I Heart Geeks by Aria Glazki, Stephanie Kayne, Kristyn F. Brunson, Layla Kelly, Leslie Ann Brown, Bella James, Rae Lori Page A

listening to her old friend Terri from high school and college. “Sharon…Sharon…”
    “Tall brunette that used to play chess with us during lunch.”
    “Oh, right! In Mr. Daly’s room. I think she had a crush on him like you did.”
    “What?” Terri squeaked over the phone. “Yeah right.
You
were the one who had the crush, woman, and you know it. I remember you used to go in his classroom every chance you got and make googly eyes at him. When he opened his classroom up for us to hang out at lunchtime, I knew you were a goner.”
    “Okay, okay. Yeah it was me.”
    Kendra leaned back in her living room chair and rested her arm on one propped up knee. As soon as she left the con, she came home to change clothes and kick her feet up. Aside from the con, it was another boring Saturday in her apartment. She didn’t feel like hopping on voice chat to see which of her gamer friends were online. Good thing Terri had called to see how she was doing. She needed the distraction and a familiar voice from back home.
    “So how are you liking L.A.?” Terri asked. The sound of munching blared from the other side of the phone between her words.
    Kendra’s stomach rumbled. A snack sounded pretty good right about now. She couldn’t even remember the last time she ate. “Well…” She stood and headed to the kitchen to grab a bag of popcorn to toss into the microwave while balancing the cell phone on her shoulder. “I like it. I just miss San D. If everyone didn’t move away, I’d probably still be there.’
    “Oh, come on. You
did not
leave because of all of us. You needed a change of scenery, too. Plus, you don’t have to travel so far for the con now. Big plus.”
    Kendra leaned against the counter. She had a point there. “I just came from the big con, too.”
    “Ooooh. Jealous! How was it?”
    “It was actually pretty cool. My costume held up pretty well and people seemed to respond nicely to it. I met another GrimDark cosplayer. He was a Space Knight.”
    “Whoa. Whoa. I hope you got pics.”
    “I was in costume and in character, Terri. I couldn’t just bust out a camera and start playing tourist.”
    Terri giggled. “Space Elf Enchantress Photographer. Simply epic. That would probably get you a bunch of pics on its own.”
    “Maybe. The cool thing was that he
RP’d
with me right then and there. He saved me from some jerks who were following me and giving me a hard time.”
    “Sounds like a true knight to me. You get his number or email? Something?”
    “Just a name. Jordan.”
    “What?” Shuffling sounded on Terri’s end as if she were moving her sitting position. “Oh, come on Kendra. You are
still
afraid to take a chance, aren’t you?”
    The microwave finally beeped. She yanked open the door and reached in with eager hands to pull out the steaming bag. “I’m tired of falling for a guy who seems one way and then turns into something else when I get to know them.”
    “That’s because you fall for their
character
before getting to know the guy behind the mask. Besides, you’re not even going to give this guy a chance. Him not his character. That’s fair, Kendra.”
    Was she being too harsh? He sounded nice when he offered to teach her to play. It didn’t sound like he had an ulterior motive, even though her cynical mind had convinced her of such. She dipped her hand in the bag, then quickly retracted it when it was too hot to touch. “I was being careful.”
    “No, you were being scared. How many times have you said you wanted to find a nice guy to get to know who shares in the same interests as you? This guy can be a start to that. And if anything, he could become a good friend.”
    Kendra shook the popcorn bag to air it out a bit. Terri wasn’t much of a gamer and since she got married, they’ve been trying to have a kid which made her time even sparser. She didn’t know that Kendra was more comfortable talking behind a computer than in person. Terri definitely wouldn’t know that’s