38. Juliana

THIRTY-EIGHT

JULIANA

I hold out my arm, letting the security guard inspect my wristband. With a hmph, she props open the backstage door, waving for my entrance.

Turns out, Kingston Entertainment can— literally— open some doors that the developers in the Indie Creator Showcase don't have access to. Luckily, Elias snagged me a backstage pass and gave his own to Hayden, stating he was too swamped with work to attend. According to Hayden, that's a running theme with his brother, and I believe him.

What a bummer, though. That guy would've looked even more out of place than Jeremy. Well, I guess Hayden does too, but he at least attempted to blend in, swapping his polos and chinos for a pair of ripped jeans and a basic T-shirt. Although, let's be real...

There's no blending in with a face like that.

I know it. The security guard who hardly checked his wristband knows it. Even that backstage worker with the headset on, sneaking glances over her clipboard—she knows it. I'd be jealous, but... who can blame her?

Okay, maybe I'm a little jealous.

Matching my stride, Hayden intertwines his warm fingers with mine, as if he picked my emotions out of thin air—or just read my facial expressions. He squeezes, erupting all sorts of butterflies in my stomach.

This handholding thing, it started last week, and it's only becoming more frequent—and natural. At first, only he would initiate. In the kitchen. After sex, sometimes during. Then I started to. While watching movies in the living room or sunbathing on the terrace. I think I understand what it all means, and I would bring up such a conversation, if it weren't for the doubt lingering inside me that believes someone like Hayden doesn't do labels—or monogamy, for that matter—whether he confessed feelings for me or not.

So, I guess I'm just riding this flirtatious dynamic while I can.

"Does Jeremy know about us?"

"Uhh..." My mind turns up blank. "No," I lie. Now's not the time. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Just that when I ran into him on the way to meet you, he seemed a little... off." I suck in a breath, thankful when it doesn't draw his attention. "He acted fine, I guess, but there was something in his eyes—I don't know. I'm probably just paranoid. Not to mention, I've been dodging him for weeks, for obvious reasons, so I'm sure it has to do with that."

"Yeah." I pale. "I bet it's that."

As we venture farther and farther backstage, I'm careful not to trip over the sea of wires scurrying across the floor, connected to audio booths and makeshift tables littered with technical equipment. Alongside my anxiety, sounds from the main stage grow louder with every step of our approach. The music, the announcers on stage, and the roaring crowd all reverberate through the floor and echo in the open space, until we stand beside the stage's massive golden curtain, nearly deafened by such proximity.

At our vantage point, we have a partial view of the crowd and a perfect one of the main event screen, which is bigger than any movie theater screen this side of the Hudson and currently plays a first-look trailer for a certain first-person shooter. Although it releases in a couple months and is extremely hyped-up by the community, it's not my type of game, so instead, I observe the crowd, searching for familiar faces.

After a good minute, I give up, but according to Jeremy's texts, Mom and Dad made it and can't stop gushing about me to everyone seated around them. Even Mei is in attendance—oh, who am I kidding? She makes time for anything. I'm thankful, nonetheless.

Other than Jeremy, I didn't have time to speak with any of them because they all arrived later than us, specifically after I learned of our backstage access, something I wouldn't pass up in a million years. Nothing to fret about, though. I'll visit them after the indie showcase, which is in...

I sink a hand into my pocket, retrieving my phone.

Ten minutes.

Taking a deep breath, I exhale through my nose steadily, but find little comfort. At least my feature isn't going first—that would be a lot of pressure. My slot is number three, which I took as a sign of luck. Good things happen in threes, right?

I just hope whoever put the video together knew what they were doing. Hayden mentioned that the flash drive's gameplay footage would be handed off to someone in the tech department. Given the vast number of employees at Kingston Entertainment, I'm sure they found someone capable.

So, why am I still nervous?

There's probably no getting around it. I've only waited five years for this moment.

I shudder when soft lips brush against the hollow of my ear. "It's going to be fine," Hayden says, over the current trailer's intense music, sweeping a thumb across my hand in soothing, side-to-side motions. As I meet his stare, he smiles. "More than fine, actually. It'll be perfect."

Standing on my tippy toes, I stretch for his ear, meaning to thank him. Except, when my lips reach their mark and his arms instinctually loop around my middle, I still can't help myself. "You mean purrrrr -fect."

His body tenses against mine.

"What's wrong?" I ask, feigning ignorance, clamping down hard on a laugh when I feel him stiff as a board, only for a snicker to come bursting out a moment later.

I squeal as his arms tighten, locking me in a death grip. He pulls me close—so close, I blush at the thought of all the event workers around us—the motion burying my face into his chest, before he cranes low to my ear. "Juliana Brooks," he warns, earning another wave of giggles. I squirm against his hold, before they spill out of his mouth, too.

When he releases me, I pat down my hair, furiously, and—

My breath hitches.

With his head tilted slightly and a soft smile resting on his lips, Hayden gazes at me. Not at my body or my hair or exploring the planes of my face. Just my eyes, so unwavering that I can't veer from his, held captive by an electric, strange warmth blossoming at my core, like peering into a tranquil lake that whispers secrets just below the surface.

"What is it?" I breathe out, amid a quiet moment between trailers.

"Nothing."

"You sure? You look like you want to ask something."

His smile widens. "It can wait until after the showcase."

Not only does that feeling not dissipate for the next longest five minutes of my life, but it seems to have curbed my anxiety, with the help of Hayden's reassuring hand-squeezing, all the way until the final second.

The lights dim across the convention center, casting a mauve glow over the audience, as an announcer strides across the stage, illuminated by a spotlight. My eyes roam over the massive crowd, spiking my pulse and prompting more squeezes. Hayden and I share one final glance, before the announcer lifts the microphone to her lips.

"Wow, wasn't that something?" her voice booms. "Let's give another round of applause for all the amazing trailers we've seen tonight, huh? Give it up!" She claps, high in the air, winning enthusiasm from the audience, who erupts with whistles and cheers.

When the commotion dies down, she struts in our direction, working the stage. "Thank you, thank you. For all our DreamScape veterans, I'm sure you know what's up next, don't you?" As the crowd sparks up again, she nods, swiveling back in the opposite direction, her heels eating up center stage as her blonde ponytail bobbles. "That's right, it's time for DreamScape's Indie Creator Showcase!"

My soul momentarily leaps from my body at the hollers that follow—louder than any applause earned before. A proud smile spreads across my lips.

"But!" She pauses, letting silence stretch out. "Ohhhh, I got you there, didn't I? Before we dive into appreciation for our most beloved indie devs, we have one more surprise up our sleeves—or should I say, one last loot drop..." She waits again, allowing laughter to spread across the space.

I roll my lips at Hayden's drawn-out groan.

The announcer chuckles into the mic, beaming a radiant smile. "Yes, we're all about surprises here. So, now. Tell me, gamers. Are you prepared for one. Last. Trailer?"— gasps, including mine — "Uhhh huh, you heard that right. Get ready to be blown away by the unveiling of a never-before-seen mobile game. Here's a DreamScape-exclusive preview—let's take a look."

Darkness descends upon the convention center, enough that I can't see the announcer walking our way, until the clicking of her heels grows louder and louder. On her passing, she offers a friendly smirk, as the sounds of beachy waves lap over the audience, providing a calming backdrop for the trailer's voiceover.

"Ever dreamt of escaping to paradise...?"

On the cry of a seagull's call, color fades into the screen, revealing a bird's-eye view of a charming remote island, its sandy shores and swaying palm trees slowly drawing nearer.

"Welcome to Coral Island. Here the sun always shines, the waves dance endlessly, and locals greet you with open arms." The music stops abruptly, mimicking a record scratching. "Well, they would—if it weren't for their claws."

Fun, upbeat music takes over, blending the harmonies of a marimba with the cheerful strumming of a ukulele. Our vantage point snaps to the ground, providing a first-person view of walking past the palm tree line and onto the sand, which crawls with cute, animated crabs. In flocks of three to four, they dance for the audience, snapping their claws to the beat.

I smile at their unnaturally large eyes, thankful for the distraction. Call me childish, but this is my kinda game.

Soft lips tickle my ear, causing a shiver. "I think this one's already got you hooked."

I stand back on my tippy toes. "What can I say? I'm an easy sell."

Hayden snickers, twisting me around and tugging me close. The heat from his body seeps into my back, like a comforting blanket, before he loops his arms around my center. Sinking into him, I let my head fall on his shoulder, catching his toothy grin, as the music intensifies.

"But their peaceful haven is about to face its greatest challenge yet..."

Off the shore, a fleet of wooden ships appear on the horizon, rocking against the current while their crossbone flags flap in the wind.

The screen goes black.

And bold text fades in, emerging from the darkness.

A KINGSTON ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION

My brow furrows. That's odd. I didn't know they... I twist in Hayden's arms, discovering him just as intrigued, only for my entire world to stop spinning once I turn back around.

PIRATE ISLAND DEFENSE

No...

"Arrrghh!"

No no no—

Gameplay flashes on the screen, and the mere sight of it rises bile in my throat, stirs my stomach with a sickness I've never known, so turbulent I don't register how stiff Hayden's grown behind me, or the hands that wrap around my biceps, holding me upright from faintness. I blink, my breaths puffing out choppy as I fight to stay lucid.

"Play as Mak, Coral Island's newest human inhabitant," that cursed voice booms, as an exact carbon copy of my mobile game with altered graphics blasts across the screen, earning oooo 's and ahhhh 's from the crowd, their eyes shimmering with delight.

Strong hands give me a shake.

"Juliana?" a man calls.

The voice sounds vaguely familiar, but far off. I hardly hear him. Not because of the speakers, but the blood pounding in my ears that drops my ankles in quicksand and submerges my head under rough waters—like the sea thrashing against the hull of the pirate ships sailing toward a cute, animated island positioned in the center of the screen.

Right where my farm would be.

And the boats... they populate around the perimeter, with the same frequency as my aliens.

"Protect your friends from notorious crab-nappers..."

Mak traces around the island's perimeter, this way and that, weaving between crabs and poking pirates who reach the shoreline with his spear.

Another shake, rougher this time.

"Juliana?!" a scream echoes through the water, swallowed up by the crashing waves.

"Level up, gain new skills, and blast those pesky pirates off the shore with gadgets like the seashell barrage cannon..."

No, no, no...

I watch the revamped animation, a bundle of seashells exploding from the barrel of a turret cannon, except the mechanics are identical to my paw-some plasma cannon. An idea that took months to conceive and weeks to program.

"Or slow their movements the instant their feet touch the sand with the crab claw sand trap."

NONONONO—

This can't be happening. I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming. WAKE UP ALREADY. Strip me of this nightmare—because that is what's happening. This isn't real life. How could it be? How else could something like this happen? How—

A face flings into my field of vision, an inch from my nose. A man...? Blond. Attractive. Blue eyes that blow wide with urgency. His lips are moving, sputtering fast, uttering words drowning in despair and deafened by adrenaline, until they burst through the surface, breathing life into a man I know better than anyone.

A man I thought I trusted.

"YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME. I DIDN'T—"

Every venomous word that slithers from his tongue plunges back below the surface, spiraling like torpedoes straight to my heart, reflecting to the sharpened precipice of my mind that only sees one thing...

Hayden handing me that flash drive.

I bolt from his vicinity. From that wretched screen. From EVERYTHING, and book it through backstage, heaving for breath as my chest contracts and tears well in my eyes. But I swallow them down, too proud to let them show, when he's calling my name behind me, hot on my tail while I weave between startled workers, running aimlessly, until I spot the exit.

How could I be so stupid? Hayden played me for a fool—fucked with my head, then fucked me, then fucked my entire career. No one's going to believe me, a little indie dev, against a mega-corporation. With what money could I face them in court? Contend with their army of lawyers? They'd swallow this up, bribe the media to spin it in their direction—that I stole the game from them.

It doesn't matter if I'm ranking on the charts or that PixiePlays livestreamed my game, Hayden and his dad—who he's probably been conspiring with since barging back into my life—they know this and did it, anyway. Hayden even gave me the flash drive on the exact same day I went viral, which was surely loaded with hidden malware, all rigged to dupe Cosmic Kitty Defense's programming without my knowledge before it got handed off to that tech department guy.

"Juliana, wait!"

Fuck! I nearly trip over a wire, bursting through the door on a scream. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

A tear finally skates down my cheek. I swipe it away, whipping my head to find the security lady holding Hayden at the door, presumably to protect me. He argues with her, watching as I burst through a wall of attendees, letting the crowd swallow me whole. I weave between them and knock into shoulders, while my adrenaline spikes too high to bother with apologies.

I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, my conscience cries in a frantic feedback loop. I don't know what Hayden did or didn't do. All I know is I don't trust him, and I can't bear to look at him or be near him—or witness Jeremy pummel him into an early grave right here at DreamScape if their paths should cross.

And same goes for my family, who's undoubtedly searching for me with broken hearts. I can't bear their sorrow or their optimistic schemes of retribution, not when we're ants against a serpentine giant. I want a quiet space, where I can gather my thoughts and mourn without fear of Hayden finding me.

So, I let my instincts guide me the rest of the way.

To Mei's apartment.