"Welcome to Woodworth Gaming," a young receptionist greeted us with a significant smile.
"Thank you so much," I replied. "We are with Classic Fashion. I believe that you were expecting us."
"Oh, yes!" She picked up the phone and announced our arrival. "Cole will be down in a moment. Let's get you all signed in."
Link, Olivia, Dinah, and I were signed in and given visitors passes, just in time for Cole and Grant to come and greet us. Grant made the official introductions showing off all he has learned from his time among my staff. I noticed Dinah eyeing the company vice president. She was estimating his measurements. Still, I think only I caught the glint of pure appreciation.
"He looks to be about the same build as Healey," I whispered.
In a trance-like tone, she asked, "Who?" That's new. She snapped out of her trance and quickly recovered, "Oh yeah, he is about the same as Jack."
"Speaking of," I whispered. "Why didn't he come?"
"Because Jack has no time to waste a couple of hours playing video games," Dinah growled, and we both rolled our eyes.
"It is so wonderful to officially meet you all," Cole smiled. "Allow us the opportunity to show you around before we get this party started." Grant and Link moved to the front of the pack, with Cole escorting Dinah and Olivia behind them.
I began following when the receptionist called, "Um, excuse me, Cole," He turned to address her with his questioning eyebrows. She continued, "Henry and Scott are on their way up. They would like you to wait for them."
I looked around and saw two heads peeking from the stairwell to our right. I heard my heartbeat getting faster, pounding in my ears as he came into focus. Why does just looking at him do this to me? I dated James for a year and a half, and my heart didn't flutter this hard. Henry's eyes met mine immediately, and suddenly I felt the heat of our little encounter a couple of days ago. Come on, Gracie, get ahold of yourself.
"Henry," Link greeted him, "it is good to see you again."
"Good to see you too, Link," he matched Link's enthusiasm. He addressed the rest of the group, "I would like to introduce you all to our dear friend and colleague, Scott McBride."
"' Ello all," he shook hands with us, saving me for last. "Good to see you again, Miss Lemonade." He smiled as I shot imaginary daggers in Henry's direction. Olivia was taken aback by his Irish accent.
"Are we ready for that tour now," Cole asked the group. We all nodded while chuckling. Grant and Scott took the lead, Olivia and Link fell in line while arm in arm, and Cole zeroed in on Dinah and escorted her. I began to follow once again, but Henry held me back.
"I am really glad you are here," he whispered.
I tilted my head and let out a soft giggle, "How could I say no when I got such a formal invitation."
"Hey, I had to make it an offer that you couldn't refuse," he stepped closer.
"I couldn't refuse because I had already promised Grant I would be here," I corrected.
"Shhh," he growled and took another step closer to me. This time I took a step back, trying to assess what was happening. "This is my victory, and I will claim it with pride." We were so close I could feel his body heat, but he wasn't touching me.
"GRACIE!" Olivia and Dinah's high-pitched call squelched any tension that had built up between us.
"I think they realized we weren't right behind them," I suggested.
"It would seem so," he sighed. "May I escort you back to the group?" He offered his arm, and I took it with a silent nod.
Once we were back with the group, the tour went much quicker. The main floor of the building was the animators' floor and Grant's domain. He spoke about each job in a clean and precise way that made it easy for us laypeople to understand without asking too many questions. I broke away from the group when I caught sight of a storyboard in progress.
"Um, Grant?" I called out. "Why do these characters look like us girls?"
"What?" Dinah and Olivia squealed and raced to my side. I barely caught the coy glance Grant, and Link shared.
"Oh, that?" Grant began. "Well, I was working on some ideas for our newest Knights of Darinian update."
"Okay," Di replied. "That doesn't explain why my face is on this character… Although whoever did this did a fantastic job!"
"Thank you. I'll let Hannah know you like it." He pointed to her desk. "She actually drew all of your faces." We moved to her desk and noticed quite a few of our favorite photos of the three of us.
"Oh, this isn't creepy at all," I sassed.
"What is the story," Olivia spoke up.
"Why us is my question," I quickly added.
"Well," Grant chuckled. "Do you remember that day in your office, Grace? The one where I issued this invitation." I nodded, so he continued, "You three just have this natural sisterhood. I stood outside your office for a good couple of minutes before I came in to introduce myself."
"I was the one that encouraged him to pursue the idea," Link raised his hand. "I have always thought you three would make fantastic video game characters. So, together, we came up with a side story and stole some photos from your social media accounts."
"Wow," the three of us said simultaneously.
"We were hoping you ladies would be interested in doing the voiceovers for the characters," Scott put out there.
The three of us were silent for a minute, just letting the request sink in, but of course, we agreed. Henry had made his way to my side like he wanted to say something.
"Well, that was the main reason to trick you into this tour. So now we have games to play, and the crew has decided that Grace will be the first player." Grant claimed.
"Why do I have the distinct feeling that I should be petrified," I whispered.
"Because I think they are going to pit you against Grant," Henry whispered.
I nearly jumped as Scott came on the other side of me and added, "And Grant doesn't play nice with newcomers."
"Oh great," I uncomfortably chuckled.
"Come on, guys," Grant smiled, "You're scaring the poor girl. I am going to go get us set up." Grant left, and Link quickly followed with Olivia in tow. Cole offered his arm to Dinah, and they also filed out the door. Oh, that's a new development. Scott pushed past Henry and me to hurry after them. I moved next, but Henry's hand caught mine.
He mouthed, "Wait."
I tilted my head in question but obeyed. Once the door closed behind Scott, Henry moved quickly. He flicked his wrist, pulling me into his arms, and his lips met mine. I felt an electrical current flood from my head to my fingers, demanding them to touch him. Another jolt ordered my toes to curl.
He pulled away slightly and whispered, "I probably should have earned that kiss, but I just had to do it." He moved in again but simply laid his forehead against mine this time. "I hope that was okay?"
I nodded vigorously and smiled. He breathed a sigh of relief that allowed his whole body to relax. "Do you know how long I've wanted to do that?" He spoke again.
"Since our little moment in my office?"
"Since the look of shock on your fever delirious face when you recognized me at our first official meeting."
My mind flashed back to that moment. I could picture Henry almost perfectly in his navy blue vest and crisp grey button-up underneath it. He was knowledgeable and courteous even when my thoughts refused to stay inside my head. I felt my smile widen, but my reverie was interrupted by another kiss. This one was softer and split into little kisses as he coaxed me to participate this time. I happily agreed and snaked my arms around his neck to get better leverage. My focus wavered as I tried to keep kissing him, my center focus, but I couldn't push away the word "groomfest."
"Henry," I whispered in between kisses.
"Hmm?"
"I need to talk to you," I sighed. He stopped and looked at me.
"Let me guess," he growled, "it is about those blind dates." I nodded. "Just tell them you've got a boyfriend and call it off," he suggested. He leaned in for another kiss, but I stopped him.
"I don't have a boyfriend."
"What do you call me," he questioned.
"A make-out partner," I teased.
He thought for a second and then shook his head. "Not good enough."
"You are the one that just kissed me. You didn't establish any sort of context to whatever this is."
My phone buzzed, and it was a text from Dinah demanding my presence. Henry was about the rebuttal, but I held my phone and signaled for us to go. He grumbled but led me to the others. Grant sat in front of a table with various systems and their respective controllers. Off to the side was a table full of snacks and drinks. These gamers know how to party. A movie-theater screen booted up with the Woodworth racing game displayed. Silently Grant offered me the controller with a devilish smile. I sat next to him, activated the controller, and whispered, "It's game time."