Gamer Girl Gas (Commission - Chapter 1)

Hey everyone! I know I'm late with stuff. Ever since I got sick back in February I lost the rhythm, but trust me when I say I'm working on stuff. There's a lot on my backlog and since this is the last year of my patreon I figured I'll just mark the titles with "commission". Month doesn't really matter anymore. Anyway. This one will be a slow burn of a story. I'll also be juggling stories. The detective one from earlier still has one more chapter to go!

Parties always made Joe nervous. Growing up, school dances were the bane of his social life. It conflicted with his desire to hang out with new friends, to find a girlfriend, and his apprehension with actually engaging in small talk and trying to make himself interesting. Worse yet, his mother often barged in by trying to get him to talk to girls at family-friend gatherings and other such events. That made him retreat further into his shell.

            Then college came, and he realized that there was no way in hell he would be able to avoid a party. They were everywhere. Virtually every dorm hall was hosting a party, big or small, every weekend. His freshman year roommate was the complete opposite of him – a chiseled attractive swim team champion who had no problem getting what he wanted. Every other party night Joe saw him bring a girl or flirting with some girl. Luke often played video games in the dorm lounge because Luke had to sexile him. No matter how jealous Joe was of Luke, he couldn’t find himself to hate him. Luke never made fun of him for his perceived introversion, and he always gave a heads-up when he was bringing a girl over.

            When Luke announced that a senior down their hall was going to host a party, Joe got a little nervous. That party sounded a little too close for comfort. Most of them that Luke went to were off in another dorm across campus, or another floor upstairs or downstairs.

            “They’re not gonna come here though…are they?” Joe asked.

            Luke gave him a look. “Well…we might…pre-game or something here.”

            “But what if we get caught?”

            Nothing bothered Luke. He shrugged. “It’ll just be a quick shot or two and then we’ll head down. You’re invited too by the way.”

            Joe grimaced. He did appreciate the offer. Better than being a forgotten nerd who wasn’t invited to anything. “Yeah…I dunno.”

            “You never go out. Or at least, I never see you go out. What’s up with that?’

            Joe mumbled incoherently.

            Luke smiled. “You gotta get out there more, man.”

 The supremely annoying thing about Luke was that he was also excelling at his classes. There was a certain new breed of jock that Joe was having trouble wrapping his head around – the attractive athlete who was also a premed student on his way to making a life for themself, acing every test.

            Joe meanwhile didn’t have much going for him. He excelled at one thing – video games. In particular, Super Smash Bros. Anyone who knew Joe could never top him ever since the Nintendo 64 came out. Super Smash Bros. Brawl had just been released and he was already mastering it. Little did his friends know, there was a massive skill gap between casual players and professional players. While he could beat any of his childhood friends, or any of his new college friends, even anyone in his entire university, the match was always on the wire at any competition. He had gained some reputation by then in the local retro arcades and indie video game stores under his alias “TheLoneGamer”. He never forgot his first competition win at his local Yestercades. The venue had been packed shoulder-to-shoulder with gamers and spectators. He spent a whopping 5 hours there waiting and playing. He made a “historic” loser’s run, working his way up the loser’s bracket after losing to a Meta Knight (player name “TheGall91”). He faced off TheGall91 again in the final. Joe had lost some steam; he didn’t expect the tournament to drag on this long, almost to midnight, and the crowd had thinned. But a single Coke bottle woke him up and he cracked his knuckles before fist-bumping the gangly Meta Knight player.

He could have picked Meta Knight as well, as he was the most broken character in Brawl. But he didn’t know Meta Knight that well back then. He stuck to what he knew from his Melee days with Marth. And, well, it worked. Miraculously really. Joe never told anyone because he cringed and thought it embarrassing, but he had never felt more accomplished in his life. The look on TheGall91’s face was priceless. He received the loss with shock, then slumped in his seat and became despondent. Joe didn’t want to gloat too much on his first tourney win, and gladly shook his hand for a good game.

Joe didn’t get to share that moment with anyone. No close friends, no girlfriend, and certainly not his parents. His dad actually harangued him for coming back home so late that night.

“I’m not gonna help you pay for college to play video games all night long. You better drop that shit, Joe. That’s kids’ stuff. What are you doing playing kid games?”

            Joe would be lying if he said those words didn’t haunt him, no matter how many times he tried to shove them in the back of his mind. His parents had had enough of this “video game nonsense” and demanded he choose a major right away when entering college. His dad “didn’t raise an ‘undecided’” for freshman year. He was bad at math and while he liked to read there was nothing particularly calling to him in the field of literature or English. Biology was something that piqued his interest. It was interesting learning how viruses worked and the world of microorganisms, how invisible lifeforms literally toppled down entire civilizations. The history angle of it interested him too – so there it was; Biology major.

            How was it going?

            He got a whopping big fat C in his first semester, and his second semester wasn’t looking too good either. This shit was hard, especially the chemistry part. How did Luke find the time to study in between swim meets and partying and getting girls? It was just natural, Joe supposed. Joe didn’t even find any pleasure in playing against Luke in video games, whether it be Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Double Dash, or any James Bond game. Because deep down he knew that even though Luke was impressed, Luke had a far brighter future ahead of him.

            On the night of the party, before it started, he and Luke played a round of Brawl. To switch things up this time, Joe figured they could play on custom stages and turn on items for a change. Even though Joe played competitively he wasn’t a purist about it. He had to have fun playing the game, right?

            Joe hadn’t planned on partying but he still made sure he looked good for whomever Luke’s guests were. He had butterflies in his stomach secretly hoping there were girls. Unfortunately, Luke’s friends were a bunch of guys from the swim team, all tall and limber and that “sweet spot” of athletic build.

            Jesus fucking Christ, Joe thought. Is there nobody on the swim team who doesn’t look amazing?

            Joe indulged in some underage drinking by taking a shot of rum with them. It wasn’t like he hated drinking. Just the party bit was daunting.

            After two more shots, Luke and his buddies whooped and hollered and hopped out of their dorm without a second thought. Joe grimaced. He had honestly drunk more than them before at family gatherings and knew the alcohol was either having a placebo effect because they wanted to be cool or because they were lightweights.

            A few nerdy kids like himself partied on their own, though not in big flamboyant parties like the sports teams. Joe had gotten friendly with a DnD group but they were older and vibed differently. Joe couldn’t put a finger on it but he felt uncomfortable sometimes around them, what with a lot of relationship drama going on and talk of doing hard drugs.

            So, it was a Friday night and Joe was once again alone in his dorm playing video games. He dropped the idea of practicing for another tourney all together and was bullshitting making a custom stage. He thought a lot about his parents and what to do for the future, and before he knew it, he got a little teary-eyed. He paused the game and laid down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

            The door opened abruptly.

            Joe sat up suddenly, hoping his face didn’t look red.

            A girl stumbled in. He blinked several times processing this. She had long curly brunette hair that parted in the middle. She wore a white dress that may have been a little too snug on her, as a belly pouch was protruding. Her heels clacked as she regained her balance.

            She stared at him blankly. Her eyes were a bit red and glazed. She may have smoked weed.

“Oh,” she said, before adjusting her dress by pulling it down. She looked back into the hallway, then to him.

            “Where’s Luke?” she asked.

            Joe almost grimaced. The question offended him. He set it aside and said, “Down the hall. Party at Phil’s.”

            “Well, yeah, I was just there but he wasn’t. I dunno where he is. He’s not texting back either.” She looked back at her phone, texted furiously, and sighed. “Whatever.”

            She was about to close the door, and that would have been the end of their interaction, when she looked at the TV and said, “Watcha doing?”

            “Playing a game.”

            The girl looked around as if expecting to find someone else. “By yourself?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Aw.”

            The tone in her voice when she said “aw” made his heart flutter a little. He straightened himself and unpaused the game. “I mean, it’s…whatever.” What the fuck was he even saying? What did that mean? He tried so hard not to stare at her that it was throwing him off.

            She stepped further into the room to look. “What are you playing?”

            “Super Smash Bros. Brawl.”

            “Oh. That game.”

            “You’ve played it?”

            She waved her hand dismissively. “Yeah. I like Mario Kart more.”

            He cleared his throat. “I uh…I have that here too.”

            “Cool!”

            She didn’t take the bait, much to his disappointment. She returned to her phone texting at lightning-fast speed. She wobbled a bit, and then said, “You mind if I wait here? I don’t want to run around looking for him.”

            “Yeah, sure.”

            Joe’s blood circulated faster and faster, his heart throbbing. A girl was sitting next to him. A live girl. Right next to him. On his fucking bed. He wanted to show off by playing against people online.

            It worked, because about five minutes later, he jumped a little when she said, “Oooo, you got him!” after he delivered the final KO on a Captain Falcon.

            She laughed when she noticed his expression. “Sorry. I was actually paying attention for a moment.”

            “Did Luke say where he is?” he asked. Even though he was enjoying the fact that he was alone with a girl, he was too nervous to think of what to talk about other than the reason she initially walked in for.

            She sighed heavily, putting her phone down. “Naaah. It’s…whatever.”

            After a beat of silence, and with Joe’s heart throbbing uncontrollably, he swelled up with courage before asking, “Do you want to play?”

            “Okay…but I suck at it.”

            He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I can teach you.”

            She raised a brow at him, making a face as if he had just said the weirdest thing.

He didn’t understand her reaction. “What is it?”

            “Nothing,” she said, taking a controller. “Just weird hearing a guy say he’ll teach you how to play a game.”

            “Really?”

            “Yeah. They just beat you at it and laugh at you.”

            “Well…where’s the fun in that?”
            “Yeah, exactly!”

            At the character select screen, she stared wide-eyed at the options, not knowing who to pick. Joe began explaining some of the character when she interrupted with, “I’m just gonna be really girly here for a moment and choose Peach.”

            “Alright. Yeah. It’s all good.”

            He locked in and told her everything there was to know about Peach. They fooled around jumping from stage to stage as he taught her how to move and attack efficiently. Short hopping was a concept that was difficult for her to get across, and maybe it was because she was drunk. He paused the game to show her on the controller when she laughed saying, “Oh my GOD, you can see up her skirt in this game? I can’t believe I didn’t notice that before.”

            “Oh, heh, yeah. That was in Melee too.”

            Joe found it odd that she wasn’t super offended, more so amused. She took his controller and moved the camera around Peach’s exposed panties and laughed drunkenly.

            “That’s sooo bad. This is Nintendo, right? Aren’t they supposed to be family friendly?”

            He shrugged. “Yeah, go figure.”

            Joe had started to relax around her. He didn’t know exactly why but her reaction to Peach’s panty shot disarmed him. He had been prepared to cringe and be berated for playing this game, or even be accused as a pervert. Instead, she had taken it as a ridiculously funny thing, even if acknowledging that it was inappropriate for a “kid’s game”.

            They played for about an hour, going through every character and every stage, until she interrupted him with, “Hey, are you hungry?” She looked at her phone. “I’m thinking about ordering a pizza.”

            “Uhhh. Yeah. Sure.”

            Joe couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was legit hanging out with a girl at this point, and he didn’t even know her name yet.

            “I’m so fucking hungrrryyy,” she moaned. “Weed does that to me.”

            “It’s all good.”

            He stared deeply as she was dialing. He found it amusing that she had the local pizza joint saved on her phone. He had never met a girl so…candid before, but it must have been the alcohol and weed loosening her up. He started overthinking things, wondering if she would have still talked to him had she been sober. Maybe she would forget all about this the next morning, and the following days. He’d be a distant memory to her. Some random guy she hung out with one time in freshman year of college when she was trying to find Luke.

            “Do you think you’d drink a 2-liter Coke with me?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Cool.”

            One of the best things about college was the ability to order delivery late at night. It was almost 11 o’clock at night but the local pizza joint, Chinese restaurant, chicken wing stop, and sushi bar were all still open knowing that drunk college students would be calling soon on a Friday night.

            While she was ordering, he did a double-take hearing her order two large pies. He thought he heard incorrectly. Maybe this was a different pizza place where they were personal pies or something? He had told her he wanted buffalo chicken, but she ordered another entire pie of pepperoni.

When she hung up, he asked, “Wait, you ordered two large pies?”

“Yeah.”

“Who else is coming by?’

She looked lost. “Nnnnobody? The other pie is for me.”

She had said that so nonchalantly and returned to wanting to play the game.

He didn’t think much about it until he went to get the food from the deliveryman. She really did order two large pizza pies. Who was this girl? With the 2-liter bottle of Coke in one hand and the two large pizza boxes in the other, he carefully walked back to his dorm.

            “Aw yessss,” she said.

            “Wait, so. Lemme get this straight. You ordered yourself a large pie?”

            “Hell yeah. I know it’s gross but I can eat this whole thing alone in minutes.”

            Joe wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or horrified. They both sat on the floor and he watched dumbly as she opened up her box and started digging in. He became fixated on her ability to wolf down a slice of pizza in a few seconds. Cheese dripped down her chin as she moaned with pleasure. Watching a beautiful girl like her do this was like watching some kind of freak show. Maybe freak show was too strong of a term. World wonder?

            She caught him staring at the corner of her eye, then grabbed a napkin. “Oh shit. Sorry. Hahaha.”

            “It’s all good. I’m just amazed really. I’m definitely having leftovers from my pie.”

            While Joe got himself a cup, the girl drunkenly picked up the 2-liter bottle and said, “Do you mind if I waterfall it?”

            “No.” He really didn’t. But he found himself staring again as this curly-haired goddess started downing Coke straight up.

            They played some more, eating and drinking. They stopped playing 1 v. 1 and he showed her how to make a custom stage.

            “Ooo! Wait, wait, wait. Gimme the controller. Gimme the controller. I know what I want to make.”

She took a good five minutes arranging platforms and blocks. He wondered what she was making until she zoomed out and realized the stage resembled a rudimentary penis.

            She snorted with laughter, and the bluntness of it made Joe laugh as well.

            “Nice, nice,” he said.

            “I know. Fifth grader humor here.”

            Ah, fuck. I think I’m falling for this girl, he thought.

That thought changed when the girl erupted with a massive, hideous belch. He jolted upon hearing it.

BEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP!!!

            Joe had never heard anything like it. It rivaled any of the burps he had heard from the swim team when they stopped by. Men typically belched so casually around other men. But women? In front of another man? Burps were gross to him in general, whether man or woman. Sometimes, if they sounded deep and throaty he cringed, and if they smelled he couldn’t help but gag. This girl’s burp definitely triggered his gag reflex, as he caught a strong organic whiff.

            “Oh, augh, Jesus Christ,” he said.

            “Shit, I’m sorry,” she said.

            “That was…so loud.”

            She immediately changed her vibe. She looked nervous and blushed. She focused on the game and said in a low voice, “I’ll hold it in next time. Sorry.”

            Joe felt bad. So what if this girl produced the worst-smelling belch known to man? It wasn’t a dealbreaker…just…uncomfortable. He said, “Nah. You don’t have to do that. It’s all good.”

            She waved her hand dismissively. “No, for real though, it’s gross. I know it’s a habit. It just…comes out. Hurts a lot if it doesn’t. But I can be quiet about it.”

            “Nah, just let it out. Can’t say I won’t be grossed out but…you can let it out around me.”

            Sounded a bit weird but he was trying to be romantic about it. He wasn’t one to do such things in front of people, even close friends, but even so, if she wanted to burp why stop her? If they became a thing, he needed to invest in a gas mask.

            Joe lost track of time playing Brawl with her. Quite frankly, he considered it his first real fun night in college. He couldn’t believe he was saying it because the circumstances sounded like pure fantasy. But it was college after all – and funny things happened in college.

            “I never caught your name by the way,” he said, halfway through mercilessly beating her Peach with his Link.

            “Amanda,” she said. “Or Manda. Mandy even. Whatever works.”

            “What would YOU like to be called?”

            “Amanda.”

            “Cool. And, well, I’m Joe.’

            After he KO’ed her for the nth time, she went back to the main menu. As he was about to ask what she was doing he realized she was entering her name in the game’s registry. She cursed when the name “Amanda” couldn’t fit, and settled with “Manda”.

            Joe blushed. This was like the gamer’s equivalent to getting a girl’s phone number. Sort of. She smirked at him and said, “For next time.”

            “Next time?”

            “Hell yeah, man. I’m gonna beat you one day.”

            Joe chuckled. “I’d like to see you try.” He actually piqued with excitement, looking forward to someone who openly wanted to challenge him, instead of complaining and making fun of him for playing too much.

            They were both staring at each other awkwardly for a few seconds. He wondered what she wanted to do now, but there had been a noticeable glow in her face as she batted her eyes at him. He took in how gorgeous she was – even if she was quite drunk. Her eyes wavered as she tried to focus on him.

            Joe heard her stomach grumble. Her cheeks puffed and then—

            BEEEEOOOOOOORRRRRRRRPPPP!

            Joe gagged as she belched in his face, emitting a powerfully pungent stench of alcohol that must have been stored deep in the pit of her stomach. He wafted the air and cried, “Ah, shit!” Such a shame that she ruined the moment with such a terrible stench with such a raucous noise.

            Amanda clasped her mouth. “I’m SO sorry.”

            Her toxic fumes lingered. He coughed and swore his eyes were about to water. “Oh God. Wow. Sweet Jesus. I never thought a girl could burp like that.”

            “It’s bad. I know.”

            She twirled a few strands of her hair. Joe suddenly got the vibe that she wanted to say something, when the door opened. Amanda lit up at the sight of who it was – Luke. She stood up and said, “Luuuukey! There you are!” with open arms.

            Luke appeared drunk but upon having seen Joe sitting on the floor with Amanda, sobriety kicked into him and he narrowed his eyes. Joe immediately felt something was wrong but he didn’t know what at the moment. Luke’s question sounded accusatory. “What are you doing here?”

            “Been looking all over for youuu!” Amanda said, hugging him tightly and holding him. “You weren’t at the party.”

            “Sorry, babe. Heard there was a keg stand upstairs at Ryan’s, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

            Oh shit, Joe thought. His eyes widened and he stared dumbly at the two of them. Amanda still held onto Luke and closed her eyes and she tightened her grip around him. Luke meanwhile looked as though he were trying to put two and two together as he looked at the TV screen and back to Joe.

            “You two were hanging out here?” Luke said.

            Joe blinked. He couldn’t find the right words. “I uh. Yeah. I mean. Uh. She was—and I was—we were playing a game. Like—”

            “Doing what?” Luke said, again somewhat accusatory, hasty and firm.

            Amanda was in a totally different world. She swung around Luke and said, “Playing video games! But c’mon let’s go to the party!”

            She eventually drew Luke away and they left, closing the door behind them.

            Joe found himself staring at the screen – the menu screen blaring but nothing was processing in his mind at the moment.

            Shit. They’re together.