Level Up (13 page)

They didn't even question, just headed off to work their assignments. Adam looked angry, but he looked at her, and she shook her head.

She'd unleashed this damned beast. And they really did need Abraham, since he was a heavy-duty coder.

But damn, she hated this.

Adam took a break from the computer in his room, ignoring José's off-tune and completely unconscious humming as he tapped away on his laptop on the floor. Stretching, Adam wandered out to the living room, taking in the scene. After three days in, they were making great progress in the game, even though the house now looked like a cross between a hacker's den and a fraternity. Empty bottles and plastic cups littered every surface, as did half-full bags of chips. He had made a few half-hearted stabs at cleaning up, but mostly he'd focused on doing his part. It had been a while since he'd done hard-core coding. He'd forgotten what a rabbit hole it could be.

Tessa had been working in her bedroom, stretched out on her bed while Rodney worked at her desk. Adam tried not to feel weird about that. Considering how many times he'd kissed her, it was surprisingly difficult.

Now, though, she was butting heads with Abraham, who had taken over the entirety of the dining room table with his notes and computer set up, complete with two screens.

"I'm telling you, that's not going to work," he said in a flat voice. "You don't listen very well, do you?"

Abraham had gotten progressively more condescending and bossy as the project had worn on. Adam had worked with the engineer long enough to knew that it was his way, a dominance play--something he tried on every new coder. He also knew that Tessa was practically biting a hole in her tongue. She'd made her rebuttals as clearly and unemotional as possible, but Abraham had taken it as weakness, and pushed her even more. Adam was having a hard time sitting by while Abraham was being such an asshole. But she'd said it herself--if he stepped in, she wouldn't be respected. It was part Sparta, part wolf pack, part testosterone poisoning. But she said she could handle it.

Adam knew he had to respect that.

"I just want to try writing the code for this level in a slightly different way," she said, her voice sounding strained as she tapped her fingers frenetically against the table.

Abraham chuffed impatiently. "This is what's wrong with people like you. Always want to go mucking stuff up, when you really don't know what's going on."

"Okay, that's it," she said, and slammed her hands down on the table.

Fezza, who had been tapping away on the couch, sat up quickly, taking out his ear buds. "What? What's going on?"

Rodney came out of the bedroom. "Everything all right?"

José came out of Adam's room, as well, looking curious.

Adam crossed his arms, looking at her, his eyebrows raised. "Now can I help you?" he mouthed.

She shook her head at him fiercely, and he held his tongue, even as he felt the muscles in his shoulders tense.

"You've done nothing but give me shit since you came on board," she said to Abraham. "I know we've needed you on this project, so I rolled over, because this is too important to my friends. But 'people like me'? Really? Why not just come out and say it!
Women
 like me!"

Abraham scowled. "I am not picking on you because you're a woman," he said. "I'm picking on you because you don't want to do things my way and you want to mess with my codes."

"You're a sexist."

"I'm a misanthrope," he corrected. "I don't hate women. I hate everybody!"

"He kind of has a point there, actually," Fezza said.

"That's bullshit, too, but we're going to settle this right now. Bro-grammer style," she said, and quickly headed to her bedroom, bringing her computer out. "A straight up code-off. I'm going to use my approach, you're going to use yours, and we're going to test this final scene. First one done with working code wins. Agreed?"

He blinked. "You're actually taking me on?"

"Put up or shut up," she said, her eyes narrowing.

Adam swallowed. Abraham might be an asshole, but when it came to coding, the guy was a beast. This might not have been the best way for Tessa to prove herself--but then again, it wasn't just her pride, it was her career. And it was standing up for herself. He couldn't blame her, since Abraham had more than crossed the line.

Abraham cracked his knuckles. "All right, princess. You're on."

"And," Tessa said, leaning over and looking at him fiercely, "if you lose...you have to dress up."

"You still have to dress up as Sailor Moon, though," José interjected. "That was the deal!"

"Yeah, well, he'd have to dress up, too." Her smile was ferocious. "As another Sailor Moon character."

Adam let out a bark of laughter. "Man, that'd be worth it."

Abraham grinned smugly. "And what do I get when I win?"

"I'll quit my job," she tossed out.

"Hey, no!" Adam shouted, horrified. He knew how much this job meant to her. Would she really throw it all away because she was pissed off?

The other guys quickly chimed in.

"No way!"

"We don't want that!"

"Are you kidding?" Fezza said, appalled.

Abraham sighed. "I don't care if you quit or not, but it does seem like a stupid stake."

"All right, then what do you want?"

Abraham looked sly. "I noticed you have a mint first edition of
Akira,
Volume One. That's not cheap. I'll take that."

"Abraham, you're my boss, and you're a hell of a coder," Rodney said, his voice acidic. "But honestly, you're being a twat."

"What? She's the one throwing her weight around. She proposed a bet."

"She's doing dares and you're going for money," Fezza said with obvious disapproval.

"Guys? Thanks, but don't worry. I can handle myself," she said. "I can defend myself. And I can prove to this douchebag that I can code."

Abraham's eyes gleamed. "Game on, Peach."

They guys looked nervous. Adam could see she was determined. He'd seen what she could do under pressure.

She needed someone to believe in her.

"Side bet," Adam said, as they settled down at the table. "I'll throw in a signed copy of
A Dance With Dragons
 in hardback." He knew Abraham had a weakness for it.

Abraham looked stunned. "You mean...you're going to bet that
she'll
beat
me
?"

"Damn straight." He grinned, showing more confidence then he felt.

"Um, Adam," Fezza muttered, sidling up towards him. "The guy's lead engineer for a reason. He can out code my ass. She's just an audio coder."

"She's got skills," Adam said. Her responding smile was like the sun coming out of a thundercloud, and he momentarily felt blinded by it. "I stand by it."

"Fine. You're on," Abraham said. "I'll be more than happy to take whatever you guys are stupid enough to bet."

"What does Adam get if she wins, though?" Rodney asked.

Adam grinned. "He's got to clean the house."

"Never gonna happen," Abraham said. "All right. Ready? Set?"

She settled her hands over the keyboard.

"Go!"

They started, fingers flying over the keyboard with loud clacks. She looked like she was mesmerized by her screen, while Abraham had the smug smile still plastered on his face.

Hours later, the smug smile had been replaced by one of stern concentration. She was still tapping away, like a clockwork typist, one with the computer. She still looked placid, as line after line of code popped up on the screen.

"Jeez, how many logs do you have on that fire?" Abraham called to Adam, who had just wandered in to check.

"I don't think that's why you're sweating, dude."

Abraham growled at Fezza's comment. "Shut up. I'm almost..."

"Done!" Tessa shouted, and stood up.

The guys came back in, hooting.

"It's got to run," Abraham said, his voice a little desperate.

"I've been testing as I went," she said. "It runs. Try it."

He got up, scowling, and ran the code.

She was right. "It runs," Adam said, feeling triumph and pride burn in his chest. "And it looks great!"

"She was actually right," Fezza crowed. "That
did
work better."

"And faster," she said.

Abraham was still scowling. "Let me see the code."

She clicked over, watching as Abraham scanned over each line, scrolling down.

"This bit feels too complicated," Abraham critiqued. "Layers on layers."

"It's not too different from how Ruby on Rails was conceived," she said. "It's just simplifying the repetitive stuff, making it automatic. That's why I could finish quicker. And it doesn't really interfere with play time at this point, with this simple of a game."

"It's messy," he sniffed.

"But we're going for speedy deliverable," she said. "Besides, it's not that chaotic. It won't be hard to replace if we needed a cleaner code, but I think it's actually neater than you're giving it credit for."

Abraham let out a deep breath. "Don't tell me. You're going to be all smug and braggy, because the big bad sexist got his ass kicked."

"I was certainly thinking about it," she said.

"I'm still a better coder than you are."

"I know that," she said, surprising Adam--and apparently surprising Abraham as well, given his facial expression. "I'm not pretending that I am. But I knew that I could bring something new to this. Just like I know I could learn from you, too."

Abraham looked startled, as well.

"Once you stop being a sexist asshat, anyway."

Abraham blinked, then let out a short bark of laughter.

"So--you're both dressing up as Sailor Moon, then?" Fezza said.

"Hey, no," Abraham protested with an expression of chagrin. "She said a character from
Sailor Moon
. I could be Tuxedo Mask or something!"

"Oh, hell no," she said. "If I have to dress in a short skirt, you bet your ass you have to, as well."

He groaned, holding his head in his hands as the other guys razzed him.

"Adam, can I talk with you for a second?" Tessa said, under cover of the merriment.

He pulled her into his bedroom, shutting the door. "That was amazing," he said.

She hugged him, surprising him. "Thank you," she said, "for believing in me. I knew I could do it, but...the support. I haven't had someone in my corner other than Ani before. It really helped."

He grinned, hugging her back tight. "You were amazing," he said. "And I do believe in you."

She pulled back, and he wanted to kiss her. Hell, he wanted to do more than that, even with the guys in the other room. But it wasn't the right place, the right time...the right anything.

"Thank you," she breathed, with a smile that warmed him more than the fireplace.

"What are you two doin' in there?" he heard Jose call. "Anything we need to know about?"

She blushed, her amber skin flushing crimson, and they stepped away from each other instinctively. She quickly went to the door, opening it. "Nothing!" she said quickly. "We were just talking."

"Well, quit talking and start partying, girl," Jose said, leading her out, to Adam's irritation. He followed them out to the living room. He noticed that Fezza had set up small glasses on the dining room table.

"I can't believe we're almost done!" Fezza said. "This calls for celebratory shots!"

"No! No shots," Adam said.

"Oh, what the hell," Tessa said, grabbing a shot glass and downing the clear liquid in one swallow. Then she came up coughing. "What's next?"

The guys smiled. And Adam suddenly had a very, very bad feeling about this.

"Okay, guys," Adam said, turning off the TV to a loud chorus of complaints. "Time to pack it up."

"What? Why?" José yelled. "It's only one!"

"In the morning. And we've all got work tomorrow, remember?"

"Come on, chaps," Rodney said. "Boss man here will give us hell if we don't ship out."

"Nah," Tessa slurred. "I was just starting to get the hang of it. But you guys can't keep trying to make me a healer, damn it. That's
sexist
."

"We're making you a healer because you're less likely to try killing your teammates, you dork," Fezza said. "Every time you're a barbarian, you kill me."

She smiled, motioning him to come closer. "That's because you're an
asshole
," she shared in a conspiratorial stage whisper.

The guys hooted.

"One last shot!" José announced

"No. Absolutely not," Adam said, already a little leery about the amount of liquor that his tame roommate had managed to imbibe.

"Party pooper," she said, hugging José as he headed for the door, then hugging all the rest of them...even Abraham. "See you in the morning!"

"Sleep tight, Sailor," Rodney said, to the general raucous approval of the other guys.

"Say, Adam," José said, as Tessa stumbled her way back into the house to get away from the freezing door. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Hurry up," Rodney yelled. "I swear, my bollocks are turning into raisins in this cold!"

"One second," José yelled back, making Adam glad that his elderly neighbors were off in Arizona for the holidays. "Is there anything going on between you and Tessa?"

"What? What? No." Adam said hastily, looking back at the door. "Why do you think so?"

"Well, you two live together."

"She's my roommate," Adam responded, then noticed the defensive tone in his voice.

"So you don't mind if I..." He made a vague, incomprehensible gesture.

"If you what?"

"Come
onnnnnn
," Rodney whined.

"You know. Ask her out."

Adam's eyes widened. Why should he mind? Of course he didn't mind.

"I'll break your fucking arm," he said instead, casually, then blinked at himself.

José sighed. "Damn it. I figured. Well, maybe you'll screw it up," he said jovially, then punched Adam on the arm. "See you tomorrow, man." Then he lumbered to the van where Rodney was tapping his watch.

Adam watched them leave before hurrying back inside where it was warm.