Just a Game

Before the Game [Contestant Side 2]

"My nose," Cael Hull complained. "It's so big an anthill can fit underneath."

"Can it?" Aubrey Stein muttered absently, never taking his eyes off the comic he was reading.

"I need a nicer nose," Cael whined, glaring at his less-than-perfect reflection. "Especially if we make the cut. I heard that things always increase in size when shown on TV. My nose is this big already, just imagine how it will look on the screen."

"Nah. No one would care." Aubrey rolled over on Cael's bedroom couch, one of his favorite places to hang out ever since he and Cael had become neighbors in sixth grade. He paused. "Wait. What do you mean by 'if we make the cut'?"

"Brutal Realms, duh. You know, that game-slash-reality-show that all the guys are talking about. We're signing up, right?" Cael final moved from the mirror and settled down in front of his computer. He picked up the can of Red Bull sitting by his mouse and chugged it down. "Man, we still need to find two other people to fill the team. Any ideas?"

Aubrey was silent for a few moments, fat lips pursed. When he spoke, Cael noted a strain in his voice that hadn't been there before.

"Um, about that..."

"Yeah?" Cael turned around and trained his eyes on Aubrey, who was refusing to make eye contact, chewing the insides of his chubby cheeks. Suspicious.

"Uh, about that... we're going to sign up together, you mean?"

Cael twisted further around in his seat, bushy, dark brows furrowed. "Of course. Aren't we?"

"Well..."

"Don't tell me you're too lazy to sign up. You want to go, you said so yourself last week when the ad came on."

"Yeah, it's just that..."

"Come on, it'll be fun! We'll make the perfect team, man. I know all your gaming habits and you know mine. We're gonna kick the other teams in the ass."

Aubrey ran a hand through his thinning brown hair, a nervous habit that Cael had always been trying to make him quit. With Aubrey's receding hairline, an affliction that had been bothering him since age fourteen, he really couldn't afford indulging in any actions that would lead to losing hair faster.

"Yeah, it'll be fun I guess, I just..." he paused once again. His reading glasses had slid down his oily face.

"You just what? Don't tell me you're backing out on me, dude. Everyone's signing up. Sharon and Friedrich are signing up with their boss. Even Una from the teahouse is signing up and she faints every three seconds. We'll beat them all."

"Oh. They're signing up? How do you know that?"

"Facebook, duh." Cael was getting antsy. Aubrey was avoiding the topic, suddenly very interested in wiping his glasses with the hem of his oversized t-shirt. Finally, he spoke again.

"Then do you think you can... um... find a team on Facebook? I mean, I... already teamed up with someone else."

Cael froze. The Red Bull can in his hand fell to the ground. Luckily it was empty or the carpet would suffer, but it was least of Cael's worries now.

"You what?"

"I... teamed up with someone else already. My friends from the baseball team. You know, Charleston and the guys."

Cael gripped the back of his chair tightly, until his knuckles turned white. Impossible. Aubrey had teamed up with his baseball friends, without telling him. The bro code wasn't supposed to work like that. Aubrey told him everything, always, from the name of the girls he was crushing on (there were always more than one at the same time) to the color of his poop. This was how things had been since sixth grade, and how they would always remain.