Check & Mate

by Ali Hazelwood

I’ve never not seen her once a week to play Dragon Age, or talk about Dragon Age, or watch Dragon Age playthroughs.

“Are you going to pass eye water?”

Sawyer is already there. Waiting. Sitting on Black, tracking all my movements. His eyes on me are unsettling. There’s something too sharp, too ravenous, almost acquisitive about them. Like the match is an afterthought, and I am what he came here for.

“You usually run away from me. Are you going to?” He’s right. He’s also rude. “You usually lose your king to me. Are you going to?”

“It has its ups and downs. I used to love it, but a little…sameness set in, and I actually thought about quitting. Then Mallory arrived.” His knee suddenly pushes back against mine. “Now I love it again.”

“So,” Darcy interjects, “when are you guys going to have sex?” Nolan’s “Hard to tell” overlaps with my “Never!” and completely swallows it. I face-palm. “I bet Mallory’s really good at it. She sure practices a lot.”

This time of the year, it’s little more than a handful of leaves on scrawny branches—as any other time.

Dragon Age Solas pin.

“What’s that smell?” “Your armpits.” “No, the good one.”

Just go nap while I waste my day watching Dragon Age playthroughs on your Wi-Fi.” “Dragon what?” And that’s how I find myself on Nolan’s leather couch, telling him about elves and eggheads and the end of the world, soothed by the video and by Nolan’s presence.

“Just…what do you want from me?” “I want everything.”

Did it happen to you like it happened to me?

“Was it fun, coming to our house, knowing you were keeping the lights on?”

but you’re starting to sound nuts.”

Mallory, can you please win that stupid World Championship and move us elsewhere with your smart checkers money?”

Dragon Age TikTok

“Well, you know how I feel about agreeing with white guys with trust funds,

“Every last thing,”

Easton blesses me with a Dragon Age playthrough. For a minute it feels like it used to be—the two of us, and Solas being an asshole on screen.

“I watched one with Nolan once.” “A playthrough? Is that gem of a boy into DA?” “Not really.”

“Did you call him a bitch, too?”

There is also the fact that three months ago Sawyer appeared to lean in and playfully bite Greenleaf’s ear while walking away from the final game at the Linares International Chess Tournament, in which he defeated her.