A group of friends streams their gaming on Wednesday nights. But not all the action is on the dining room table.

-==-

Chapter 22 -- Fit For A King

“Here you are, miss, enjoy!” The chipper booth girl said.

I thanked her and took the small bag from her hands, dropping it in the cavernous mouth of the complimentary oversized tote the con had given me when I’d registered. It wasn’t overly full yet, but I could already feel it weighing down my shoulder and wondered if I should head back to the room to empty it before coming back.

No, I reminded myself. That would just mean seeing the room again, and I certainly didn’t want to do that at the moment.

It wasn’t the hotel’s fault, not really. I knew that, and double-checking their site, it was clearly stated that one of the rooms in a suite held two full-sized beds and the other held a king bed. It wouldn’t even be an issue on almost any other weekend, since hotels like the Kramer always had roll-aways available, and the common rooms for the suites usually held convertible couches.

Unfortunately, this was a con weekend. All the roll-aways were claimed, and like generous fools, we’d offered to let them re-locate the couch from our suite to another room that needed a roll-away for the con. It hadn’t seemed like a big deal, since we were planning to use the common rooms for staging and changing, so if anything, getting the couch out of the way would work out for the better, right?

I grunted as a rotund man in a Superman costume rammed my shoulder. “Hey!” I called after him, but he never even bothered to turn around and look at what he’d hit. I was ready to turn back around and just carry on when another man, wearing a Doctor Strange costume, stepped in front of him.

“Hey, man. Apologize to the lady,” he said, pointing at me.

Superman turned and gave me a sneering leer… right up until he saw my belly. “Oh! Geez, I’m sorry!” He said, turning as red as his too-tight spandex trunks.

I let out a heavy sigh, trying not to let my temper get the best of me. “It’s all right, just watch where you’re going a bit more, okay?” I gave a small wave at the crowd that was flowing around us. “You never know who you’ll run into.”

“Ah, yeah,” he agreed, blushing even more. He turned back around, and Doctor Strange nodded at him before stepping aside and letting him pass.

“Thanks,” I said, smiling up at the tall be-cloaked man.

“Hey, no problem. Guys like that should keep a closer eye where they’re going.”

“Yeah ....”

“Especially if it means missing someone as cute as you.”

“Oh,” I said, blushing.

“I’m Ben, by the way.”

“Oh! Leigh,” I said, taking his offered hand for a gentle shake.

“Yep. You do that streaming show.”

“You watch us?” I asked, surprised.

“Only a couple of times,” he admitted. “My girlfriend is a big fan, though.”

“You have a girlfriend? I mean, not… you know what I mean.” Why was I a little flustered?

He laughed. “Hey, you’re not the only girl who likes geeks. If you need any help with other jerks, just keep an eye out for the cape,” he said, shaking one of the gold-tasseled corners at me.

“Will do,” I agreed, laughing too. “And thanks.”

We parted, and I smiled after him for a moment before shaking my head and going back on my way.

The baby bump had been an experience so far. I’d thought that wearing it around the house and even out around town a few times would prepare me for wearing it at the con, and from a physical perspective, it had. The difference was, at home, I’d tried to keep it hidden. Here, at the con, my costume had it shown off for the world to see, and the responses had been unexpected.

A lot of people still ignored me, sure, but I’d also gotten a lot of surprising looks from both men and women. I was used to guys leering a bit when I came to cons dressed as my characters, but so many of those leers were turning into frowns or, occasionally, crude, knowing smiles when they noticed the baby. Women, on the other hand, seemed more prone to smiling at me, and at one booth I’d gone to, one of the booth girls had even given me a discount because I was “just so darn cute.”

It was all almost novel enough that I could ignore the increased strain on my back as I traveled the concrete floors and the extra space I needed to get through crowds.

Almost.

Again, I considered heading back to the room, not only to drop things off but maybe to take a quick nap as well. The only thing any of us had planned for the evening was a panel Maria was asked to speak at for game masters working with streaming groups, and she’d specifically asked us players not to attend, “lest you hear something you shouldn’t.” The booth floor was staying open until eight, so I could nap for an hour or two and still have another two or three hours to explore after, and it’s not like we wouldn’t have time the next couple of days to wander a bit too….

But once again, going back to the room would mean facing the king-sized bed.

I re-considered Maria and Cici’s offer to take the king and let us have the double, but like when they’d asked, I kicked the idea. I’d shared a bed with Maria before, and I wasn’t about to subject Cici to the kicking, the shoving, and the cover stealing Maria was prone to. Likewise, in the other suite Sydney and Deidre were themselves sharing the king room, leaving the double room for Aaron and Jonah, and like with our suite, we’d let the couch be taken for a room that had pre-booked a roll-away.

I didn’t even consider forcing Aaron to share a bed with Jonah. Didn’t none of us want to do that.

My phone dinged, so I pushed my way through con-goers until I reached a bench along one of the walls. It took me a bit of effort to shift my bags and props around enough to get my phone out, but when I did, and saw what the ding was about, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to burst into laughter or huff angrily.

It was a text from Brian, and attached was a picture of him standing in the middle of three ladies dressed as elves, all of whom were heavily pregnant, and all of whom were hanging onto him or kissing his cheeks. “Found my new harem,” the text itself said.

I blinked, then frowned and started to put my phone away, only for it to ding again. Another text from Brian, this one simply saying, “Wanna join?”

I frowned more deeply, and silenced my phone, making sure this time it got put away. Changing my mind, I pulled it back out and started a group text.

“Tired. Going back to room for a nap,” I typed and sent. Then, feeling just a bit annoyed, sent an extra one just to Brian that said “ALONE.”

“Hmmf,” I said to myself with a satisfied nod as I put away my phone yet again and stood up, taking a moment to orient myself before starting the adventure that was navigating the crowds in the other direction. I must have still looked a bit pissed because the crowds parted ahead of me more easily than before.

Stupid Brian. He wasn’t bothered by the situation in the least, it seemed, and had actually laughed – laughed! – when he’d seen the room. Sydney and Deidre had just rolled their eyes, Maria had shrugged ....

I sighed as I trudged and squeezed and trudged some more. Dodging con-goers took my focus for a bit, but soon the crowds thinned and I spied the skyway to the hotel in the distance. The closer I got to the skyway the quieter the noise of the con itself became, and the clearer my thoughts.

I wanted to stay mad, but I just couldn’t manage it. I was too tired, and too frazzled, and the truth of it was, after spending all day worrying about having already spent a night in bed with Brian, it was getting just a bit old to keep dwelling on it. After all, what was the big deal anyway?

I closed my eyes for a moment as I crossed the skyway itself and took a deep breath before continuing on.

It was a big deal to me, I admitted, mostly because it seemed like it was ONLY a big deal to me. Brian hadn’t thought twice about us sharing a bed, or sharing one again. Nobody else thought it was a big deal, either. If I were being honest, I didn’t even feel like it was a bad thing, just… I don’t know. Worth acknowledging, at least?

I was still pondering that when I made it to the door of the room and scanned my card key. The lights came on automatically as I walked toward the bed, sitting there and staring me down with its oxblood-red comforter with the navy-blue trim and matching pillows… and the stuffed pup sitting in the middle of it.

I dropped my things off in one of the chairs tucked into the corner near the little table every hotel room had, and approached the stuffie, looking at it closely.

Sure enough, it was the one from my bed at home.

When had he snuck in and grabbed it? WHY had he snuck in and grabbed it? I pondered both those questions as I sat down on the bed, sinking deep into the rich plushness, and reached out to pick the pup up.

“How did you get here?” I asked it accusingly.

The pup stared at me with its sparkly, friendly eyes, with a puppy smile that said I was its best friend in the world.

With a harrumph, I dropped back onto the bed and pulled the pup up to sit on my chest. Thinking better of it, I tucked it down into the crook of my elbow.

“What are we gonna do?” I asked it as I closed my eyes, not expecting an answer and thankfully not getting one.

Soon enough, the roaring of my thoughts calmed enough I felt myself slip into sleep.

-==-

NOTES:

Comments and kudos appreciated.