Gaming for Love (26 page)

Thank you for the scrapbook. It’s the best birthday present that
I have ever received. I love you more than words, too.

I know that I don’t deserve anything from you, but if you could
just text me to let me know that you got this letter, I would
appreciate it.

Yours always,

Scott

I’m crying so hard
that I am shaking. Scott still loves me and knows that I didn’t use
him. I’m so happy, but so scared at the same time. I want to drive
over to his house and hold him tight but I am worried that something
else will happen to make him doubt me. I don’t know how his mind
works and I don’t want to always be afraid of saying or doing the
wrong thing. If this happened again, I don’t know if I would
survive it. He says that he is going to get help before he comes for
me. That he wants to woo me again. Will that be enough? Will I be
ready to give him my heart again? I honestly don’t know. But, I am
willing to give it a chance. I won’t make a decision now. I’ll
wait until he comes to me and see how I feel then.

I know that I have to text him, but
I don’t know what to write. I don’t want to shoot him down, but I
also don’t want to give him false hope. And right now, I feel that
it would be false because, even though I love him, I’m not sure
that I can be with him again. I finally decide on something and send
if off before I change my mind again.

Me: Thank you for your letter. I’m glad that you’re getting
help. When you are ready, I will hear you out. I can’t promise you
anything but I’m willing to listen to you. I need to apologize too.
I should never have told everyone about what we did. I am really
sorry that I did that.

A reply comes almost immediately.

Scott: Thanks for agreeing to talk to me. And thanks for the
apology. Prepare to be wooed :)

I spend Sunday working
as usual. It’s not too busy and I’m happily surprised when Alex
and Maggie walk in. I rush over to hug them and Maggie holds me
tight.

“Thank you so much
for the food, Maggie. I really appreciate it.”

“It was my pleasure.
I am so sorry that it took my family so long to realize that we were
misjudging you. We should have known better.”

“You did know better,
though, didn’t you? When you brought Alex back, it seemed like you
knew.”

“Yes. I did believe
you. I didn’t think that you could fake the love I saw in your eyes
when you looked at my son. But, I had to side with him.”

“It means a lot to me
that you believed me. I understand that your loyalty had to lie with
Scott.”

“But, now she can be
loyal to both of you,” Alex says, looking excited. “Uncle Scott
told us that he is going to see a therapist to help him. I know he
loves you and you two can be together again!”

I sigh and look at her.
“Sweetie, I am happy that Scott is going to talk to someone and try
to get past the things that are hurting him, but that doesn’t mean
that we will be together.”

“You don’t love him
anymore? He hurt you that much?” Tears are pooling in her eyes.

“I
do
love him, Alex. More than I ever thought that I could love someone.
But, that doesn’t mean that I can just forget how much he hurt me.
Because, he
did
hurt
me very badly. I don’t know if there is anything worse than having
the person you love not trust you or your love for them. I promised
him that I would talk to him when he is ready, but that is all I can
promise right now.”

I wipe my eyes to clear
the tears that are now falling. Maggie pulls me to her as I sob into
her shoulder for a few minutes. “I understand, Yasmin. Just please
give him a chance. He wants to get better for himself
and
for you.”

I nod and try to put a
smile on my face. “So, did you come by for some books, Alex? And,
oh my God, I didn’t even ask how you are feeling today. Are you
still sick?”

“Sick?” she asks
puzzled and I see a look pass between her and Maggie. “Oh yeah, I
am better. Once I got home, I felt better. I should have come back to
help. In fact, that’s why I’m here. My grandparent’s said that
as long as I can bring my homework here, I can come every night and
stay until close if it’s okay with you.”

“I would love to have
you here every night, but are you sure you don’t want to hang out
with the new friends that you made at school?”

“I do, actually. Can
I tell you on a daily basis if I can be here?”

“Of course, sweetie.
You’re doing me a favor by being here.”

“Now that that is
settled, I have some things that I need to do. Owen will be by at
9:30 to pick her up.” Maggie hugs us both again and then she is on
her way.

The rest of the day and
night are quiet in the store. I check the online orders, not
expecting much, but there are 30. How did that happen? I don’t have
time to check as Alex and I fill them all and I box them up while she
watches the store. It’s nine before I know it and I lock the door
and get the small deposit done. I put it in the safe and we head
outside where Owen is waiting for Alex in his car.

“Hi ladies, are you
ready to go?” He comes over and hugs Alex and then me. It’s a
little strange that everyone is now accepting me since Scott did, but
I
did
always know how
close they all are.

“Goodbye you guys.
I’ll see you tomorrow Alex. It was nice to see you Owen.”

“Wait, where are you
going? Don’t you want a ride home?”

“What makes you think
that I need a ride?”

“Well, you’re
heading towards the bus stop with a bus pass in your hand.” I
forgot that I had taken my pass out so that I could have it ready.

“I’m fine. I take
the bus every night.”

“Yasmin, can I please
give you a ride? I actually want to talk to you about something. I
need to ask for a favor.”

“You need a favor
from me? If it’s about the party…” I look warily at him.

He laughs so hard that
I think he might fall over. “No, it’s not about that. I know that
you’re not into me and I am kind of seeing someone right now.” He
turns serious. “But, I do have something to ask you.”

“Then, yes, I would
love a ride. Thanks.”

We all get in the car
and the drive to my house is filled with small talk and catching up a
little with each other. When we pull into my driveway, Owen shuts off
the engine and turns to me. “So, this favor I need from you is
something really important to me.” He takes a deep breath and
continues. “I know that you’ve seen my sculptures and paintings,
but my real love lies in street art. I stopped doing it when I
started doing the more commercial stuff, but I love it. Creating
something on the side of a building where everyone will see it is
just the best for me.”

“Umm, isn’t that
sometimes illegal?”

“Yeah, it is.” He
chuckles. “And I
have
gotten in trouble before but then some of the businesses that we ate
or shopped at started letting me make murals on their buildings. I’m
actually kind of famous.”

“Oh wow, Owen. I had
no idea. That is really cool.”

“Yeah, it is. But, I
haven’t done any murals in a couple of years. I’ve been focusing
more on the company art. I was thinking that I would like to do one
on your building, though. Maybe some flying books and people reading
or something. Since your store stands alone in the middle of the
center with three walls, I think that I could do something cool.
Would you let me?”

I’m momentarily
stunned. He wants to paint my building? That would be so cool. But,
then I remember that it may not be mine for much longer. “I would
love for you to do that Owen. But, honestly, I’m not sure how much
longer I can stay in business. Things have been kind of rough
lately.”

“I’m sorry that you
are having a rough time. How about I do it and it can stay as long as
you’re there. If something happens and you have to close, the new
tenant can leave it or not. I just really want to do this.” He
reaches out and grabs my hand. “Is there anything else that I can
do for you? Do you need money? Because I have it if you need it.”

I see the sincerity in
his eyes, so I answer honestly. “I do need money, Owen. But, I
wouldn’t feel right taking it from you. Thank you for offering,
though. And yes, you can paint my building.” I lean over and kiss
his cheek and then open the door to get out. Alex gets out and gives
me a hug. I head into my empty house for what may be the last time. I
have to make that call to Tony tomorrow.

Scott

It has been 2 weeks
since I set everything in motion and things are somewhat surprisingly
going according to my plan. Owen started the mural last week. I drove
by and it is looking really cool already. He’s been posting updates
to his Facebook and Twitter and his fans are going nuts. Ryan is
finalizing the paperwork for the purchase of the strip mall. That
took some work on his part. The owners didn’t want to sell at first
and Ry had to really negotiate hard. But, he managed to make it
happen. Letters will be going out this week to the tenants letting
them know that their rent is going to drop significantly.

My parents and I have
been in touch with the publishers who want us to do books with them.
We have been honest and let them know that we’re not ready yet. We
told them that it would make our decision easier if they helped us
out. Some said no, but there were a couple that are willing to send
their biggest authors to I Heart Books. Yas should be hearing from
them soon.

Tony called me after he
talked to Yas about the sale of the house. He said that she couldn’t
believe the price that was offered. He had to tell her something
about the purchaser wanting to make sure the offer wasn’t beaten by
anyone because he loved the house. It’s true. I do love Yas’s—I
guess now my—house. I would have paid ten times the asking price
for it if I had to. Tony also said that she was happy that she can
stay in it. If my plans work out, then we’ll be living there
together. If they don’t, I’ll figure out somehow to get the
ownership of it back to her.

Business at the shop is
steadily increasing. Luke has been taking girls there almost daily,
buying them books. He said that when Yas commented on it, he told her
that he wanted to spread the love of reading. Alex says that Yas
doesn’t believe him, but she’s not complaining about the extra
business. Owen’s fans have also started to drop by and he tells
them that the least they can do is buy a book if they want to watch
him work. Many of them have been doing just that. The online business
has started to boom as well. Sean told me yesterday that Yas is
starting to get suspicious about why they are getting so many orders
when they don’t have my program. Everyone has been distracting her
when she tries to go on the website, but I know that it is only a
matter of time until she sees it. I am hoping that she will not be
too mad at us for going behind her back. We all did it because we
love her.

I am walking into the
kitchen to grab some sodas for Sean and me, when there is a pounding
on my front door. You have to have a gate code to get into our
driveway so it has to be someone in my family, although they normally
use the doorbell. I walk over to open it and when I do, Yas barrels
past me into the living room.

“How did you do it?
Did you hack my website?” She spins on me as I close the door.

“What? Of course I
didn’t hack your website. Why would I do that?” I ask, but I
think I know where this is going and my earlier worry about her not
being mad seems to have been validated right now.

“Then how did your
program get onto my website. I didn’t put it there.”

I have to snicker at
that. “Of course you didn’t.”

“You think this is
funny? You can just mess with my livelihood and it will just be okay
because you are Scott Fucking Griffin?”

“No, Yas. I don’t
think the situation is funny. The thought of you coding a website was
funny. I’m sorry I laughed.” I am seriously screwing this up.

She relaxes a little.
“It
is
funny to
think of me trying to do that. But if you didn’t do it, who did?”

“Me.” I didn’t
notice Sean step out of the hallway but he’s in the living room
with us now.

“Sean? What are you
doing here?” Yas looks confused now and I hope she takes this well.

“I work here. Scott
hired me as his assistant.”

“You did?” she asks
me and I nod. “That’s great. I’m so happy for you.” She hugs
Sean and then her face falls and she looks at me. “Oh my God,
please don’t fire him, Scott. If he took the program, it was just
to help me out. I’ll pay you for it or he can remove it since I
know that you didn’t want me to have it.”

She looks so worried. I
scratch my neck and admit, “He didn’t steal it, Yas. I gave it to
him to put on your website. I would have liked him to install it on
your store system but you would have noticed it right away. I wanted
to help you, but I wasn’t sure if you would take help from me. I’m
sorry that we deceived you. It’s my fault for convincing Sean so
please be mad at me and not him.”

Now, she looks torn. “I
should be mad at you. At
both
of you. But, the internet sales have been really good and helped me a
lot. Thank you for doing this for me.” She looks at Sean. “Can
you please put it on the store system when you get a chance?”

“Yeah, I can stop by
later and upload it.” He hugs her goodbye and I see him whisper
something in her ear. She gives him a resigned smile.

“I’m sorry that I
just barged in here. I should go and let you guys get back to work.
It was nice to see you, Scott.” She leans up and kisses me on the
cheek. “Thanks for helping me out.”