needed to give it.
I didn’t think it possible, but in that moment, I loved Gideon even more.
"Okay, here we go," Gideon said. He removed his hands from mine on the controller and said, "We're in a clearing in the woods. There’s some kind of jewel or something to the right. It’s suspended in the air."
"That's an enchantment jewel. It will give us the ability to withstand any spells the Huntress puts on us." As I spoke, I moved the joystick to the right. Gideon immediately began correcting me. It was weird to try and follow his directions, but after a handful of seconds, I heard the distinct chime that said we'd claimed the jewel.
"Oh, wait, there's something in the trees. It looks like some kind of bird. Shit, it's coming right at us!"
"Does it have red wings or black ones?" I yelled as I began pounding on the buttons that I hoped would give the character his broadsword.
"Black! It's right above us!" Gideon shouted. Before I could react, there was the telltale sound of the character being grabbed and carried off by the Night Falcon.
"Fifteen seconds," I said with a sigh. "I think that's a new record for me."
Gideon's lips skimmed my cheek and then he said, "Don't worry, baby, we’ll get them on the next go." Before I could respond, Gideon was hitting the button to select our next life.
Since it clearly meant so much to Gideon for us to try and play the game together, I went along with him, even though our character was killed off almost instantly yet again, this time by the Ogre of Truth. Despite our continued demise round after round, I found myself getting caught up in explaining the different elements of the game as we came across them. Gideon's descriptions made it easy to know what was on the screen and while we hadn't made much progress when it came to the level itself, every time the telltale sign of our character dying occurred, I found myself eager to hit the button to start a new game. Gideon's enthusiasm grew with every attempt we made at clearing the first level. His excitement fed into mine and by the time he paused the game for a bathroom break, three hours had passed.
I could only sit there in stunned silence, staring toward the television, while Gideon was getting us some drinks. Never in a million years had I believed it would be possible for me to once again enjoy something that had been such an important part of my life for so long.
"You okay?" Gideon asked as he settled in behind me. "Lex?" he said softly when I didn’t respond. He wrapped an arm around my chest. He was clearly worried, so I turned my face so he'd see my expression.
"Thank you, Gideon," I said and then I risked reaching a hand up to search out the back of his neck so I could pull him down for a kiss. I realized it wasn’t really necessary because even before my fingers came into contact with his skin, his mouth was on mine. There was nothing tame or sweet about this particular kiss. It was raw and hungry and desperate.
When Gideon and I came up for air, we were both breathing hard. I could tell that Gideon's mouth was still near mine because I could feel his breath drifting over my lips.
"Do you, um, want to keep playing?” he asked uncertainly.
My stomach was in knots as I shook my head. I'd loved every moment of playing the game with him, but right now, I needed something more.
I needed him.
All of him.
So I slowly shook my head again at the same time that I whispered, "No" and prayed to anyone who would listen that Gideon heard what I wasn't brave enough to say.
Chapter Twenty
Gideon
While I might not have had much experience when it came to dating, reading Lex and knowing what he needed came as naturally to me as breathing. Though it hadn’t always been that way. Over the past several weeks as I’d spent more and more time with him as he’d comforted me while I’d begun the process of finally mourning everything I'd lost, I'd had the opportunity to pick up on the things that Lex did in addition to the things he said.
Getting the video game console had been a huge gamble on my part, but after hearing Lex talk about the role video games had played in his life, I'd wanted to