his bandanna around his neck, going for the cowboy look. I handed them both ammunition belts and gun holsters, which they put on gleefully. Wow, they were ENJOYING this. Meanwhile, as they transformed into sexified hotties, I looked like a fucking doomsday loon. But if the talent was happy, that made me happy.
Wil asked, “So what exactly are we supposed to do again?”
Nolan chimed in. “Besides look hot and studly?”
“Yes, besides that,” Wil snorted.
“I need you two to scan the badges of anyone who even looks remotely interested in our game. Or anyone you manage to speak with. We need to collect names for our launch newsletter.”
Asher tapped me on the shoulder. “Boss, we have a problem. Our internet isn’t working so we can’t get the trailers to display on the monitors.” I looked over at Damon, our IT guru, who sat there texting and avoiding eye contact. Not really the problem-solving, roll-up-your-sleeves type.
Asher added, “Damon said he tried everything and claims it’s the TV monitor, not the connection. But the monitors worked in the office when we tested them last night.”
Nolan came over. “We had these same monitors the last place I worked. Let me fiddle with them.” There was nothing more distracting than watching a brainy stripper fix my mechanical problems.
Wil joined him and after a few minutes of troubleshooting together, they came back over to me with a solution. Nolan asked, “Does anyone have a spare Ethernet cable? The Wi-Fi adapter isn’t working right, but the monitor has an Ethernet port, and that might do it.”
I walkie-talkied Asher, who had gone MIA for a short while, and asked him to see if the show’s equipment vendors had an Ethernet cord we could rent. He came back shortly with a thirty-foot cord. Wil flicked on the monitor and the trailer appeared on the screen, perfectly clear. We all hugged and high-fived one another, like they did in all those NASA movies when they successfully land a space shuttle after a major equipment malfunction.
“Thank you,” I managed to say to Nolan.
He placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “All’s forgiven in the coffee mug war, right?”
Electricity from his touch rippled down my shoulder and through my arm. “You’re debt-free. And now I owe YOU,” I said with a smirk.
“Great.” He grinned and rubbed his hands together, his prickling warmth still imprinted on my shoulder.
“Oh shit. Here they come.” Wil’s eyes widened.
I looked behind me to see what spooked him. A tidal wave of gamer geeks headed our way, flowing in the direction toward our booth.
“Ready?” I asked Asher.
“Yup.”
The first wave of gaming enthusiasts appeared and immediately clamored for demos. Wil and Nolan soon became the crowd favorite of college girls who took selfies with them and posted the pictures on social media. I mean, it made sense. Who wouldn’t want a picture with two cosplaying strippers? That was the whole point of having them there.
After a short while, pitching our game wasn’t even necessary. Barraged with an unending flow of questions from members of the press and general admission game enthusiasts, our frontline team kept the answers rolling.
“Is this the game that people wanted to cancel?”
“Didn’t they get enough signatures on the petition to fire you?”
“Can I get an autograph and a picture?”
“What swag do you have?”
And of course, the most popular question, “Where’s the nearest bathroom?”
As we scanned badges, gave out branded Nerf guns, and took swigs of water from talking so much, the crowds just kept coming. As it neared lunchtime, though, the flow finally began to die down as the showgoers left the building to get food truck fare.
Asher said, “Hey, I really need to go take a piss. Sorry, I mean go to the bathroom. Wow, it’s already been a long day, and it’s only noon. I’ll tap out our dynamic stripper duo to take their bio break when I get back.”
Wil and Nolan were still killing it on the floor, even with the lunchtime intermission. Anyone who walked by, both men and women, young and old, looked on with curiosity. Somehow, at some point, both of them ended up with body glitter all over their chests. Their pecs glistened in the indoor light as they spoke to various gaming constituents about the merits of the game.
While I took a water break, I glanced over a few times at Nolan. At one point he caught me staring and grinned at me. I smiled and hastily walked a loop around the booth, mortified that I’d