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  Thinking ahead to their meeting, a flash of the inevitable scenario materialized in Shanice’s mind:

  She would walk right up to Drach, him looking around for whatever white girl he imagined, she would say ‘hi’ and introduce herself, and there would be that two-second pause as Drach processed the information, force a smile, and begin a perfectly polite but superficial conversation that would maybe last ten or fifteen minutes before he felt like he could duck out without feeling like too much of an ass about it, and he’d probably leave with a handshake and that would be that and their future online interaction would be spent awkwardly pretending the meeting never happened.

  She sighed. Not for the first time in her life, she wished her dark skin wasn’t such an issue for some folks, but there was nothing she could do about that.

  But what could she do about this?

  Shanice looked at her screen. Part of her wanted to chicken out. Maybe she could cancel. Make up some excuse.

  She shook her head. If she did, the friendship they already shared online would likely be ruined. There was a chance he could even leave the guild and she didn’t want that. Besides, she didn’t really have a good reason to give him. ‘I’m afraid to meet you because of my skin color’ didn’t really count.

  There was only one thing she could do. She simply had to meet him, purple scarf and dark skin and all. If he didn’t like her, he could just leave, though hopefully he wouldn’t be disappointed enough to leave the guild. On the other hand, if he could overlook their differences, there was a chance they could be good friends.

  She threw herself on her bed and seriously hoped it was the latter.

  ~ ~ ~

  Shanice looked around the sci-fi aisle for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past five minutes and sighed before turning back her attention away from the book shelf. She scanned the area; Drach had texted her earlier what he’d be wearing and she was on the lookout.

  Still no one.

  So far, she had seen a lot of guys enter the store, all of them white, but none of them had shown even the least bit of interest in her. Then again, it was still early, only 4:52.

  Hold up—someone caught Shanice’s eye. A young man had just walked into the store, wearing a black collared shirt and a gray vest the way Drach had described himself. The guy was blonde—or was it a light brown? Shanice never could tell the difference—and while he was cute, he looked like he also had a geeky side to him.

  Drach.

  Inhaling silently, Shanice made her way over to him. His head was slightly upturned in that “looking for somebody” way, and it was already apparent to Shanice that it would never occur to him that who he was looking for was the black girl walking directly toward him.

  “Hi,” Shanice greeted as she got close enough.

  Drach looked at her and blinked.

  Oh Lord, she thought, here it goes, just like I thought.

  “Um, hey,” Drach said, friendly but confused.

  To be continued...

  HE DOESN'T KNOW

  I'M BLACK

  - A Sexy Interracial Erotic Romance Short Story from Steam Books

  Sandra Sinclair

  Copyright © 2014 Steam Books Erotica & Romance

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author or publisher except for the use of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

  Vitia: Keep cool, guys. We can do this.

  Ryz: Shit. He got me good.

  Vitia: Lesdra, heal Ryz. Alette, heal Simon.

  Lesdra: Got it.

  Alette: Ok.

  Orned: This beast is one sick bastard

  Vitia: He must have a weak point somewhere. All dragons do.

  Evert: I need a little help here.

  Vitia: Drach, you there?

  Drach: Yup.

  Vitia: Let’s take this beast down together. Remember that combo we executed in that last raid?

  Drach: Yup.

  Vitia: Orned, how long until you can use your ultimate spell?

  Orned: About 20 seconds.

  Vitia: Alette, heal Evert. Simon, Tasha, once Orned casts his ultimate spell, do damage from the front. Drach and I will attack the rear.

  Simon: Alright.

  Tasha: Roger that.

  Drach: Ready when you are.

  Vitia: Drach, remember the combo we did the last raid?

  Drach: Yes.

  Vitia: We’re doing it again but this time, you go first.

  Drach: Sure?

  Vitia: Sure.

  Orned: I’m almost ready. 4…3…2…

  Vitia: Good luck, guys. Let’s send this dragon back to the hellish pit it came from.

  ~

  Shanice kept her eyes on the screen, her fingers racing over the keyboard. Having played computer games since she was little, she knew the keyboard by heart, not even needing to look to know which keys she was pressing.

  Come on. Come on.

  She watched as her character, Vitia, jumped on the blue dragon’s back with Drach. Just as she had instructed, Drach dealt the first blow and she followed, both of them alternating between delivering kicks, punches and slashes in perfect timing until the dragon’s health had been depleted. It gave a howl and crashed to the ground, gradually disappearing into dust and leaving a dozen items in its wake.

  Shanice smiled. The quest was over. Another battle won.

  ~

  Vitia: Good job everyone.

  Evert: Vitia and Drach are badass.

  Lesdra: Yay!

  Tasha: Alright!

  Ryz: Guess I get the last laugh. Haha.

  Alette: Ooh. There’s that gem I’ve been wanting.

  Vitia: I’ll distribute the items from today’s quests tomorrow.

  Orned: Okay. Have to go.

  Simon: And I have to study.

  Vitia: You’re free to go. I’ll let you know when our next quest is.

  Orned: Signing off.

  Lesdra: Bye.

  Tasha: Night.

  ~

  Vitia—Shanice—watched as the names went dark one by one, until only she and Drach were left in the guild chat room.

  Shanice was curious. Why hadn’t he left?

  ~

  Drach: Are you busy?

  Vitia: No. I was just going to watch a bit of TV before sleeping.

  Drach: Too excited to sleep?

  Vitia: You could say that. You?

  Drach: Same. Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you.

  ~

  Shanice paused, her eyebrows creasing. Come to think of it, Drach had been quiet most of the night. Was there something wrong with him? He wasn’t going to leave the guild, was he?

  ~

  Vitia: Ask away.

  Drach: You mentioned before that you live in Boston, right?

  Vitia: The Greater Boston Area, yes.

  Drach: Ever since you said that, I’ve been wondering if we could meet. You see I live in the same area.

  ~

  Shanice gasped. He did? That meant there was a chance she could have passed him on the street already, without even knowing he was Drach.

  Wait. He wanted them to meet?

  ~

  Drach: I know it may sound strange but I’ve been curious about you.

  ~

  Shanice tapped her fingers on her desk. It was strange, alright, defini
tely unexpected. Still, she could not help but be flattered, thrilled. After all, she had to admit that she had been curious about him, too. How could she not when the two of them were both melee players who seemed to work perfectly together?

  In fact, she could even say that she had a crush on him. On Drach, that was.

  ~

  Vitia: When do you want to meet?

  Drach: On the 17th?

  ~

  Shanice glanced at her calendar. Saturday. Of course she was free. A nerd like her had nowhere to go on Saturday nights, not bars or dates. She just stayed at home, read a book, played a game or watched a movie while eating junk food.

  ~

  Vitia: I’m free on the 17th.

  Drach: Great. Is there any place in particular you want to meet?

  Vitia: Hmm…

  ~

  Shanice paused to think. Where would be a great place to meet someone for the first time? A restaurant? No. She had read in a magazine that a restaurant wasn’t exactly the ideal location for a blind date. If you didn’t like the person you were meeting, you wouldn’t be able to walk away easily.

  Wait. Blind date?

  Whoa. This wasn’t a date. Was it?

  Still, she supposed the same rules applied. She didn’t know anything about Drach, after all. She didn’t even know his real name. Plus as far as she knew it was just the two of them meeting.

  ~

  Drach: Still there?

  Vitia: Do you know the bookstore on Harvard Street?

  Drach: Yes. Been there a few times.

  Vitia: Great. We can meet there.

  ~

  At least if they were meeting in a bookstore she would be able to walk away if she didn’t like him and going out would still be worth it, since she really was meaning to look for something new to read. Something told her, though, that she would like him, that she wouldn’t have to escape.

  ~

  Drach: Great. See you at around five?

  Vitia: Five is perfect.

  Drach: Let’s see. I’ll be wearing a checkered vest and a green backpack. I’ll also have my earphones on.

  ~

  Shanice took note of those then glanced at her closet. What was she going to wear?

  ~

  Vitia: I’ll wear a purple scarf and I’ll be in the sci-fi section.

  Drach: Great. See you there.

  Vitia: See you.

  Drach: Can’t wait.

  ~

  Shanice couldn’t wait, either, but she didn’t say that, simply logging out. Afterwards, she sat back on her chair and swiveled it from side to side, her arms behind her head. It had been a wonderful evening. She had played a few quests with her guild, got a lot of loot, beat her high score in the other game she was playing, and best of all she was going to meet Drach in person in three days.

  Three days…

  She wondered what he looked like. His character had wavy, blond hair, blue eyes, pale skin and broad shoulders. Maybe he was the same?

  Pale skin…

  Shit.

  She got out of her chair and stood in front of the mirror, frowning. If he was white, he probably thought she was, too. Now that she thought about it, Shanice had never really given any indication of her blackness to the other players in the game. In fact, her own character had pale skin, too, and the name ‘Vitia’ had been borrowed from a character in a fantasy book, an elf princess with fair hair and skin. Hell, you couldn’t even really make your character black even if you wanted to; the closest available color was something of a dark orange. The skin colors available were all otherworldly: a pale blue, a shade of mint green, a dark orange, a slight purple.

  Thinking ahead to their meeting, a flash of the inevitable scenario materialized in Shanice’s mind:

  She would walk right up to Drach, him looking around for whatever white girl he imagined, she would say ‘hi’ and introduce herself, and there would be that two-second pause as Drach processed the information, force a smile, and begin a perfectly polite but superficial conversation that would maybe last ten or fifteen minutes before he felt like he could duck out without feeling like too much of an ass about it, and he’d probably leave with a handshake and that would be that and their future online interaction would be spent awkwardly pretending the meeting never happened.

  She sighed. Not for the first time in her life, she wished her dark skin wasn’t such an issue for some folks, but there was nothing she could do about that.

  But what could she do about this?

  Shanice looked at her screen. Part of her wanted to chicken out. Maybe she could cancel. Make up some excuse.

  She shook her head. If she did, the friendship they already shared online would likely be ruined. There was a chance he could even leave the guild and she didn’t want that. Besides, she didn’t really have a good reason to give him. ‘I’m afraid to meet you because of my skin color’ didn’t really count.

  There was only one thing she could do. She simply had to meet him, purple scarf and dark skin and all. If he didn’t like her, he could just leave, though hopefully he wouldn’t be disappointed enough to leave the guild. On the other hand, if he could overlook their differences, there was a chance they could be good friends.

  She threw herself on her bed and seriously hoped it was the latter.

  ~ ~ ~

  Shanice looked around the sci-fi aisle for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past five minutes and sighed before turning back her attention away from the book shelf. She scanned the area; Drach had texted her earlier what he’d be wearing and she was on the lookout.

  Still no one.

  So far, she had seen a lot of guys enter the store, all of them white, but none of them had shown even the least bit of interest in her. Then again, it was still early, only 4:52.

  Hold up—someone caught Shanice’s eye. A young man had just walked into the store, wearing a black collared shirt and a gray vest the way Drach had described himself. The guy was blonde—or was it a light brown? Shanice never could tell the difference—and while he was cute, he looked like he also had a geeky side to him.

  Drach.

  Inhaling silently, Shanice made her way over to him. His head was slightly upturned in that “looking for somebody” way, and it was already apparent to Shanice that it would never occur to him that who he was looking for was the black girl walking directly toward him.

  “Hi,” Shanice greeted as she got close enough.

  Drach looked at her and blinked.

  Oh Lord, she thought, here it goes, just like I thought.

  “Um, hey,” Drach said, friendly but confused.

  This was already not the best sign, but Shanice figured she could try to go in with a light touch. “Looking for somebody?” she asked, beaming the warmest smile that she could.

  Drach’s faced changed, looking like he suddenly understood. “Oh, no, Miss,” he responded. “I was actually wondering if your store had a 'gay interest' section?”

  It was Shanice’s turn to blink. “I, uh, I’m not sure,” she told him. “You might want to ask an employee, sorry.”

  Not-Drach’s mouth formed an ‘O’ as he finally figured out what was really going on. “I’m really sorry,” he said. “It was just the way you approached me, I figured you worked here. It’s because you were so polite, I swear, it’s not because of… yeah, I’m really sorry.”

  Shanice nodded and smiled through her own embarrassment. “It’s alright, I thought you were someone else, too.”

  The two of them parted and Shanice let out a deep sigh. That was awkward, for sure. But at the very least she hadn’t made a fool of herself in front of anyone she knew.

  Returning to the shelves—and shaking off a thought about how gay boys seemed to inexplicably be getting more and more attractive lately—Shanice picked a book from the shelf and looked at the back cover, pretending to read it while several thoughts went through her mind.

  One, thought, in particular, made her almost gasp.


  This whole time she just took for granted that Drach was a man, but what if he was actually a girl? It was possible. In fact, she knew some people who chose characters that were the opposite gender.

  She shook her head softly. She was pretty sure he wasn’t one of those folks. Drach was a guy. She could just tell.

  She put back the book in her hand and looked around again before picking another. Still no sign of Drach. What if he decided not to come? Worse, what if he had already arrived, seen her and left?

  She gave another glance at her watch. 4:58.

  Still early.

  Deciding she would wait until 5:10 at least, she returned the book she was holding and moved to another shelf. After a few seconds, her eyes lit up, a certain book catching her attention.

  No way… was that the latest Angels of Dungeon Lord?

  She pulled the book out, nearly jumping for joy. She had been looking for this book forever! It was the only book in the series that she hadn’t read yet.

  Who would have thought…?

  “Vitia?”

  She turned her head at the sound of her character’s name and found a guy standing next to her, a guy with a black collared shirt and a grey checkered vest, his earphones dangling over his shoulders. He had light skin, alright, but it had just a touch of bronze and he had dark hair. He looked... Asian?

  The sexiest Asian guy she had ever seen.

  Indeed, there was something about his narrow eyes veiled by long lashes, his wavy hair and his smooth skin that made her catch her breath, something about his shapely, long arms and his slim hips that made her heart race.

  She was so amazed she nearly dropped the book in her hands, in fact, but she held it fast with trembling fingers.

  Fuck.

  “I don’t suppose that’s your real name, though,” he went on.

  “Shanice,” she supplied, finally finding her voice along with a bit of her composure. “And your real name is?”

  “Kim,” he answered, offering his hand.

  She took it, nothing that his hand was as smooth as his cheeks. How did he manage to have such flawless skin?