“How sweet.” I laughed, rolling my eyes.
He grinned at me. It was adorable. We needed a distraction.
“Next?” I asked.
“Hmm. What’s over there?” He pointed to the cave.
“Laser tag.” I said.
“The game I shall beat you in?” He asked playfully.
“What game do you think I stand a chance against you in?” I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in exasperation.
“I don’t know that there is one, Mira.”
He put his arm around my shoulders again and led me off towards the cave.
“Ah, that makes me feel better.” I laughed. “Do you want to play laser tag?”
“Are they real lasers?” He whispered.
“Heck, no! It’s all pretend. You point the laser at the other person’s vest, pull the trigger when you have it aimed at the lights, and if you take the light out, it counts as a point. When you get all three of their lights out, they lose. The last person standing wins.”
“What do they win?” He asked.
“Bragging rights.”
“You humans.”
We had turned a corner taking us outside of the racing games when someone called us back. I stopped and turned around to the voice. Sebastian seemed to have not noticed it.
“Joe?” I gasped.
I walked over to him, thinking it couldn’t be real. He was holding my cups.
“Mirabelle?” He was just as shocked. “What are you…? Hey!”
The sound of his voice went from proper to childish. I made him forget his surroundings, too, it seemed. Those loving arms engulfed me and I inhaled his scent. It was so good to be back in his arms. This day was supposed to be about Sebastian, but Joe had found me. I was so glad he had found me.
“Hey to you, too! Thanks.”
I took the cups and held them against my chest. It was then that I realized he was wearing a uniform, one that meant he worked at the arcade.
“You work here?” I asked.
I didn’t mean for it to come out as rude as it did, but it did. I was really good at that whole speaking before thinking thing.
“Yeah. It’s just something to fill in time. Listen, good to see you.”
“Oh no, no, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just, well, it’s really nice to see you twice in one day.” I blushed.
“It’s been more than that.”
He put his hands in his pockets. He was nervous again.
“Hello.” Sebastian said.
He walked up behind me and stuck his hand out. I guess he had finally realized that I had wandered off. Joe curiously shook his hand back. I tried very hard not to laugh. He gave Sebastian a glare of death behind his overwhelmingly cheesy smile. Even though he was in a bright green shirt with matching pants, and a visor with antlers sticking out of it, he had the upper hand. Heck, he was much better looking than Sebastian, in his uniform or not. I wished he knew that he had nothing to worry about.
“Oh hey! Mirabelle told me before our date. Stephen, right?”
Not only had Joe pulled off the infamous insult perfectly, but he had thrown in a nice obvious jab as well.
“Sebastian. Are you joining us?”
It was like a battle of who was manlier unfolding before my eyes. Sebastian knew exactly how to get Joe back for his insult. I was fairly certain, however, that the only one purposefully trying to get under the other's skin was Joe. Sebastian didn’t know any better. It still didn’t excuse him, though. He had to be reading my feelings and seeing how much I didn’t want him to be there right then.
To take action in my own hands, I started walking towards the cave. Joe pulled me back next to him. He wanted to make it clear he was ignoring Sebastian. Aside from not liking the whole grabbing thing, I was okay with Joe being possessive over me.
“Mirabelle, I’m actually glad you showed up. I was going to ask you when I got home, but I figured it’d be too late, but would you like to come over for dinner?”
My arm dropped free and his hands mushed together. Hopefully that was his way of saying he didn’t feel right for grabbing me either. The invite to dinner was a nice apology, too..
“Of-” I began but was quickly interrupted by Sebastian.
“Actually, I was going to cook. You are more than welcome over to the house. We’ll have more than enough for the three of us.” Sebastian offered.
Oh, Sebastian, take the hint. Joe wants to be with me, alone. Not with you.
“Sounds good. I get off here at eight. So I’ll see you at nine?” Joe mumbled with a fake smile.
I was in complete shock. Had he really just agreed out of spite? Boys! Grow up! Oh, it’s my turn to talk now.
“Yes. I look forward to it.” I blurted, just as fake as Joe had smiled.
I went to hug him again, but he walked away. Immaturity at its finest. These guys were going to drive me nuts. I really wished that I could have walked away with Joe. Then maybe Sebastian would have gotten the blatant hint. The second Joe was out of sight, I turned around and swatted Sebastian a few times. His arm hurt my hand more than I hurt his arm, but I didn’t care. He was just as at fault as Joe, even if he had no clue what immaturity and jealousy meant.
“What were you thinking?!” I swatted him a bit more. “‘Oh, I’m cooking dinner, why don’t you come over instead…’” I mocked him.
“I don’t like your tone.” He said turning around.
Brushing his clothes smooth, he held his head high and walked off. He had this dorky walk that was to signify he was indeed playing dumb with me. Maybe he did understand jealousy? Why would he make this worse?
“Sebastian!” I called after him.
He carried on without looking back. It was just more confirmation that he had heard everything I was feeling, he just didn’t care. Why did he have to be that “human” that was going to the things they wanted to do, how they wanted to.
Rushing up next to him, he was standing in front of the laser tag entrance. The giant blue cave opening was spewing fog out at us. I could barely see the lights glowing and flashing inside. Of course, it might have something to do with still being flustered over seeing Joe. Why would he be working here, of all places, and not to mention the day we decide to come here? The odds were crazy.
“Just you two?” The lady waiting at the counter sneered at us.
“Oh, yes. Um, how much is it?” I asked when Sebastian nudged me.
“Well it’s either seven bucks a piece or you can cash in your tickets.”
“Oh, wait.”
I held up our wrists with the bright orange band. I had forgotten we had those on.
“Yeah, we definitely changed that. The all-inclusive package no longer includes laser tag.”
She was smacking very loudly on her gum. Clearly, she felt she had better things to do than work the laser tag cave at an arcade. I couldn’t help but wonder what was stopping her from doing it. She was rather annoying.
“Uh, then why call it all-inclusive?” I asked, letting my annoyance show.
“Because it gives you a meal, fifty tokens, a round of mini golf, and go-karts.”
She wasn’t looking at me anymore. Her eyes had shifted to Sebastian. Giving him the up and down, I tried to see what she was looking at. Did he have something in his teeth? I know his attire wasn’t the usual, but the way she was looking at him showed interest, not humor. It was odd seeing someone swoon over him.
“Okay. Whatever. How many tickets?” I asked.
“Three thousand.” She said.
She had a bit of an edge to her voice. It was as if so many people had asked, knowing they weren’t even close to the count. My gut told me that we had just the right amount. Even if we only won about 1500 playing that slot machine game, Sebastian seemed to be not making eye contact with me on purpose. He was such a trickster.
“Do you have a counter?” I asked her.
She pointed over my shoulder. I turned around and my gut dropped even furthe
r. Joe was standing behind the counter with a big sign that said, ‘Ticket Counter’ above him. It was just perfect. Maybe I could manage to leave Sebastian behind with this lady here and talk to Joe myself. I went to walk over to him, but Sebastian grabbed my arm.
“The prize was three thousand, even.” He whispered between his teeth.
“Well, here you go. It’s three thousand even.” I whispered back.
I was very annoyed with his blocks, intentional or not. It made it even worse that I knew that he knew perfectly well that I just wanted to be with Joe, alone. Was he jealous? He couldn’t think of me in that way. We barely knew each other. For some reason I kind of liked it. Two guys, who were attractive, liked me.
“It’s three thousand per person.” The lady whispered, interrupting us.
“Oh, well then. Come on, Mirabelle. Let’s go win another three thousand tickets.” Sebastian said.
I guess it was the first time he had actually spoken aloud because all of a sudden, the captivation he held on her was tenfold. Her face went bright red and she swallowed her gum, nearly choking on it. A small, tiny part of me wished it were more than nearly… slightly.
“No, no. It’s okay. We can do a first timer special.” She called us back, winking at Sebastian.
“What gave me away?”
Sebastian leaned on her counter and sucked up every ounce of the attention. It was pathetic.
“Oh, my.” She blushed again.
“Do we just… ” I interrupted their silent stares.
“Oh, right. Sorry. Put these on, I’ll take those, and here are your guns. Last one standing wins. There are two recharging points at either corner and a goal post in the middle. If you hit the goal post with all three lights lit up, you automatically win. If you get to the recharging station, you can recover one hit, but only if you haven’t lost all three. Good luck. If at any time you feel lost or scared, there are neon yellow handles. Pull one and the lights will come on along the ground to guide you to the exit.”
She stepped to one side and held open a locker behind her. I stuffed my purse in and handed her our tickets. I was still tightening my vest when Sebastian made it clear he was ready to go. He wasted no time diving into the smoke when he saw I wasn’t even buckled yet.
“Sebastian!” I called to him.
I could hear him laughing. He faded off into the dark. Perfect. I just let a creature of the night into its own territory, with a gun, and expected to outsmart him. And he’s a mind reader, so there really is no way I could sneak up on him. There was another chuckle to confirm I had been heard. This was going to be interesting.
“Those handles were yellow?” I asked the lady one last time.
“Yes.”
She didn’t like me without Sebastian at my side. I laughed nervously and then stepped into the opening. A fog machine blew a heavy cloud in front of my face. Coughing and choking, my insides were cringing
Letting my eyes adjust, I grabbed the railing on the right and slowly pulled myself in. When they did adjust, the inside was that of a glittery cave. All the rocks and stalagmites were shimmering in the small amount of outside light and the intense black lights inside. Purple, yellow, and red circles danced across the floor to music. The black lights also lit up paint splatters and dead ends. My heart was racing. I could hear kids laughing all around me through the speakers in the walls. It made it more like a haunted house rather than a laser tag game, to be honest.
I rounded a corner with another blow of a fog machine. Brushing and blowing it away, I tried to gain my footing. Okay, be strong. I had to be able to get at least one person or Sebastian would never let me live it down. A white blob danced in front of me. I realized it was someone’s shirt. Who wears white to a black light laser tag game? I clung to the edge to hide myself. They were hunched over a stalagmite aiming at someone. I hoped Sebastian wasn’t stalking me to get my kills. Either way, I needed to beat him. So I picked up my gun and shot at the light on their back. Quickly I turned and ducked around.
“Aw, man.” I heard the kid sigh.
A few seconds later, he was walking past me. That had been his last light. He was out. Behind my hand I resisted a giggle. It felt good to get the first shot in that way. My head couldn’t get too carried away, though. The kid had been after someone, which meant that that person was unaccounted for. It very well may have been Sebastian, especially if they weren’t coming this way. He was probably very far into the maze by now, or even up on the ceiling for all I knew. I could only imagine how well he was doing in the dark. Each blow of a fog machine or flash of a light and I had to readjust to the surroundings all over again.
I crept back out from my corner. I stayed very low to the ground where the fog was settling. I figured that if it was difficult for me to see out, it would be difficult for someone to see me. I came across a clearing and saw it was where the goal was. This place really didn't seem that big any more. Two people were standing back to back pacing around in front of the goal post. What a bunch of snotty teenagers. They were protecting the goal post.
I propped my leg up and aimed at the left one. He was about to be facing me, so I had to move quickly. I shot him once in the top right light. He immediately stopped and aimed where I was standing. I could hear him cursing and pulling his trigger. I ducked down, trying not to laugh.
When the fog machine let another gust, I jumped up and started just shooting everywhere. His second light went out. It made me feel very good to not only ninja my way through the cave, but to give other kids a chance to win. This teenager was going to have to find a recharging station. I knew he wouldn’t just stand there with one light left.
I watched him very carefully detach from his partner. Did he know where a recharging station was? How many times had they refilled themselves? My anger quickly transitioned to the girl outside not doing her job. She should be paying attention to who is going in and who is coming out.
My thoughts left when I noticed he was walking towards me. I had nowhere to go where I could hide quickly enough. As he got closer, I was able to see he had his hand covering the last light. It was now or never. I needed to move so I could get him when he thought he was safe. I ducked as low as I could and ran past the small opening.
I skidded around the closest corner and slammed into someone. My body wanted to scream, but a hand went over my mouth. It was Sebastian. Nothing on his shirt was lighting up in the black light. I touched his skin and rolled my eyes when I realized he had transformed.
“Is that necessary?” I whispered.
What if someone saw him?
“Shh!” He quieted me harshly.
He held up his gun and edged around the corner I had just come from. I faced the other direction to protect him. I realized I was doing just what those kids had been doing. At least our mission was to stop them, so that made it a little bit better.
“Gotcha!” The boy said when he jumped out.
He had been waiting on us. This kid was good. Sebastian was better. He spread his wings and made a horrible screeching sound. The boy screamed and dropped his gun as he fell backwards. Sebastian hissed and stepped back into the darkness. I watched him very quickly transform back into a human and jump over to the other side. He waited for the kid to look around then shot him on his last light.
“Whew, good thing that animatronics came out just then. Otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten you. You okay?!”
He walked over offering the kid his hand.
“Huh?”
The kid was breathing heavily. He wasn’t sure of himself.
“The thing that just came out of the wall right there? It about scared me half to death, too.”
Sebastian pointed to where he had just jumped out. I couldn’t believe he was that sneaky.
“I wasn’t scared! I just tripped and you got lucky. I’ll be right back and then this game is on!”
The kid had started acting like a thug again. What was with teenagers? Why did they think that was cool? I never un
derstood the trend. It was difficult not to laugh at him.
“Alright, dude. Good game.”
Sebastian waved to him as he ran off.
“Now, was that necessary?!” I whispered.
It was hard to be angry with the display I had just witnessed, but I was trying.
“What?!”
“That kid is going to be scarred for life.” I grunted.
I turned around and continued on. He was such a show off, sometimes. I didn’t like it.
“Oh c’mon. It’s all fun and games. And you heard him; he’ll be back with a vengeance.” Sebastian mocked.
“You know, I really don’t know where you learned your manners, and frankly, I’m not too fond of them, dude. That was just what you did to Joe. It’s rude, and you are no tough guy, Sebastian. You’re just like the rest of them.” I threatened him, walking closer.
“What?” He whispered. His breath was cool.
“You made fun of him, and then degraded him in front of me. It seems you forgot to learn how to act towards a guy that likes your friend.” I crossed my arms.
“What does that even mean?”
“Forget it.”
“You are very angry over this?”
“Yes.” I huffed.
“I am terribly sorry. I was just protecting you.” He apologized.
His arm went up and he shot a kid coming up behind us. He didn’t even look.
“Ugh.” The kid sighed.
“How can you say that? I went out with him, why would I need you to protect me from him?”
“Well then you should fix your wants. They’re telling me something else.” He winked.
I was repulsed and embarrassed. What was he getting at? I like Joe. I. Like. Joe. I shook my head.
“Oh, just stay out!” I hissed.
“It’s sort of a job requirement.” He leaned close and whispered in a tone that made my cheek tingle.
I felt myself forgiving him. Was he working some magic on me? I hated charming men.
“Yeah, well, ease off. You’re obviously getting some things misconstrued.”
“So, you aren’t embarrassed by me right now?”
“No!” I blushed, stepping farther back.
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