I sit back down, listening eagerly.
“Being a game director at Scorpio Games is also not his dream. That was clear during our chat. And he showed me the app.”
“The...app?”
“He finished it.”
I stand up. “No way.” He could do that in one week—while also learning how to dance forró?
Wow.
“He did,” Lars says, smiling. “And it’s fantastic, Sol. The two of you did a wonderful job.”
Okay, so Lars knows about my participation, that I’m a traitor.
Who cares? I quit already. And he doesn’t seem bothered. In fact, he looks strangely...proud? Amazed?
“We couldn’t possibly use the idea in another way. It’s your idea, and it should remain yours. So, my proposal to him was...” He sits straighter, and my heart is killing me, pumping at the frantic rhythm of my expectation. “I told Storm that Scorpio Games will publish Love Birds if he agrees to a partnership between our companies. Tropical Storm Interactive will remain the creators of the game, while Scorpio will simply invest in it.”
My jaw hits the floor. Holy shit.
HOLY. SHIT.
I stand up again. “Are you kidding me?”
“No, I’m not.”
And then an important detail gets processed in my brain. “Tropical Storm Interactive? Not just Storm Interactive?”
“He changed the name of his company.” Lars shrugs.
To include me.
OH. MY. GOD.
Erik loves me.
“I need to go now.” I head for the door and glance back at Lars. I turn the knob and look suspiciously at him again. “You are serious, right?”
Lars smiles. “He said yes, Sol.” I’m on my way out, but his voice stops me. “Don’t forget to take the stuff you have on your desk. And make sure to turn off your computer.”
“Sure.” I nod hurriedly. “Thanks, Lars. See you.”
I don’t even wait for his farewell. I rush to my desk to get my stuff as quickly as possible so I can go home to Erik.
I pack my things and sit in front of my work computer to delete any remaining personal files and then turn it off. As my desktop is always clean, I instantly notice the new icon in the middle of the screen.
LOVE BIRDS.
My heart thumps in my ears. Erik shamelessly hacked me. He knows the password I use to unlock all my devices. I giggle into my hands in delighted disbelief.
I click on it and the app opens.
It’s the welcome screen we designed. I’m asked to make an account and fill in some personal information. Then I’m on the main screen, my bird avatar walking around in a bird playground surrounded by other identical birds, each one with an anonymous, numbered label.
One of the birds has a name though: ERIK_STORM. We are Acquaintances. A few seconds later, I get a Friend Request from him, which I accept. We are Friends now.
I roam around a little more, wondering what I should do, and a notification pops up in the middle of the screen, reading:
ERIK_STORM has answered your question!
VIEW / IGNORE
I haven’t asked him a question. But maybe I did, in the real world? I click on VIEW.
YOU asked ERIK_STORM: Why are you here if you hate dating apps?
ERIK_STORM answered: I don’t hate dating apps. It was thanks to Cinder that I found you. And it was right. We are a match.
I smile, my heart pumping so hard, my stomach so full of butterflies, that I can’t stay still in the chair.
The app is ready. It’s beautiful. It even has music and sound effects. And we can keep working on it. Just us and whoever else we want to bring on the team. We are funded. We are secure.
Another notification pops up.
ERIK_STORM has sent you a Date Request!
“Meet me where we first met.”
