Terms and Conditions

Chapter 26

Like dominos on a tabletop, Bio-Lab crumbled off the ledge with a push of a finger. Within months, they felt the heat of Luis' words. None of his threats or warnings was a bluff; he meant every part of it. And Bio-Lab faced the wrath of many lawyers for their ignorant crimes.

As for the money promised to all of us for beta testing their game, it was still paid; they had to. Regardless of the terminated contracts, without the clause in their agreement about deniability, there was no way around it.

How did I know? It was all over the news. Every internet feed was filled with an article about them.

"Bio-Lab's innovation has taken a fall for harming others. Is it true?"

Every bit of it. True. So true.

Now, it wasn't like their game didn't have its good. A lot of the beta testers, those who went without side effects, admitted the way the game played out did help them with their lives. Many claimed they were less socially awkward. Others stated their anxiety, despite the terrors the game secretly held, had dropped tremendously. And some, like Luis and me, found the right parts of Love or Nothing and embraced it.

It was why we took what we could from our Bio-Lab earnings and put them together into a project of our own. Luis and his computer skills was all we needed. That, and my brains, of course.

Only our project wouldn't be a fully immersive VR game; that ship had sailed, and no one would try it. At least, not anytime soon. We made sure our idea was simple.

A phone game. Just a little app. Answer questions and get paired with a player nearby.

When were we going to release it, I wasn't sure. But I wasn't going to rush it.

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"Could you stop working on that thing please?" Luis dropped beside me as I sat at my computer desk. When he managed to pull up a chair in my room, I had no idea. The motion scared me, and I squealed.

The sound I made wasn't as loud as Beba's who tried to swipe at my face from his lap.

I had to hiss at her in response.

"Hey." Luis cuddled my cat close to his chest and shushed her. With a side glance, he eyed me with a warning. "Don't scare her."

"Scare her?" I leaned back in my chair. "First off, she's my cat. Second, this is my room. And you..." I pointed at him. "You scared me!"

Luis just had to laugh and shake his head at me. If he wasn't so cute, I wouldn't have stood for it. Instead, I laughed with him.

"Your abuela sent me up here to bring you down for lunch," Luis said as he placed Beba on the floor by my chair. "She said you've been up here all morning."

"I have..." I rubbed the side of my face. "I just..."

"She's just being a nerd." Manny appeared at the doorway, a sandwich in hand. He took a big bite of it before smiling at me, bread on his teeth. "Ain't chu, Cuzzo?"

Disgusting. "It's good you're feeling a hundred percent," I grumbled at him. "Still nasty."

"Hey, someone like my nasty." Manny laughed. And I groaned. That didn't stop him from continuing. "And he downstairs waiting on y'all."

"Oh?" My eyes widened curiously. "Malcolm's really here?"

Luis nodded at my side. Manny did, too. He said, "Yeah. A meet the boyfriend thing. Abuela downstairs cooking and you up here being a nerd and shit."

I narrowed my eyes at him.

He had to laugh. "I'm only playing. Just hurry up." Pointing his sandwich at Luis, he shook his head. "Come on, you had one job."

As Manny disappeared down the hall, Luis couldn't help but laugh and reach for my hand. "He's right, this was my one job. To come and get you."

I had to link our fingers together as I looked up into his eyes. The hue in them changed. Brighter, even though my room was dark with only the light of my computers. Sometimes I felt like the light he had in them only appeared when he looked at me. Or... it was just my mind playing tricks on me. Either way, I didn't care. I could look in his eyes all day.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to get all the notes right for this game, you know?"

"I know." Pulling me up from my seat, Luis gave me a soft kiss on the lips. "But it's going to be okay. Whatever it is, we'll get it right. We got time."

I bit my lip and let my body lean into his chest. "Do you really think we got the time? To make an app like this, we need—"

"Shhh." Luis pressed a finger to my lips before kissing me again. "Chari, with you, I'll make the time. Don't worry, okay?"

Inside, I swooned so hard I thought I'd fall over. "Okay," I whispered.

From the kitchen, I heard my grandmother. "Charines!" she yelled. "Tienen diez minutos! One, two, three—"

"Ya!" I laughed, tugging Luis out of my room. "We'll be right there."

I just had to kiss him once more before I did.

Was falling in love with someone supposed to be this quick?