Sidequest for Love by L.H. Cosway

That really happened once. She still hasn’t forgiven me.

As I rifled through my wardrobe searching for clean clothes to wear to lunch, I caught sight of a red hoodie, and my stomach lurched. Dev broke up with me months ago, and I thought I’d purged my room of all his things, but I’d clearly missed this old hoodie. I pushed the offending item deeper under a pile of other clothes and tried not to let our break-up conversation intrude into my thoughts, but it was useless.

I don’t want to go out with you anymore, Afric.

But why not?

Because you spend far too much time gaming. It isn’t healthy.

You game, too. You game almost as much as I do. It’s also my job if you hadn’t noticed.

That’s just it. I want to be in a relationship where gaming is my hobby and my girlfriend does, you know, normal stuff.

So, I’m not normal enough for you?

Look, I’m sure you’ll find someone who’s really into you one day, but that someone isn’t me.

I finally managed to mute the memory. I was completely over Dev, but his rejection still smarted a little, mainly because in all my past relationships, I was always the one being broken up with, never the other way around. It was such a recurring theme that I’d now come to believe there was something about me that simply turned men off after a while. It could be a broad range of things, from my obsession with computer games to my quirky fashion sense to my lack of a verbal filter. Hell, maybe I had a really bad body odour, and no one was brave enough to tell me.

Anyway, I’d decided to quit dating for the foreseeable future. What was the point if they were only going to reject me in the end?

Not wanting to inadvertently stumble upon any more of Dev’s things, I barely looked at the clothes I grabbed as my phone buzzed with a message.

Michaela: I’m about to head to the restaurant. Do you mind if my co-worker Neil joins us?

I vaguely remembered that Neil was a personal assistant, the same as Michaela, and that he was supposed to be a really nice bloke. My friend had spoken highly of him at least. I typed a quick response.

Afric: Sure! The more the merrier!

Michaela: Great. See you soon. x.



Neil



At work, my duties ranged from the ordinary to the downright odd. The ordinary would be picking up dry-cleaning, while what I was doing right now would certainly be considered odd. I was logged on to my boss, Callum Davidson’s, social media accounts and responding to messages while pretending to be him.

Jocelyn561: Last week’s episode was incredible! I can’t believe you managed that jump!

Callum: Thanks so much! I’m glad you enjoyed the ep.

I was a personal assistant to the cast of Running on Air, a reality TV show about a group of freerunners from London. I carried out duties for all six cast members, but lately, I’d been dealing with a heavy workload for Callum in particular. He was the stud of the show, the one female, and even some male, viewers obsessed over, which meant he tended to get a lot of attention online. And since Callum had no interest in maintaining a social media presence, that task fell to me.

It was also awkward because I’d once had a thing for Leanne, the only female member of the cast and Callum’s current girlfriend. Add to that the fact that I’d confessed my feelings to her, and she’d promptly informed me those feelings weren’t reciprocated. So, now I had to spend hours at a time pretending to be the bloke she chose instead. Fun, right? Callum was my complete and total opposite, too. He was handsome, athletic, and muscular, with tattoos covering almost every inch of his skin. I was the plain guy in the background who was so unremarkable that people rarely even noticed I was there.

Yes, while my bosses completed death-defying stunts such as jumping between the roofs of ten storey buildings or scaling down the side of football arenas, I was normally somewhere close by with my tablet, making hotel arrangements and answering emails. But to be honest, that was much more my speed anyway. I also had a fantastic co-assistant in Michaela, who was sweet and kind and just as much of an organisation enthusiast as I was.

“Are you going for lunch?” I asked her when we finished up for the morning. I was desperate for a break from pretending to be Callum. It was a constant reminder of how I was screwing my life up from the comfort of my very own smartphone.

Michaela glanced at her watch. “I’m meeting my friend Afric for sushi. You’re welcome to join us.”

“Great, I love sushi,” I replied, jumping up from my seat eagerly.

“Just to warn you, Afric is … a little unusual,” Michaela said as we made our way out of the gym.



“Do I even want to know what that means?” I questioned, raising one eyebrow.



Michaela fussed with the strap of her handbag. “It just means that she’s not everyone’s cup of tea.”



I nodded warily, still not entirely sure what Michaela was getting at until we arrived at the restaurant and my attention was immediately drawn to a young woman standing outside, her eyes on her phone. She had blue hair and wore green leggings, pink Balenciaga’s, and an oversized black jumper that appeared to feature a person being abducted by an alien spaceship.



It was accompanied by the text, Get in, loser. We’re doing butt stuff.



Both my eyebrows shot up as I asked, “Is that your friend?”