Colorado Game

By Androgene

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Chapter 25

It was about two months after that first weekend with Sofia when my contract with FG came to an end. The game, now in its final stages of completion, did not need any more of my contributions to it, and so I announced my departure on a Friday.

Eric and Joey, and especially the latter, had seen it coming for a while, and had been nagging at me for weeks to stay. They had it all worked out and even tried to get Ross into offering me a job.
Ross, however, knew I wasn’t interested in it. I like the way I work; like a butterfly, hopping from job to job, meeting new people, new experiences; it’s what I live for. He knew that, since we had discussed it a few times. He had already offered me a job, months ago, during one of our conversations, and I had declined.
But he humored these two anyway, a playful side I hadn’t seen before I might add, and made some sort of theatrical gesture; falling on one knee in our office, a huge bouquet of flowers in one hand and a contract in the other, begging me to stay. I had a hard time, as he did, to keep a straight face throughout that performance, and we had a great laugh about it afterwards, especially when I coolly answered ‘no’ and that I was going over to FG’s biggest competitor in town. You should’ve seen Eric and Joey’s faces when they heard that!

In reality, that competitor had asked me to score a fantasy-project, much in the style of a Lord of the Rings™ game released a year before. Their game was now developed far enough that they were ready for me to come in and work on the sequences that had been completed.
Ross admitted he wasn’t happy with my choice of company but he respected my argument that I could care less about the business itself and that the contract was signed anyway. I couldn’t get out of it, even if I wanted to.
Well, argument… I pretty much told him to butt out of it and he let the subject rest.

So one Friday in late November, it was close to 5pm, I started to empty my workspace for the last time, under the watchful eyes of my two colleagues, one of whom had become a very good friend. But Eric was angry with me, I could tell. Joey not so much, since he knew we’d be seeing each other from time to time, socially but also privately. Twice now, he and Janice had gone on a double date with Ross and me, and that experience would be repeated many times over, if it were up to him and me. I knew Ross had had his reservations about it, but was quickly coming around to it; he enjoyed being in that small group, where no one was interested in him for anything other than himself.

“So you’re actually going then?” Eric asked.
I nodded, throwing a few pencils in the box.
“Well, this sucks the big one,” he said.

“Oh come on, Eric,” I said, smiling. “I just can’t stay forever and ever. Even you won’t stay here that long. At some point, you’ll move on to another company. You know it, I know it… I just do it more often. I’m a company-slut.”

“You’re breaking up the Three Musketeers. And Ross is Lady deWinter.”
I started to laugh and Joey also snorted. I immediately got this picture in my mind of Ross in a lovely dress…. And quickly shut that picture off because it was quite unsettling.

‘God Eric,” I hiccupped, “you’re such a drama queen. I’m just an email away, and we already agreed to go out, soon; all of us. No boyfriends or girlfriends, just us. We don’t need to work together for that.”

“But…”
I sighed and threw Joey a look. He got the hint and hooked an arm through Eric’s, dragging him from the doorframe.

“Let’s go. We’ll let him clear out his stuff and then see him downstairs for the... ‘thing’.”
It was supposed to be a surprise, my going away party, but pillow-talk happened so I found out. It was a nice gesture of them, to organize something like that, and I had promised Ross to act like I was completely surprised.
I mouthed a ‘thank you’ to Joey and continued my packing. There wasn’t all that much left, since I had brought most of the big stuff home yesterday. All I had to take now were a few bits and pieces I collected over the months, including a polystyrene cast of a game figure. It’d been a gift from the design department, after I wrote a theme for that specific character, the only character that actually had its own theme.
I turned it around in my hands for the last time (it would end up on a display, prominently in my loft, anyway) and grinned in silence. Then I heard a cough behind me and I looked up.

“You all set?” Ross asked, casually strolling in, his hands buried deep in his pockets.
I nodded, carefully placing the statue on the bottom of the box.

“Yeah. You just missed the drama.”
He smirked.

“Eric giving you a hard time again?”

“Ahuh… and just so you know; you’re now known as Lady deWinter.”

“Do I even want to know?” he asked, smiling and picking up the statue from the bottom. “Pretty.”
He set the toy back down into the box and seated himself on the desk.
“They’re all waiting downstairs. Please act surprised, okay? Promise?”
I grinned at him, nodding and moved between his spread legs, sneaking my arm underneath his jacket and stealing a kiss.

“Yes, yes, I already promised you this morning. Twice, if I remember correctly.”

“Mmm… I remember,” Ross said, smiling slowly, sexily.
He pressed his lips onto mine for a slightly longer kiss, pulling me closer. Then he let go, a hint of regret in his eyes.
“I’d love to continue this but this party just can’t wait. I was sent up to chase you down there.”

“Ooh, chase me baby, chase me,” I quipped, causing him to expand the sexy grin.
He slapped my behind and rose up.

“Tonight. Now get going. Leave that stuff; I’ll make sure you get it.”
He left and turned one more time at the door, insisting on me playing surprised.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there in a minute,” I said.
I just wanted to be alone for a few moments, just to take in the place.

I put the lid on the box and slapped a sticker on it with my name. Then I got my coat and bag, and looked around the room one final time.
I’d had a lot of fun here and I sure would miss the place. I switched the lights off and closed the door; I had a surprise party to attend.

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