Pitch Perfect Harmony

Play Date

After watching Miss Americana together, Taylor was doing surprisingly okay. But she practically saw Travis thinking about it when they sat together for breakfast the next day. "You know most of what the documentary is about happened years ago, right?", she asked into the silence that was so untypical for him. "You still questioned if I was gonna leave", he answered making her swallow hard. She didn't want to question him. It wasn't about trusting him or anything like that. "I... I just... I'm thinking about how to never make you question that again", he added to her surprise. "And how to never make you doubt yourself again", he continued still not looking up from his food. "I love you", she said making him look up now. A soft smile crept up to his lips. "I love you too", he answered.

"Do you still wanna go out today?", she asked. They had planned to visit a baseball game. "I do. Do you?", he asked back. Taylor smiled and nodded. When they had been at the tennis match a while ago, she had realized that it pretty much didn't matter where they were, she loved going out with Travis. They always had fun, made the best out of everything and he just made her feel so normal even though there were still cameras pointed at them everywhere. And that was exactly what they did at the baseball game too.

But it wasn't like they needed to go out. They both had work responsibilities and loved to just come home finding the other one somewhere in the house and spending the rest of the day together. Whether it was making dinner together, watching movies, or just falling to bed tiredly. Even when they ended up doing completely different things just sitting in the same room together, it felt calm and peaceful. Travis had scheduled a few online game nights with some friends before the next game and Taylor often just hung around in a seat near him reading a book. He loved looking up and finding her to be completely captivated by some story. At first, he had felt bad, because it looked like she wanted to spend time with him and he didn't pay her any attention but when he brought it up, she almost seemed confused explaining that this was spending time together. To her at least.

He still decided that maybe they should do something new together too. When they had sat together with some of his friends playing GTA, she had played a little bit too. And even though it had been obvious that she wasn't the biggest gamer, he had loved to watch her figure out different controls and mechanics. Maybe they could play something together. Some game he didn't know either. Explore a world together instead of her reading and him playing in different made-up worlds. Before he brought it up, Travis wanted to have some game suggestions ready though. So, he spent some time looking around what would be fun for two people or what Taylor would like. Asking some friends and Google, he came up with a list of a couple of very different games.

"How do you feel about a home date tomorrow?", Travis asked during dinner one evening. She immediately smiled at him loving how affectionate he always was. "Sounds good. I have a video call in the afternoon though, so... You'd have to prepare", she said. "No problem. I thought about a game night", he told her. Surprised, she looked up from her plate again. "Like board games?", she asked confused. She hadn't seen any at his place, so she didn't think he liked that a lot. "Actually, I thought of video games", he explained though. "Oh", she just mumbled continuing to eat. "Good oh or bad oh?", he asked unsure about her reaction. "I-don't-know oh. I've never really played a lot of video games. Just at parties, like Mario Kart or something like that", she told him. "Well, but would you want to? You and me, entering the wide world of online games?", he joked a little painting a sky with his hands and making her chuckle. "Why not? I bet you have an idea already", she assumed making him smile because she was right.

"I've got a list for you to choose from. I have not played any of them before either. Besides Minecraft but who hasn't played Minecraft?", he said making her blush a little. "Ahm...", she mumbled. "You... haven't played Minecraft before? Like... ever?", he wanted to know in disbelief. "I mean... I know what it is... I think", she admitted. "We could build something together or fight a dragon", he said. "And the rest of the list?", she asked not quite comfortable about playing something he seemed to know pretty well that she hadn't seen more than clips from. "So, there is Detroit: Become Human. That's a very story-heavy game. You play an android or... multiple, I think. And you make different choices defining the story. There's like a whole lot of different endings to that one", he began. "Sounds interesting, what else?", she wanted to know all the options.

"It Takes Two, a game where we would play two different characters working together. Kylie actually told me about that. She played it with a friend I think. Supposed to be very funny but not too easy either", he explained further. Taylor nodded listening attentively. "And the last one I have on the list would be Stray", he went on. "The cat game?", she immediately asked. "You know it?", he was surprised. She looked at him as if asking if he was for real. It was a game with a cat as the main character. Of course, she would know about that. "I haven't played it but I saw a bunch of clips. I don't really know what it's about though", she told him. "Okay, so... that's your choice then?", he wanted to know. "I mean... If I can be a cat, then I will be the cat", she grinned finishing her dinner now. "Of course, you will", he chuckled finishing his plate too. "So, we start tomorrow? Take turns in control, we'll figure it out?", he asked again. "Start? Not play through?", she grinned excitedly. "I think that's like a twelve-hour game or something", he noted making her shrug. "We'll see how far we get", she answered and so the game date was set.