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“Not as fun as it used to be, no. Especially after my first injury.This is the second time I hurt my wrist this way. I don’t think I can go back to playing professionally after this.”
I nodded. “What was the last thing that was fun outside of NLA?” I prodded.
“Honestly, the last cooking stream I did was pretty fun. I made custom pizzas for my team while we were just talking. I love cooking but it has been a waste of time lately when it’s just me.”
I smiled. The huge kitchen now made sense. “Why cooking? What makes it fun?”
“My grandparents on my father’s side owned a restaurant. My grandpa taught me every summer when I was a teenager. There’s something about making the food yourself and exactly to your taste that makes it taste a thousand times better.”
I nodded. There wasn't much else I could say really. I was mostly glad he didn’t push further and took my answer as is. I found that most people enjoyed talking about themselves more than hearing about me. Most people found me pleasant because I had no problem disassociating and letting them talk about themselves. As if he read my mind, Alex sized me up half heartedly. “I saw what you did there, turning it around on me so I would stop asking you hard questions. I’m not going to leave this at that. I meant it, I want to know about you.”
“If you say so,” I huffed.
“Right. Not tonight but eventually.”
The next day everything had gone back to normal. It was as if the movie night hadn’t even happened. During the streams that week,there was no awkwardness and there was nothing amiss, at least outwardly. Off-stream, I sometimes caught him looking at me when he thought I wouldn’t notice, but I did. I even caught him checking me out as I was taking off my hoodie.
I was anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop because this was not how my life worked. There must be a catch somewhere and something bad must be brewing. But it hasn't shown itself yet.
I checked my phone on Sunday morning and had to do a double take when I noticed the sender: Lauren Brown, Team Solid.
My initial reaction was that they were pulling the contract and my heart immediately started to ache. My fingers trembled as I opened the email and let myself read through it in order to put my intrusive thoughts to rest.
Hello, OracleMyth,
I have been following your progress and am impressed with what you and MnstrX have been doing. Team Solid would like to offer you an official position as a content creator for our organization. This position is a contracted job.
Please let us know if you are interested in discussing this opportunity further. Attached is a sample contract for this position.
Best regards,
Lauren,
Manager at Team Solid
I blinked, re-reading the email to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Team Solid wanted me?
But then my excitement was snuffed out. Was I really considering this? It beat my warehouse job for sure and I could definitely do this, right?
No. No, I couldn’t do it. Not without Alex. I couldn’t see myself streaming alone or being good enough at NLA for people to watch me just for the way that I played like they did with Alex. Lastweekend I got a taste of what being in this industry was like. Stirred by the Hand and Brain NLA video Alex had posted, the discussions about women in NLA took over Twitter. There were so many women telling stories of harassment and so many important people in the community had come forward with different points of view. I got overwhelmed as I scrolled through them and decided to drown that whole debacle in NLA. Hitting Grandmaster was a nice little bonus, but that wasn’t what I had set out to do.
I snapped out of my spiral when my phone started vibrating in my back pocket. It was Alex.
“Hey, Ems.” His voice was somewhat hoarse and low; it sent an unexpected shiver down my spine. Had he just woken up? “Did you get Lauren’s email?”
“Mhm.”
“What do you think? Did you have time to read over it?” he asked.
“Yeah, I did. I’m not sure how to feel about it. I don’t think streaming is my thing. And I don't know, and it is too soon and I can’t—” my spiraling was interrupted.
“Lauren doesn’t think so. Neither do I. Tell me, how do you feel when we’re on stream together?”
“It’s going to be different if I have to do this myself. I don’t think I am made for this.”
“How about you come over as soon as you can and we can talk it over?” he suggested. “I had an extra surprise stream planned but it’ll be more fun if you come over. It’ll take your mind off of this, I promise.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
