Chapter Five

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"HELL YEAH!" I shouted excitedly.

My partner only laughed as the enemy avatars disappeared in blue crystals. A banner with the words "You Win!" flashed across my screen, and I leaned back in my chair, smiling brightly with my arms stretched out.

"Congrats on your first win!" My partner said from his side of the line.

"Ah, thanks! You helped me though!"

"I guess that's true," he responded with a chuckle. "Hey! You're a cool person! Can I add you to my friends' list?"

"Friends? Oh, sure!"

The two of us exited the game, and I waited in my server, patient for a friend request. A window opened up on my screen, and I leaned over, reading the words.

Twisted_Kills would like
to add you as a friend.

[Accept]
[Decline]

I clicked on the word "accept", feeling my heart warm up in my chest. There was a small flash, and his avatar appeared next to mine. The audio changed, and I heard his quiet breathing.

"I've been expecting you, Sir Twisted," I said jokingly, curling my legs up towards my chest.

He laughed a little, and the audio muffled a little, suggesting that he was repositioning his headphones. "I hope I wasn't keeping you too long, Miss Massacre. Please do forgive me."

"Of course," I replied, a smile on my face.

"If we keep this weird act up, someone's going to suspect that we're rehearsing scenes of a play," he said with a chuckle.

My eyes glanced at my screen. "Ahaha. Yeah." I changed the topic. "So anyway, how'd you find this game?"

"I run a YouTube channel," he responded coolly, not giving it a second thought. "My subscribers suggested the game to me. I only started a few days ago, but I think I've leveled up pretty fast."

"Oh cool!" I exclaimed. "My reason is kinda crappy."

I could feel the smile in his voice as he said, "A lot of stuff in this world is crappy."

"If you don't mind me asking," I said, deciding to change the subject once more, "what's your name? I don't think I'd like to call you Sir Twisted for the rest of my life."

"Ah, how do I know if you're a catfish or not? Maybe a stalker? A hacker? Hmm?"

"I'm pretty sure me having female genitals is enough for you to know that I'm a female," I replied bluntly. He laughed at my stone-like tone. "I also think I'm too stupid to be a stalker or a hacker. Besides, I'd have no interest in being either one."

"I'll give you my name if you give me yours."

"Deal."

There was a moment of silence before he said, "My name is Lukas. You can call me Lukas."

"Lukas?" I repeated. "With a 'c' or a 'k'?"

"With a 'k'," he replied.

"Nice name," I commented, making him laugh once more. A smile graced my face. "My name is Meredith. It's nice to meet you, Lukas."

"Meredith huh?"

"Yeah."

"How ironic. That's a really cute name for such a seemingly violent person."

My face suddenly reddened at his words, and I put a hand to my mouth, embarrassment swallowing me whole.

"W-What?"

"Calm down. I can hear your blush from here," he said, chuckling. My blush only thickened. "Well then, Miss Meredith, it's my pleasure to be acquainted with you."

~~~

After a few more rounds of Parallel, Lukas and I were tired of the constant clicking of our keyboards, deciding to play after dinner. During dinner, Mom and Papa asked how I was doing with the game, and I told them about Lukas, who has become my new friend. Papa took it a little hard, considering that he was a boy, but Mom tried to convince him that it was alright. That he was alright. It took a while, but Lukas was back online after my shower.

"Hey," I said.

"Sup."

I played with the wires of my headphone, saying, "I kinda wanna know more about your channel. Are you popular or whatnot?"

"If you count several hundred thousand subscribers as popular," he began in a droned-out voice, "then sure."

A smile lit on my face. "Wow~, way to be real humble, Lukas."

"Why thank you," he replied in a tart voice, "It's my greatest talent of all time."

"I'm going to assume you're probably somewhere around my age," I said, fiddling with the audio switch. "You don't sound too mature, not manly."

"You've wounded my pride, Miss Meredith," Lukas mocked me, "I feel offended by your assumption."

"Am I wrong?" I asked.

"Well. No."

I giggled a little at his reluctance to respond. "Well then, are you perhaps under 20?"

"Are we guessing ages now?" He questioned with a quirky tone. The smirk was evident in his voice. "Nice idea, Miss."

"Is that a yes, or are you an old raisin?"

"That's a yes," he laughed.

After an hour or two, I found that Lukas and I were the same age. It was surprising, but I suspected he lived somewhere else in the United States. As well as this, we exchanged Skype contacts, which were connected to our Parallel accounts. I still couldn't get over that fact that he had become my friend so willingly.

I made a friend.

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