Julien Gregg's Saguaro University Arizona Chronicles - The Story of Jake Miller Chapter 6

 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.

Six

We were gearing up for New Years and Evan told me we were going to a party. I was okay with that. He told me that Microsoft threw a party for the staff every New Year’s Eve. He said I couldn’t drink at the party which was fine with me. All I ever drank was wine with dinner.

First we had another day at the office. I held a status meeting and got the status report. They were done with their monsters and were moving on to characters in graphics. Coders were still working on monsters. That was fine with me. I went into my office and began to code. I coded until lunch and then got some of the pizza that was ordered and a soda from my fridge and went back to coding. I was interrupted when a big wig knocked on my door.

I looked up at the fifty-something guy with salt and pepper hair and glasses that made his dark eyes larger than they were. He was wearing a pin striped suit with black loafers on his feet.

“Jake you got a minute?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said. “What can I do for you?”

“You’re working on a new game, right?” he asked.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, I’m Ron Bridgeman,” he said. “I’m head of marketing.”

“I have my own marketing team in the other room,” I said. “Why do you want to know if I’m working on a new game?”

“Because we have to market it,” he said.

“And I have a marketing team in the other room,” I said. “I don’t understand why you’re coming to me with marketing concerns when I have them on my team.”

“He’s fishing,” said Julia as she came to stand behind him. “Don’t tell him anything.”

“I wasn’t going to,” I said. “I’m just trying to figure out why he’s here.”

“He wants information to take back to the partners,” she said. “You demanded exclusivity and privacy it’s in your contract. He can’t stand here and try to talk you into divulging game secrets. Send him on his way.”

“Julia you work for me,” he said.

“No, I work for Jake,” she said. “I’m employed by Microsoft Games not you.”

“I’m going,” he said and walked away. Julia gave me a smile. I smiled back.

Then Evan was talking with Julia outside my office. He stuck his head in and said, “What the hell?”

“His name was Ron Bridgman and he wanted to know what I was working on,” I said. “He said they had to be able to market what I was working on and he needed to know. I told him no. Julia told him no. Then he said she worked for him and she said she worked for me but was employed by Microsoft Games and not him.”

“They’re trying to pull this shit because you’re young,” he said. “Don’t tell them anything you got exclusivity and privacy in your contract. Make them remember that. If he comes back call Stan.”

“I’m not calling Stan for a situation like this,” I said. “That’s what a young person would do, Evan. I ran him off. Now I know he won’t be the last but I’ll run the others off too. I can handle myself.”

“You sure can,” he said with a smile. I smiled back and he left. I went back to coding.

I coded until it was time to leave. No others had come snooping to see what I was working on so I was happy. I closed out of the program and powered down the computer. Then I filled out the in-office paperwork and followed Evan out the door.

We drove home in silence and I was thinking of the incident in my office the whole way home. Should I be upset about them wanting to spy on me or should I take it as a compliment? I wasn’t sure but I wasn’t stupid enough to give an inch. Evan was right I had exclusivity and complete privacy to work on what I chose. If they didn’t like it then I’d scrap the project and go in a new direction. It was as simple as that.

We got to the house and inside and then Evan kissed me. I kissed him back and then we were making out like love sick teenagers. When we came up for air we laughed. I told him that I loved him and he told me he loved me. Then we let go of each other and headed in to change clothes.

I called Jacks to check in with him and see how he was doing. He complained that the house would be empty when I took Travis to school with me. I told him that Lisa would move in at the beginning of summer and he’d have a full house once again. He just said that he couldn’t wait. I asked him how he managed before I came to live with him. He told me he didn’t remember. I laughed at that and got off the phone.

Then I went to help Evan make dinner. He was making pork chops that had marinated all night. With those he was making crispy baked potatoes and corn. It wasn’t an elaborate meal but it would work. We got that done and sat in the dining room eating it.

“Well we work tomorrow and then the party is tomorrow night,” he said. “You ready for it?”

“Where’s it being held?” I asked.

“The Holiday Inn,” he said. “It’s a bit away from here but that’s the place they hold the New Year’s and Christmas parties every year. We’re one of the only companies that throw a New Year’s party.”

“I realize that,” I said. “I’m ready for the party I guess. I can’t drink there so it isn’t anything to worry about.”

“Nice attitude,” he said. “You’ll meet a lot of people at the party, people who have been wanting to meet you.”

“Great,” I said. “Get them all out of the way at one time.”

“That’s the idea,” he said. “Be prepared for all them to ask what you’re working on. They’re not snooping that’s the way they greet each other.”

“I’ll remember that,” I said.

“You’re still mad about Ron aren’t you?” he asked.

“Not really,” I said. “I mean that was irritating but it didn’t really piss me off.”

“Good,” he said. “It’s going to happen from time to time. You’re the youngest designer in the place and they’re all curious about what comes next from you.”

“They’ll see it when it’s done and I present it to Microsoft,” I said. “What happens if they don’t like the game?”

“They won’t like it but they’ll see dollar signs when they view it,” he said. “They never like any game that comes out of the games division. We never worry about it. Some of the best games come out of there and they don’t like them.”

“Well damn,” I said. “If they don’t like anything how does anything get done?”

“Marketing,” he said. “They know a good game when they see it. We’ll have ‘Nightmare’ up on the screens as we work on it. Dave and Julia will see what we’re working on and know what the value of it is before we present it to the board.”

“Well that makes me feel better,” I said. “I guess I’ve just got to learn the ins and outs of this business and where we stand in the Microsoft food chain.”

“We’re not quite at the bottom of that chain but we’re close,” he said.

I was starting to wonder if I’d made the right decision about working for Microsoft. I’d thought it was the mother of the gaming companies. Now I find out that the board won’t like anything we make and it’s up to the marketing team. Well I could live with that but with spies and the dislike I was feeling a little off about it if I was honest.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

“Why I’m working for a company like this one,” I said.

“You can’t quit though,” he said.

“I know I have a contract and I won’t break it,” I said. “But if I don’t feel better about working there when my contract is up I won’t renew.”

“It’s a good place to work with excellent benefits and perks out the ass,” he said. “I felt about like what you’re feeling when I first started too and I’m still there.”

“That says something,” I said. “I’ll give it a real chance. I’ve been happy there until you told me that the board won’t like my game.”

“Well it could be worse,” he said. “The could be the deciding factor on whether your game is released or not.”

“Well I have chosen to look at this way,” I said. “It’s a good job and it allows me to live with my lover in his beautiful home and be happy.”

“Well when you put it that way it’s a great job for you,” Evan said with a big grin on his face.

We finished eating and I helped him clean the dishes. We talked back and forth about the perks of the job. Working from home whenever I wanted was a plus. Having complete authority over my work and what I was working on was another. The vacation time at six months was great and the free games were a big plus. It seemed that if I worked on them or not everyone in the gaming division got free copies of each game released by Microsoft.

There were a lot of perks that made the job bearable but I was still upset about the fact that the board would hate each game I made and the marketing team would decide if it was marketable or not. That didn’t sit right with me but I suppose it didn’t matter. As long as my games were released I shouldn’t care who made the decision.

But they were expecting big things from me so that meant I’d have to make these massive games every time. That was fine with me. Those were the games I liked to play the most so I’d go with it. I just hoped I didn’t run out of ideas.

“You’ve been quiet for a while now,” he said. “Are you still festering about the board?”

“No the thing about them expecting bigger and better from me each time I come out of the coding room,” I said. “I can do those massive games but I don’t guarantee that each of them will be the blockbuster that ‘Legends Rise’ was.”

“They don’t expect that to happen again,” he said. “That was the holy grail of game design. It was a once in a lifetime event. You might get the same deal with ‘Nightmare’ but I doubt it. You’re going to have to market this one to an older audience. They’re a bit less forgiving when it comes to glitches and the like.”

“Well ideally there would be no glitches for them to bitch about,” I said with a smile. “If my coders would do their very best we’d have no glitches.”

“Now you sound like Stan,” he said. “The truth of the matter is there will be glitches. Something in that game won’t work the way its supposed to. You’ll either catch it before we release it or you’ll have to put out another edition or a patch for the PC version. I’m assuming you always want a PC version.”

“Of course I always want a PC version,” I said. “I write them for the PC. It’s the rest of you that get them ready for the Xbox.”

“Did you see in your email that their toting your game over to other systems?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “I get the contracts from the sales to other companies with my standard demands. No one works on the game but me and my team, I reserve the right to release expansions and new editions at any time, and I alone will make that decision.”

“That’s good that you got all of that in the contracts,” Evan said.

“I’m protecting my games,” I said. “They told me that it wouldn’t be a problem. But Playstation and Nintendo all get their game they just can’t make changes to it.”

“Good,” he said. “Because they might have tried otherwise.”

“I know,” I said. “I’ve played games on each system and they were different slightly on each system. Now I know that some program code will have to be stripped so that it isn’t an exclusive game but they don’t have to touch the core coding.”

“That’s right,” he said. “We’ve done it to other games to bring them to Xbox.”

“I don’t want the changes in ‘Legends Rise’,” I said.

“Well you made sure there won’t be any changes to ‘Legends Rise’,” he said. “That was a good thing. You really seem to have a head for this business. What are they teaching you that they didn’t teach me at Saguaro?”

“I doubt they’re teaching me anything that they didn’t teach you,” I said with a smile. “Thank you for the compliment though.”

“You’re welcome,” he said.

We sat before the television and watched mindless programming for a while. Then we were cuddled up together on the couch and he was nuzzling my neck. I let him for a while. Then I groped him and found him to be hard. I got up and took his hand and led him to the bedroom where I could show him just how much I loved him.

The next morning we got up, showered, dressed, had breakfast and were out the door in a timely fashion. We got to the office a little early so we had a bit of time before the others would arrive. When they did I got the status meeting out of the way and talked about the party a bit. I stressed that this game was a secret and we couldn’t tell anyone who asked what it was or that we were working on anything of importance at this stage. Let them continue to wonder.

Then I was coding with the rest of them. I was coding the core game files and they were working on the rest of the monsters. We coded until lunch and then we ordered in Chinese for everyone. I had Sesame Chicken and a soda. I went right back to coding as I ate. I coded until it was time to go home.

Now that seems to be all that I say about that. Other things happen in the office that I don’t mention. Someone gets up and goes for coffee or water all of the time. Sometimes I get up and get another soda out of my fridge. I even left a note to fill it again. But all I talk about is coding so bear with me.

We left and went to get ready for the party. We put on dress pants and polo shirts. I had my black dress shoes with me so that was a plus. We had a bite to eat and then headed for the Holiday Inn. We weren’t the first to arrive but we weren’t the last either. I met so many people when I walked into that event room that I can’t remember who they all are.

I finally got to see Stan again. He shook my hand and called me his most promising employee. I just smiled and let it go. He asked if I was working on a new game and I said that we were working and that’s all I was going to say. He smiled at me and let me go after that.

Then I stood with Julia and Ted for a while. We talked about how much they all wanted to know what I was working on. We laughed about it and I watched them both drink quite a lot. I wondered about that when I was pulled away by Evan to be introduced to another person I’ll never remember from the party.

There was music and dancing, there were drinks and food, and there were people all over the room. I met several but as I said I don’t remember a single one of them. I’d be stuck remembering their faces and not their names. It was a horrible thing but it was what it was.

We left the party at three in the morning after counting down the New Year. It was twenty – twelve now and I was so tired I was almost asleep on my feet. Thank God we had today off.

When we got home there was no showing of love. There was a quick strip and a naked sleep. Late in the morning I woke up to breakfast in bed. It was pancakes with bacon. I also got a cup of coffee and a glass of juice. I kissed him for his labors. Then I ate. As soon as I was done I got up and headed for the shower. I got dressed, found that the tray had been removed from the bedroom, and went to the living room where I found Evan having coffee. I refilled my cup and sat down with him.

“Sorry if I’m boring,” he said. “I live in one of the biggest and brightest cities in the world but I’m a homebody.”

“So am I,” I said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll live here and have plenty of time to see what there is to see.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I’m tired.”

“Tired?” I asked.

“No I mean I’m tired a lot so I don’t go to all of the best places in the city much,” he said. “I spend all day at work and sometimes I work at home and then there’s no time for the hubbub.”

“I hear you,” I said. “Don’t worry about it. I’m doing fine.”

We sat and watched television. I was fine with that. I mean eventually I’d have to get up and do something but right now I was fine to sit there with him. He kept thinking that he was being a bad host but in truth he was fine. I wasn’t really itching to drive all over the city. Besides it was New Year’s Day. Everything should be closed.

I was a little put out by his request that I not code when we were at home. I coded best without distractions. I got that in the office but it would be better to code in the comfort of my own home. But this wasn’t my home yet. It wouldn’t be until the summer after next.  That’s when I was actually moving in. Yeah I’d have all of the stuff I don’t take to school here at Evan’s house but I wouldn’t have actually moved in until after graduation.

It didn’t matter. He called it “our house” anyway. I just thought of things a little differently. It wasn’t a point to argue and I hated to argue anyway. I just let him call things the way he saw them and I went along or I didn’t. It was simple really. I liked making him happy.

After I’d had enough television I went in the office and put away all of my stuff. I checked out my action figures and saw that they were still in their packages and I was happy about that. I put my books on the bookshelf. I put my computer program discs in the disc holder. I put my laptop on the desk and then I started in on the boxes.

Inside the first box were all of the little things I’d kept over the years. My bean bag bear, my model T, my ribbons from baseball, my plastic key chain I made in school, and my Ribik’s Cube tissue box. The second had books and games for the Xbox in it. I put them on the second shelf. The third box was clothing that I didn’t take to school with me. I got it all out of the box and took it to the washing machine and washed everything. Then I went back to the office to break down the boxes.

Evan came in as I was breaking down the boxes. He watched me for a moment and then came in and sat at his desk. He looked at all of the books on the shelves that had been empty and all of the games and at my desk.

“Movin’ in?” he asked with a smile.

“Workin’ on it,” I said, smiling back. “I’ve got clothes in the washer.”

“Well good,” he said. “It’s about time.”

“Oh is it?” I asked, giving him a look.

“Yes,” he said. “You’ve been here almost seven days already.”

“And I’ve been a bit busy,” I said.

“You have at that,” he said. “What else is there to unpack?”

“Just the stuff I brought with me,” I said. “The Xbox will go in either the living room or the bedroom, the clothes all go in this dresser or your closet, and the other stuff in the box can stay in them for a bit. It’s just the action figures.”

“You can put those in any room you’d like,” Evan said.

“I might put them in here,” I said. “I don’t know.”

“Well there are places for them in the living room,” he said. “They sent you two sets?”

“Three,” I said. “There’s one at school, one at the office, and one here.”

“Wow,” he said. “Perhaps they thought you’d give a set away.”

“They thought wrong,” I said. “I’m keeping them in the places where they are. When I graduate I might give a set to Rod but I don’t know.”

“What about Neal?” he asked.

“He got his own sets of figurines,” I said. “He was the graphic artist on the game.”

“Yes, he was,” Evan agreed. “I just didn’t know if they sent him any.”

“Oh yeah,” I said. “He got a chunk of money for the books and the action figures.”

“You didn’t?” he asked.

“I got a chunk of money for all of that and more,” I said. “They paid me a chunk of money for the game itself. Neal didn’t get that money.”

“And he shouldn’t have,” he said. “He didn’t code a thing on it.”

“No but I paid everyone who coded on it but you,” I said.

“I don’t want your money,” he said. “I did it to help you out. That’s what we do. Help each other out.”

“Yeah? How do I help you?” I asked.

“I was lonely,” he said. “You help with that.”

“But I’m going back to school,” I said.

“And I’m going to start working remotely from time to time so I can be in Arizona.”

“Ah,” I said with a smile. Then I kissed him.

“I get kisses for telling you that I’m going to work remotely to be in Arizona with you?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “I was wondering how I was going to spend adequate time with you while I’m in school.”

“Well you’ll have to spend at least a few nights in the fraternity house or they’ll kick you out and make you move,” he said.

“I know the rules,” I said. “I can spend a night with you from time to time.”

“Yes you can,” he said. “I’m going to rent a hotel room when I come and I won’t be there the whole time.”

“I know that,” I said. “You have to come back here and make sure the team is working on the game.”

“Is that what I have to do?” he laughed.

“Well maybe not,” I said. “They’ll work on it because it’s their job and they don’t want me to drive out here and fire them.”

“Ouch, tough taskmaster,” he said.

“I’ll taskmaster you,” I said and kissed him again.

“Will you?” he asked, giving me a leer.

“Oh you,” I laughed. “I’m all dirty now and I have to change the clothes to the dryer.”

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll make you a deal. You change the clothes and then hop in the shower with me.”

“That sounds good,” I said.

I went into the utility room and changed the clothes over to the dryer, threw in a dryer sheet and turned it on the more dry setting and time it for sixty minutes. Then I stripped out of my clothes, threw them in the hamper, and headed for the bathroom.

We had never showered together before so I didn’t know what to expect. He washed me from my head to my toes. Then I did the same for him. Of course we were both aroused and then we showed our love under the water spray.

When we got out we were both a bit prunish. We got dressed and then made lunch. We just made roast beef sandwiches from the leftover beef and grabbed a bag of chips and drinks. Then we went to the living room to eat our bounty and watch television. The commercial for “Legends Rise” was on. We laughed at that.

“Did you know that the game is still selling out?” he asked.
“I’ll do you one better, the roll playing game flew off the shelves,” I said. “They had to reissue it already.”

“That’s awesome,” he said. “You have a copy right?”

“Complete with dice and all that comes with it,” I said. “I never played D and D so I don’t think I’ll be playing the roll playing game.”

“You might like it,” he said. “I could set up a group to play it with when you move here.”

“Maybe,” I said. “Let me think on it.”

“Alright,” he said. “I just think it’s wrong to have the game and not play it.”

“I have many games that I don’t play anymore,” I said. “I might play them when I’m bored though so I keep them.”

I went to get the clothes out of the dryer and fold or hang them. I took the folded clothes into the office and put them in the dresser in there. I took the hanging clothes to the bedroom and put them in the closet on the wrack. He had cleared a section of the closet for me to use.

Then I took the basket back to the utility room and then sat in the living room with Evan. He put his arm around me and then we were cuddled up on the couch watching more mindless television. We did that until dinner time and then he called for pizza as neither of us were in the mood to cook.

When the pizza arrived we ate it in the living room. We talked about what to do tomorrow after work. We talked about coding at home now that we’d spent so much time together.

“We’ll still be spending time together if we’re in the office coding,” he said. “I know I should be showing you the city but I have no reason to go to any of those places at the moment and I’m sorry that I don’t have the motivation to go those places.”

“I told you not to worry about it,” I said. “I have a GPS in my truck. When I move here I’ll find what I need. As for coding I’d like that idea because I want that game finished.”

“I know,” he said. “I just wanted some private time to spend with you. I know you’re bored and so am I. It isn’t that I’m bored of spending time with you but we have nothing to do but we can go back to coding.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “We can code but I’m not bored out of my head. I’ve been enjoying spending time with you.”

“That’s good,” he said. “I was worried about making you bored.”

“We’ll be all right,” I said. “I usually spend my time coding or playing a game so we can code and see how it works out.”

“Do you have it in your portal?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “I left it on the computer at the office because you asked me to.”

“Well put it in the portal tomorrow,” he said. “I leave mine in the portal every day so that when I have an idea to code into it I can grab it and work on it here.”

“That’s a good idea,” I said. It was but he’d asked me not to do it.

“Okay what game have you playing?” he asked.

“’Everquest’,” I said. Then we were laughing.

“Well then we can play this right in here,” he said. He got up and opened a panel on his television stand and there was the Xbox. He handed me a controller and then went to put the game in the system.

We played the game until it was about time to go to bed. I had a great time and he seemed to have a good time playing too. He smiled at me when he turned it off. We put the controllers in the compartment too.

Then we went to bed and showed our love. That wasn’t a problem between us. I was used to playing baseball and going out with my friends. In Los Angeles I’d met two of his friends and people that work for me. I was a little bored to be honest. I didn’t know what to say about it because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Maybe it would be better with Neal and Travis out here this summer.

The next morning I got up and showered. Then I dressed in my office wear. We had bagels with cream cheese and orange juice. Then we headed out to work. We didn’t say much on the way. When we got there I used my card to get us in the building.

I had a status meeting and learned that Graphics was working on the final monsters, coding was working on their monsters, and marketing was checking the market for this type of game. I thanked them and went into my office and began to code.

The core code of the game was just a series of long strings. I had to code it so that it moved correctly and uniformly through every scenario that I coded into it. It was difficult code and I was loving every minute of it. I got sodas from my fridge and snacks from my drawer. Whoever stocked this stuff was so in sync with me it wasn’t funny. I coded until lunch but by lunch time I wasn’t hungry.

I just kept coding. Evan looked in on me and found that I was coding and thankfully left me alone. I had a lot of coding to do and he’d cost me valuable time by leaving it in the office. I wasn’t angry about it but I was a little off about it.

I got a lot of coding done that day but there was still so much more to do. I put it in the portal when we were packing up to leave for the day and then I closed down the computer and cleaned up my mess. Evan and I left at around ten past five after I had filled out the in-office paperwork.

“Did you get a lot done today?” he asked as he drove.

“Yes,” I said. “There’s still a lot more to do.”

“Well you put it in the portal, right?” he asked.

“I did,” I said. “I have some parts of the code that I can get done tonight but there’s still a lot of code. This game is massive.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I was nearly done with the witch but then I saw what Graphics had for her and she’s a lot bigger than I had thought. So I have to code her all over again.”

“That sucks,” I said. “I’m glad I don’t have that problem.”

“Me too,” he said. “If you had that problem the game would likely never get done.”

“I hear that,” I said. “I’m happy that my coding doesn’t depend on anyone else right now. It will when I get to the part of the code that needs the monsters codes. Right now I’m doing core game files.”

“You seem to get way into coding,” he said. “The rest of us stop and look around a bit from time to time but every time I looked at you it was nose to the grind.”

“I can get hyper focused at times,” I said. “Coding, gaming, writing, reading they all get me to hyper focus status pretty quickly. Jacks used to complain about it all the time. I’d forget meals and such but I’ve been doing better about that kind of stuff. Today wasn’t one of them though. I didn’t touch lunch but I had snacks and soda while I was coding.”

“Yeah when your fridge gets low just leave a list on top of it and they’ll restock everything for you,” he said. “I told them which soda to get for you and what your favorite snacks were this time but you’ll have to do that soon. Plus you need a secretary to tell you about meetings and the like.”

“I’ll hire one this summer,” I said. “Right now I’m only here until the fifteenth. My last day in the office will be the thirteenth so I don’t think I need her right now. They call me on the phone so far to tell me about meetings and then I just have to be in front of my laptop.”

“Yeah, I get those calls when I work remotely,” he said. “But you’ll have to call in to get status meetings and the like.”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” I said. “I’ll set a reminder in my phone and will do that remotely as well. But then I’ll have to because I’ll be at school.”

“Right,” he said as he pulled into the driveway of the house.

“So we’ll code after dinner?” I asked.

“Sounds good,” he said as we got out of the car and headed into the house.

“What are we having for dinner?” I asked as he put his keys in the bowl and took his laptop to the office.

“I was thinking we’d order in,” he said. “What do you feel like?”

“How about some of that orange chicken and chicken fried rice from the place we get lunch from?” I asked. “Or sesame chicken, actually. I like that one better.”

“Do you want an egg roll?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said.

“I’ll call it in,” he said and pulled his phone out.

I sat on the couch and turned on the television. He ordered the food and then joined me. We watched a special report about an explosion in Oklahoma. We watched the coverage and silently cheered that no one was killed in the explosion. Several were wounded by there were no fatalities. The place that exploded was a lab that made gun powder for bullets. They never said why it exploded.

“That was something,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said. “We hear about something like that all of the time anymore. Most of the time it’s right here in Los Angeles.”

“Really?” I asked, looking at him.

“Yeah, something is always happening here in the city,” he said. “There’s always a killer out there or something has blown up or hackers have taken over this or that. There’s always something.”

“Wow,” I said. “Talk about enthusiasm for your city.”

“Oh I’m enthusiastic about my city,” he said. “I can get all of my food, including groceries delivered, I’m never at a loss for something to do here. I know I haven’t done much lately but there is always something to do here.”

“That’s better,” I said. “Things will change when Neal and Travis are out here. “

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Well they’ll want to see the city,” I said. “Then we’ll hit the sights and take in the city. We’ll find a park to play baseball and all sorts of stuff.”

“You’re a very physical person aren’t you?” he asked.

“Kinda,” I said. “I can get out and hit a ball and run for bases or I can sit at home and code or play a video game. It just depends on what mood I’m in. I like to go and see baseball games, too.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. “I don’t play baseball but I’m no stranger to going to a game now and then. Do you like the Dodgers?”

“I’m from Quincy, Illinois,” I said with a smile. “My team is the Chicago Cubs but most in Quincy are St. Louis Cardinals. But I can watch any two teams play. I’m in it for the game more than the teams.”

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll take you guys to a Dodgers game when they play here in Los Angeles.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

Our dinner arrived and we ate that at the dining room table. We’d had enough of television. When we were done eating the trash went in the garbage can and we moved to the office. I opened my laptop and turned it on. Then I went to the portal and downloaded my code to work on.

I coded and coded and coded. It was great. I wasn’t bored and we were both in the office coding our parts of the game. He was working on the code for the witch for a second time and I was coding core game files. I had most of them ready I just needed to add the characters and the monsters. Then I’d write scenarios and get all of that hashed out. We’d test the game to make sure it did what it was supposed to do and then I’d present it to Microsoft.

The piece that I was coding now depended on those monsters. I checked the portal and found that the code for the ghosts and vampires was ready. I downloaded those and added them to my code. It took me all the way to bedtime to get them coded in and placed correctly in the code that I’d already written.

We saved our work and shut down our laptops and went to bed. We showed love and then we curled up together and went to sleep. I loved just lying with him in the bed and holding him. That was my last thought before falling asleep.

The next day we did it all over again. This time at the status meeting I was able to tell them how far I had gotten. They were giving me time frames on this or that monster while the graphics team said they’d spoken with Neal and he had the main environment finished and had uploaded it. We took a look at it. It looked spooky. I loved it.

“I’ve got all of the core files for the game coded. I’m adding in monsters and characters now,” I said. “So get me those monsters as fast as you can. Neal is working on the character graphics and I’ll be setting up the interface when he uploads them. Thanks for all your hard work. I appreciate it.”

After that they had questions. Did I need the zombies yet, and did I need the fighting scenes yet. I told them I needed the zombies but I wouldn’t start the fighting scenes until I had all of my monsters. I looked at Evan who nodded at me. I called a close to the meeting and went to my office to code.

About half way through my morning my office phone rang. It was Stan asking me if I could make the seven o’clock taping of the “Today Show”. He said it was all about “Legends Rise” and it’s success. I told him I could and he was happy. I got off the phone and called Evan into the office.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I have to be at NBC studios tomorrow at six thirty to be in makeup for the Today Show,” I said. “They want to talk to me about ‘Legends Rise’.”

“That’s great,” he said with a smile. “I was wondering when they’d do that. So tomorrow at six we’ll head to that part of the city. It’ll take us about twenty-five minutes to get over there from the house.”

“Sounds good,” I said. “Thanks, Evan.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said. “This’ll be fun.”

We went back to coding then and I did get lunch that day. Evan watched me like a hawk and I ate a burger and fries with a chocolate milkshake while I coded. Then it was snacks now and then and a soda from the fridge and drawer. I coded the monsters in and then was at a loss. I needed those zombies. Then I looked in the portal and saw that Neal had already uploaded the character graphics. I added them to the code and started to work on the character interface where the player could choose a character and change their stats, choose weapons, and personalize each character to their liking. That took me almost until it was time to go home.

Then they had the zombies and I stayed a bit later to get them coded in. Now all I was waiting for was the witch and then we’d be in the studio with game actors acting out the various fight scenes with harnesses on with leads the computer could read to translate it to the screen of the game with the graphics.

I uploaded all of it to the portal and shut down my computer. I filled out the paperwork for in-office work and then turned the lights off. Evan was waiting for me. We left the building and stopped to get chicken and sides from a restaurant on the way home.

We ate chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, and biscuits. We had iced tea with that and then we were cleaning up the containers and putting them in the trash. Then we went into the office.

“I don’t really have anything to do until you finish the witch,” I told him.

“You’re done already?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “We have to get into the studio for fight scenes and green screen things. Then I’ll have all of that to code in but after that we’ll test the game and then present it to Microsoft.”

“Damn,” he said. “This game went faster than ‘Legends Rise’.”

“It sure did, but I had ten coders and an entire graphics team this time,” I said. “And I even know what’s next.”

“You do?” he asked wide-eyed.

“We’re adding wizards and warriors to ‘Legends Rise’,” I said. “It’ll be a whole new DVD for Xbox but an expansion pack for the PC version.”

“Jake do you realize that you coded an entire game in under six months?” he asked. “That’s unheard of.”

“Well I had a lot of time to code while I was at school,” I said. “Then I was here in the office and had very little distractions and got a lot done. When we coded last night I was just adding the final codes to the core files. Today I coded in monsters. I still needed the zombies but I got them at the last minute today. That’s why we left late. Now all I need is the witch and then we’ll be in the studio for a while. Then it’s just more coding to make it all come together. The game could be finished before I leave if all goes well. Or it’ll have to be after I leave. I don’t really care about that. I can always drive back out here for the release.”

“You know you have to be here to present it to Microsoft,” he said.

“I’ve already told the school that I’ll have to take certain days off for the game,” I said. “They’re giving me a work study book for each class for the days I’m gone.”

“Damn,” he said again. “You were born for this job.”

“It seems that way,” I said. “At least I picked the right major.”

“That you did,” he said. “You’re moving farther with your classes too.”

“Yeah I only have two more to take and then I’m done with the requirement for the bachelor’s in gaming,” I said.

“Well you’ll graduate at the end of next year,” he said. “That’s about right.”

“Yeah, and then my time in Osage, Arizona will be over,” I said.

“And you’ll live here full time,” he said.

“That’s the plan,” I said with a smile.

I sat and toyed with this and that on my laptop while he coded the witch. He was at it until we went to bed. I crawled into bed and went straight to sleep. He didn’t seem bothered by that.

The next day I was ready for the zombies and I got them. I even got the witch. I coded all of that in and then we went to the studio. I sat and watched as actors went though a choreographed fight scene and then another and then another. They got all of them done that day. We broke for lunch and came back. Then they were doing the witch’s fight scene. She smacked with her broom, cast spells, and cackled. They got all of that done before it was time to leave for the day.

I got it all coded into the game and then I went through the code, looking for mistakes. I found a few and corrected them. I had to do a bit of coding again on the zombies but I got it all done. I was running through the code again when Evan came to stand at the door. I smiled at him and went back to what I was doing. When I was done I sat back.

“We can test in the morning,” I said.

“What?” he asked stunned.

“I’m done,” I said. “It’s all in there.”

“I’ll be damned,” he said. “We could present sooner than I thought.”

“Yes,” I said. “We could present in a few days. We’ll want testers but Microsoft will take care of that after I present it.”

“That’s right,” he said. “They’ll put a notice on the site.”

“People will want to test the game so I won’t have to worry about that,” I said. “Then it’s just fixing glitches and the like.”

“That’s about right,” he said. “Come on. Fill out your paperwork and let’s get out of here. I want to celebrate.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said. “How are we celebrating?”

“We’re going to dinner,” he said. “We’ll go home and change and I’ll make reservations.”

“Cool,” I said. Then I filled out the paperwork and we left.

He took me to The Crystal Room and we had a nice dinner. I even drank wine there. They didn’t card me. I’d be twenty-one this summer so I wasn’t worried about it. We had steak and potatoes with a garden salad and dinner rolls. It was heavenly. He toasted the game and I loved that. I was having a bit of trouble with the fact that I was done so early but I’d gone through the code backward and forward. I found no more mistakes and it looked like it would work beautifully.

When we got home we sat in the living room and made out. I loved to make out with him. He had the softest lips I’d ever kissed. We sat there on the couch making out like love sick teenagers until he’d had enough and led me to the bedroom where we showed our live twice. I fell asleep in his arms that night. It was the best ending to a great day.