totally,” she said, “You did awesome at your premiere, and now it’s time to celebrate by slaughtering some pixels.”
“Hell yeah.” He said the right things, but his voice was tired, lacklustre. Far from the usual clear, rich tones he normally spoke in.
In game, she stood there and neither of them moved from their spots. Irene made her character twirl around, skirts swirling. Tension was making her stomach churn, and she wanted to clear the air before they moved on.
“You’re awesome dude,” she said, reassuring him. She felt bad that he was so self conscious about the premiere, but she didn’t know how else to make him feel better. They were thousands of miles apart. All she had were lame words.
“Thanks Irene, I don’t know what I would do without you. It was just… A hard night. I’ll be ok.”
She could feel her cheeks heat up.
“You are my first and only internet friend,” she quipped, hiding her embarrassment, “What are online friends for if not to boost your confidence.”
“Well, I appreciate you, and your friendship.”
She smiled, wide and happy. “Let’s go kick ass.”
Irene stopped twirling, and the two of them headed off for the town by the sea, ready to take on whatever came next for them. The entire world was open to them, both online, and in real life. Their character’s shoulders brushed, and Irene swore, for a moment, that she could feel Gabriel beside her. Her heart felt light and she hoped his felt the same.
