Hita - Anita Claire Page 0,11
an idea. I navigate over to an Indian dating site. As I fill out the online form, I realize that the problem I have is I know how Indian guys think. It’s almost the opposite of American guys. On the first or second date they’ll ask me if I plan on getting married. If I tell them I’m only twenty-three and want to date, they’ll consider me a “bad” girl. We’ll date, but they won’t introduce me to their family. If I tell them yes, I want to get married, they’ll have me meet their family and friends on the next date, and we’ll be on the fast track to a wedding. This depresses me. As I stare at the form, I realize I want to be like Meredith and Juliette. I want a long term boyfriend and no pressure to marry. Closing down the dating site’s window, I figure if I haven’t found someone by the time I turn thirty, I’ll get back on the site and find myself a husband.
I lean back in my chair looking up at the ceiling. I feel confused and perplexed about Gray. I figured with his job this summer in New York and going to school in Berkeley, he wasn’t up for a girlfriend. I thought there was more of a connection than just an afternoon hookup. I never did tell Juliette. What was I going to say? My mind then moves to Brandon. It feels like ages since we broke up. In December it will be a year. I never told my parents about him, they would have freaked out. Unfortunately, Brandon was a lot more fun when we were dating long distance via computer games than when he lived in town. After he graduated and moved back to Palo Alto, our relationship fell apart. Mostly it was because I was busy studying nights and weekends. Brandon wanted more of my time than I could give. Now that I’m working, I wonder if it will be easier to have time for a boyfriend.
Chapter 10 – The Gamers Life
Kristi, my roommate, and I are working out great. We both have similar schedules, mostly because we’re both gamers. We enjoy getting home from work and playing on our computers. We both laugh and share our experiences. After helping Kristi design a rather interesting world on her Minecraft server, she opens it up in survival mode to a bunch of her friends. I’ve never met them in real life, but they sure are sneaky online. We’ve been spending the last few nights battling them and the creepers. Even though everyone has an online name, I can usually identify the guys from women. Guys spend most of their time blowing things up rather than acquiring resources and maintaining their health. They also seem to allow themselves to be more open for attacks. After a few days of all the activity, her world is starting to look like Afghanistan. Kristi takes her server out of survival mode so we can put it back together.
With Stephan back in town, and the local princesses all partnered up with boyfriends, I’m relieved Kristi is single, since it gives me someone to hang out with. Saturday evening Kristi invites me to join her as she heads out to Game Kastle. It’s located in a non-descript strip plaza with rows of games on shelves and a glass counter in the back. Over the counter is a sign with the listing of different board games being played in their break out rooms.
Kristi smiles and gives me a wink as she hands the guy at the counter a couple of tickets and tells me, “I’ll cover you for your first time.”
Walking through the doorway to my right, we pass through a number of basic rooms, the types with gray industrial carpeting, white walls, and acoustic tile ceilings. Each room has about ten folding tables lined with folding chairs. On the walls are game posters. By each of the doors is a whiteboard with the name of the game being played marked in colorful lettering. Next to the whiteboard is a table with extra game pieces and boards needed for playing that room’s game.
As we look at each of the boards Kristi asks, “Which game do you want to play?”
I shrug.
With a confident air she says “they’re all board games. I have a Warhammer 40K set with me. Let’s play that.”
We sit down at a table as Kristi takes her backpack off and starts emptying