TMI (2014 Collector's Dream Winner)

TMI - Chapter 4

Chase shook his head. "I've seen her mad lots of times — well, pretty much all the time — but not like this. She was — it was like she was burning with it. I mean, off the charts with mad."

Bailey smiled once. "Yeah, that's how she gets. I'm sure it's nothing serious, Chase — "

"Nothing serious?" Chase stared at her like she'd sprouted a huge zit between her eyes. "Bailey, no offense, but this is like the most serious shit I've ever seen. I was about to pick up a flower pot and heave it through the glass door."

Okay, this had gone far enough. If there was one thing Bailey knew, it was how to handle Megan Farrell and Chase needed to understand he was doing it all wrong. "Chase, you need to back off. Meg hates people getting all up in her face when something's bothering her. She'll get over it on her own. The more you nag her, the more you try to 'be there for her', the madder she'll get." Bailey said, making air quotes. "By the time she gets home from work, she'll be back to normal. Trust me."

Chase continued to stare at Bailey. She rubbed her forehead. Definitely no zit.

"What?"

"Bailey, you know what's up, don't you?" He folded his arms and frowned. "The anxiety attacks, the mood swings. You know."

Uh-oh.

"Bailey, tell me." He stepped closer.

Bailey shook her curls.

"I need to know." He grabbed her arms.

She shook her head again. "No, Chase. She doesn't talk about it. She doesn't want anyone to know. I don't even know all of it." There was only one thing she could say that he'd really hear. "You want to impress her? You want her to love you back? Let Meg keep her secrets." She smiled brightly at his look of confusion and barreled ahead. "I was heading to your place to see you anyway. Are you busy tonight? I want to talk to you about a video game."

Chase blinked and then lifted his brows. "A video game or your video game?"

"Um. Yeah. My video game. I was hoping you could help me actually build it."

His eyebrows pinched together. "Right. Your famous video game. I've heard you and Megan talking about it. So you really want to build it?"

Bailey's face split into a wide grin. "Yeah. I love video games. It's like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, Halo, and Dance Party Central all combined into one. I have character histories, settings, rules of engagement, levels – all of it."

"Um, Dance Party." Chase repeated. "Um. It sounds, uh, great."

Bailey rolled her eyes. "Yes. Controller-less play. I want a gesture interface."

Chase's eyebrows leaped into his hairline and she beamed. When his mouth fell open, she laughed. "I want to tell you what I have so far. Wanna grab a burger?" Bailey knew a lot about gaming but only a little about computer programming. She just liked playing video games and figured designing one couldn't be much harder than writing down all the outcomes and handing it all off to a programmer to code. Chase was a member of the computer club at school. Who better to take her baby from idea to reality?

Chase's teeth snapped shut and she was sure he'd rolled those emerald eyes of his behind their lids. She shrugged. He wasn't saying no, so Bailey counted it as a win.

"The McDonald's next to the theater okay with you?" he asked.

Bailey's lips twitched. That was right where Meg worked. This couldn't be more perfect. She wanted Meg to see her with Chase. It was time Meg realized that Chase Gallagher was a total hottie and wasn't going to wait forever for her to get her head out of her butt.