Hard Wired Trilogy DeAnna Pearce (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📖

regained her balance, she realized his arm had stayed on her shoulder. She hit him lightly. “You are almost as bad as Marco.” When she turned her head, she realized how close he really was.

His playful smile softened as he glanced at her mouth. She thought about closing the distance, but that was the difference between the virtuals and real life. In actual reality, kisses meant more, so did failing off the edge, even though they sort of felt like the same thing.

It took a moment for her to realize he wasn’t moving away either. She had changed a lot since she left for school, doing things she never thought she would. Why not this? Before her brain could tell her all the reasons why not, she leaned in to lightly kiss his lips. He held still for a moment, and she worried that she’d made a mistake. But before she could pull back, he reached a hand up to cup her face. At first, his touch was hesitant, soft. Soon the space between them diminished and his soft lips held a hunger that she matched kiss for kiss. Bliss, true utter bliss blossomed in her chest as she lost herself in his touch.

When Ari moved her hand up to touch his face, an unsteady moment caused her to tighten her grip on the edge. Out of breath, she pulled back, a little flushed as she met his eyes.

One side of his lips lifted, his eyes never leaving her face. “Maybe kissing this high up isn’t the wisest choice.”

“And I thought you were worried about kissing your best friend’s sister,” Ari replied, not able to keep the smile off her face.

“I am.”

“We don’t have to tell him,” Ari suggested. She had always wanted to kiss Reed, but never thought through any sort of relationship afterward. It was always a little girl crush. But now that they started, she couldn’t picture it any other way.

“I think it might be worse to keep it from him. He’s already told me you’re off limits.”

“Really?” Ari fumed at the idea of Marco telling her who she can date.

“It was after he told me my mom looked hot one day, and I told him he wasn’t allowed to think of my mom that way. He was offended and told me if my mom was off limits so were you. Guess I’d better warn my mom,” Reed joked.

Ari avoided his gaze as she asked him the question that she didn’t want answered. “You don’t have to tell him if it doesn’t happen again.”

He pulled back slightly. “But what if I want it to happen again?”

Heat rushed to her face. “Then Marco can have your mom.”

Reed laughed, his gaze turning to the night sky. “You probably don’t realize just how long I’ve wanted to kiss you.”

“Me too.” Ari studied their intertwined fingers, his familiar, artistic hands that she admired, that held hers. She didn’t trust herself to say more, to put what she felt in words. He was a childhood dream, a friend, and now ... she couldn’t even qualify it, but it was definitely good. Fireworks exploded in the distance, and they both ignored them, leaning in for another kiss.

Chapter Seventeen

The Tuesday after their long weekend break was bleak, gray and wet. Even those that hadn’t left campus spent the majority of their weekend gaming. Unlike the gloomy expressions on the other students’ faces, Ari was still riding the high of her time with Reed.

The lack of sleep did catch up with her though. A zombie herself, Ari struggled to keep up with Professor Speltman’s lecture on logical and conditional loops. She recorded the lecture in case she needed it again. His monotone voice could be a cure for insomnia, but Ari tried to follow along.

Speltman paced slowly across the room. “Poorly constructed loops are an easy out in virtuals and will not be tolerated in my classes. I don’t want to see the same cloud sequence floating by unless you want to fail. I expect at least a minimum of five different conditional loops streaming, whether it be clouds, birds, or a neighbor out for a walk.” He stopped to face the classroom. “Minute variety is what brings depth to your worlds.”

Ari raised her hand.

He nodded at her. “Yes?”

“How do you avoid an error when the loops transition or start over?” She often saw a slight glitch when a loop started over, like the fish in the ocean with Garrett.

The teacher’s brow lowered. “There shouldn’t be an error. Reread your coding manual. As elementary as it is, I’d be surprised if a child could screw that up.”

A voice traveled softly from the back. “Sounds about right for that girl.”

Ari nodded and lowered her eyes. Her face burned, and she wanted to kick who ever said there were no stupid questions. But if it was such a remedial error, why did she see it so often? She wasn’t about to bring up what happened to her and Garrett in the VR.

Ari spent her lunch hour drinking coffee in her room while searching through online rumors on warpers. She sifted through a myriad of claims and rumors. One guy claimed to be a warper and was experimented on by the government. Another site claimed they were warpers and could recreate anyone’s sexual fantasy to perfection. Gross. They boasted about their ability but never explained how they manipulated the code or what exactly they did. Could they create programs quicker if they wrote them while in the VR?

She was mulling over the implications of warpers as she headed to Dr. Coleman’s class. While finding her seat, her stomach churned. She no longer had full blown panic attacks in his class, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel ill every time she went in.

Dr. Coleman walked in between the chairs, in black slacks and a dark, crisp shirt. “Today we’re going to see if you’re worth your salt in programming. Dr. Speltman had you submit the skeleton you