AllFreeNovel
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Chapter 17
Emma
I staredat the screen of my laptop, the mouse moving by itself as Lauren was setting everything up through a remote connection.
“I thought I was a little tech-y, you know, compared to the people I worked with at the warehouse and my friends, but you all are on a different level,” I said, trying to distract myself from the pressure of my first stream.
“It’s no problem. Alex could’ve set it up locally but I wanted to make sure everything was in order. I want everything to go smoothly, plus I wanted an excuse to talk to you right before the stream,” Lauren said over the voice chat.
“Is there anything I should be worried about?” I asked.
“Not at all. You just have to post the stuff we prepared right as you go live and then just do your thing.”
“Hey, you’ve got this,” Alex, who was leaning on the side of my chair, chimed in. “I’ll be moderating the chat and Lauren’s got another mod on it, too. We’ll make sure everything’s fine.”
I nodded, feeling a bit more at ease.
Lauren connected the streaming program with the server and then asked Alex to lend me a second monitor so I could seeeverything while streaming. I realized I hadn’t even thought of that, but Alex was quick to connect everything and Lauren finished setting it up.
Alex kissed my temple and retreated to the other room while Lauren was explaining to me how to switch between the layouts on the screen.
“And that’s about it,” Lauren closed out her explanation. “You are going to do great. Your setup is very you, you look great, and most importantly, remember that you are better than all of them.”
That made me giggle. Lauren was right, I was better at NLA than most, if not all, of the people who would watch me today. I shouldn’t be nervous about my gaming.
“What if I’m boring to watch without Alex around?” I asked, chewing on my lip.
“You won’t be, I promise,” Lauren assured me. “Now go live and do your worst.”
I chuckled that as well. She hung up and logged out of my laptop, leaving me with the ‘go live’ button in the middle of my screen.
I took a deep breath and pressed it. Then I took out my phone and posted all three of the posts before returning back to the laptop.
The chat was already moving. A lot slower than Alex’s chat, but at least it was moving.
My heart wasn’t racing—not more than usual at least, given that I drank a whole can of Red Bull right before this, which felt a little strange. I thought I would be nervous, but as I greeted the viewers I felt fine.
“Chat, I want to clarify that MnstrX will not be making an appearance because this is a high level stream and he isn’t back in Challenger yet,” I joked as I queued up a ranked game.
That’s when I realized Lauren had hidden the number of viewers on the stream. I gritted my teeth but I understood why she would’ve done it.
I started rambling on about the new meta and telling the chat about my day. There were a lot of questions about Alex in the chat, many of them about me and Alex being together, but I paid attention to none of them. Instead I focused on playing.
“MnstrX is the best coach, maybe only second to PangoMango, who could’ve gotten me to Challenger in a month, as Support, no less,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “And, if I’m being completely honest, I totally fangirled when I got to talk to Pango on the twenty-four-hour stream. I was slightly delirious at that point in the stream but I think he was hilarious. I can’t wait to see how he’s going to do this competitive season now that he has to play without MnstrX for the first time in half a decade.”
I read through the chat and a viewer asked if I had fangirled over MnstrX when I met him as well. I laughed, shaking my head. “No, I didn’t fangirl over MnstrX,” I admitted. “I didn’t know who he was the first time we met in real life, and when I found out I didn’t feel the need to fangirl. I already knew he was just a guy, plus, he’s pretty chill. Also I had never really watched him in particular before—I’ve never wanted to play Carry. I suck at it.
“Actually, if I’m being a hundred percent honest, my friend Casey is the person who is into competitive NLA, not me. She is the one who introduced me to streaming and to PangoMango in particular. She is the one who showed me the clip of MnstrX looking for me and offering to coach me, so I kinda owe her a lot now,” I chuckled.
Soon enough I found a game and started playing. I had little time to look at the chat while in the game, so I mostly rambled about whatever came to me. I talked about the weather—boring,the convention Alex invited me to—interesting, and then about my personal ranking of all Red Bull flavors—sponsored.
Around the half-way mark of the stream Alex texted me and I took my phone to read what he said.
Alex
You’re doing great. The chat loves you and Lauren’s also impressed. And I’m proud of you, babe.
