Dating and Dragons (Dungeons and Drama, #2) (29)

“It’s very violent and very fun,” Sanjiv explains. “It’s the reason I got into robotics.”

“Although I’m still hoping you’ll do more with your skills than build fighting robots,” their dad says with an eye roll. This is my first time meeting him. He’s quiet and adorable with his ’80s-style colorful sweater stretched over his potbelly.

“There’s no greater achievement than getting your robot on a reality show,” Sanjiv argues. “What do you think? Do you want to check out an episode, Quinn?”

It’s sweet that he’d be open to letting me join in on something that’s clearly special between him and Kashvi, but she’s quick to shake her head.

“I kinda wanted to just do stuff with Quinn tonight, if you don’t mind?”

“Yeah, fine, I figured. I’ll be playing Baldur’s Gate with Logan, then.”

“He’s coming here?” I blurt out.

I’m not ready to see him tonight, even if he’s already on my mind.

Sanjiv tilts his head in confusion. “No…we play online.”

“Oh right. Duh.”

We both fill our plates and grab drinks. “Tell Logan we said hi,” Kashvi says in a cheery voice before heading upstairs. She leans her back against her door after shutting it.

“My parents don’t let us have locks on the doors, but hopefully we’ll hear them coming.” She sits down on the rug in front of her bed and I follow.

“I like your family. Just be grateful your brother isn’t annoying like mine.”

“Have you met Sanjiv?” Kashvi asks.

I laugh. “He has his moments.”

She nods emphatically.

“But clearly you get along or you wouldn’t play D&D together.”

She shrugs. “He’s one of my best friends in the world…but he can also drive me insane. What’s your brother like?”

“He’s…popular? It’s weird how different we are.” I take a bite of pizza and then realize how that might be misinterpreted. “Not that I’m saying you aren’t popular. Only that I’m not!”

She laughs. “It’s fine. I’m not popular and I don’t want to be.”

“Agreed. We just got here three weeks ago and somehow he managed to find an enormous group of friends. He’s always being invited out to stuff, and he’s even gone out with a few different girls…. It’s wild.”

“Meh, I think it’s easier for guys to get dates. Sanjiv never seems to have trouble.” She lifts an eyebrow. “Have you seen anyone at school you’re interested in?”

To my horror, Logan immediately flashes into my mind. Dusty from the attic, grinning at me over boxes of junk, saying he needs to keep his distance from me. I shove the thoughts into a tiny closet in the back of my mind and lock the door.

“Um, I barely know anyone at school yet. And my last experience with dating was less than fun, so I’m not eager to jump back into that.”

She leans forward with her elbows on her knees, pizza forgotten at her side. “Oh, what happened?”

In another context, I might worry she was just looking for some juicy gossip, but she seems genuinely interested. And it’s only fair that I share since she told me about Wyatt.

“More dating and D&D drama.” I shake my head and mess with the shag rug rather than look at her. “Our group had played together for over a year, and it was so fun. The campaign wasn’t like ours at all—it was way less serious. For the others it was sometimes more about talking and eating and…flirting, rather than playing.” I glance up quickly and Kashvi nods but doesn’t say anything. “Caden was the DM, and he was funny and kind of cute, and after a while he started flirting with me during the games. It seemed harmless—I didn’t think it meant anything.”

I’m mildly nauseous recounting this after having tried to push away thoughts of them for so long, but I’m too far into the story to bail now. It’s almost harder remembering the fun times than it is to remember the fallout at the end. If I think about how horribly they turned on me, it’s easy to feel grateful we aren’t talking any longer. But remembering the better times reminds me of how much I lost.

“I’m guessing it wasn’t harmless?” Kashvi asks. The interest in her expression has turned to worry.

“Caden asked me out and I said yes because he was a friend and I thought maybe there could be something more between us. I’d never had a real boyfriend before. It was all exciting at first.” I squirm. “But as soon as he and I were alone, I knew it wasn’t going to work. We were the kind of people who worked better in a big group. When it was just the two of us, there wasn’t much to say and everything felt forced and awkward. And the kiss…” I shiver. “He was not a good kisser. Let’s just say we were meant to stay platonic.”

Kashvi’s hands fly to her face to cover her pained laughter. “I can imagine that revelation didn’t lead to anything good.”

“Oh my god, it was horrible. When I told him I thought we were better as friends, he was shocked. I guess we walked away from that first date with really different impressions of how it went. Then he accused me of being a tease. I didn’t mean to do any of that, but he was so pissed and he turned the whole group against me. Especially my best friend, Paige.”