Read Boy Meets Geek for Free Online

that he was right. That I was no good. That I would never amount to anything and I was wasting my time in a creative writing program.
    It was a dark part of me that I tried to ignore. It was a dark part of me that I chased away by playing Tales of Elassa and enjoying my time in there where I could get positive feedback. And yet that dark part of me always whispered that I was just running away from reality. That I was just seeking approval from people who were going to be nice to me no matter what because they were my friends.
    Luckily I managed to get out of the English building before the waterworks really started. Then there was no stopping it. I’m sure I got a few weird glances from people watching the crazy girl walking down the sidewalk crying. Not that it was entirely odd to see that sort of thing on campus, but I hated that I was the source of the spectacle.
    I needed to get home. I needed some comfort.

5: Comfort
     
    Comfort meant one thing. I felt that familiar rush of endorphins as I sat down at my computer. As I double clicked on the icon to log into Tales of Elassa. The familiar violin music washed over me and it felt as though I was immersing myself in a cold pool of water. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Typed in my username and password and then I was in.
    I became Maia, high elf priestess of the Hokuten Order. A high elf priestess who was respected. A high elf priestess who was considered one of the best role-playing scenario writers on the server. Here was a place where my talent for genre fiction was definitely appreciated!
    Fuck that asshole Ryan! And yet at the same time that voice was whispering that I was just trying to escape reality.
    Whatever. I’d escape reality.
    A beep. A ding. I looked up in curiosity. My message icon was blinking on my UI. Now that was interesting. Most people who I knew in game didn’t play during the day. Sure the server was online twenty-four hours a day unless it was down for maintenance, but at the same time I tended to only have friends who played at night because that was when I was on. My understanding was the place was pretty sparsely populated during the day when most of the US population was at work or at school or doing other things that people with normal lives did.
    The only people on right now were mostly the unemployed, kids who didn’t have to be at school for whatever reason, or crazy girls who’d decided to cut out of their creative writing seminar a half hour early because they were upset about a bad comment they got on one of their stories.
    I clicked the icon and a message popped up. Immediately I felt my pulse racing. Immediately I felt blood pumping through my body, coursing behind my ears. I felt my nipples harden and strain out towards the computer.
    Him. Conlan. He was on, and he just sent me a message.
    “How’s it going?”
    Three simple words, and yet I found myself racking my brain trying to think of a way to respond to them. I desperately tried to think of something that would make me seem witty, clever, a sophisticated woman of the online gaming world, and yet my words failed me. I found myself simply responding honestly.
    “Pretty fucking terrible actually. How about you?”
    “Sorry to hear that,” he said. “Want to talk about it?”
    The words started flowing from my fingers before I had time to think about it. This was a complete stranger, and yet something about his concern touched me. Maybe it was because I was vulnerable in the moment, but I found myself explaining everything. My class. How they’d reacted to me. Some of my insecurities.
    All that poured out onto the screen. It was the first time I’d ever talked to anybody about any of this. It was the first time I’d gotten any of this off of my chest. Samantha was usually the only person I had in-depth conversations about these sorts of things, and that was typically talking about whatever guy we were dating that week. Well, whatever guy she was dating that