Gamer Girl Gas (Commission - Chapter 2 - FOR REAL THIS TIME)

Joe made sure to go to bed before Luke came back from the party. He knew he was being a coward but he wanted to avoid any uncomfortable conversations with him about Amanda. Then again, Luke could have been too drunk to remember. That would have been the perfect outcome to all of this.

            When Joe did wake up, he found the dorm room empty. He waited a few seconds to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. He rubbed his eyes and went to the bathroom, still groggy.

            “Ope!”

            Joe panicked when he bumped into Luke emerging from the bathroom. Luke often dared to walk to the bathroom with just his boxers, despite the fact that they were in a co-ed dorm. Joe couldn’t imagine having that kind of confidence with his average, plain-as-they-come, body.

            Luke was much more alive, not even suffering from a hangover.

            “Hey man, morning,” Luke said.

            “Yeah. Morning.”

            Joe didn’t look him in the eyes. He was about to enter the bathroom, when Luke turned around and said, “Hey Joe?”

            Shit.

            “Yeah?”

            “Was Amanda hanging around our place for a long time?’

            Joe went over several options in his head. If he said yes, that she was there for a long time, that would arouse suspicion. If he said no, Luke could eventually find out the truth. If he said he didn’t know that might come off as even more suspicious. Somewhere in the middle?

            “Uhhhh. Kind of. I wasn’t keeping track but maybe like an hour or so…”

            “Hm.” Luke’s face was hard to read.

            “Everything good?”

            “Yeah. Just wondering.”

            Joe calmed down after Luke dropped it.

            Luke never displayed any aggressive tendencies. But wouldn’t any man be upset when they found out their roommate was flirting with his girlfriend? Then again, Amanda never said anything about Luke and her being together. She had come off a complete free spirit. Trouble in paradise perhaps? Joe was at it again imagining things, fantasizing. The most reasonable answer was that she was drunk and messing around. Last night was a fluke. It would never happen again.

            The Gaming Club at the college hosted numerous events. Every final Saturday before summer break they did “24-Hour Gaming Night”. He heard that was a fun time because they rented out the auditorium underneath the library with the big screen projector. They hosted tournaments for virtually every video game – Tekken, Street Fighter, Mario Kart, and yes – Super Smash Bros.

            Despite being in his first year, Joe had already made somewhat of a stir with his ability to consistently last until the Top 8 of the bracket. His rival at the school was a kid named Jacob who typically played Fox from his Melee days. Even in Brawl he excelled with Fox. When Joe dared to take him on with his Link and actually win a match, the crowd went wild, and the club started noticing him.

            As usual, the Gaming Club was filled with boys wearing sweatshirts, t-shirts, and exuding body odor. Joe knew he stuck out as a sore thumb always wearing a button-down shirt and jeans. He didn’t give much thought to how he looked compared to most boys his age. He wasn’t quite preppy but not quite nerdy either. He couldn’t find it in himself to ever go out in public in anything less than actual pants and a buttoned-up shirt or polo shirt. But he never really set foot inside an Abercrombie & Fitch or a Hollister store. T-shirts made him feel too skinny. He didn’t like the thought of his toothpick arms being in view of everyone. The Gaming Club certainly had its fair share of socially awkward boys who could barely keep a conversation going with one of their own. Sometimes Joe found himself frustrated trying to connect with them, while also comfortable enough to not feel pressured to always have to say something or make an impression.

            Jacob was there when Joe arrived, playing friendlies with some newcomers to the club. Jacob was a year above him, which had made Joe’s win all the more impressive to some. After the friendlies ended, Jacob nodded towards him and said, “Sup? Want in?”

            “Yeah.”

            As Joe was unwinding his controller, Jacob said, “I heard there’s a new store in town called Platinum Star Games. They’re gonna start hosting tourneys there.”

            “Oh really?”

            “Yeah.”

            That was about as deep of a conversation Joe typically had with Jacob and the other guys there. Sometimes Joe would talk about an annoying teacher or even just about a weird dream he had, only for Jacob to move on with “Do you think Meta Knight should be banned in tournaments?”

            And sometimes Joe thought he was being picky or fussy. There was nothing wrong with any of these guys; they were obviously here to play games and talk about nerdy shit, not some existential crisis. It was only second semester of freshman year after all. He still had three more years to go to connect with people.

            In the middle of their match, Jacob stopped playing to crane his neck at something behind Joe.

            “What is it?” Joe asked.

            “Who’s the chick?” he murmured with a smirk.

            Joe turned around to see Amanda entering the lounge. The club immediately fell quieter as all the boys noticed her and froze in place. Joe didn’t think these guys would seriously act this way, seemingly cartoonish, but they really did.

            This fat kid named Tim typically took the names down for every tournament. He sat by the door to the lounge with his laptop and a sign-in sheet. He looked up at her and said, “Uhhh, are you lost?”

            Amanda, bright-eyed and oblivious, said, “Gaming Club, right? Smash tournament?”

            “Yeah. Who you here for?”

            “Me!” Amanda produced a controller – a blue see-through MadKatz GameCube controller.

            “You mean…”

            “Yeah, I’m here to play in the tournament.”

            Tim was flabbergasted. He chuckled. “Uhhh, okay. You’ve played with us before?”

            Joe thought that was a weird question. It wasn’t like they were part of a shooting club and she needed a gun license or anything.

            “N…o? But I practiced with a friend. I think he’s here. Joe—”

            Joe had gotten up. He felt everyone’s eyes on him as he approached her and greeted her. Was he nervous? Fuck yeah. She looked so much different from the night before. While she may have dressed so classy like every other party girl, she now hung out in baggy jeans, a t-shirt, and a checkerboard sweatshirt. He also noticed she had a small round nose piercing which wasn’t there before. He wondered about it, but put it aside for now.

            “Hey, Manda.”

            She lit at the sight of him. That instant reaction made his knees weak. She beamed at him – actually beamed. That told him that the other night wasn’t just some drunken mishap; she actually remembered him. “Oh hey!”

            Tim blinked twice. “Oh. You know her?”

            “Yeah. We played a couple games. What’s up? I didn’t realize you’d be here.”

            “Yeah, well, I saw the fliers everywhere about the tournament and wanted to play. Never been in one before obviously. Figured I’d try.”

            “Cool, cool.”

            Tim drew a deep breath. “Well. Tournaments are pretty tough, you know. You wanna maybe watch this time?”

            Before she could respond, Joe gave him a look and said, “Paul never played a game before and he joined no problem.”

            “Yeah, but I mean…” Tim twiddled with his pen, finding the right words. He cleared his throat and said, “Alright. What’s your gamer tag?”

            “Gamer tag?” Amanda said.

            Tim scoffed. Joe explained, “Like a nickname. A username.”

            “Oh! Uhhhh I haven’t really thought about one.”

            Tim checked his watch. “Tourney starts in a couple minutes…”

            “When have we ever started on time?” Joe said with a certain tone in his voice.

            Amanda sounded nervous being on the spot. “Uhhhh. Ummm. Gosh, I don’t know. I might just put my real name for now. Lame, I know.”

            Jacob had been overhearing the conversation. He emerged from behind Joe and suddenly chimed in with, “Oh, oh, oh, I got one!” He snapped his fingers, awkwardly waiting to get everyone’s attention. He then loudly proclaimed, “Token Gamer Girl!”

            Amanda didn’t seem to get it, but upon seeing everyone laugh she was like, “I mean…I guess?”

            Jacob insisted. “Nah, nah, it’s perfect! You’ll be the club’s token gamer girl!”

            She narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean though? Token?’

            Joe went red feeling second-hand embarrassment. He knew they were patronizing her, even if she wasn’t aware of it. If this group weirded her out or upset her then he may never get to play with her again. Tim was about to write that in, but Joe waved his hand.

“Wait, wait, no, seriously. Let her come up with a name. Could be something…I dunno…that rhymes with your name. Or something you like to do?’

            “Manda…panda? I dunno. Manda Panda sounds funny.”

            “There we go. Manda Panda.”

            Jacob groaned a little. “That sounds lame. It’s so…basic.”

            “I think it sounds kinda cute,” Amanda said.

            Tim sighed aloud. “Whatever. We gotta start. Manda Panda it is then. Get yourself ready at setup number 2.”

            Joe calmed down. That whole situation had been getting awkward super-fast, but thankfully Amanda didn’t seem bothered by any it. Completely forgetting about Jacob, he walked with her to her assigned setup.

            “So, um, nice seeing you here,” he said.

            “Yeah. I didn’t think we’d start so soon though. I had hoped to play with you a couple times before it started. I actually stopped by your dorm but you weren’t there.”

            Joe reeled. His heard thudded. “W-what? Really?’

            “Yeah! Room 206, right?”

            He narrowed his eyes. “Nnnno, actually. I’m room 216.”

            “Oh shit! Never mind then. That’s how drunk I was that night. Hahaha.”

            “Ah. It’s alright. It…happens.”

            Amanda looked around at all the players getting ready at the setups. “So, is there a prize or anything? Or are we playing for just bragging rights?”

            “Bragging rights. But you can win money in tourneys out there.

            “Aw shit, really?”

            “Yeah. The entrance fee is pooled and the top three players take a portion. They just don’t do it here because, you know, school rules go against gambling.”

            “Ah, right, right. So, if you’re really good at this, you could make a living?”

            “Nah, I wouldn’t say that.”

            “Well, I’m sure you could!”

            The emphasis flattered him, but he grimaced. “Eh. This stuff is really hard. I’m…” He tried to find the right words. He didn’t want to come off as saying she was untalented. She still had a long way to go if she really wanted to play competitively. He saw this happen with new players. If they knew the ropes and understood the game, suddenly they had a surge of overconfidence. The realization hit them much later what competitive play entailed.

            “ALRIGHT, EVERYBODY!” Tim shouted. “Here is the first round of players!”

            Joe nodded. “Aight. Looks like we’re starting. Good luck.”

            “You too. Hey, wait, do they have anything to drink around here?”

            He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Vending machine is down the hall there. But I’d hurry if I were you.”

            “Cool, thanks.’

            Joe was somehow more nervous about her being there than actually starting the tournament. A million scenarios played out through her head. Maybe she’d find the crowd too awkward. Heck, maybe someone would find her awkward. She wouldn’t…burp in front of all these strangers, right?

            Right?

            Tim called the rest of the first matches, and Joe locked in on his first game. During the match, Joe would turn around to see how Amanda was doing. His particularly snappy opponent took it the wrong way and said, “Hey man. You really playing or what? I know I suck but you don’t have to fucking rub it in my face.”

Joe gulped and focused. He expected Amanda to lose right away with an 0-2. He just wanted to witness it to critique her moves and give her advice. He wanted to be there every second of her first game and coach her. When he finished his game, he wanted to get up and spectate Amanda’s game but Tim was next and ready to play right away.

            Tim was average at best. He played a good Captain Falcon but often put himself in danger, impatient and antsy to take a big hit. Joe kept his cool and let him make mistakes to capitalize on. Towards the end of Tim’s last stock, they were both interrupted by the sound of Amanda’s monstrously deep belch.

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!

            Like the other burps he witnessed from her, it had sounded like she cleansed herself of all the gas from deep inside. It had sounded so unreal, so impossibly loud, that it amazed him again even after hearing her other burps from the other night. This girl somehow one-upped her own burps each time.

            Every guy in the room swerved at her with a shocked expression. Someone cried out, “Oh my God!” and another said, “Wait was that HER?”

            Amanda cackled. Her opponent had stopped playing to gawk at her.

            Joe actually smirked until Tim shouted from across the room, “Not cool to distract your opponents!”

            “Hey now…” Joe began. He was about to cite all the other instances in which many of the guys in Gaming Club belched (even farted) out loud with anyone reprimanding them. Tim turned to him and muttered, “Fucking gross.”

            “I mean…” Joe said. “Mike has done worse.”

            “Yeah, but she’s a girl,” Tim said in a low voice. “That’s just…gross.”

            Joe wanted everyone to forget about it but of course she had to burp yet again, much less intense and gross but still very much audible. He cringed hearing a sea of grossed out complaints, although a few did chuckle.

            “Sorry, guys,” she said aloud.

            Amanda quelled her gaseous outbursts. He wondered if she was holding them in for the sake of the guys around her, which also didn’t sit well with him. People needed to be what they wanted to be.

            “Hey, you alright?” Tim said. He laughed after KOing Joe. “You left yourself wide open there, dude.”

            “Ah. Just a little tired.”

            Joe picked up the pace and easily finished the match against him, to which Tim sighed with exasperation and shook his head. “Brawl sucks man. Not like Melee AT ALL. The tripping mechanic is so dumb.”

            Joe had been so antsy to check up on Amanda that he got up without picking up his controller. She had lost her first game and was in the middle of her next game in the loser’s bracket. The loser’s bracket was typically filled with casual gamers who knew very little about the game. They were more here to hang out and play rather than be truly competitive. Once and a while, there was a serious gamer who was trying to get their way to the top.

Amanda played Peach against a Dedede in Battlefield, a simple stage with three floating platforms in addition to the main stage platform. Joe had some time to kill before his next match. He watched the game from behind and saw that it was neck-and-neck. The two of them made silly mistakes but it was basically a casual match at this point. He wanted to say something to Amanda really bad but bit his tongue. He wrought over wanting to coach her versus letting her figure things out herself.

The match draaaaagged. They whittled the clock down to 1 minute. Either of them could have dealt the last blow ages ago but they were playing it safe due to the fact that both of them were past 100% on their last stock. A single smash attack would mean the end for either of them. Amanda stuck to throwing vegetables and her opponent with his Waddle Dee toss. Joe was impressed how Amanda deflected each Waddle Dee with Peach’s Toad counter. He leaned over to watch her play and she was totally in the zone staring at the screen. While completely focused, she let slip a low rumble of a burp. Her opponent didn’t say anything since he was sweating bullets trying not to trip up.

            Then, the worst happened – Dedede took out a gordo, one of those deadly spikey tosses. It was something like a 5% chance. The gordo was already hurling towards her when she picked up another vegetable that actually turned out to be a bob-bomb – an even more incredible rare chance, something like 1 out of 768. Amanda had thrown it without thinking. When it exploded onto Dedede, she got hit by the gordo and went flying.  Joe let out a cry. After both characters were flung across the screen, it looked like she had died first but the bob-bomb in fact KO’ed her opponent first. She thought she lost until the win screen showed Peach waving to the crowd and she shot to her feet and cried, “WHAT? OH MY GOD!”

            Her opponent grimaced and went, “Awwww daaaamn.” But he wasn’t so sore about it and laughed about it.

            She turned around and hugged Joe. The sudden hug made him freeze. Of course, it was friendly in nature and very brief, but the fact that she touched him so casually made him flutter with emotions.

            “Whooo! I DID IT!”

            “Y-Yeah! You did it!”

            While those watching thought it was amusing, most of the club wasn’t too impressed, since it had been a very silly game. Joe still wanted to let her know it was a big deal. She was quite the fast learner, even though she still had a long way to go to be considered “competitive”.

            Amanda did a little dance, shuffling her feet. “Aw yeah, aw yeah, Manda Panda.”

            Joe grinned wide. He had never felt this genuinely happy in a long time, which was weird to think about. He wanted to hug her again but refrained from doing so.

            “How’d I do? You watch the whole thing?”

            “Yeah. Uhhhh—”

            She waved her hand dismissively. “You can be honest. I don’t care.”

            “You rolled a lot. Too much. You wasted a lot of time whiffing special attacks. And you—”

            “Okay, okay. Maybe tell me later. Looks like you’re up again!”