Joyce blinked her eyes open, peering around with bleary vision and a splitting headache. She'd forgotten to drink water again. She sat up on the couch with a groan. God, this was so bad for her back.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," came Rebecca's voice from the general direction of the kitchen.
Joyce closed her eyes and waved her hand. "Please, stop shouting."
She heard the sound of footsteps and then felt Rebecca plop onto the couch next to her.
"Joyce? Joyceeee? Is this better?" Rebecca whispered dramatically.
"You know what, I think maybe it's just your voice. I just need to, you know, not hear it," Joyce sighed.
Rebecca laughed. "You always drink too much. When will you know your limits?"
"I know my limits, I just choose to go past them, okay," Joyce grumbled.
"Mmm, sure," Rebecca smirked. "Well, good thing it's Saturday, otherwise you'd have missed half your classes by now."
Joyce leaned forward and ran her fingers through her tangled hair. "Ugh, I think I need a nap."
"You just woke up!"
"Okay, and?"
"You said you were gonna come learn that new choreo with me and Taylor! You said this time you weren't gonna flake!" Rebecca pouted.
Joyce slowly opened her eyes, turning her head to stare groggily at Rebecca. "Girl, I am so hungover right now. I feel like I'm gonna throw up." She leaned towards Rebecca and began making small retching noises. "In fact, I might throw up right this second."
"Ewwwwww," Rebecca quickly scooted away. "Stop, stop, okay, you don't have to come."
Immediately, Joyce sat up straight and flashed a smile. "Really? Great! You have fun though!"
Rebecca stood up, shaking her head. "You're impossible. This is the last time, though. Next time I'll force you to come, no matter what.
Joyce waved her away. "Fine, fine. Now shoo, let me sleep."
A 30 minute nap later, Joyce woke up slightly more refreshed. And a lot hungrier. She padded over to the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge before settling on a half-eaten Korean seafood pancake she made a couple days ago. Putting it into the microwave to warm, she leaned on the counter and rubbed her eyes. She glimpsed a flash of silver in her peripheral vision. Rebecca had left the headset out. Was she playing it in the morning?
Joyce's curiosity was piqued. Rebecca almost never played games. They must've really come up with a good one if she was raving about it last night, and even playing it this morning. Joyce glanced at the headset again. But what was the game? Rebecca didn't even really describe it. Joyce wondered -
A loud beeping from the microwave interrupted her train of thought. She would just have to ask Rebecca again.
...
Over the next three days, Joyce observed Rebecca taking the headset with her into her room every night. And then the next day, the headset would be back out somewhere in the apartment. One day it was on the coffee table. Another day, it was on the couch.
Wednesday morning, Joyce walked into the bathroom and saw the headset on the counter. Did Rebecca play even in the bathroom? What was going on?
"Becca? Um, your headset's in the bathroom," Joyce called out.
Rebecca quickly rushed in and snatched up the headset. "Oh fuck, my bad. I was wondering where I left it."
Joyce turned to face Rebecca and raised an eyebrow. "Why do you keep leaving the headset all over the place?"
Rebecca smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, it's not on purpose. I just play a little, here and there, and I just forget sometimes."
"Is the game really that good?" Joyce asked skeptically.
Rebecca nodded enthusiastically. "It's really good, I want to play it all the time. It's kind of....addicting almost. Daniel did a really good job. Wanna try?"
Joyce eyed the headset. "Maybe...what's it about anyways?"
"Hmm," Rebecca mused. "It's like...that one game, with the flying cubes and you hold a sword or something? Except this one is more about eye tracking!"
"Mm, okay. That doesn't sound super fun..."
Rebecca shook her head. "No, trust, you have to play it to see what I'm talking about."
"Okayyy," Joyce replied hesitantly. "I could give it a try sometime."
...
