Quicksilver Dreams(172)

                I wasn’t sure if he was talking about food, but I pretended he was. “Yours is on the table.”

                And so he sat and ate, which allowed me to regain my equilibrium.

                Sy decided to play video games, and I sat at the table with Ryder, who kept watching me with his intense green eyes. I thought about Sy’s comment that Ryder was drawn to me but wasn’t sure what to do with that, knowing that if he was drawn to me, it was grudgingly. Resentfully. I watched Sy’s video-game character hide behind a building and wait for the sniper to appear. He finally managed to take the sniper out and hooted in success.

                “Now that’s how you do it!” He looked over his shoulder to the dining table and winked at me, his playful self once again evident. “You like video games, Taylor?”

                “I do, but I don’t know how to play that one. I guess I’m kind of old-school. I need a joystick and a button. That looks confusing.”

                “We’ve got others, but this one’s pretty cool. I’ll be glad to teach you.”

                “Okay.”

                “Great. It’s a date. Have a seat next to me.” He patted the couch.

                “No, it’s not,” Ryder stated firmly. “She’s about to be busy.”

                “She’s got a few minutes while you finish eating.”

                Ryder scowled. “She doesn’t know you like I do.”

                “Geesh,” I said with some exasperation. “She can answer for herself, and what she wants to do is play a video game.” I got up and sat by Sy, uncomplicated Sy, who pulled up a video game where we could race around San Francisco in sports cars. Ryder looked on like an agitated bear, which Sy took as a green light to further aggravate him.

                “By the way, what Ryder forgot to tell you is that I’m an amazing technological wizard, long-distance swimmer, basket weaver and tango dancer,” he said loudly in a stage whisper as we began to play. I was controlling a virtual red Corvette, which was likely the closest I would ever get to actually driving one.

                “And major player,” Ryder muttered brusquely.

                “I think of myself as being a lover of women,” Sy corrected. “Anything is worth trying, if I can meet beautiful women while doing it.”

                “Basket weaving?” I arched an eyebrow, then winced because I crashed my car under an overpass, taking a turn too quickly. It took a moment for the car to regenerate and begin racing again.

                “There were a lot of women in the class.” He smiled with a blissful look on his face, as though reliving a lovely memory. I decided not to ask. His inattention allowed me to speed ahead of him, and he frowned in concentration again.

                “That’s the reason our place is so well decorated,” Ryder stated darkly.

                “Tango?”

                “I thought it would be a great way to meet sexy women.”

                “Did you meet sexy women?”

                “A few, but they were spoken for. I’ve decided my next attempt will be coed beach volleyball.”

                “Aren’t you like our favorite cartoon coyote.” I shook my head with mock admiration. “Try and try again.”