2. A Bet

Darien took his headphones off. He had just finished watching the WinnTek news conference. Sitting in his one bedroom apartment, infront of his computer desk, he leaned back and let out a sigh.

"Eight more hours until the sweepstakes ends," he said to himself. Realizing he was hungry he got up and went to his bathroom to wash up before cooking. He scrubbed his hands and splashed water on his face before looking in the mirror. His hazel eyes looked back at him. his dark brown hair was a mess, he hadn't brushed it yet. Rubbing his scruffy beard he contemplated cleaning it up. Turning on his clippers, he heard the low buzzing telling him that it was almost dead. Darien plugged the charging cord into the clippers and set them on the edge of the sink.

He shuffled into the kitchen and opened his fridge. There wasn't much in there. Some left over pizza from the night before, couple bottles of juice and water, and a few eggs left in the cartoon. He closed the fridge then opened the freezer top and it too seemed quite bare. Just a pound of frozen hamburger.

"Dammit, guess I have to go to the store today." He closed the freezer and opened his cupboard to grab the last noodle cup he had, filled it up to the line with water and nuked it in the microwave. As he leaned against the counter, watching the cup go in circles, his phone began to ring. He looked at the caller I.D. then answered.

"What's up man? You need something?"

"Why do you always think I need something Darien? Can't a guy just call his friend to check up on him?" A voice whined through the phone.

"I'm sure you could Travis but it's not common," Darien teased. He grabbed the noodle cup out of the microwave and sat at his table after retrieving a fork. "But seriously what's up?"

"Well I may or may not of pissed Heather off," said Travis. Darien shook his head slowly. Heather was Travis's girlfriend.

"What did you do this time?" Darien asked not really wanting to hear the drama but asked anyway.

"Well I was playing Soul Warriors on her account and met up with a group that was going to hunt a mystic beast," Travis began to explain. Soul warriors was a mmorpg game where players collected beast souls for powers and equipment. "However, the party wasn't really equipped to handle the beast and we had a total party wipe. The worst part was in the battle Heather's Cat's Eye Robe completely got destroyed and she is furious with me. She threw me out and told me not to come back until she fixed my mistake."

"Shit man, you really screwed the pooch huh?," Darien said. He knew that Heather loved that robe. They had helped her get it a couple weeks ago and she has maintained it constantly and bragged to her friends about it. "So what do you need me to do?"

"Well I was hoping I could crash at your place until she cools down. I will buy you dinner." Travis knew Darien was usually low on food and was using that as his negotiating tool.

"Fine, I was about to leave shortly anyway. I will be by to pick you up, and I want steak tonight."

"Thanks man see you in a bit," Travis hung up and Darien quickly finished his noodles. He got changed into a pair of shorts and a black t-shirt and tied a pair of shoes on.

Darien left his apartment and got into his car. It was a red sedan about twenty years old but still ran well. He began driving down the road. He turned on the radio and was unsurprised to hear that almost all stations were talking about this morning's WinnTek Conference. After five minutes he turned it back off while saying, "It's not like you are going to win Darien."

Another ten minutes passed when he pulled up to a white one story building with a semi-circle driveway. There were a few flowers planted in front of the house with a pair of cats playing in them. Watching the cats from the front porch was a thin young man in a white tank top and black sweat pants. His short blonde hair was gelled up and spiky. The man raised his head and smiled. He stood up and grabbed a pillow case that was stuffed with what Darien assumed was clothes. He walked around Darien's car and opened the passenger side door.

"Thanks again man. You are a champion of the disposed," said Travis as he sat in the seat and closed the door.

"Well if you stopped pissing Heather off you wouldn't be disposed and I wouldn't have to be your champion," reply Darien with a smile. They drove off, Travis turning the radio on again there was still talk of WinnTek and Interstellar Conquest.

"You registered right? You think you might win?" Travis asked looking over at Darien as buildings went by in the window.

"How could I even guess? Only one million are going to win. My chances are so low," Darien replied. He was excited to win when he first registered. However billions of people signed up. He was no longer as optimistic.

"Oh please me and you both know how your luck is with games. I bet you will win."

"Oh yeah and what should we bet on?" Darien liked to make wagers with Travis. seven out of ten times he would win.

"If I win you have to set me up when I join in the game in a year. If I lose then you can have your pick off five pieces of my gear in Soul Warriors."

"Your gear isn't that great man. How is that a fair bet?'" Darien asked.

"Even if I add my Lunar Tiger?," Travis responded. Darien was surprised. Lunar Tiger was a mount of high rarity. It alone would be good to win. 'Travis must be feeling pretty lucky to want to risk that," Darien thought to himself.

"Ok deal." He reached his hand over to Travis and they both shook on it. They drove for a while chatting over nothing specific until reaching the store. Travis got out and went into the store leaving Darien in the car.

'I do wonder what Interstellar Conquest is going to be like. Some much secrecy. The new V-Drive. I can't help but get excited. Man I don't think I can wait another year...' He couldn't stop thinking about it and as every minute passed he knew he was getting closer to finding out if he was a winner. He had watched the counter for registered player rise every day, thus the chances just got lower and lower. It was beginning to depress him. While caught in mid thought Travis had come back with a couple bags of groceries and a case of beer.

"Ok I think we are already. Let's head to your place and enjoy some drinks and food," Travis said loudly. Obviously looking forward to getting his beer buzz on.

"Did you get steaks?," Darien asked looking at the bags. He wasn't too interested in the beer. He had lost the urge to drink after he and Travis got too wasted last year to celebrate his birthday.

When they arrived at his apartment Travis made himself at home and put stuff away in the fridge. They played on a gaming console for a few hours. Trying a variety of games to stem the boredom. When it started to get late Darien made his way to the kitchen.

He gather the necessary spices and utensils and began frying the steaks in a pan. He also made mashed potatoes and corn for a side and added gravy. He brought two dishes full of food back to the living area where they were playing. He handed a plate to Travis who looked at him like some kind of food god and mouthed the words "thank you" silently as he had a microphone headset on. He was currently playing Battle Tactics, which was a squad based tactic game that involved some intellect to be good at.

"Goddamit!," Travis yelled. Darien had watched him lose to the same player four times in a row. Travis wasn't bad at this game, but his opponent was smart. It seemed every time Travis would advance a unit it would be ambushed by two enemy units. Travis thrust the controller at Darien. "Kick his ass!"

Darien laughed and took the controller. "Dont know how much better I will do, but ok." He looked at the screen and sent a match invite to the player name, 'DraknarStarlance'. The player responded in text.

"You sure?"

"I'm a friend just wanted to try you myself," Darien typed back.

"Ok... This will be my last game. Please be better."

"Bastard," said Travis. Darien raised a hand to quiet him and then started the match.

The match lasted over two hours. Darien and DraknarStarlance had been careful at the start. Using their units to stealthily recon each other. Darien played close attention and was able to set an ambush causing a series of skirmishes across the map. For every location Darien was holding an advantage at, his opponent held advantage at another. The match ended with Draknar Starlance taking the win.

"Good game. That was close match." Darien typed to his opponent.

"Agreed maybe we can play again later. I have to go now. Here's a friend request accept and I will catch you when you are online." Draknar replied. Darien accepted the request and logged off the game.

"Damn, he beat you too. I almost thought you had him for a bit," said Travis. Clearly disappointed with the outcome of the game.

"Me too the guys is good." Darien did want to play him again but noticed the time. "So want to see who wins our bet?" Darien pointed at the time. It was almost time to see the result from the sweepstakes.

Darien logged on to his Winntek account and went to his notifications tab on the account. There was a timer there counting down the last moments of suspense. Four minutes left. Travis stood behind him looking at the screen. They waited in silence.

The timer ticked the last second and a notification popped up with the title, "Your Results!". Darien hesitated. 'Oh god it's time." He had waited for months to get this notification and it was here.

"Well click on it," Travis said lightly slapping Darien on the back. Darien clicked on the notification.

*****

CONGRATULATIONS YOU WON!

You have won in the sweepstakes. You will have your new equipment delivered and installed in the next four days. The launch for the winners will be one week from today.

Thank you and enjoy

Allison Winn

*****

"Shit I won!?" Darien said quietly.

"And I won our bet!" Travis squeezed Darien shoulder and shook him in excitement. "Get good so you can make good on our bet," he laughed.

Darien was still looking at the screen.