I have no doubt it was for this reason, in addition to my position in line that she chose me. Even suggesting she had a choice in the matter was giving this frothing line of despair far too much credit, but I've always had a generous side.
"Are all these people here for that new game?" she asked, feigning ignorance of why this mass of human awkwardness wrapped itself around the side of a building. It was a classic tactic to separate one from a group that you believe yourself socially a notch or two above. I saw right through it but I'd entertain her none the less, "it sure is" I responded, keeping my cards close to my chest.
A subtle girlish stamp of the foot, a pouting sigh "I really don't want to wait all the way at the end" she said, naturally leaving me an avenue to come up with a suggestion on her part, far be it for this prissy little thing to cut in line of her own accord.
"They're not gonna let you just cut in line" I told her. Angry nerds were vicious creatures, though scrawny of limb, they are truly savages, resorting to pulling of hair, to biting and scratching. "Maybe if you pretend to be my girl they won't mind so much"
Her eyes lit up under the glow of the outdoor lights, wasting no time in cuddling up next to me. I was welcome for the warmth of her slender figure; I slid my hand around her midsection the palm of my large man hands resting on her toned midsection. Her dark brown hair had a fruity scent as if she recently washed. In all it was not an unwelcome violation of my personal space at all. There were several askance looks from various nerds in front and behind us, and in true couple nature we shared laughs about them as the moon continued its ascent and we awaited the doors opening.
In what seemed like no time at all since her arrival, the sliding doors opened. A slow shuffle began as the line entered the store, hand in hand with the girl whose name I didn't know but played her part perfectly. It wasn't long before we stood before the cashier, his eyes covetously glued to the angelic smile of what was now my girl. But upon getting a better view of her myself under the store lights, I concluded that I couldn't blame him in the least, being a self admitted hard marker she was a 9 on my scale.
But our venture to claim His & Hers Collector's Editions of SC2 came to a halt. She hadn't pre ordered. I watched the cashier's heart break before my eyes as he relayed the information to 'my' girl, there were only enough collectors’ editions for pre orders. "I guess I'll try another store tomorrow" she said, her brilliant brown eyes looking like those of a wounded puppy.
To see this girl unhappy was, for any other man, to feel the urge to climb mountains and swim across oceans to get her what she wanted, but tonight it wasn't to be. We walked hand in hand to my car. I began to wonder when exactly the charade would end, we had accomplished all we set out to do after all. A large part of me wanted to go home and play my game, an even larger part of me wanted to re-enact what happened early beta when you told a spine crawler to attack a spore crawler, with our respective reproductive organs playing the part of the zerg defensive structures of course.
"Hey" she said "you should let me come over and unbox your game at least" a twinkle in those brown eyes. A blind man could have seen it was time to make a move. I told her that I was a fair man if I was anything, and that if she got to unbox something of mine I should get to unbox something of hers. A playful giggle from her and two car doors slamming shut marked my triumphant exit from the store parking lot.
Over a bottle of Calvados we did our respective unboxings and explorations. I won't bore you with the details, but amidst the contents of a Collector's Edition SC2 box we made passionate love, as though we were still a couple despite never knowing each others names. I could hear the crumpling of paper, the art book perhaps, but drunk on alcohol and lust I didn't care, at one point something hard was pressing into my back, I reached around to find the SC usb, teasing her glorious body with it, sanctifying it through our love making.
This morning I awoke alone, naked on my bed. She must have left during the night. I was too drunk to notice. I looked around my room, an empty bottle and my clothes strewn around, but no sign of her. I shrugged, it was perhaps better this way, I could play SC2 uninterrupted now. It was only then I realized she was not the only thing missing. She had taken it. I was enraged. I wanted to break things, to destroy something. I looked around for something, anything to break. My eyes settled on the night stand, where I saw the lone item from my collector's edition that she left behind for me. A guest pass, upon it the image of a terran marine, with a red lipstick kiss.
I sat on the bed, head buried in my hands, and I am not ashamed to admit I wept.