Chapter 28: Game Over Man

"Hey Jade, come play this new game with me?" Ethan said as he tossed Jade one of the controllers. Jade wasn't quite prepared for the toss and instinctively deflected the foreign object as it approached her. Bouncing off her, the controller went sailing through the window behind the couch. "Or smash our window, that's a pretty fun game too."

"Give me a little more warning before you throw something at me next time" Jade growled slightly annoyed.

"Yeah alright, it's a good thing we keep a box of these things around" Ethan said as he grabbed another controller out of the cardboard box and handed it to Jade cautiously. "Have a seat" he said as he motioned Jade to sit down next to him on the couch.

"Jade, I'm sorry to ask this" Nikki cut in "but how long are you going to keep the Christmas tree up?" Nikki had been sitting quietly on the coach watching Ethan play the Playbox X-Station. "You had Ethan set it up a couple months ago and you ended up putting one string of lights and three mismatched ornaments on it. There it sat in its disheveled state till twenty days into January."

Jade responded "It wasn't really my fault, I contracted Leprosy and the Black Plaque at the same time that managed to counteract each other for the most part but made me allergic to artificial Christmas trees the whole time. Just as I was about to get better, I fell asleep one night and found myself in New Jersey when I woke up. So not wanting to miss an opportunity, I went to visit family."

Ethan paused his game for a second and commented "You were gone for like two weeks, we had forgot what your name was. We thought for the longest time it was Jeb or Jide."

Jade frowned. "Yeah see the thing is I contracted a case of 'forget where I live' from some hobo that was sleeping in the back of the HUMV. It took that long to remember where I lived to come home."

Nikki then said "Well we're glad you found your way back eventually. I did hear a rumor that New Jersey is going to change their motto to 'We're full, go away!' somewhere recently.

Jade added "I had heard that same rumor too. I wonder if that will come to pass because it's certainly appropriate. Speaking of which, my sister, Anna is coming over for dinner tomorrow with her friends. I want you two to be on your best behavior and try to keep the cats in line this time."

Ethan paused his game again and said "They do what they want to do, we're all just along for the ride."

"Well Cleopatra really looks up to you Ethan, so at least try to talk her into not causing any problems for Anna and her friends."

Not really paying all that much attention, Ethan responded "Yeah sure I'll talk to her about it in a few minutes." Jade and Nikki just looked at each other and shook their heads.

Jade looked at the television screen for the first time since she sat down and got a better look of the game that Ethan was playing. "What is this game exactly?" she asked.

Ethan seemed to pay a little more attention when he responded. "This is the massively popular online game 'World of Arts-and-Crafts' and my current top character is a level 65 Crochet Master. I also have a level 26 Pottery Maker I've been leveling up in my free time. I can't wait till the new expansion, Easy-Bake Dungeon, comes out next month. Nikki has been playing it too when she has free time."

"Yeah I've got a level 66 Crochet Master that took me way less time to level. I think Ethan just isn't very good at this game." Nikki grinned.

"You learned all the secrets from watching me play and then turned around and used that information to do a better job when it was your turn to play." Ethan sighed. "But yes you're higher level Crochet Master in less time."

"See its so much easier when you admit I'm awesome." Nikki poked Ethan in the head with two of her fingers.

Jade interrupted "Yes this game seems really interesting or whatever but it's getting late, I'm going to head to bed. I'm tired."

Nikki frowned. "We haven't even ate dinner yet. It's like 7pm right now."

"Oh yeah, lets do that first." Jade hurried into the kitchen to get dinner ready.

Nikki watching the game on the screen laughed when Ethan's character died all of a sudden. "You just got killed fighting what looked like a bowl of fruit salad." She laughed again at his expense. "Game Over Man, Game Over!"