Decameron: Plant the Spike [VII/7]
Victor had spent a semester and a half working up the guts to ask out Beatrice, only for the world to end the week that he was going to make a move.
Things moved quickly at that point. Without the daily anchor of school, the social world had moved entirely online, to TikTok or, for Beatrice, Fortnite. Victor’s problem was that his connection to Beatrice was tenuous at best — beyond a few classes together, they didn’t really speak too much outside of class, and he spent most of March and April figuring out how the hell he’d even get a reason to talk to her one on one.
This was a problem, because he wasn’t the only one trying to get to her. Dave Egan, without his precious lacrosse, was free, and evidently free to have a running afternoon game with Beatrice. They were an item. This made Victor burn with envy every night before he tried to go to sleep.
So Victor did what teenagers have done since the beginning of time: his best, given overwhelming odds against him and and almost a certainty of failure.
The singular focus eventually coalesced into a plan. Victor wasn’t that good at Fortnite, but every crew needed a support player, someone who’d collect resources and revive fallen players, a backline that supported the players with the flashier, more fun run-and-gun style.
So he made himself available.
“Wait, you mean you like doing the heals?” asked Egan. “Sure man, me and Bea could really use some help here, you’re in.”
Victor was in. He’d play each afternoon with the girl that he loved and the guy who she was dating. It was a struggle — running support was work — but the plan was working. He was hanging out with Bea every afternoon, and honestly he was getting along with Egan too, who wasn’t as bad as he’d made him out to be.
Eventually, he’d worked up the courage to tell Bea how he feels.
“I want to date you,” he said into Discord. “I really like you.”
Now Beatrice was hardly a damsel, but she knew what she liked and Victor was it. Egan was cute, and fun to play with, but post-quarantine relationships of convenience beat the alternatives, and honestly he was one of the best builders she’d ever played with. She couldn’t jeopardize that. Even more, Egan and Victor were getting along great, though he was a bit of a jealous type and had always wondered why Victor pretended to love running support. No, if both Vic and Beatrice cancelled on an evening and were seen to be online together in another game, the whole group would collapse.
So Beatrice got clever.
“Meet me in Valorant at 4, don’t tell Egan.”
Beatrice then started to message Egan: Hey, I got a weird text from Victor, he wants to meet up in Fortnite without you to play duo.
“What?” asked Egan, feeling a puff of jeolousy.
So Beatrice explained the plan: Egan would log into her account, and wait at the appointed spot, and confront Victor over what his intentions were. Egan loved this idea: he’d have the drop on Victor is he was trying any funny business, and he’d be able to confront him then and there. He logged into her account, reskinned in her favorite outfit, and went to the server in Fortnite where they’d agree to meet.
Meanwhile, Beatrice logged onto her Xbox, and met Victor over in Valorant. They played a game — a private game — and planted the Spike, if you know what I mean.
Once they’d had their fun, Beatrice told Victor what to do.
He signed on to Fortnite and went towards the spot where Egan, dressed as Beatrice, was hanging out.
And then Victor shot Egan.
“How dare you, Beatrice!” he yelled into teamspeak, “This was a test, and you failed! We’re a team! Egan is our best friend!” At this point, Victor was looting the felled Beatrice, Egan stunned at what he was hearing. “How could you be unfaithful?”
When Beatrice asked Egan what had happened, he felt assuaged.
“Oh, that? Nothing to worry about, he was just messing with you,” said Egan, who proceeded to explain how Victor was merely making sport of their relationship.
“Messing with me?” said Beatrice, coy. “Boy am I gullible.”
Decameron is a newsletter recounting the 14th Century set of quarantine tales for 2020. Read the original story.
Tell your friends!