Taryn grinned. “I think I can do that. This is silly, but will you clasp this on? I used to call it my good luck charm, and I could use some luck tonight.”
“Hold up your hair,” Kyra requested. She took the necklace from her and gently slid it around her neck. The cool feel of the chain caused her to shiver. Kyra didn't take long clasping it. She took a step back. “There.”
Taryn situated the charm right in the center. “It's almost like old times. Borrowing your clothes, laughing and crying, and now wearing our necklaces again.”
“Well almost. I can fix that.” Kyra picked up the second necklace and closed it around her neck. “There.”
The doorbell rang, and Taryn froze. There was no turning back now. She looked forward to and dreaded tonight in equal parts.
“It's show time. Are you ready?”
“It's now or never,” Taryn replied, her stomach in knots. She chose a simple outfit tonight. A pair of comfortable jeans and Kyra's dark blue half sleeved shirt. She didn't know whether she'd be underdressed or not. She hadn't put thought into what she wore for years now. Kyra left the room first, and Taryn wheeled behind her. When her friend opened the door, Chris stepped in, clad in a pair of black slacks and a dark gray shirt he kept tucked in. His gaze landed on her after he exchanged a hello with Kyra.
Nerves danced in her belly. “Hi.” She was really doing this. Going out. Man, it had been so long since Taryn had really been sociable.
“Hey. You look great.” His smile was genuine, though it didn't reach his eyes. Something troubled him. Was he nervous about tonight, too? Her slightly built confidence wavered, and she instinctively reached for the pendant and rubbed her thumb over it. She could do this. They were two people getting to know each other, that was all. Nothing more, nothing less. “Ready to go?”
“Yes, I'm ready,” Taryn said, mentally attempting to rebuild her confidence. She exchanged a look with Kyra. Her friend flashed a thumbs up. Taryn almost laughed out loud, as that was a gesture Kyra picked up from Matt. She wheeled out of the house, down the ramp, and headed for Chris' white Nissan. Chris darted ahead of her and opened up the passenger side door.
“Okay, forgive me … I don't want to piss you off, so you tell me what I need to do. Can you get in on your own? Do I need to do anything?” His cheeks reddened.
Now this was unexpected. Not only did he ask, but it seemed to kind of embarrass him. Was she really that intimidating to people, especially men? “Thank you for asking. I appreciate that more than you know. As long as you're parked close to the curb, I can get in on my own. I can tell you how to fold down my chair once I'm in. If you don't mind, stand close behind me in case I do slip or fall.”
“Got it,” Chris said, following suit.
Once Taryn arrived in front of his car, she maneuvered her chair for what she hoped would be an easy transfer. It would be simple to suggest Chris help her in the car, but that wasn't Taryn's style. Never had been, and never would be.
She checked the level of the car first His seats weren't too low. This wouldn't be bad at all. Taryn made sure her chair was in the locked position and grabbed the base of her chair, then the seat of Chris' car. Counting to three, she used her upper body strength and transferred over. Then she grabbed her legs and pulled them up inside. “Can you get my purse from the back before you break it down?” she asked Chris. Taryn noticed Kyra still standing in the doorway. She waved, sending Kyra a reassuring smile.
“Here you go.” Chris handed Taryn the purse, which she promptly set on the floor of the car. Taryn instructed him on the best way to fold down her chair. He got it within a few minutes and had it stored in the backseat of his car. Then he climbed into the driver's seat. “Thanks for agreeing to come out with me tonight.” He slid her a smile before starting the car.
“Thanks for asking. I promise this time I won't question your motives on why you're talking to me.”
He laughed. “That's good, but I'll still tell you my motives. Actually, asking you to dinner was one of those things I'm not sure why I did. I just did it. Well, aside from the fact that you're interesting. Man, the way I said that … it came out all wrong.”
“I get what you mean, though,” Taryn assured him. He was just as nervous as she was, which baffled her some.
So far, so good. Taryn fingered the charm on her necklace, smiling to herself. Maybe she could have a normal date night, or something like it.
*****
Well, things started off okay. The restaurant Chris chose had poor accessibility. They were in the middle of renovations. Taryn and Chris didn't even bother checking in. They took one look at the place and the hassle and decided to leave.
“All right. Second choice,” Chris said when they were back in the car. “Guess we should have paid better attention to the renovation signs, huh?”
“Oh well.” Taryn shrugged. “No harm done. It's not like they really made the signs stand out or anything.” She stared out the window as they drove down the street. “Hey, what about the arcade? I know they have decent food. Matt goes there with Andrew a lot. I haven't been inside an arcade in a long time, probably since before I went on tour with Kyra.” Her tone came out wistful. “I don't even know if there's anything I can do in there these days, but...”
“If you want to go to the arcade, then that's where we'll go.” Chris made a sightly sharp turn into the parking lot. “So you were an arcade kind of girl. You've just won more points in my book.”
Her laugh was adorable. Hell, he'd just thought of a laugh as adorable. Okay then. “I was such a geek back in the day.”
“Nothing wrong with that. Tell me, was it the old school arcade games that lit your fire?”
“Hell yeah! Give me PacMan any day! I was also good at pool, air hockey, and Skee-ball.”
“Man, it would have been fun to be around you back in the day,” Chris said with a grin, then froze. “Wow. That came out … weird.” There came one of his worries- saying the wrong thing to Taryn.
“I didn't take it the way you thought. It was fun to be around me back in the day. Not so much lately,” Taryn said softly.
“I beg to differ. I think you're pretty damn awesome. It's why I asked you out.” Chris climbed out of the car and quickly put Taryn's chair back in order, then wheeled it over to her side. She already had her door open. “Here you go. Wheels are locked, so you should be good to go.” He stepped back to let Taryn transfer to her chair on her own. Should he watch so intently? Did that bother her? Almost effortlessly, Taryn made the transfer. She leaned forward and grabbed her purse strap, then hung it on the back of her chair.
“Let's go see what this place is all about.” Taryn's eyes sparkled with excitement.
Chris closed the car door and followed Taryn down the parking lot aisle that led them to the front doors. For a midweek night, the place seemed packed. Teens and kids streamed in and out of the doors. Chris noticed right away how they all stared at Taryn- pretty obviously, too.
“Damn,” Taryn said as she entered the building. “This is one cool place. Arcades have changed, but not all bad.”
Chris trailed behind her as she made her way to a table. This place had a few good accessible seating spots scattered about. The one Taryn found sat close to the arcade side of the room. Rows and rows of arcade games lined up the aisles. On the far end of the wall were the Skee-ball machines. Loud rock music blared from the speakers, but over here, it was overpowered some by the sounds of the games. The floors were full of what he'd call color explosions, as there was a massive array of them on the carpeting.
Taryn wheeled herself into a comfortable place, and Chris slid in the booth on the other side from her. “This is my first time in here, too. I like it. Harmony's Echo doesn't have one.”
“Not that I bothered to check for sure, but where I was living previously didn't have one, either. Then again, I didn't socialize a lot. Not in person, anyway.” Taryn reached for the menu that rested behind the condiments and opened it.
“You know what? So am I.” Taryn met his gaze and offered a genuine smile. “Sometimes, whims work out.”
“Tell me more about you, drummer girl.” Chris finally picked up a menu, and he shifted his gaze from Taryn to the food options, then back to Taryn again.
“What do you want to know? Is that my new name from you now?” She quirked up a brow.
“If you hate it, I'll find another.” Talking to her with so much ease surprised him. Chris hasn't been able to talk to anyone this easily in a long damn time. Despite feeling slightly intimidated by her, he enjoyed Taryn's company immensely.
“I like it, actually. It makes me feel … almost normal.” Taryn peered over at him from beneath thick, inky black lashes. “I miss places like this.” She said that almost as an afterthought.
“What else do you miss?” Chris blurted, unsure why he felt the need to ask.
“Swimming. I miss swimming so much.” Tears formed in her eyes. Maybe it was time for a change of subject. Chris couldn't figure out why they got on this one in the first place.
“Did you ever get physical therapy? I only ask because I would think if you wanted to swim again, it could be arranged.” Chris watched her close to see what kind of reaction she'd have. “I went to school to be a physical therapist, so I have a genuine interest.”
Taryn shook her head. “I had some, but just enough to get me living on my own again. I moved back to a small town to be near my dad, and they apparently don't have all those options. Or maybe they do, and they're ones I could never afford. I take what I can get these days. So why aren't you doing physical therapy for your job, then? Well, I guess you could be. I don't know what you do on the side.”
He'd opened himself up for this. “I dropped out. Life got in my way.” More like his depression got in the way, but Chris didn't know Taryn well enough tell her that. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to tell her certain things as it was. “I work at the hospital here, but it's nowhere near what I want to be doing.”
“Yeah, I know how that goes.” Taryn glanced up when a host dropped by to ask about their selection. After he walked away, Taryn sighed. “How in the world did we get on this subject, anyway?”
“My fault, probably. I asked too many questions,” Chris admitted. “It's the whole 'wanting to get to know you thing', but we skipped to more personal stuff, I guess.”
“Sorry. I'm just used to going through this over and over again. People wonder what I'm going to do next and what I miss about the life I lived prior to becoming a paraplegic. It's like I've lived two separate lives. I know you're asking because it was conversation, and I don't mind it really. I guess I'm still reeling from all the press.” Taryn fiddled with the charm on her neck again. “I did the one interview with Kyra and our friend Jordan, thinking it was the end of that. It's so not. And now I'm rambling.” Taryn folded, then unfolded a napkin, keeping her eyes downcast.
“All right then, change of subject. What do you say we put our order in and go find a game or two we can play?” Chris suggested, eager to get rid of the discomfort of the subject. “Maybe we can find PacMan. I challenge you.”
“Game on! If we can find one that might come down to my height.” Taryn frowned. “From what I see, they're all too high for me to play while in my chair.”
Shit. He kept putting his foot in his mouth. “I'm-”
She groaned. “Please, please don't say sorry!”
“Sor- Whoops. Almost did,” he said with a sheepish smile.
“Everyone worries that they'll say the wrong thing to me. I'm so tired of people walking on eggshells around me.” Taryn narrowed her eyes.
“Fair enough. There's our host now with our drinks. Let's order, and then see what we can find to play. I'm waiting for the all out war.” He slid her his best smile. Taryn met his gaze, and her frown dissipated.
“It might take me a game or two to get my groove back, but I will kick your butt once I do,” she warned.
“Bring it on, drummer girl.” Challenge accepted.
Chapter Nine
Despite some of the awkward moments, so far Taryn was enjoying her night out with Chris. When he'd first asked her, she had no idea what to make of it. Chris had been a quiet person normally - at least, from the few encounters she'd had with him, so his asking startled her. She'd expected far more awkward moments, and to her surprise, there weren't nearly as many.
After ordering dinner, they took a tour of the arcade in search of games Taryn could play. So far, it didn't seem like anything would work. She spotted several old arcade games of her favorites and had a hankering to play. She stopped in the middle of the room just to stare at the PacMan machine.
“Go over by it. I have an idea,” Chris said from behind her.
“What are you going to do?” she asked, insanely curious.
“I'm going to find a way for you to play your game. I need to see how good your skills are.” He flashed her a wicked grin, then took off.
Unsure, Taryn rolled over to the machine and waited in front of it. No way would she be able to play this well from her chair. What did Chris have in mind?
“Uhh, are you gonna play that game, or you just gonna stare at it all day?” An acne-faced teen boy sauntered up to Taryn, shooting her an annoyed look. “Some others might wanna play.”
Rude much? Taryn bit back a retort and started to move.
“Actually yes, she is going to play this game.” Chris's voice from behind startled Taryn. He walked around and placed a tall wooden barstool in front of the game. “If you want, you can play first, because we plan to go a few rounds.”
“Naw, I'll go play something else,” the kid said, storming off.
“Chris...”
He faced her. “I convinced one of the staff to give this to me. I told him I wanted to make tonight memorable for this great girl I brought as my date. He gave me this so you can sit on it. I'll get you up there. You just have to trust me, okay?” His eyes were warm as he stood before her.
Hell, she didn't let anyone carry her like this- other than Matt the one time, but only because she didn't particularly want to deal with the slickness from the rain. But he'd gone to all that trouble to find a way for her to play this game. His intense stare was full of hope and amusement.
“O-okay,” Taryn finally agreed. She so desperately wanted to play.
“Let's make sure your wheels are locked.” Chris stooped before her and put on the brakes. “Put your arms around my neck. Just remember, I've got you.”
Taryn did as suggested, sliding her slender arms around his neck. She gasped when he scooped her up, keeping her gaze settled on his face. Chris moved to the chair and gently set her on top of it. Her legs dangled off the front of the stool. Tingles slithered in her belly from his touch. Taryn had a knee jerk reaction to scoot forward when he set her down, because she didn't expect her reaction to him.
“Comfortable? Are you okay?” he asked softly, standing so close behind her that his breaths tickled her neck.
“I'm okay,” she uttered.
“All right. I'm moving your chair to the side of the machine. I'll stand right behind you, if you want. Or wherever.”
“I'm fine. This is a perfect height, too. I might need to scoot forward more. I'm not sure.”
“Hold on. We'll figure that part out in just a second.” Chris brought her chair to her left side. “There. Okay, let's see if we need to move you. Play around on the buttons. We won't drop any coins in until we know you're at a good level.”
Taryn ran her hand over the buttons and closed her eyes, remembering the days she and her dad came to the arcade and played like mad. All the boys had been in awe of her, and all the girls had rolled their eyes. Yeah, she'd been a slight tomboy and loved it. Nostalgia slammed her.
“Taryn?”
She snapped her eyes open. “Sorry. S
paced out a little. This should be fine. I'm so ready!”
“Show me what you've got, drummer girl. I'll give you the first few games to get yourself reacquainted, and then the challenge is on.” He smirked, then dropped the coins in the slot.
Familiar music played, and Taryn rested her hands over the correct gears and buttons, preparing for battle. Chris stood directly behind her. His rhythmic breathing sent a chill down her back. She shoved the feeling away and tried her best to concentrate on the game. One of Chris' hands rested flat on her middle back. If she didn't gather her composure, Taryn would lose this game immediately.
It was almost like riding a bike- you don't forget. Taryn flew through the levels with ease, smiling as she continued to score higher and higher.
“I thought you said you were rusty at this game, drummer girl,” Chris said in a soft whisper against her ear. “If this is rusty, I'm doomed.”
Taryn giggled. “I really am rusty! Or at least, I thought I was.” She continued to play, all the while being completely affected by Chris standing behind her. Touching her, breathing against her, making her feel things she hadn't felt since being with James. That in itself sent alarms in her mind. It wasn't until being up in this chair with Chris behind her that she wondered if she'd ever be good lover material. What the hell made her think of that all of a sudden? She needed to get through a single date first before she deemed herself as unworthy lover material!
“Your secret is out.” His hands moved to her shoulders, his cheek pressed up against hers. Taryn lost all concentration and within a few moves, her game ended.
“You distracted me on purpose!” she accused, not even mad. Taryn tapped her name in so she could be in the high score list.
“Did I now? How do you figure?” Chris faced her, his tone semi-serious, though a smile played at his lips.
“You were … right there behind me. You touched me.” Her heart played an offbeat rhythm for a moment before returning to normal. She couldn't even manage a well put together sentence at the moment.
Offbeat (Love and Music In Texas Book 5) Page 8
