Cleo's Cheat Code

LEVEL 1: GREEN FOREST PATH

Things were perfect before they weren't. Before it all went to hell. Before I lost everything. In any case, no better place to start than where it all began.

My town didn't have a GameStop or a BestBuy. We didn't even have a Walmart.

We had a Cheat Code.

A lesser known video game store chain, sure. But there's a handful of them in this state alone.

But not for long.

Like Blockbuster Video of yore, gaming stores like Cheat Code were starting to fizzle out as things became more digital by the day. Sure, the popular chains- the mainstays- would be kicking around in bigger cities. But my local Cheat Code was closing down, along with all of its stores, within the year, nation-wide.

Not ideal, since it's where I worked.

I was employed there since last summer, right after my graduation, and I had two reasons why the impending closure was such a gut punch.

One: I had just moved out of my parents' house. My rental was expensive, even for a small apartment. My old bedroom had already become an office for my mom, so like somebody once said, I couldn't ever go home again.

Reason two that I hated life: I wouldn't be working with Cleo anymore.

Cleo was 24 to my 20 years of age. She was also the assistant manager to my sales clerk position. And since the manager had become pregnant seven months ago, Cleo was still my interim boss, during the final death throes of my employment.

Some people talk about "the girl next door." What does that mean exactly? Nice? Tantalizingly close, but no cigar? Or just totally fucking perfect in every way?

Cleo was my girl next door, even if she lived across town in the nicer half of our Podunk pit-stop.

On the last day that we worked together, I was thinking about the very first day we worked together.

I was 19 back then. She had been the one I handed my resume off to. She had been friendly. Maybe she put in a good word. Maybe that's just wishful thinking. Either way, I got it. And it was my first job.

She showed me the ropes on day one: how to scan things and do inventory. How to deal with complaints. How to upsell. She also taught me how to not give too much of a shit about the job. She wasn't passionate about video games, or retail. She just needed the money, like me. Like everyone working a job.

But I was awestruck by her presence the whole day, and every day since.

Cut to now. We had already worked together for a year or so. The only other staff was Bernice, the aforementioned (and currently on maternity leave) manager, and Douglas, who was retiring anyway, but sooner than he expected due to the closure.

Cleo and I weren't friends, exactly. We never hung out after work hours. But we talked. A lot. She had a boyfriend, though I never saw him once. She didn't talk about him much either, which worked for me.

"Ward?"

Cleo's melodic voice pulled me from my pathetic Cleo daydream. I looked up from the till. She was smirking at me. Obviously I had zoned out so hard I didn't hear her say something the first time around.

"Yeah, Cleo?" I said.

"Slacker! I asked if you're sad that the dream is over." She abandoned her inventory task to saunter over to the counter. I smiled.

"The dream, huh?" I mused.

"Shut up. You know, the dream, the gig. The fact we won't be working together anymore." She pouted. I could have died looking at those pursed lips.

Speaking of looks: can I gush for a sec? She was so fucking beautiful, and it killed me. Like I said before, she was tall- but also built strong. But, like a woman. A woman who ate what she wanted, and exercised for the fun rather than a diet measure. She wasn't skinny. I was glad for her curvier figure.

But fuck me, though.

Fuck me, because she wasn't single like me. Fuck me, because even if she wasn't, I was too much of a pussy to make a move.

Her eyes were amber, and her hair was dark brown. Her skin was tanned- almost olive. I didn't know her folks, but I'd wager one of them was Greek or something. She had full, rosy cheeks that narrowed to a chin that was adorably small.

"Ward, hello? You must have some epic shit on your mind, or-"

"Sorry," I said, "I'm probably just bummed out."

She leaned over the counter, mimicking a customer as she drummed the surface with her black nails. "Me too. You never found another job yet?"

I shook my head. The store was empty. Fluorescent lights flickered their dying illumination. Nobody was coming by today, even for our last day. Nobody came by enough for these kind of stores to stay open. Our "everything must go sale" went mostly ignored. It was a working-class town, and Amazon made us obsolete.

"I applied to the pub, and the pharmacy," Cleo said, but rolled her eyes hopelessly. "I don't think anybody is hiring."

"Seems to be the case." I felt a pang of dread, trying to do mental math to estimate how long I could afford my place on a heavily reduced income during my inevitable unemployment.

"Things will be okay," she said, reaching over and patting my forearm.

"Don't patronize me," I said, grinning.

"Fine," she sighed, and returned to finish scanning the store for the final inventory. I watched her ample backside as she retreated to the other end of the small store. We could wear jeans. Hers seemed impossibly tight. So did mine, some days.

I resumed my own task, keying in some paperwork for the company, getting things ready for the store's demise. Douglas had stopped showing up completely, so it was just the two of us. I looked around at the games, accessories, and merch. It would all be redistributed or resold, shipped off to a bigger retail chain.

I played video games often. Cleo did too, but more casually than myself. I had all the old systems, but half were in storage in my old house. But I played new-ish stuff too. Cleo mostly played on her Nintendo Switch. I had an Xbox- but the one a full generation behind the most recent version. I couldn't afford new shit.

Working with Cleo was always the best. Our schedules didn't overlap too much before, but with the lack of staff during the final months, we usually spent most of the day together. Making overtime, having fun.

She expertly travelled the path of being moderately flirtatious without saying anything overtly obvious.

But we shared looks. Moments. Brief seconds of skin contact while passing each other a game case or handing off some coin rolls. But I knew it was all one-sided. She didn't feel the same way. She was just nice.

The year with Cleo at this store was the best of my life, even though nothing officially was going on with us. I was a virgin, in all ways. I hadn't even kissed anybody before. But I was just confident enough to act like that wasn't the case.

So, I consoled myself with the fact I got to talk with a cute girl almost every day. I wasn't lonely, at least. Not completely. But we were never going to be together. Soon we wouldn't even have a reason to see each other.

The day was half-over when she asked me a question.

"Do you think we would be friends outside of work? After today?"

I looked over. She wasn't facing me, but rather still face deep in counting rows of games as she boxed them up.

"I, um..." I didn't know what the right answer was. The honest answer.

"No pressure," she chuckled. "I just think it's stupid we've never hung out before. And maybe with work almost over, you should take my number, just in case."

I must have turned rosy. She turned a little pink as well.

"Sure," I said, smiling awkwardly, but earnestly.

Cleo approached, her full chest pushing out a little as she leaned over the counter to scribble her number down on a yellow sticky-note.

I almost asked if her boyfriend would mind, then wised up at the last second. We never talked about him before, why start now?

I pocketed her number.

"Don't go calling my cell at midnight or anything, I like my beauty sleep," she sighed.

"Wouldn't dream of it," I said, shaking my head. I had her number. Not the other way around. She wanted me to call her, sometime. Or she wouldn't have given-

"Ward," she said, interrupting my racing mind. "Why are we even doing this shit?"

"What? Inventory?" I asked.

"Yeah. And all the other shit some corporate guy should be doing. What do you say we just bail? We can go for a walk or something."

My eyes went very wide, I'm sure.

"Like, play hooky, on our last day? What about our hours? Or, using this place as a reference?"

"Bernice will give us one, whether we fuck off today or not, since we stepped up when she got knocked up. This place is basically firing us anyways, what do we owe them?"

I shrugged. Following Cleo's logic, it didn't seem to be worth my time to balance a bunch of paperwork for somebody else. I wasn't even sure I was doing half of it right anyway.

So, we locked up, left our keys in the drop box for corporate as per our instructions, and walked to our cars.

Mine was an old, burgundy, beater of a Sunfire. She drove a silver Tiburon that her brother sold her before he went off to college. Old cars for the modern age, but what else could we afford?

"You wanna meet up somewhere?" she asked, leaning back against her ride. Her belly wasn't big, but it looked soft. God, she was soft all over, and-

"Ward McBored," she said, snapping her fingers. Not my last name, but I did have a way of daydreaming around her often. I think she knew why.

"Yes. Where to?" I said, hands in pockets.

"Well, it's cool today, for July. Could go walk the trails near my place. By the old middle school?"

"Yeah," I said. "Very cool."

"Sounds like a plan, Ward. Wanna follow me over?"

I nodded, and got into my rust bucket. I pulled out of the lot, glancing at the Cheat Code one last time as I left the plaza of businesses that were dying left and right.

The fact Cleo would bail on her job at the last minute after doing a pretty great job all year made be think. If she was willing to bend the rules a bit, to hang with me, what did that mean? Maybe nothing.

We took the side street shortcut across town to avoid mid-day traffic. I waved at my neighbor Bill, who was old enough to be my grandpa, but twice as friendly. I didn't know many people. My good friends moved away the second school was over.

I was starting to see my hometown as both a trap I'd never escape, and as a pond that was drying up, no longer able to sustain life. There were less opportunities by the day, and yet I wasn't sure I could survive any better outside of it.

We pulled up to the park entrance. Tons of trails for walking or biking, with a small chance of being robbed by a crackhead. Cleo had taken off her work shirt, now sporting a white tank top which displayed her olive, freckled cleavage. I kept my gaze gentleman-like.

"Can't believe you never asked me to hang out before," she said, walking with me into the forest which promised shade, and a path to follow that ensured at least a half-hour of chit-chat.

"I still think that's true," I said, chuckling. "You asked me."

She gave my arm a friendly punch. I pretended it hurt.

"You're a pussy, no doubt," she giggled, bumping into my side. My heart was racing.

As we walked through the path shrouded in forest, it got a little darker, and greener. My awareness of how alone we were was ramped up. It felt like we were in a small room together, despite the vast forest in all directions. Every so often her hand brushed up against mine. I felt a surge of confidence.

"Cleo," I said, trying to find the words I wanted to say. "Do you think...if we knew each other in school, or something..."

"You wonder if we would have hooked up?"

I smiled, my face frozen in a pallid grin. I just wondered if we would have been friends, if we had been the same age. Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

"I think," she said, pulling out her phone to check her message, "that we would have got along really well."

She rolled her eyes at whatever she saw on her phone.

"In fact," she said, stopping me with a hand on my shoulder, "I think we would have been more than friends."

Whatever birds, bees, crickets and frogs that were previously serving as the background din of the forest seemed to fall away as she looked at me. Her hair fell in front of one eye. She stood a few inches taller than me, and she stepped into my personal space.

"Ward," she said. That was when she leaned in to kiss me.

I pulled away a little, out of instinct. I was so used to resisting every urge I had around her. Her subtle smile faltered. Before she could regret anything, I brought my lips to hers.

We kissed for a moment. My first kiss. Definitely not hers.

She let out a small exhale from her nose, and I could smell her sweet breath. She pulled away first.

"Oh, man," she whispered.

"Yeah," I replied softly.

"I wanted to do that for a minute now."

My heart was beating like mad. I wanted to say something cool, or tell her how long I'd wanted to kiss her as well. But I had to be clumsy. I had to address the elephant.

"What about your boyfriend?"

Her dark eyebrows shot up, and she rolled her eyes again like she had before.

"Oh yeah," she said. "Him."

Cleo looked down at her sneakers for a few seconds before looking back up at me.

"Ah," she whispered. "Fuck it."

She held me close and pushed her pierced tongue inside my mouth. At that moment, the critters of the forest seemed to increase in volume again. She wrapped her arms around me, and my body felt electric as she hugged me, as I melted into her soft embrace.

It was the best moment of my life, bar none.

"Shit, Ward," she said softly after pulling away again. "What am I doing?"

I couldn't think of anything to say. I just looked into her eyes that reminded me of tiger's eye, and maple syrup.

"It's okay," she said, to herself, or me, or the trees surrounding us, perhaps. "I don't regret it. But maybe I should cool off, for now."

She stepped back as she released me.

"Cleo, I..."

What? What was I trying to say? Even my inner voice had been stunned.

"Maybe we should...go. I think I gotta go," she said, walking back towards the cars. "Are you coming?"

I nodded, blushing furiously as I walked with her back towards the parking lot. She stopped, and turned.

"I've never done that before," she said solemnly. "Like, obviously I've made out with a guy. But I mean I've never...not like a kiss is really cheating or anything, but..."

I looked over at her. She seemed distraught. I felt both amazing, and terrible. She looked like the poster child for inner turmoil, and it was all my fault.

We walked in silence for the rest of the way back. She opened her car door, took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry for acting so bat-shit crazy. I hope you don't think less of me, Ward. I didn't want it to be the last time we saw each other. Even though it's a small town, people drift away. And I just thought that if it was the last time, I'd kick myself for not kissing you once. Because, I really do like you, a lot. Even though I'm-"

"I like you too, Cleo," I blurted out. "Since day one. And I was happy just seeing you every day, and talking. And goofing around. And I don't want to mess your life up. We can just forget it happened. But we don't have to stop hanging out. I think I'd be crushed if I couldn't see you again."

Her troubled expression quickly changed to one of joy, and she bit her lip a little.

"So that kiss wasn't...completely unwanted?"

I rolled my eyes, and scoffed. "Not even close."

"Good. But I need to think a little. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe not. Either way, I do want to hang out again. Maybe even tomorrow. Is that okay?"

"Completely," I said, nodding.

"Cool." She hopped into her car, and took off abruptly, leaving me in the dust.

I sat in my car for half an hour, reflecting on things. I drove home in a blissfully wonderful daze. I walked upstairs to my tiny apartment that I wouldn't be able to afford soon enough if I couldn't find work. I spent some time online refreshing the local employment site over and over, but not one new job offering appeared.

I was contemplating going out for another drive to drop off copies of my meager resume to local businesses, but before I could, I got a text from Cleo.

C: Hey nerd, you think I'm a total slut, huh?

I smiled, and texted her back.

W: Hey yourself. Where'd you even get my number? I haven't even called you yet, lol.

C: Oh, I stole it from work a while back. Just never got around to using it until now. You never answered my question btw.

W: I don't think you're a slut. I'm still processing. Pretty sure that was the coolest thing that's happened to me, ever.

C: High praise. I feel stupid. But I'm glad you still think I'm pristine, lol.

W: Yup. So...what's up?

C: Wanted to say thanks, for being cool today. And maybe to explain some stuff.

I began to type a response but she started texting again so I held off for a couple minutes. My eyes never left the screen as she typed. Finally, a long message appeared.

C: This is a crazy person info dump, but you deserve to know some things. So, I've had a boyfriend for two years, which you more or less knew already. His name is Jon. He proposed to me last year, and I told him I wasn't ready. He got a little distant after that, which I get, but we hadn't even lived together yet. Still don't. He's a good guy, but I haven't been exactly on the same page with him since. We see each other once a week, on the weekends, cause he works so much. And I've been thinking of breaking up with him, but I've been avoided having to even think of it until lately. I don't do well with drama, and confrontations. That's pretty much it, I guess.

W: I feel bad that I never asked about him, but I was selfishly okay with him never coming up, I guess. Sorry to hear it's been tough.

C: Could be worse. He's not mean, or hot-tempered, or an addict, or anything really. But I just wish things were more...alive. Don't worry, I'm not going to complain about our non-existent sex life, haha.

W: Fine with me! Lol.

C: He JUST went on a family vacation to Mexico. He's going to be gone for a few weeks. We don't normally text much, so I might not hear from him until he's back.

W: Gotcha. Well, I'm officially unemployed, if you get bored. And clearly you have my number.

C: I was thinking we could look for jobs tomorrow? Hand out some resumes? Like, as a pair. Like in Step Brothers.

W: Tuxedos?

C: And poorly timed farts, yup.

I was beaming, talking with her this way. We made jokes for a while longer before saying good night, even if it was still bright out. The last thing she texted was a green heart emoji.

I stared at that heart for a while. It reminded me of the green forest where we shared our kiss. My first kiss. The color of both jealously, as well as luck.

All in all, it was a good day.

...

LEVEL 2: CHAMBER OF SMOKE

I woke up to my phone ringing the following morning. I hoped it was Cleo, but I didn't recognize the number, so I waited until it stopped. There was a voicemail.

"Ward, this is Yuri, from corporate," said a stuffy voice. Shall I summarize the minute-long message for you?

Bottom line, they weren't impressed that we left early, and didn't finish our inventory and accompanying paperwork. They would be docking our last day for punitive measures, and they would be unable to provide any references upon request.

Big deal, I thought. Like Cleo had said, our old manager would still give us a positive review for taking over while she had her baby brewing. A day's pay might be sorely needed in the coming days, but it was worth it for that kiss.

I made some eggs while the coffee dripped. Cleo texted me, asking if I wanted to meet up downtown at noon. I told her I'd meet her by the mall, which was probably the saddest mall in America. Three stores remained, the other handful were empty. The town felt like it was fading away before my eyes.