章 16: Warm And Fuzzy

"Man, you are a dedicated fan." She shook her head. "I wish you found someone just like you are supporting me. Even if Cage Cavanaugh, your one true love, is not in the cards for you, we could get you someone nice who you could cuddle and watch the movie star with."

"I could only wish." Katherine wondered if she should reveal what was happening to Lily. "I am kinda talking to someone on the internet and though nothing will come from it, I am looking forward to their replies."

"Explain," Lily pounced. Katherine silently washed the plate as she contemplated how to break the news to Lily.

"Do you remember I told you I was pissed because someone in the game hadn't replied to me?" She bit her lip, hoping her friend would remember and not make her reiterate her embarrassing story yet again.

"And it was this person? Boy or girl? What age?" The excitement in the air was palpable. It was something shared between good friends, some good gossip and tea from their personal lives.

"I don't know much about them. We have been talking on and off for some a couple of days, nothing major." She frowned as she saw Lily's face twist into a suspicious expression.

She realized what would happen when the other bolted towards her room.

"Lily, no!" she screamed, flopping behind her friend, trying to stop her from entering her room and fishing out her phone. But she was too late. Lily was already plopped down on her bed, rummaging through her phone.

"Where is it?" she hissed, making faces at Katherine.

Katherine smirked, amused by her friend's antics, not saying a word as she scrolled through various games.

"Return of the Heroes server," she said finally when she saw a happy glint entering Lily's eyes.

She was scared that Lily would text someone inappropriate things and get her into trouble. It wouldn't be the first time she would do those things. Crushes from long time ago? Texted 'I Love You's. Old people she hated? Savage texts to them about how much of assholes they were to her. It could be fellow students or professors. Nothing would stop her from texting.

At least Lily kept most of her secrets close to her heart.

She surreptitiously leaned into her friend and snagged the cellphone from her.

"I have the server application on my phone, I will fish it out for you, wait." She harrumphed as she fetched the chat history and smiled at the words she had written. There was a new message from him on the server, and she was glad to have seen it before Lily got her hands on the server.

"What are you looking at? Did he reply again?" she shrieked, lurching forward to grab the phone.

"Yeah. Let me reply this once and then I will hand over the phone to you. I promise," she said, crossing her fingers. Lily grumbled from the other side, not wanting to miss the opportunity to look through her friend's messages. She stood up and peered over Katherine's shoulder as she typed.

[Rinten: Notice me, senpai. Yess, yess. I like warm and fuzzy pats. And I was there fangirling over Ray Kon when he showed up on screen.]

She knew that he wanted to know her age, and she could understand because she was curious about him, too. She smiled as she read over the message. Bayblade was featured when she was young and she had really fangirled over Ray Kon unlike most other kids those days.

"Notice me, senpai?" she heard Lily's incredulous voice from behind her. She swivelled around, horrified to have her friend secretly read her messages. "More like, 'put it in me senpai.'" The loli voice she emulated made shivers run down Katherine's spine.

"Don't be crude, Lil." She groaned, wanting to stuff her face into the pillow and burrow into it until she stopped feeling embarrassed.

"You are having a hentai-esque conversation with a man on the internet. I demand to see this treacherous chat!" Her demand was fair. It was unlike Katherine to have sexually charged conversations with people of the other gender. She was quite free with her friends but the story was quite different when it came to those she didn't know very well.

"What name?" she asked smoothly, suspiciously moving closer to her friend. Katherine hesitated for a moment, making Lily laugh out loud. "Don't worry, I neither have the time nor intention to search for your weird online friend and play with him."

Katherine narrowed her eyes at her friend and tried to hand over the phone, hoping it would be safe and sound.

"RayKon53." Her voice was low but resolute. She needed someone to tell her that she wasn't just imagining the chemistry she had with this faceless person.

"What nonsensical name is that?" her friend snorted. Katherine gasped in horror.

"You never watched Bayblade as a child? How are you even my friend, you monster?" The cry of despair was fake, but the words were true. She had never imagined that she would be best of friends with a person who was a non-fandom oriented person. She was always so preoccupied with the series' and games she was playing, it was tough for her to communicate with others. It was a wonder that Lily had held on for so long and humoured her weird quirks.

"Honey, I am not a complete nerd like you," she stated proudly. Katherine stuck out her tongue and tried to mimic her scathing friend.

"It's my favourite character from the series. It just so happens that it is also Cage Cavanaugh's favourite character and the numbers are his lucky ones."

"Such far-fetched ideas." Indeed. It was a reach. "You aren't playing him, that we know. But how do you even know this information?" She chuckled as she dropped back onto the bed and rolled around so that she could see the screen clearly.