Infinite Cashback System

Chapter 221: 222 | KhaosKitten and Cozy Games

The silence lasted about two minutes before Jordan realized he didn’t actually know where he was going beyond "off Brookhurst near a Raising Cane’s." He could’ve pulled up maps, but that would require unlocking his phone, and his phone currently contained a preview notification about Kumiko’s strawberry underwear that he absolutely did not need his passenger seeing.

"Hey." Jordan kept his eyes on the road. "I need an actual address. Or at least a cross street."

"Brookhurst and Edinger. There’s an apartment complex behind the strip mall with the nail salon and the pho place." She shifted in her seat, one platform boot coming up to rest against the dashboard. Jordan opened his mouth to tell her to get her feet off his car, then closed it. The boots were scuffed to hell anyway. What was one more scuff?

"Got it." Jordan merged onto the main road, the afternoon traffic thick but moving. The sun sat low enough in the sky to catch the windshield at exactly the wrong angle, forcing him to squint. "You got a name, or should I just keep calling you ’the girl with the dead car’ in my head?"

"Lila." She pulled the lollipop out of her mouth with a wet pop. "Lila Martinez."

"Jordan."

"I didn’t ask."

"And yet now you know."

She made a sound that might’ve been a laugh if it had any warmth in it. More like air escaping through her nose with attitude. "Jordan. That’s a very... normal name."

"Sorry to disappoint. My parents weren’t feeling creative."

"Mine weren’t either. Lila’s boring as shit. But Martinez at least sounds like I could be interesting." She stuck the lollipop back in her mouth and talked around it, the words slightly distorted by the candy. "You don’t look like a Jordan."

"What do I look like?"

"I dunno. A Tyler. Maybe a Blake." Her violet contacts caught the light as she turned to examine him more directly than anyone had examined him in recent memory. "Something preppy. Something that belongs on a guy who wears boat shoes and talks about his dad’s investment portfolio."

"I don’t own boat shoes."

"But you do have a dad with an investment portfolio."

Jordan said nothing. She laughed, actually laughed this time, the sound scratchy and low like she’d been smoking since middle school even though she probably hadn’t.

"Knew it. You’ve got that look. The whole..." She gestured vaguely at his general existence. "Clean car. Nice clothes that fit. Haircut that cost more than twenty dollars. You’re money."

"I’m a college student."

"A college student with money." She shrugged one shoulder, the motion causing her cropped top to ride up another half inch and expose a sliver of pale stomach. A small tattoo sat just above her hip bone, black ink that Jordan couldn’t make out from this angle. "Nothing wrong with it. Just calling it like I see it."

Jordan switched lanes to avoid a minivan that was doing fifteen under the speed limit for no discernible reason. The driver was on her phone. Of course she was.

"What about you?" Jordan asked. "You’ve got the whole..." He mimicked her vague gesture with one hand. "Thing going on."

"The thing?"

"The aesthetic. The look. The ’I listened to My Chemical Romance in seventh grade and never recovered’ energy."

Lila’s head whipped toward him so fast her purple streak swung across her face. For a second Jordan thought she was genuinely offended. Then her black-painted lips split into a grin that showed teeth, sharp and delighted and a little bit feral.

"Okay. That was good. I’ll give you that one."

"I have my moments."

"Most guys who try to roast my appearance go for the obvious shit. ’Oh you’re so dark and scary.’ ’Are you a vampire?’ ’Do you worship Satan?’" She rolled her eyes so hard Jordan worried they might actually get stuck. "Basic bitch energy. No creativity."

"I aim higher than basic bitch energy."

"Clearly." She settled back into her seat, her posture loosening by a fraction. Still guarded, still sharp around the edges, but less like she was waiting for him to say something stupid so she could verbally eviscerate him. "The MCR thing was a good read though. I was actually more of a Fall Out Boy girl, but same general vibe."

"Dance Dance or Sugar We’re Going Down?"

"Thnks fr th Mmrs."

"Solid choice."

Traffic slowed to a crawl as they approached an intersection. Jordan’s eyes drifted to the center console where Lila had set her phone, screen up, either because she didn’t care if he saw or because she wanted him to see. The lockscreen wallpaper was some anime character Jordan didn’t recognize, pink hair and cat ears, but that wasn’t what caught his attention.

The notification bar was a disaster. Absolutely cluttered with app icons and alerts. Discord. Twitter. Instagram. TikTok. And sitting right there between Spotify and what looked like a banking app with a concerningly low balance preview, the distinctive purple icon of the Twitch Creator Dashboard.

Jordan’s brain connected dots faster than he could stop it.

"Oh." He kept his voice casual. "You stream?"

Lila’s body language changed immediately. Not defensive exactly, but aware. Like a cat that had been lounging suddenly remembering it was supposed to be a predator.

"You scrolling through my notifications?"

"They’re right there. You put your phone face up."

"Maybe I wanted to see if you’d look."

"Did I pass or fail?"

"Jury’s still out." She picked up her phone and turned it over, screen down, but the damage was done. "Yeah. I stream. Why, you want my Twitch handle so you can simp in my chat?"

"I have enough things to spend money on."

"Who said anything about spending money?"

"You did. When you called me ’money’ thirty seconds ago."

Lila’s tongue pushed the lollipop to her cheek, creating a bulge that stretched her skin. She was quiet for a moment, thinking, recalculating. Jordan could practically see her adjusting her mental model of him in real time.

"KhaosKitten," she said finally. "One word, K-H-A-O-S. The kitten part is pretty self-explanatory."

"KhaosKitten." Jordan let the name sit in his mouth for a second. "That’s... a choice."

"It’s ironic."

"Is it though?"

"Fuck off." But she was almost smiling. Almost. The corner of her mouth twitched upward before she caught it and forced her expression back to neutral.

Traffic finally started moving again. Jordan accelerated through the intersection and made a mental note to turn left at the next light.

"What do you stream?" he asked. "Let me guess. Horror games. Something edgy. Dead by Daylight."

"Wrong." Lila made a buzzer sound with her mouth. "I play whatever I want. Mostly cozy games. Stardew Valley. Animal Crossing. Slime Rancher."

Jordan blinked. "You. The girl dressed like she crawled out of a Hot Topic clearance bin. You play farming simulators."

"The aesthetic and the content don’t have to match. That’s the whole point. People expect me to be streaming like, I don’t know, fucking Outlast or some shit. Then I’m there with my black lipstick watering virtual turnips and talking about optimal crop rotation." She shrugged again, and this time the motion seemed genuine rather than performative. "It’s a bit. It works."

"That’s actually..." Jordan searched for the right word. "Smart. From a branding perspective."

"Oh my god, you’re one of those." Lila groaned and let her head fall back against the headrest. "A business bro. A ’branding perspective’ guy. Next you’re gonna tell me about engagement metrics and audience retention."