Chapter 14 – You Shall Not Pass! (Part II)

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The Memorial Union of Arizona State University always looked as if it prided itself at being the center of all student flow for the campus—and this fact had not been lost on the administration or student groups. The long, broad hallways adorned themselves with tapering banners emblazoned in the maroon and gold of the school colors, pennants fluttering in the slight breeze from the passage of students with the words “Pride in the Desert” written across them and images of cheerleaders.

The ground floor of the MU contained mostly restaurants for the hungry, information for the ignorant, and a lounge full of chair and a fireplace for the tired. To the pair of Darknet ARG teams who had just pushed their way through the northern entrance, though, they broke into smaller groups who found their own way into the basement. Frog decided to part ways with Elaine to spend some extra time with Brad in a stairwell—the ex-girlfriend/ex-boyfriend vibe running strong—so she headed to the elevators.

While waiting for the elevator to make its appearance, she listened to Alfred Clifford, the communications expert of Brad’s ARG team, speak jovially with Russell murphy from Zane’s team. Larry Pilgrim continued to attempt a one-sided conversation with her while his sister, Susan, rolled her eyes and eventually prized him off. Amid the rest of the group, clusters had formed between the two ARG teams, but by and large they intermingled and laughed together. Even with the high tension of the competition, the two groups managed to remain friendly.

Although many of Brad’s team that Elaine hadn’t spoken with the day earlier kept a wary eye on her. None too few would forget the pain of encountering her Tesla Shock field back at Zane’s house.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Larry stepped forward to try to hold the door open for her, having broken free of Susan, but Bernard Osborn from Brad’s team shouldered him aside after she thanked him and stepped into the elevator. Osborn’s overall height and bulk hid Larry’s expression from Elaine when he backed away from the elevator.

“Can we speak a moment in private?” Osborn asked Elaine. He pressed the basement button on the elevator controls next to her.

“Sure,” she said.

“I think, we can wait for the next one,” Alfred Clifford said outside the elevator, Susan, Larry, Russel, and Adam all nodded and turned their attention to the next elevator as it dinged and slid open.

Elaine couldn’t think of any reason why he in particular might want to speak with her. She tried to recall what she could about him. He was a computer science major with a background in athletics; his body type would have yelled “Jock!” at anyone who looked at him except that now he had grown slightly overweight for his height and he took to wearing rounded spectacles. He built an impeccable academic record and earned accolades for being an inventive programmer.

He waited for the doors to close before he turned to look down at her; Osborn had more than a full foot of height on Elaine.

“How can I be of assistance?” she asked.

“I’ve noticed you don’t mince words, so I’ll get to the point.” Osborn leaned against the side of the elevator as it began its descent and took a deep breath. “You spend a lot of time with Frog and I’m would like to know if she’s taken.”

“You may need to crowbar her off of Brad,” Elaine said. “They have a mutual history together and, as you may have noticed, she’s been spending most of her time with him now that my brother’s team and yours are working together.”

Osborn rubbed the back of his head. “Ah yes, I noticed that. Anything you can suggest to help me attract her attention?”

For a moment, Elaine felt taken aback by the question. Most people didn’t confide relationship questions in her—as that was Frog’s realm of expertise. Also, she hadn’t quite thought about how someone might go about attracting her friend’s attention. Granted, it seemed pretty obvious from her long sheet of suitors since they started college: attractive but not arrogant, intelligent but not so absorbed in coursework and mostly the former overcame the latter. In fact, out of the previous batch of boyfriends that Frog had burned through had been athletes from the swimming and fencing teams…

She paused a moment and looked Osborn up and down as she thought; he shuffled uncomfortably under her gaze as she sized him up as if she were in Frog’s position.

“You fall slightly outside of Frog’s usual aesthetic parameters,” Elaine said. “However, I think that your athletics background works in your favor. Last month one of her boyfriend’s challenged her to a fencing match and another one invited her to a wrestling showdown between celebrity wrestlers who are also academics in Chemistry, Biology, and Astrophysics. They both did pretty well in attracting and retaining her attentions.”

“Alright, I’ll try that,” Osborn said, adjusting his glasses on his nose. “Though, I was hoping you could tell me what restaurants she likes.  I’m looking for anything to up my chances.”

“That I don’t know,” Elaine replied with a shake of her head. “Overall, I give you a less than thirty percent chance.”

“That bad, huh?”

Elaine shook her head. “Actually, that’s an extremely fair chance considering her current list of suitors.”

The elevator came to a shaky stop at the basement level; it dinged as the doors slid open to reveal a few out-of-breath members of both ARG teams waiting for them with huge grins.

“Wait,” Osborn said under his breath. “Frog’s got more guys she’s into than Brad right now?”

“Of course she does!”

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