Tower Climber (A LitRPG Adventure, Book 1) Jakob Tanner (reading comprehension books TXT) 📖

It was a classic black and white suit with a white shirt and black tie.

“Perfect,” said Sakura. “That suit screams smart and handsome.”

“If you say so,” said Max, shrugging.

Sakura looked to the shop owner and materialized some coins from her pouch. “We’ll take it!”

They went dress shopping next. Max had to sit near the changing room and help Sakura pick the perfect dress for the winter ball.

She eventually settled on a skinny red dress with thin straps on the shoulders. The dress accentuated her slender body well.

“You like?” said Sakura, twirling.

Max blushed. She looked really good, but he wasn’t sure what to say as she was twice his age and his climber mentor. Telling her she looked hot was probably not the right thing to say, he figured.

“You look...appropriately dressed for your age.”

POW!

Sakura kicked Max off of his stool so he collapsed onto the ground.

“That was the absolute worst thing you could say,” she barked at him. “Has no one ever told you to never comment on a lady’s age?”

“I thought—”

“For that matter,” said Sakura, fuming. “Never comment on her weight either. For the most part, just keep your mouth shut!”

She then caught herself in the mirror and twirled around a few times admiring herself in the dress.

“I look hot,” she said. Then turned back to Max: “Why didn’t you just say so?”

Sakura paid for her things and then they made one last stop by the shopping mall’s bookstore where she picked up a pile of books with shirtless men and sunsets on the cover.

With that, they were prepared for the night’s winter ball.

65

The winter ball was held in a banquet hall on the top floor of one of the tower-zone’s most illustrious skyscrapers.

The room was filled with a variety of different-ranked climbers and people Max had never seen before. A group of climbers hung out around the climber president as he made an effort to greet everyone. All the student climbers who had passed the midterms were in attendance. There was a band playing cheesy music at the front. Glowing lights and paper streamers adorned the room.

Max had been drinking the fruit punch by himself, trying not to look too awkward when a voice came up behind him.

“Hello!”

He turned around and it was Casey. Max almost did a double take. She looked stunning.

She was wearing a dark emerald dress that brought out her beautiful green eyes and she had her hair done up to show off her neck and back.

A small black purse hung at her side where Toto poked his head out. The gerbil even looked dressed up. His fur had clearly been brushed and Casey had given him a tiny gerbil-sized bow-tie to wear.

“Hello to you too,” said Casey, blushing awkwardly at Max’s lack of response.

“Oh...uhh...sorry...yeah...hello!”

Before Max could say anything else and embarrass himself further, an outside embarrassing force came to do the job.

“Who’s your girlfriend, Max?” said Sakura, her face flush from too much champagne.

“She’s not my—”

Casey stood up straight and gave a small bow to Sakura.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Golden Blade Sakura,” said Casey.

Sakura scratched the back of her head awkwardly. “Aw, there’s no reason to be all formal. Any friend—or girlfriend!?—of Max’s is family to me too.”

The music suddenly came to an end and the lead singer of the band on stage said, “Alright you beautiful climbers, let’s slow it down a little...”

Sakura blushed and put her hands together, cooing, “Ooh, slow dance! You two should dance!”

Both Max and Casey looked awkwardly at each other, then smiled, and walked out to the dance floor together.

They stopped walking to find a spot and Casey said, “I guess we should dance here?”

Max wasn’t sure what to do or say, so he just lifted up his hands and approached Casey with the caution of someone defusing a powerfully explosive bomb.

Casey took a step forward and closed the gap between them, lifting up her hands and resting them behind Max’s neck.

They were so close to each other, their chests were almost squeezed against one another, but not quite. But they were close enough that he felt like he could feel Casey’s heart beating and her body breathing in and out.

They gently moved to the slow rhythm of the song.

Just over Casey’s head, Max could see his academy instructor trying to convince Sakura to dance, but she had her arms crossed and had an unimpressed look on her face.

Was there something there between those two...he wondered.

Casey moved closer to him so that her head was resting on his chest as they swayed to the music.

Focus on your dance with Casey, Max said to himself.

Casey was looking up at him now, her green eyes sparkling, her cute mouth slightly parted.

Did Casey want him to kiss her?

He moved his head forward towards her and suddenly stopped.

Across the dance floor, he saw Samuel Archer and the climber president arguing with each other. Samuel Archer then marched out from the banquet hall in a huff.

“Casey...” Max said, softly.

“Max...” said Casey.

And then he purposefully made the biggest faux pas of their friendship:

“How would you feel about secretly stalking Samuel Archer?”

66

Casey pulled away and gave Max a strange quizzical look.

They may or may not have been about to kiss when Max had seemingly out of nowhere suggested they stalk Samuel Archer, the father of their enemy and rival at school, Cyrus Archer.

In hindsight, Max realized, it probably wasn’t the best thing to say to a girl you may or may not have been about to kiss.

A creepy expression like “stalking” probably didn’t help things either.

“Since I met him, he’s acted weird,” Max explained quickly. “And now he’s just argued with the climber president. I think we should go see what it was about. There’s something about him that I think is suspicious, but he’s so powerful, it’s hard to bring up with anyone else.”

Casey took in the words quickly and nodded. “Alright, let’s check it out.”

As casually as possible, they slipped off the dance floor