Gaming For Love

“Dang it.”

Nicole purses her lips, and watches as her character Mario withers away on the small screen in her hands. She sighs, as the screen goes back to the beginning of the level, but starts the level again none the less. She’s lost track of how many times she has tried to beat this level since she arrived at her best friend’s apartment, and is honestly afraid to know how many times she has failed it.

Her fingers move skillfully over the controls on the old Gameboy in her hands, there may only be a d-pad and two buttons…but it’s a lot harder to get Mario to jump over mushrooms than you would think. She continues maneuvering Mario through the obstacles in his path, and groans again when she loses her last of three lives. She pouts, before she lies down on the couch and takes a deep breath.

“Be the character…be the chubby Italian man with a moustache.” She mutters.

Someone chuckles from the doorway, and she sits up. She puts the Gameboy down and looks towards the doorway. Her eyes land on her best friend, she smiles.

“Mattie!” She squeals.

He smiles, showing off his dimples and beautiful teeth. His hazel eyes take in the woman on his couch, and he can’t help but wish she was always there when he came home. Her dark hair may be pulled up into a sloppy ponytail, and she might not be wearing the finest designer clothes but in his eyes she is the most beautiful woman he has ever laid eyes on.

“Hey Nikki…what are you doing here?” He asks.

A frown makes its way onto her beautiful face, and she furrows her eyebrows. She can’t help but wonder if he doesn’t want her here.

“Playing Super Mario Brothers…”

She holds up the Gameboy Color, and Matt bursts out laughing. She glares at him playfully, before she sticks her tongue out at him.

“What’s so funny?” She asks giggling.

Matt chuckles at her child-like reaction; she was never the most mature person in the world. But her immaturity is one of the things that draw Matt to her; she has an almost innocent quality that he finds very appealing.

“You still play video games on that thing?” He asks.

“You still got girls all over that thing?”

She motions towards Matt’s crotch, and he shakes his head, not trying to contain his laughter. He resists the urge to tell her what woman he wishes was all over ‘that thing’ and holds his hand out for the Gameboy Color.

“This isn’t a real video game.” He says, taking the hand-held video game.

Nicole’s eyes widen, and an offended look replaces the smile on her face.

“It most certainly is!” She responds, her tone defensive.

Matt shakes his head, before he walks around to the other side of the couch to his entertainment center. He leans down and presses the power button on his Xbox 360 and grabs a controller. He turns around and holds up the controller, before flashing her a smile.

“This, my sweet Nicole, is a real video game.” He says, tossing her Gameboy back to her.

She scoffs, “Mine is…prettier.”

She giggles, looking at the characters she drew on the Gameboy when she was younger. She hated things that were plain, bland… boring. Sometimes she wondered why she was friends with Matt because he could be the ‘King of Boringness’ at times. But then she remembers that she loves him and even though he can be a wet blanket when he’s grumpy, he’s also the most fun person she knows too.

“But mine is more fun.” Matt responds.

He sits down on the couch next to her, and sets up a game on Xbox Live. He looks at her and smiles, before he offers her the controller.

“We can swap, and decide who has the better game.” He proposes.

“Deal.”

She takes the controller from him, and looks at the foreign buttons. She can’t help but wonder what they all do, but decides not to voice her concerns. If Matt knows how confused she is, then he will probably think she is incapable of figuring out something as simple as an Xbox controller.

Matt watches Nicole examine the controller, the way she furrows her brows and nibbles on her bottom lip. He swallows hard, before he turns his attention to the Gameboy color in his hand. He wracks his brain, trying to remember how to work it; it’s been years since he’s touched one.

After fiddling with the buttons for a few minutes, he is slowly—but surely—making his way through the obstacles in Mario’s path. He smiles when he beats the first level, before moving on to the second. He frowns when Mario loses a life, and while trying to renew himself he is distracted by Nicole cursing.

“Fuck—how do I shoot, Mattie?”

She looks at him with questioning brown eyes, and he finds himself lost in the pools of chocolate brown perfection. She’s always had the most beautiful eyes, so full of emotion and curiosity.

Nicole giggles, before waving her hand in front of Matt’s face.

“Mattie are you okay?” She asks.

He shakes his head, trying to regain control of his thoughts.

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” He responds.

He sets the Gameboy down on his lap and takes the Xbox controller from her, before he holds it up. She giggles while she looks at the controller, causing Matt to smile.

“Okay, this one—

He presses one of the buttons that resembles a trigger.

“Is RT, you press it to shoot.”

She smiles, before she nods.

“And this one is LT, you use it to zoom in on your gun’s scope.”

He goes through the rest of the controls, and Nicole listens intently throughout the whole lecture. She finds herself staring at his lips, and she can see the tiny dimple from where his lip ring used to reside. Before she realizes what she is doing, she brings her fingers to his lips and brushes her thumb over the small imperfection; it’s so small it is barely noticeable to the naked eye.

Matt stops talking, before he looks at her and their eyes meet. The connection only lasts for a millisecond, but that millisecond is enough to let Matt know he needs to make Nicole his, before someone else comes along and sweeps her off her feet.

“I give up; I’m taking back my Nintendo.”

She looks down and reaches for the Gameboy on Matt’s lap, and her fingers brush against his crotch causing him to tense up.

“Sorry!” She says hastily.

A blush makes its way onto her cheeks, and Matt smiles softly at her extremely embarrassed facial expression.

“So why don’t you give that back to me, and we get this party started to see which is better: Xbox or Nintendo Gameboy Color.” He challenges.

All awkwardness is immediately expelled from the room’s atmosphere, and Nicole smiles. She could never resist a competition of any kind, and she would love to prove Matt wrong, after all everyone knows that Gameboy beats Xbox any day.

“Let’s do this thing.” She responds.

Matt watches Nicole move around on the map, being shot at every five seconds and dying approximately every ten. Her brows are scrunched together and she is biting her bottom lip like she always does when she’s confused—or frustrated. Determination is etched into her features, and even though he knows she wants to give up, she doesn’t.

He goes back to playing the Gameboy, and has to admit that it is pretty fun, and somewhat addictive. He listens to Nicole curse softly every few seconds, while he beats level after level of Super Mario Brothers. He gets into the zone, but is ripped out of it when Nicole screams.

“OH MY GOD MATTIE I SHOT SOMEONE!” She yells.

She turns to him and throws her arms around his neck, chattering animatedly of exactly what she did before she killed the ‘noob’. He smiles, and wraps his arms around her before he buries his face in her neck. He breathes in her scent, vanilla and a hint of something fruity…strawberries?

“Mattie.” She says softly, before she releases him and sits back on the couch.

“Yeah Nikki?”

She blushes, before she looks away from him. She takes a deep breath, before she turns her head and looks at him.

“You smell good.”

Her tone is that of a child, despite being only a year younger than Matt. A smile tugs at the corner of his lips, and he chuckles.

“Thanks, Nikki.” He responds.

She nods, before she starts nibbling on her lower lip. She abandons her game and settles on watching Matt play Nintendo. The Gameboy looks almost fragile in his large hands, and she is surprised that he doesn’t break it. He’s pressing the buttons like they’ve done something wrong to him, and his knuckles are white from holding onto it.

“Mattie are you okay?” She asks.

Matt notices the timid tone in her voice, and he turns to her before smiling.

“I’m okay…but I need to tell you something.” He admits, and she immediately perks up. Nobody can resist being told a secret and with the childish personality Nicole possesses, she really can’t resist being in on a secret.

“You can tell me anything, that’s what best friends are for.”

Matt senses the wisdom behind her words, the obvious fact that they are true. He can tell her anything…they’ve been best friends since 9th grade, and aside from his romantic feelings he has told her everything. He takes a deep breath, before he puts the Gameboy down on his lap. She stares at him, watching his every move, and trying to anticipate what he is going to do next.

Matt looks into Nicole’s eyes, and licks over his lips.

“Don’t move.”

He begins leaning in, and when Nicole realizes what is going on she closes the space between their lips. They share a sweet, but passionate kiss that leaves them both breathless. Matt rests his forehead against hers, before he kisses her lips again. He feels her take the Gameboy off his lap and she sets it on the coffee table in front of the couch.

They stand up, only breaking the kiss for a moment before their lips are attached again. They walk blindly towards the stairs, and Matt picks up Nicole and she wraps her legs around his waist. He pushes her against the wall, and continues his assault on her lips.

He moves his lips down to her neck, and starts sucking on her sweet spot gently and she sighs in pleasure. Matt removes his lips from Nicole’s neck—much to her dismay, before he looks into her eyes, his honey-colored hazel eyes meeting her dark ones.

“Nicole I love you.” He says.

“I love you too.”

He smiles, before he starts kissing her again. A moment later she breaks the kiss, and giggles before she looks into his eyes.

“We never decided which was better.” She says.

Matt groans, before he buries his face in the crook of her neck.

“If I say Nintendo is better will that make you happy?” He asks.

She smiles, before nodding.

“Then Nintendo is definitely better.” He responds, before pressing his lips to hers.