The Babysitter, Part 54

Three of the girls had controllers in their hands. They were focused on the TVs of various sizes that were set up along the wall that Paige’s was mounted on, and all of them were too engrossed in whatever game they were playing to notice me.

Violet was the only one not currently playing. She was lying on the bed, propped up on her elbows and scrolling on her phone. That is, until she caught my movements out of the corner of her eye. “Hey, Miley!” she exclaimed. It was almost impressive. She had known me for years, yet didn’t hesitate in the slightest when it came to the false name. “Did you come to play? We could still use a fifth!”

“Umm, no.” I did my best not to sound too judgmental. It was already questionable whether or not talking with Paige would lead anywhere productive. She certainly wouldn’t be as sympathetic if I started things out by criticizing the way she and her friends spent their free time.

“You sure?” Violet asked, “It’s pretty easy to pick up. We can start you as a healer, so you don’t have to stress about as much while you learn the controls.”

Uh huh. Except I really didn’t play video games at all. Her definition of ‘easy’ was likely different from mine. “No, thanks,” I said, “I just want to talk to Paige for a minute.”

“Talk away,” Paige replied, “But I’m a little busy kicking ass right now.”

“You have a negative K/D,” Annika chuckled.

“Shush. I still have more kills than you.”

I knew better than to ask Paige to step away. There had been too many instances to count over the years where she informed me and/or our parents that she had to finish the match before coming down for dinner, doing whatever chore(s) she was asked to do, etc. According to her, it wasn’t fair to abruptly leave her teammates; it would be the equivalent of a basketball player walking off the court and causing it to be a 4v5 game. The metaphor was effective enough that they cut her some slack most of the time.

Based on past experiences, I knew she had a habit of starting a new game after finishing the current one whenever she wanted to put something off. Asking her to find me after this one was over could easily result in her stalling, even if she didn’t know what I wanted. The fact that I wanted to speak with her privately could be enough for her to purposely avoid the one on one. Because she was the brat. Not me.

“Alone, Paige,” I said, “I can wait.”

Without taking her eyes off the screen, she said, “Anything you have to say to me, you might as well say in front of my friends. I tell them everything.”

Uh huh. I was aware. The babysitter mix-up, the pull-ups, and so on. But that didn’t matter; having a serious conversation would be a lot more difficult with an audience around. Her response wasn’t truly valid, either, because Miley was present. Despite what Paige said to Noelle, I knew that my step-sister didn’t actually play video games with our neighbor as a form of ‘supervision;’ I definitely would have noticed if Miley was around. Though Paige and I tend to ignore each other, her door is almost always open, and she and her friends tend to dominate our house’s social spaces.

“Privately, Paige. It’ll just take a minute.” Like I had said. Paige’s selective listening was bad enough under normal circumstances; I had to assume it would be worse when she was focused on the screen in front of her. Swallowing my pride, as that was going to end up happening either way, I tacked on a reluctant, “Please?”

“How about this?” Paige suggested, “Play a 5v5 with us, and we can chat afterwards. Just the two of us, win or lose.”

I hesitated. This was kind of like last night. Paige probably knew that, which was why she so quickly clarified that it was more about playing the game than any pressure to win. If I had to guess, it was because getting me to pick up a controller in the first place was a victory to her. That, and stalling. Having me up in her room in this state was definitely more amusing than seeing me do homework from afar, even if the latter served as its own form of entertainment.

“We can talk alone?” I specified. Speaking of the previous evening, I knew better than to let her get away with vague deals. This was already obnoxious enough, considering I didn’t have the highest of hopes for the conversation I wanted to have with her.

“So paranoid, Miley,” Paige giggled, “But, yes. If you play a match with us, you and I can talk alone afterwards. In the hall, or in your room, or whatever.”

It felt less like a trap, and more like a hoop I had to jump through. “Fine,” I muttered. There were no stipulations that I had to do well. Whether I tried or not, my inexperience with this kind of stuff would no doubt end up with me pressing random buttons for the most part; I would just have to brace myself for the teasing that came with sucking at a game I had never played before. A controller I had never held before, either. Aside from a few accessible party games growing up, I had no interest in video games. I wasn’t in the ‘it’s a waste of time’ camp or anything; it just wasn’t for me.

“Fun!” Paige exclaimed, “Okay, just hang out until we’re done with this game. Violet, want to give her a mini lesson in the meantime?”

“Absolutely,” Violet said, “I take it we’re putting her in Support? Some kind of heal-bot?”

The real Miley chimed in, “Wait, what am I supposed to play, then?”

“Whatever you want,” Paige said, “The rest of us are flexible. Well, Annika is our full-time Jungler, because she’s amazing, but Violet and I can take anything that’s left.”

“Hmm. I guess I can try Mid. Just don’t judge me if I suck. Although I guess ‘Miley’ will suck more, so . . . ”

“Rude,” Violet giggled, “What if she’s a natural? Speaking of. Come sit, Miley!” She patted the spot next to her on the bed. “I’ll teach you the controls you need to know. You guys mind if we use one of the TVs for practice?”

“Not at all!” Paige chirped, “Omg, my sister’s going to be a gamer girl. So exciting!!”

I didn’t dignify that with a response. As for the bed, my main problem was the fact that I was wearing pull-ups and a skirt. There wasn’t a great way for me to sit down, as two of the three girls currently playing were sitting on the floor and using the mattress as a back rest. Granted, everyone in the room already knew about the padded underwear. Well, hopefully not Miley. Either way, that didn’t mean I wanted them to actually see it.

Deciding a more comfortable position wasn’t worth the risk, I primly sat down on the edge of the bed, making sure to keep the hem of the skirt as far down as possible and my thighs as together as they could be with the awkward bulk between them. If Violet wanted to scoot over, that was her prerogative. I was fine suffering through tilting my head slightly to look at the screen. Again, I didn’t really care about the game; I just had to play it once. Then I could talk to Paige.

Violet got things set up for us with two separate controllers, going into some practice mode where she selected the same character for each of us. She taught me how to move and dash and attack and heal, all of which felt clunky and unfamiliar due to how I knew nothing about the game or the mechanics. By the time the others were finishing up their game, I still basically had no idea what I was doing.

Once again, Violet took my controller and did all the work required to join the three girls who were already on a team, handing it back before dealing with the fifth screen for herself. Then we all waited for the coming game to queue, while I was bombarded with information about how to play in a match-up like this.

It took a minute or two before the game started, after which Paige said, “That’s how long you’ll have to talk with me, by the way. You did say ‘a minute,’ Miley. Better think about what you need to say.”