Free Romancing the Nerd by Leah Rae Miller

battle is next, and it’s going to be Bronla’s time to shine.
    I know that the final battle is about to happen because there’s only one room left on the second floor. The house hangout room, as the guys who live here call it, has been decorated as sinisterly as possible. Apparently, college guys think ominous equals a ton of candles, most of them scented and none of them the same scent, and red twinkle lights. It does the job.
    Tommy tugs on his earlobe, which is our agreed-upon signal, so I casually go over to talk to him. Earlier I’d asked him to tell me in private if my enhanced senses caught anything, especially a trap of any sort. The secret signal was his idea, though. He does have a flare for the dramatic.
    He whispers, “Bronla’s senses prickle and she notices a vicious-looking vine covering the wall. Your level of monster knowledge is high enough that you know it’s Thief’s Menace.”
    “Which wall?” I ask.
    “To the left of the entrance.”
    “You mean the one Craytor is leaning against right now?” I ask, not even trying to hide my excitement.
    Tommy nods. “Yes ma’am. You should probably warn him. Do you?”
    How shitty would it be of me if I didn’t warn him? One of the big things you learn when you start playing this game is that unless your fingers are crossed, your character is doing and saying whatever you’re doing or saying. Dan should know not to touch anything unless he’s completely sure it’s not dangerous. Or maybe he’s so confident in his character’s abilities that he thinks he can take on anything and he doesn’t have to be careful. Yes, that’s the vibe I’ll go with. He needs a reminder. It’ll make him a better player in the end if I don’t warn him.
    I shake my head in the negative.
    Tommy must take pity on Dan/Craytor because he asks, “Dude, are you leaning against the wall like that in character?”
    Dan shrugs. “Yeah, sure, whatever.” He pulls out his phone and taps away at it.
    I’m feeling really good about my decision to not warn Craytor about the dwarf-killing plant he’s currently snuggling against. Then my phone vibrates.
    While Tommy goes over to supervise the fight that’s about to happen between Craytor and the Thief’s Menace, I check my messages.
    I admit, it was a bit of a shock when I realized Dan had been talking about me—that I was the girl he thinks he blew it with. Okay, fine, “a bit of a shock” is an understatement. It was like watching a movie and everything is calm, the characters are having a boring conversation, then BAM: explosions, death, destruction, nothing will ever be the same again!
    It took me a while to get my breathing under control, and my brain turned to mush for a good five minutes. Hell, realizing that he even thinks about me at all was… Disturbing? Unbelievable? A revelation? Basically, I have no idea how to feel about this. And for a while at the beginning of the mission, I thought that maybe I could ease up on him. Then he started being really cocky, killing all the enemies with one swing, pretending he was our leader, and I lost all sympathy for him. And this new message doesn’t do him any favors.
Dantheman: That’s it. I’m so done with this girl. I’ve tried being nice. I’ve tried making conversation and all she does is call me an imposter and I don’t get it.
     
    Being nice? Sure, he complimented my helmet, but that was canceled out by an immediate jerk maneuver. And if he thinks “making conversation” equals pushing past me to take on a fight I obviously had under control, while saying, “Let me handle this, sweetheart,” he’s horribly mistaken.
    I decide to not respond to his message because I don’t trust myself to not reveal my identity in some way. I mean, if I were to say what I want to say, which is, “Are you sure you’re not being a raging toolbag to this girl?” he might get suspicious.
    “Okay,” Tommy says as he positions himself in the middle of the room, “while