Julien Gregg's Saguaro University Arizona Chronicles - The Story of Jake Miller Chapter 8

 Copyright © 2025 by Julien Gregg 
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The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

Eight

I did flesh out my pirate game. The title of the game changed to “Pirate Seas”. I wrote down that the player could choose to be a pirate or a soldier in the armada. It didn’t matter which one they chose and they could play the multiplayer online version with friends who would either be in Pirate Ships or the armada.

You were given one thousand gold and it took anywhere from three hundred to five hundred to buy your ship, this was for pirate or armada soldier. You had to hire crew and outfit your ship with cannons at least. You could and should buy swords, and there were knives and pistols as well.

To get more money to further outfit your ship or upgrade to another you had to attack ships. Pirates would attack for whatever gold and treasure was on the other ship. They could also steal cannons, cannon balls, swords, knives, and pistols. Armada would take treasure and arrest the pirates on the pirate ship.

This game didn’t have an ending. It didn’t need one as you would constantly be trying to upgrade to the best ship and outfit it to the gills. That was true for pirate and armada. There would be island caves to search for treasure in, treasure maps that can be bought at the bars of Pirate Cove. The game just continues until you think you have the best ship in the fleet of pirate ships or the armada.

The crew of a pirate ship can mutiny if certain requirements aren’t met during the first attack. That is one thousand gold, fifty red jewels, ten blue jewels, and at least one white jewel. If they mutiny the pirates that stand with the captain of the ship will fight those that mutiny. If the captain wins the losers walk the plank and he must hire more crew. If the mutiny is successful the captain walks the plank and the game is over.

I photocopied the sheets and saved one set for faxing to the team and one to give to Evan when he arrived. I was looking forward to this game a bit more than expansions of “Legends Rise” or “Nightmare” though I planned to write those as well. I needed to keep the team working after all. It was correct that “Legends Rise” could carry me with expansion packs and stuff packs. Now “Nightmare” could do the same thing. I knew that but I wanted to create new games as well as perfect the ones I’d already created.

Neal was with me for the inception of “Pirate Seas”. He got co creator status on the box, and he’d get a fat check along with me when the game was released and sold. I had no worries about releasing this game. It was a good game. I was more worried about what Evan would think of it when I handed him the sheets.

He arrived on Monday, February eleventh. I kissed and hugged him, welcoming him to Osage. He rented a hotel room and I stayed with him in that room the day he arrived. I took him to dinner at the local steak house and really talked to him.

“It’s good to see you,” he said as we were seated at the steak house.

“It’s good to see you, too,” I said. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I’m glad too,” he said. “How’s coding going?”

“I told the graphics team to keep working on their graphics and not to rush,” I said. “I’ve been doing frat things and hanging out with Travis and Neal. Neal and I did flesh out the pirate game but I’m going to wait on that one until after the expansion pack comes out and I do one for ‘Nightmare’.”

“That sounds good,” he said. “It’ll keep us working at work. And it frees you up to lead your life.”

“Neal brought it to my attention that I was neglecting everyone and just coding,” I said. “That was a wake up call I needed.”

“Well I didn’t want to be the one to give it to you,” he said.

“But you should have,” I said. “If you think something is wrong between us because I’m coding talk to me about it. Make me talk to you. I will listen if you just keep reminding me to stop worrying about a game. Evan I love you. You’re my heart. I would always put aside what I’m working on if you need to talk.”

“It’s good to hear that,” he said. “I needed to hear it.”

“Well you don’t need to call Neal when you think there’s a problem,” I said. “Just call me. If we don’t communicate with each other then there will be a problem. Did I tell you that I met Jase Felton?”

“You did,” he said. “And so did he.”

“I’m supposed to call him,” I said. “He wants to pick my brain about something.”

“I trust you,” he said. “Jase is gay but he won’t hit on you because he knows you’re with me.”

“Well okay,” I said. “I wasn’t going to meet him in private anyway. I thought we’d go somewhere and have drinks or something.”

“Listen to you,” he laughed. “Not even twenty-one and you’re talking about having drinks with Jase Felton.”

“You know what I mean,” I said.

The waitress came and took our orders. I ordered a T-bone medium rare and Evan ordered the same thing. We got it with a baked potato each and green beans with a dinner roll. She refilled our drinks and then left the table.

“As I was saying,” I said when she was gone. “I planned to meet him in public.”

“I got that,” he said, smiling. “You’re looking out for our relationship.”

“I would never put myself in a position to have you or anyone say something could have gone on between me and another gay man,” I said. “I slept in the same bed with Travis a time or two but we’ve never touched each other sexually. You have nothing to fear from Travis anyway. He’s over the moon for Neal.”

“I know that about Travis,” he said. “Neal told me that Travis had to share your bed in Quincy from time to time when Jacks’s girlfriend and her son came to stay there.”

“That’s true,” I said. “Those were the only times I slept in the same bed with Travis.”

“How long have you known Travis?” he asked.

“Since grammar school,” I said. “We went to the same grammar school and then to middle school, junior high, and then senior high. We’ve played on the same baseball team since T-ball.”

“Wow,” he said. “Talk about all your life. You’ve always been close with him?”

“I wouldn’t say we were close,” I said. “He had his best friend and I had mine. We hung out because we were on the baseball team together. You know, team events and such. But he never singled me out to hang out with and I never singled him out. It was just when everyone was gone and I was the only one of his friends in town that he came to Jacks’s house to see me.”

“Okay,” he said. “I just wanted a reference about your friendship.”

“That’s all it is,” I said. “A friendship.”

“I know that,” he said. “Believe me I wasn’t worried about you and Travis. I wasn’t worried about you and anyone. I was just worried that something was wrong between us. I apologize for going to Neal instead of you with my worries. I should have told you to stop coding and talk to me.”

“You should have,” I said. “But we’ll mark this one up to new situation.”

“Okay,” he said, smiling. “Can we talk about something else now?”

“Sure,” I sad.

“We might be moving,” he said.

“Why would we move?” I asked.

“Because the house I always wanted is available now for sale,” he said. “I’m juggling things around in my finances to figure out if I can afford it.”

“I can help,” I said. “I’m going to live in it too.”

“Okay,” he said. “I wasn’t asking you for money though.”

“I know that,” I said with a smile. “I offered. Tell me about the house.”

“I can do one better,” he said, reaching into his laptop case and handing me a stack of pictures.

The first showed the house from the front. It was a single story bungalow type house with white clapboard siding, a dark shingled roof, black shudders on the windows, and the yard looked nice. The second was of the living room from the door. It looked big and had carpet on the floor. The windows had miniblinds. The third picture was the kitchen with it’s nook and island with a range at one end of the island. A sink at the other end of the island looked nice. The backsplash was nice.

The dining room looked to be about as big as the one he had. This house had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master suite was nice and big. I liked the walk-in closets and the walk-in shower in the master bath. There was a claw foot tub in the bathroom as well. Then there was the back yard with the deck and the garage. I was all for it.

“Make an offer,” I said. “What are they asking?”

“A hundred fifteen thousand,” he said.

“Make an offer that you feel is good enough,” I said. “We can get a loan.”

“That’s what I wanted to do,” he said. “I’ve talked to the bank and they’ll extend the loan. I just need ten percent down if they accept my offer. I’m going to offer them the asking price. I really want this house.”

“Go for it,” I said, smiling. “It’ll be great. Where is it?”

“Bel Air,” he said.

“With the stars?” I asked. “Wait, how much land does this house sit on?”

“An acre or two,” he said. “It’s the one and only like it’s kind in Bel Air.”

“Make the offer,” I said.

“Okay,” he said and then the waitress returned with our food.

We were silent as he cut and tasted our steaks. Mine was perfect so I continued to eat. I put butter and salt and pepper on my potato and then added salt to the green beans. She came and refilled our glasses once again and then left us alone. I ate my meal, commenting on how good it was. Evan agreed.

“So we’re moving to Bel Air,” I said. “And we aren’t even moving into a mansion.”

“No we’re not moving into a mansion but we’ll be inside the gates,” he said.

“Sounds good,” I said. “If you plan it right I’ll come help move.”

“Thanks, Sexy,” he said. I smiled.

“Neal is moving to Los Angeles,” I said. “He and Travis will stay with Neal’s aunt until he finds a place.”

“He can buy my house,” he said with a smile.

“Yes he could,” I said. “I’ll talk to him about it tomorrow.”

“Why not tonight?” he asked.

“Because I’m spending the night with you,” I said.

“Oh,” he said, smiling.

And that’s just what I did. We paid our tab, left the waitress a hefty tip, and got out of there. We went to the hotel and showed our love to each other. Twice. Then we sat naked on the bed and I showed him the sheets for “Pirate Seas.”

“I like the name, by the way,” he said. He read further and ten looked at me. “You did it again, didn’t you?”

“What?” I asked, confused.

“You wrote another hit,” he said.

“Well we’ll see,” I said.

“No I can see it already,” he said. “This game will sell just like the other two.”

“Well ‘Nightmare’ hasn’t been released,” I said.

“But it will be in a week,” he said. “I was supposed to tell you that they’re having a release party at the Viper Room in Los Angeles.”

“Well then I guess I’m driving to Los Angeles and spending the night with you there,” I said.

“It’s a five hour drive,” he said.

“And I drive twenty-three hours from Quincy to Osage all the time,” I said.

“Not next year,” he said.

“No next year I only have to drive five hours,” I said with a smile. “That’ll be like heaven. The truck might thank me for it, too.”

“So ‘Pirate Seas’,” he said. “I like the idea. I really do. When do you want the team to work on it?”

“Not yet,” I said. “We just got done with the expansion. I’ll write another one in a little while. They can work on that. I’ll save ‘Pirate Seas’ until summer.”

“Sounds good,” he said. “We can code it during the summer but they won’t release it until around October.”

“Another Christmas release?” I asked.

“You guessed it,” he said. “That was part of the reason that ‘Legends Rise’ sold so well. Christmas sales.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “And ‘Nightmare’ won’t have those sales. It’ll take off though. I’m sure of it.”

“Oh I am, too,” he said. “Microsoft is too. They think your name on it will sell it. And they’re right.”

“My name huh?” I asked.

“Marketing says that people are all looking for other games by Jake and Neal,” he said.

“Well that’s great,” I said. “I’ll give them ‘Nightmare’ in the spring and ‘Pirate Seas’ in the fall.”

“You could do that every year,” he said.

“I thought you all wanted me to work on expansions for a while,” I said.

“We do,” he said. “But when you graduate you’ll have more time for bigger games.”

“That’s true,” I said. “You know baseball starts in a few weeks. That’s why I can’t stay with you tomorrow night. I have practice from six to nine.”

“Tuesday night practice huh?” he asked.

“You can come and sit in the stands if you want,” I said. “We have practice every Tuesday and Thursday from six to nine. We’ll have games every Friday and Saturday once the season starts.”

“Wow,” he said. “You’ll have no time to code.”

“That’s why I said I’d wait till summer to work on ‘Pirate Seas’,” I said.

“Okay so that shows me that you can prioritize,” he said. “Tonight shows me that you’ll stop coding when I come to see you. What happens when we live together?”

“I don’t know because we don’t currently live together,” I said. “I have stuff at your house but my current residence is Alpha Beta Omega.”

“I get it but really what about after graduation?” he asked.

“We will discuss that when graduation happens,” I said. “We’ll set the rules for our relationship when the time comes. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

“Okay,” he said with a smile. “I was just asking questions. I had no agenda.”

“Okay,” I said and kissed him.

He was at practice the next night. We had enough players on the team to field two teams. We did that and played baseball for practice. Travis hit three homers and I hit two. We made short work of the other players and three hours later practice was over. Coach told us that he’d like to see us play that way in actual games.

“You were brilliant,” Evan said with a big smile when I came over to the stands.

“Thanks,” I said. “Glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” he said.

“I gotta go shower and change,” I said as I backed away.

“Go,” he said.

“Miller who’s in the stands for you tonight?” Coach asked as I passed him.

“Boyfriend, Coach,” I said.

“You don’t want to go pro do you?” he asked seriously.

“No dreams of playing pro ball,” I said. “I’m having fun. If I make it my job it won’t be fun.”

“Well if you’re open about your relationship they won’t draft you anyway,” he said.

“I know that, Coach,” I said. “You got a problem with it?”

“No, Miller,” he said. “I don’t care where you dip your wick. Just no public displays of anything okay?”

“Sure thing, Coach,” I said and headed into the locker room.

“What’d Coach want with you?” John asked as I came into the locker room.

“He wanted to know who was in the stands for me tonight,” I said. “I told him it was my boyfriend and he said I would never play pro ball. I don’t care about that. Didn’t want to play pro anyway.”

“I hear ya,” he said. “Why’d you tell him it was your boyfriend?”

“Why should I lie?” I asked. “It’s two thousand twelve.”

“That it is,” he said.

“We can even get married now,” I said with a grin.

“I know,” he said. “I gotta go, Blake and I are goin’ to get food.”

“Have a good one, John,” I said. “Nice talkin’ to ya.”

“Yeah, nice talkin’ to you too,” he said. “Later.”

“Later,” I said as I made my way to the showers.

“Miller!” cried Reggie. “You hit two home runs tonight.”

“I did,” I said. “It’s always a happy accident when I hit a homer. Isn’t it Travis?”

“Sure is,” he said.

“Well I was impressed,” Reggie said.

“So was I,” I said with a smile.

“Cheeky,” he said with a laugh. He left the showers.

“Was that Evan in the stands tonight?” Travis asked as I got under a spray.

“Yeah,” I said. “We’re gonna go get food after this. You and Neal want to join us?”

“We might,” he said. “I’d have to call Neal.”

“No you don’t,” I said. “He was in the stands too.”

“Really?” he said with a goofy smile on his face.

“Yep,” I said.

“Well I’ll go ask him,” he said and left the showers. 

I lathered up and rinsed and then got my towel and got out of there. I dressed in my faithful jeans and t-shirt and left the locker room. Evan, Neal, and Travis were waiting for me. We went to The Taco Shack.

“You’re gonna miss a practice or game,” Evan said as we sat in the restaurant with our food.

“Why?” I asked.

“Got the call tonight while you were slamming balls at the fence,” he said. “They’re releasing ‘Nightmare’.”

“Okay,” I said. “I won’t miss a practice or a game. When are they releasing it?”

“Saturday,” he said. “Viper Club.”

“Neal and I will put on our club clothes and meet you at the Viper Room on Saturday,” I said.

“That’s right,” said Neal with a big grin. “I can’t believe they’re finally releasing that game. We worked on it a while ago.”

“I know, right?” I laughed.

“Well they’re releasing it,” he said. “The party starts at ten.”

“We’ll be there,” I said. “We’ll be spending the night at your house and driving home on Sunday. Practice is Tuesday and Thursday from six to nine remember? Games don’t start till March.”

And they released “Nightmare” from Jake and Neal on Saturday, February eighteenth. Neal, Travis, and I drove to Los Angeles Saturday morning. We got there in the afternoon. Evan had more news. They had accepted his offer on the house in Bel Air. I was happy. He was happy, and Neal and Travis were happy. Neal was trying to get the money together to buy Evan’s house. He promised to look after it while Neal was in school.

“So we’re going to live here?” Travis asked, looking around the living room.

“We sure are,” he said. “My grandpa said he’ll give me the down payment.”

“Then get your bank in order,” Evan said. “I’m moving out of this house when the other one closes and you can move in.”

“Sounds great,” Neal said. He looked at me. “Thank you so much for making me your partner in gaming.”

“Neal you were with me before I was selling games to Microsoft,” I said. “Of course I made you my partner.”

“It’s because of you doing that one thing that makes me able to buy this house,” he said.

“Well I’m glad I could help you out,” I said.

We got ready for dinner and headed out to a steak house. We had good food and great conversation. Travis was confused about the game release. He asked if the game was in stores now. I told him it was but Microsoft was throwing the release party at The Viper Club later tonight. Gamers would be there. It was under twenty-one night at the Viper Room because most of the people in the club tonight would be under twenty-one.

“That’s wild,” he said. “I thought you guys had to market to an older audience.”

“We did but younger gamers are still playing the game,” I said. “They love games like this.”

“You’re right about that,” Evan said. “The game is flying off the shelves much the way that ‘Legends Rise’ did.”

“That’s great,” Neal said, grinning at me.

“It is great,” I said. “The more they sell the more we make.”

“That’s right,” Neal said.

We left the steak house and went back to Evan’s. He had already started to pack. All of my stuff was in boxes. I changed into my club clothes and we got ready to go to the club. Neal and Travis were wearing what I told them to wear and Evan changed into black clothing too. We left the house at ten o’clock.

There was a gob of press outside the club. They knew something was going on and they wanted photographs. They screamed our names and Neal and I walked over and did impromptu interviews. Then Evan wrangled us into the club where the entire team and Stan and his wife were waiting for us. A bunch of guys in black were sitting at tables with computers on them playing “Nightmare”. It was on the screens around the club.

People were on the dance floor. The DJ was spinning tunes. Stan wanted me over there with MTV so I went over. They talked to me and Neal about the game. How did we come up with it? How long did it take to write it? Who worked on graphics? And what did we think of the sold out release? We answered all of there questions, drank non alcoholic champagne which was just fruit juice with club soda, and had our pictures taken a billion times.

By the time the party wrapped up at two I was dog tired. We left and had to fight the throng of departing traffic but we were finally on our way. We went back to the house and went to bed.

The next morning we were all up and ready for breakfast. Evan made waffles and bacon for everyone and we sat around the kitchen nook eating and talking about the party. I had liked that so many were playing the game. Neal said it was cool to have it playing on the screens above the bar. I told him it was playing on screens all over the club.

Evan took us to Bel Air and let us walk through the house. The key was in the box and he still had the code. We saw all that there was to see. The bedrooms were at the back of the house and the house set a ways from the street. You had to go through a gate just to get to the house. It sat on more than two acres too. I didn’t care it would soon be ours.

We got on the road back to Arizona after hugs and kisses with Evan and his promise to be in Osage soon. Then I drove us back and everyone at the frat wanted to know about the release party. They’d seen us on MTV. We smiled at that and told them we’d had a good time at the release party. They all expressed their jealousy that they weren’t there.

In classes the next day that was all anyone wanted to talk about. Having me in class was a distraction it seemed and I said I was sorry to the professor who told me not to worry about it. It would die down.

Then I was back in the frat and I found all of the graphics for the expansion in the portal and downloaded them to code into the game. I was running through code when Neal came into the room. He asked what I was doing. I told him running through the code for the expansion.

“Is it done?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “If I find no mistakes its done.”

I hadn’t found any by the time I got to the end of the code so I saved it and sat back. I looked at Neal and smiled. He smiled really big. “Legends Rise: Wizards and Warriors” was finished as far as I was concerned. I set it up for CD and then I set it up for Xbox files and emailed it to the team to do what I couldn’t. Evan called and said he’d retrieved the email and would present it in our stead. We thanked him and got off the phone because he was at work.

Baseball season began later in March. We played our first game against Arizona State and won five to three. That was fun. We played another college and lost our shirts. It went that way back and forth for a while. Then we won three in a row and everyone was happy with us but we lost two in a row right after that. Coach was incensed. He yelled at us for nearly two hours after the last game. By the time we left we were all a bit tender from his anger filled hollers. 

“Well he’s not happy,” Travis said as we made our way to my truck. I drove us back to the frat house after the bus had dropped us off at the entrance to the locker room.

“No he’s not,” I said. “It goes back to what I said about there not being stars on the team. We’re good players but we don’t always play well together as a team.”

“We should work on that,” he said.

“Coach has been trying to do something about it for a while now,” I said.

“It isn’t working,” he said.

“No, it’s not,” I said. “We won’t make the playoffs.”

“Oh I know that,” he said. “There was no way in hell we would make those.”

“Well at least we know it,” I said.

“And we’re comfortable with it,” I laughed.

“We sure are,” he said.

We got back to the frat house and no one said anything about baseball. The expansion to “Legends Rise” came out. They were all playing it. It seemed they’d all had advanced orders placed on it. I saw it everywhere I went. It was a nice change from “Nightmare”. That one I was thinking of an expansion pack for lately.

This one would be a different plantation house with some new monsters. Hell hounds, Voodoo people, and the final beast would be Dracula. I’d already started to code it and Neal was currently working on Dracula. I’d sent the game sheets to Microsoft Games and the team was working on different aspects of the game as well. Everyone was working again.

I joined a philanthropic event and bought toys for tots and helped to deliver them to a church that would distribute them. Then I adopted a resident and spent a lot of time with him doing his laundry and getting him things that he wanted. I also sat and talked with him. He had heard our game on the radio and had plenty to say about the fact that our team was not a team. He thought we needed a bonding experience. I told him Coach had already thought of that and had left us on the side of the road and told us to walk back to school.

He said that wasn’t what he was talking about. He never did tell me what he was talking about. He had memory problems. He went from that to asking about his cookies. I reminded him that they were in his hands. He smiled really big at that.

When my time was up with him it was almost time for school to let out for Summer Break. I was studying for finals and Evan came to town and I spent a few nights with him at his hotel room. He told me that they were all coding away at the new expansion. I told him I was when I could. He said it was carrying me to summer. I agreed with that.

Then it was pop quizzes and tests that got us ready for finals. I thought they were designed to drive us crazy because they kept happening. My programming professor asked me if I was planning to use “Nightmare” as my final. I told him no that I had made a game file for the final but it wasn’t to be released. It was only for class. I had to make sure of that. I didn’t want the professor to try to steal it, but I had notes in the code that could identify it as mine if he tried

Then I was just studying for finals. Neal, Travis, John, Blake, Brady, and I were all in the dining room studying everything we could. Neal and I questioned each other about computer facts. Travis and I questioned each other about physics facts. Brady and I questioned each other about marketing stuff. We studied until my eyes crossed and then we studied some more.

In the middle of that studying, there was a home game. Evan was there to watch the home game and I prayed to every deity known to man that we would win that game. It started off all right. Two men went up to bat and they both made bases. I went up to bat and loaded the bases. Then Travis was up and he hit a grand slam. The crowd went insane. 

It happened again soon after that. Three men went up and then Reggie stepped up to the plate and hit another grand slam! It was now eight to nothing Lions. We were playing the mighty Arizona Wildcats. So far they were losing. But the night was young. They finally struck one of us out and then tagged two more. We went to the outfield.

That night we played like a well oiled machine. We didn’t let them get one run before we were back up to the plate. We repeated the first grand slam but then Reggie didn’t hit it out of the park. He drove in a run and the bases stayed loaded. We didn’t hit another home run for the rest of the game. Play moved back and forth. They got a few runs and then we were back up to bat. We loaded the bases just fine but Travis and Reggie weren’t hitting homers. We still won that night Nineteen to Seventeen. Coach was over the moon.

We won that night but our season was over. We hadn’t won enough games to even play in the next match ups. Coach knew it but he told us thank you for going out with a bang. Evan was happy. Neal was happy. The whole school was happy. I guess they’d learned to celebrate the small things.

After a shower with the team and a meeting with the coach where I told him I’d definitely be back next year, I headed out with Evan, Neal, Travis, John, and Blake to celebrate the win. Of course we went to The Taco Shack. They were happy to have half the school in their restaurant. We ordered and yelled back and forth to members of the team and basically made a nuisance of ourselves.

“So your season is over?” Evan asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “We lost more than we won and we won’t be matched up with any of the better teams. This game was scheduled at the beginning of the season or we wouldn’t have played tonight.”

“Damn,” he said.

“It’s all right,” I said. “There’s always next year.”

“We got what a month until finals?” Travis asked.

“Not even that,” I said. “We’re three weeks from finals. The last day of classes is the third of May.”

“That’s wild,” he said. “Where did this semester go?”

“It went,” I laughed. “I’m glad that it’s almost over. That means that next year I’m a senior.”

“Me too,” said Travis.

“We’re all seniors next year,” Blake said.

“Yeah,” Neal and I said at the same time.

“You guys are all crazy,” laughed Evan.

“Yes, we are,” I said with a leer.

“So what’s on the agenda now for gaming?” Travis asked.

“Nothing,” I said. “We’re coding the expansion for ‘Nightmare’ right now.”

“What are you putting in it?” he asked.

“A lot of things,” I said with a smile. “Don’t worry, your boyfriend gets a box of them on release day anyway. I have a box of expansion packs for ‘Legends Rise’.”

“So do I,” Neal said.

“I’m going to give Jacks a copy of the expansion pack and Rod a copy of the new game of ‘Legends Rise’,” I said. “Jacks didn’t want a copy of ‘Nightmare.’”

“I can’t see why not,” Travis said with a snicker. “You know they’re still playing that one in the frat.”

“I know,” I said. “They’ll all be really happy with the expansion that will come out eventually.”

“It’ll come out right around the beginning of summer right?” Evan asked.

“Probably,” I said. “Were not done with the coding yet.”

“I know,” he said.

“Well we’ll see,” I said with a smile.

I spent the night with Evan at the hotel that night. I told him I was spending the night with him instead of studying with the group. He laughed at that. He told me I’d be fine for a night or two. I smiled at this.

We showed our love twice that night. Then we just lay there talking. We talked about which house I was going to in May. He’d already moved over to Bel Air. I was excited about it. He gave me the code to the gate so I could get on the property. The man at the gate that was at the entrance to Bel Air already knew who I was and that I was away at college but he knew I would be back.

I told him that I’d be with him the whole summer but we were both going to Quincy for Christmas and would stay in a hotel. He said he knew that already. We talked about Neal having bought his old house. They could move in this summer. That was wild. Neal owned his own house now. I loved the sound of that. I could own my own house but I lived with Evan.

“Are you upset that you’re not buying your own house?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “You put me on the deed to this one so we own it. What do I need with a house of my own?”

“I was just worried that you might be upset after the way you talked up Neal for having bought his own house,” he said.

“I’m helping you buy the one you’re currently in,” I said. “That’s all of the mine I need.”

“You’re actually helping a lot,” he said. “I didn’t make enough without you to get the loan. You make three times what I make.”

“Does that bother you?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “You’re a designer and I don’t want to be a designer. All of the weight of the games falls on your shoulders. If one bombs you’ll hear Stan yell and scream. He does it every time. It’s why we can’t keep designers most of the time.”

“Well thanks for telling me before it happens,” I said. “That was something I’d like to have known before I signed my name on the contract.”

“He won’t do it to you,” he said. “The partners are bending over backward for you. You’re the young prodigy around there. They think you shit glitter.”

“Well that’s not good either,” I said. “A fall from a pedestal is a long fall.”

“You’re not falling off of it any time soon,” he said. “You’ve got expansion packs for the two hottest Microsoft Games and a new game under your belt. You’ll be the golden boy for a while.”

“Well that’s good,” I said. “I’ve got ideas but I don’t know that they’re all gems.”

“We’ll see,” he said.

“I’d like to give EA Games a run for their money with their sims games,” I said. “I’d like to create something like that but not exactly like it. I’d have goals and an ending for mine but the character base would be a lot like it.”

“You have to be very careful with that one,” he said. “If they smell a copy of any kind they’ll sue. That’s their money maker over there.”

“Well I’ll think on it a bit more,” I said. “What I really want is to code ‘Pirate Seas’.”

“And you will this summer,” he said with a smile.

“I sure will,” I said. “We’re about half way done with the expansion for ‘Nightmare’.”

“Yeah, I’d say about half way,” Evan agreed.

“Well I’ll finish that as soon as I can,” I said. “We’ll start working on ‘Pirate Seas’ as soon as we’re done with the expansion.”

“That sounds about right,” he said. “But let’s make a rule. We code at home only on week days. The weekends are ours.”

“I can live with that,” I said. “But we’ve got to get out of the house and do things.”

“We will,” he said. “I promise.”

“Good,” I said. “That was my biggest complaint with the winter break. We didn’t go anywhere we went to dinner one time and then there were the dinner parties. There were only two. I’d have liked to have seen your friends again. How close are you to your friends if you have nothing to do with them for long periods of time?”

“I had them over to the new house the night after I moved in,” he said. “They helped me move.”

“Well okay but you didn’t even talk to them while I was there, did you?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “I got a little lazy. I’ll do better.”

“I’m not getting on you,” I said. “I’m just saying that I won’t suffer boredom long and I’ll have a dinner party. You see what I’m saying?”

“I do,” he said. “We’ll work on it together.”

“All right,” I said. “When are you leaving tomorrow?”

“As soon as we get up,” he said. “I need to be in the office. I’m not like you. If I’m the only one coding at home I’ll stop and do other things. You get hyper focused and I can’t stay focused. We’re a pair.”

“We certainly are,” I said. “But I like us.”

“I like us, too,” he said and kissed me.

Then we showed love one more time. I was a little worried about him after the third time. He had to be sore in a place no man wants to be sore in when he sits. But we went to sleep after that. When I last looked at the clock on the nightstand it was three AM.

The next day we went out for breakfast and ate at a diner. Then I kissed and hugged him and he got on the road. I drove my truck back to the fraternity house. Neal met me as I came in. He asked about when I wanted the graphics for the hell hounds. I told him as soon as possible. He said he’d get them done by tonight. He’d already done the Voodoo Queen, and the vampire bats. All I needed were the hell hounds.

I went to my room and checked in with Brady who had just woke up. He’d been up late last night studying. That’s just what I came back to do. I grabbed my books and headed to the dining room. Brady and Blake were already there. Travis and Neal joined us and then John made his way to the table. We studied everything that everyone was studying. By the time we left the table at lunch time I knew what everyone was studying.

We went to The Taco Shack for tacos and empanadas. We were back studying until Rose threw us out of the dining room so she could put dinner on the table. We took our books back to our rooms and returned to eat what she cooked. We were the only ones at the table. The others were in their rooms studying everything they could.

After dinner and clean up we went back to studying. This time we used the upstairs common room and sat at the big round table in there. We studied until I was falling asleep in my notes. I went to bed.

The next day was a repeat after classes. There’d been no quizzes or tests in classes that day. It was all review. They knew we were just a week away from the end of classes and exams. They gave us all the review we could stomach. Now I was studying with the group.

We studied until dinner. Then we left everything on the table in the common room and went to have dinner. Once that and the clean up was done we were back at the table studying again. We studied and studied and then I was falling asleep again. I was getting no coding done with all of this studying but I needed it. Neal had given me the hell hounds and I had been meaning to code them in. It was the last thing but I was studying.

That night I slept so hard I nearly wet the bed. I got up and went to the bedroom and heard Brady muttering in his sleep. I shook him and woke him up. He thanked me and then went back to sleep. So did I.

The next day I had classes of more review. We studied but this time we did it in the library. We were looking up facts and figures all over the library. We studied there until it closed and then we went home and studied new notes or new additions to old notes. We studied until I was falling asleep again.

I keep saying that we studied. It’s just like I coded but we studied every night all day long. I was ready for my finals when they came. Classes had been out for a few days and now we were doing finals. I had two that day and sailed through them. The studying had paid off. I had two the next day and sailed through those thanks to the massive studying I’d done. Then I had two on the next day and they were a bit harder. I got through them though.

I was done with finals and could leave but I was taking Neal and Travis with me. Neal was going to buy a car in Los Angeles. I had to wait for those two. So I coded in the hell hounds and ran through the code. I was looking for mistakes and found about ten. I smoothed that all out and then had it ready. I emailed it to Evan and had him present it for me.

Then they were done with finals and we were all packing. I packed up almost everything that I had at school. Then we were packing it to my truck. We took off about nine o’clock that morning. We pulled into Los Angels at three o’clock. We’d made good time.

I dropped Neal and Travis at Neal’s house. I promised to call them later and to pick Neal up for work in the morning. Then I headed to Bel Air. The guy at the gate let me through and I punched my code into the gate at the house and drove up the circle drive. I parked in the garage and then started to lug my stuff into the house. Evan was at work.

I got it all in and put away. I even got the computer put together and working. I had the internet and I was happy. When I’d broken down all of the boxes and thrown them in the garbage bin outside I was tired. I went back in the house and started on dinner. Evan would be home any time and I wanted him to come home to a hot meal.

I made fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy with corn on the cob. I even made biscuits. He came in and smelled the air. Then he was smiling as I made him a plate and told him to sit at the table. I made him a plate and took it to him. I even got him a glass of iced tea to go with it. Then I made my own plate and iced tea. I went into the dining room and sat down.

“When did you get here?” he asked.

“Bout three,” I said. “We made good time.”

“I’m glad you’re home,” he said.

“Glad to be home,” I said. “If I’d have studied another day I think my brain would have melted. Did you get the expansion?”

“I presented it today,” he said. “They especially loved the title. ‘Nightmare: Hounds of Hell’ rolled off the tongue.”

“I thought they’d like that,” I said. “When are they releasing it?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “They’ll either call you or email you about that.”

“Well they don’t throw parties for expansion packs,” I said. “There’s the whole new edition for the Xbox but they won’t throw a party for that either.”

“Nope,” he said. “This is good by the way.”

“Thank you,” I said. “So I have to pick up Neal tomorrow. He’s buying a car tomorrow after work.”

“Sounds good,” he said. “Just leave a bit before me and I’ll see you at work.”

“Works for me,” I said. “It’s so good to be out of school!”

“I bet,” he said. “You said you studied almost until your brain melted?”

“Sure did,” I said. “I studied the way I code.”

“Oh brother,” he said.

“Others in the frat got in on it too,” I said.

“I’ll bet,” he said. “They didn’t want you showing them up.”

“Something like that,” I said.

“Well what do you think of the house?” he asked.

“I love it,” I said. “I walked through the whole thing looking for the office. I found it but I’d been in every other room by then. You picked the room furthest from our room. I think that’s a great thing by the way.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“Well it’s time to start coding ‘Pirate Seas’,” I said.

“Yes, it is,” he said. “You can give your sheets to the team tomorrow.”

“I’m planning on it,” I said.

“They’re all wondering what comes next,” he said. “They’ve been working on personal projects since you got all of the coding for the expansion.”

“I’ve been thinking on another expansion for ‘Legends Rise’,” I said.

“Have you?” he asked.

“Yeah, something to do with Hercules and the titans,” I said.

“That sounds cool,” he said.

“Yeah but I’d bring in Pegasus and winged apes,” I said. “Some other things, too.”

“What kinds of powers will the titans have?” he asked.

“God like powers,” I said. “Wind and Rain for one, Fire and Battle for another, and Love and Passion for the third.”

“So you’re going with natural mythology?” he asked.

“Pretty much,” I said. “I want to see what they come up with in graphics for all of these things.”

“Are the titans going to fight on the side of good or are they fighting the titans?” he asked.

“They’re fighting them, but I’ll give them a god like character to play too,” I said.

“Sounds good,” he said. “When do you want to start coding that?”

“Not until ‘Pirate Seas’ is done,” I said.

“Okay,” he said. “You’re just thinking of things to keep the team working.”

“I am,” I said. “But I figure three or four expansions for ‘Legends Rise’ and the same for ‘Nightmare’ and then they’ll be run into the ground. It’ll be time for a new game. I should have an idea that won’t get us sued by then.”

“Well now I talked to legal about what we talked about and they said you just can’t call it anything with the word sims in it,” he said.

“Well I wouldn’t,” I said. “I’m not stupid.”

“Did you ever call Jase?” he asked.

“I did but we never got together,” I said. “My schedule and his didn’t mesh well.”

“Well I would have thought he’d make the time to get together with you,” he said.

“I thought he would, too,” I said. “But he didn’t. I’m home now, though!”