Love in the time of video games and Discord

Ming paces the store floor, careful to avoid eye contact with any shoppers. He rustles through his too-tight jean pockets for his vape pen. Minutes go by, until a whole hour has passed. He moves to check his Android smartwatch for what must be the hundredth time, but thinks better of it and checks his phone instead, in case the radio silence he’s experiencing is due to his messages not syncing. The very last message he sent Avery was: will u go out with me? He had been cute about it, sending her a cheesy meme attached to it, which was also a backup plan of sorts: if things went wrong, he could say it had all been a joke. But this silence is too much. Ming reorganizes the sock drawer for a fifth time. He wishes he could flip over his... Continue reading…