by R H Tucker
“I’ve been shopping all day. I really just want to go back and do nothing for the rest of the night.”
They don’t listen. Instead, each one takes one of my arms, and we enter the enormous ice cream shop and begin to peruse the tubs of flavors behind the counter. Knowing there’s nothing I can do but go along, I opt for two scoops of something called Nutty Choco Nana. The server says it’s a mixture of peanut butter cups, chocolate ice cream, and pieces of banana, which is actually pretty tasty. However, it does nothing for my continued dejected mood.
After a few moments of silence while we eat, Leah’s the first to speak up. “What would happen if you told him you changed your mind?”
I shake my head at her, my hair brushing my shoulders. “Leah, it’s not going to happen.”
“Don’t be so quick to shoot it down. We’ve got this weekend and then next. What if you—”
“Can we please just drop it already? You guys have talked about it, whispered about it, alluded to it, and everything else all day. I’m just going to get through the rest of this month, and then it’ll be over.”
The silence creeps up around us again. I swirl my spoon around my small bowl of ice cream, suddenly feeling full. My phone rings, and I pull it out, seeing EJ’s name across the screen. Roxy, sitting next to me, snaps her head toward me.
“It’s probably nothing,” I tell her, before answering the phone. “Hey.”
“Hey,” he replies, and it’s followed by silence. My eyes look back over at Roxy, then Leah, feeling more unsure than ever. “Um … what are you doing?”
“Not much. The girls and I are out right now, getting ice cream.”
“Cool.” More silence. “So, um, there’s a collectible show tomorrow, and we have a signing there. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to show up to that or not.”
“Oh …” I bite my lip nervously. Is he asking me as part of the deal, or is he really asking me?
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, I just thought—”
“Sure,” I reply. “Yeah, that’d be great. Where’s it at?”
“The Grantfield Convention Center. It’s a music memorabilia and collectible show. Our signing is for a couple of hours, starting at eleven.”
“Okay, sounds great. I’ll meet you there.”
“All right, see you tomorrow.”
Hanging up, I nervously bite my lip, trying to hold back a smile. Roxy immediately picks up on it, pushing my arm.
“See! It’s gonna happen. You’ll see, he’ll realize that you’re amazing, and it’ll all work out.”
He didn’t clarify whether this is part of the deal or not, yet I can’t help but let my imagination run away a little.
I’ve never considered myself high maintenance. Not even medium maintenance. I can wear any pair of jeans I have in my closet without fretting over them too much, and as long as my hair doesn’t smell, I don’t have to dress it up.
So tell me why I’ve changed my shirt three times when all I’m doing is meeting EJ for his signing? As I double-check my reflection in the mirror, Roxy laughs at me, and I finally head down to the convention center where their signing is.
Once I get there, I see fans wearing Kings shirts carryings posters, but I also notice a lot of other people who don’t look like fans at all. As I walk the convention floor, in the distance, a long line of fans wait for the band to sign whatever they’ve brought. But the floor is also covered with different vendors of music memorabilia, collectibles, and tons of other items all music related.
Traveling down one of the aisles, my phone vibrates.
EJ: I see you.
A smirk crosses my lips, and I turn around, seeing EJ at the end of the aisle, waving at me. I wave back, and he looks over at the next fan in line, returning his attention to his job at hand.
Maybe this could work.
I just have to figure out how to bring it up. He already agreed to meet with Alicia, and I don’t want to make him look like a jerk and break it off with her. What if I told him we could keep the deal up until they meet, break up, and maybe try something for real after his date—or whatever it is—with Alicia?
I wrinkle my nose at myself and the lame idea. Turning around, I see a vendor that has some classic eighties and nineties cartoon toys. Since it’s a music convention, it’s all musically themed. They have Jem and the Holograms, Josie and the Pussycats, and an alien holding a saxophone, I think I remember from when I was in fourth grade. Then I see it. Them, actually. The Rockin’ Power Lizards. They have all three of the anthropomorphic lizards, but my eyes land on Larry and his short, spiky blue hair.
“Excuse me, how much is this?” I ask the guy standing next to the glass case of figures.
“One-fifty.”
My jaw drops. “A hundred and fifty dollars? For a toy?”
He smirks, lifting a brow. “Collectible. And the Rockin’ Power Lizards go for premium price when they’re in that good of condition.”
I pinch my lips together. I can afford it, and I know EJ will probably love it, but am I thinking about doing this as a friend or trying something more? I shake my head at myself. No, I’m doing this as a friend. He loved that show. He told me it’s what inspired him to start playing. If he reads more into it … well, that’ll just be a bonus.
“Okay,” I tell the vendor, and take out my card to purchase it.
After paying for it, he places it in a small, brown paper bag, and I continue to walk the floor for a little longer, browsing other music memorabilia and souvenirs. Crossing over the last aisle, I see the line for the band has dwindled down and decide to head over to their table. The sides are roped off, and as I get closer, one of the security guards motions for me to stop.
“She’s with me,” EJ calls out to us. The guard turns around to confirm, and then offers me a smile, letting me pass. I can’t keep the small smile off of my face hearing EJ tell him that, even if I shouldn’t. It doesn’t mean anything. He was just letting me get behind the barrier.
“Hey.” He smiles up at me, signing another picture. Pulling out the chair next to him, he waves to it, offering me to sit. “Enjoy the show?”
He seems different than the last time we talked. More sure of himself. It makes me wonder if he’s double-thinking meeting with Alicia. Or possibly, maybe he does feel something for me.
“Yeah, it’s been fun,” I answer, taking the seat next to him. I’m caught off guard again when he leans over and kisses my cheek.
“What?” he asks, taking note of my reaction.
“Nothing.” I smile back, then raise the brown bag. “I have a surprise for you.”
He quirks an eyebrow. “Is that right?” Looking back at the table, the last few fans cross by, and he signs his name again, smiling and posing for another selfie with a fan. “Awesome. I, uh … I think I have one for you, too.”
I twist my head, caught off guard. “Oh, really? What is it?”
He smiles. “You first.”
Placing the bag on the table, I feel my face heat up. He signs an autograph for the last fan in line and then eyes the bag. “You bought me something?” he asks with a smile. “Skye, I still owe you for the E.T. hoodie.”
“Oh, that doesn’t count. We were trying to escape death.” I laugh, then start to feel the nerves build up. “Um … but anyway, yeah.”
The butterflies continue to mount, watching him pull the bag closer. Reaching in, he pulls out Larry, which the vendor boxed into a clear plastic case. EJ’s mouth widens, smiling ear to ear. “No way!” Holding it closer, he inspects it. “Wow! Skye, this is amazing. Thank you!”
He draws a little bit closer, and even though I’m ecstatic he likes it, I don’t want to come off like this is more than it is. Especially after basically pushing him toward Alicia.
“Let’s take a picture with it,” I tell him.
He seems to be caught off guard. “Um, okay.”
I hold my phone up, he lifts up Larry, and I take the picture. As I’m typing a caption,
he keeps his arm around me still, and I feel his eyes on me. I don’t know what’s inspired this new form of confidence that he seems to have, but I kind of like it. I grin at my caption and show EJ the post.
“Oh,” EJ replies. All of the confidence that he just had evaporates. He looks over at me and smiles.
Unsure if the caption is making him nervous, I decide to calm any fears he might have. “You know, I gotta prove how in love I am, right?” I chuckle nervously.
“Right.”
21
EJ
I don’t know what I was thinking.
After the photoshoot, Maddox and Derrik decided to check out some other places in Vegas. I was going to head back to the hotel, but Jade convinced me to go out with her and pick something up to eat. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore with her, but she convinced me that Skye has to be feeling something.
Her actual words were, “I don’t care how much she’s trying to show people she’s in love, she’s not going to sleep with you just to make it seem like a real relationship.”
It’s not like I didn’t think that before. But it all went out the window when I took that call. If she really did feel something for me, why would she be the one to say we’re just friends? Wouldn’t she have said something—anything—to keep me from meeting Alicia in a couple of weeks? But what do I know? Maybe Jade is right, which is why after we finished a large pepperoni pizza and I went back to the hotel room, I called Skye.
When Skye agreed, I decided I was going to try and be the confident King that Jade is always telling me to be. If I really want to try and have something with Skye, wouldn’t it make sense to show her? So I’d act like a boyfriend.
When I saw her arrive, I sent her a message, and it honestly surprised me how genuine my smile felt on me. I was happy to see her. I had a plan in place on what I was going to do about Alicia Summers, especially if it went the way I was hoping with Skye. That plan was even planted more firmly in place when Skye smiled and waved at me. Whatever I’m feeling for Skye is real. Or at least, I thought it was.
Reading the caption on her InstaPic post snaps me back to reality. Which hurts because even when she took the chair next to me, I shook off any nerves and leaned over to kiss her, wanting to not only show her but myself I can do this. I can be confident. And I was genuinely touched she got me the Larry toy and that she remembered our conversations about the cartoon.
But the caption reminds me it’s all an act.
“You know, I gotta prove how in love I am, right?” she says.
I nod, looking back at her phone. I look happy. I mean, I was happy thirty seconds ago. She seems happy, too. But now I have no idea if it’s real or an act.
No more heartbreaking for me. This King has stolen my heart, the caption reads.
“So, what was your surprise?” she asks.
My surprise. My plan. It takes everything in me to not roll my eyes at what I thought was going to be a surprise she might like. I was going to ask her if she wanted to date. For reals. And I’d call Alicia Summers back, tell her that I wasn’t honest with her, and Skye and I are actually together. That I wanted to explore whatever this is between us. I guess I’m glad she went first.
“Oh … um, I was thinking …” She waits expectantly, her eyes wide with anticipation. Man, she’s really good at this acting thing. “Did you want to come with me to see Maddox deejaying at a club this weekend? It’s this big party for Gracie James, the reality star. I, uh, just figured since there’ll be lots of paparazzi and stuff. We can still show people we’re … a couple. It’s the night after you guys perform, so I wasn’t sure if you’d be tired or not.”
“Oh.” She pauses, staring at me, almost like she was expecting something else. “Yeah, I guess that’d be fun.”
“Cool.”
“Cool.”
The silence drifts between us. What do I say? Is there anything to say? Before she showed up I thought there might be, but after reading her post, I know better.
“Wow.” Derrik walks over to us, the rest of the band getting to their feet. He waves his phone in front of me. “Should I tell the ’rents they’ll have a daughter-in-law soon?”
I scoff. “Stop being an idiot.” Glancing over at Skye, her eyes ask me what I’m doing. I suddenly remember Derrik and Maddox still don’t know the deal. Looking back at him, he gives me a quizzical stare. “I mean …” I let out a chuckle, hoping it sounds real. “Dude, calm down. We just started dating.” His eyes stay on me. I need to make it sound better. “How about a double wedding? You and Zoey with us.”
He smirks, though he doesn’t appear to be totally convinced. “You know Zoey doesn’t want to do anything like that until after college.” He seems to relax a bit more, then his eyes roam to the table next to me. “Dude! Larry Lizard? How’d you get that?”
I hear Skye giggle behind me. “Skye got it for me,” I answer him.
His eyes bounce from me to Skye to Larry, then back to Skye, and me. “Holy crap. Your girlfriend bought you a Larry Lizard? Dude, if you don’t lock it down, I’m going to ask Zoey if she’s okay with polygamy.”
His remark is enough to cause a laugh to erupt out of me. “Shut up.”
“They had Lonny, too,” Skye adds. “But EJ said Larry is the best, so I had to go with that one.”
Derrik narrows his eyes, scowling. “I take it back. After that comment, we could never be together.”
Getting to our feet, we laugh at Derrik. “You guys still doing the laser tag thing?” I ask him.
Before the signing, Jade was talking about a laser tag game room not very far from our hotel. It’s played with up to six players, so she thought it’d be something fun we could all do.
“Yeah, it should be fun. You still coming, or are you two gonna do something else?”
“Um,” I hesitate, looking over at Skye. “I don’t know. Did you want to do something?”
“I’ve never done laser tag before.”
Lifting my shoulders, I look back at Derrik. “Laser tag it is.”
The laser tag employee tells us how the equipment works while we finish suiting up in our vests. Each vest has rectangles that look like reflective discs located on the front, the back, and on the shoulders. Each time a laser strikes one of the discs, our vests will blink, alerting us we’ve been tagged, and the other team will get the point.
We were going to do girls versus guys, but Jade said that wasn’t fair, and Maddox said he didn’t need anyone and could sweep the floor with all of us. So it’s me and Derrik versus Jade and Skye versus Maddox.
Walking into the large, maze-like room, the lights are bright, and a voice echoes over a speaker. “As soon as the lights go down, you have ten seconds the find your hiding spot,” the voice tells us. “You’ll hear a beep, then you’re free to hunt down your opponents. Good luck, hunters. May the laser-force be with you.”
I smirk over at Skye, who smiles back. The lights dim, and we all take off in our own directions. The room has large barriers set in place, similar to those cubicle walls set up in offices, but they’re high enough that you can’t see over them. Lined along the edges are neon green, blue, and pink lights. The bright fluorescent lights that were lit above seconds ago are now replaced with black lights.
I find a hiding spot that’s tucked in a corner and hold my laser gun up, getting ready for the beep to sound. When it does, I peek around the wall, searching for any signs of motion, but see nothing. A loud siren blares, and I jump around to see Skye behind me, holding her gun.
“Got ya,” she calls over to me with a smile.
“Oh, you’re gonna get it!”
22
Skye
I turn and sprint through the neon-glowing darkness, trying to find cover. Another beep sounds, and I don’t know if it’s EJ or someone else was just tagged.
Something changed at the convention signing. EJ gave me a kiss, and he was all smiles when I sat down next to him. I really believed the gift I bought him did give
him pause to think about us. But I didn’t want to seem too eager or act like I didn’t know how this started. I wanted to make sure he knew I wasn’t going to go all stage-five clinger on him, or seem like I’m jealous because he set up a date to meet someone else. Which is exactly why I said I should post a picture of us.
I don’t think it was too off the mark. The wording was similar to my other captions to pictures or stories I’ve posted. After he saw it, he appeared to calm down on the affection he was showing. But I definitely felt a shift afterward. So I was happy that he invited me along, even if it did seem like an invitation by elimination since I didn’t have anything else to do.
Suiting up in the laser tag vests, Jade jokes with her brother that she’s always longed to gun him down, and Derrik told everyone that once he records the high score, he’ll forever be known as the King of Laser Tag. It earned a chuckle from EJ, but we don’t talk much while we get into the vests and wait inside of the maze-like room for the game to start.
When it does, I watch EJ run across the room behind a small barrier set up in a corner but see that it’s not blocked off on the other side. I sneak around and wait for the beep to sound, marking the start of the session. When it goes off, I watch in the dark, blacklight-lit room, and see EJ trying to look for someone. I raise my gun, pointing it at the reflector on his back, and fire.
Quickly scampering away, I duck behind a different section of the room, keeping my eyes open. I see Jade sneak around a corner, and then hear someone else’s vest sound. I run across the room and lean against the wall, keeping my guard up. Halfway across the room, I see Maddox lift his gun, then EJ runs behind him. I take it as an opening and hear someone else’s alarms go off, and find cover again.
“I got you, I got you!” I hear Derrik yell out and slap my hand against my mouth to stifle the laugh; otherwise, I’ll give away my location.
Holding up my gun, I creep forward, searching for anyone else. There’s a flash of lights behind a partition set up in the middle of the room, but no sound. Craning my neck around, I wait to see who might emerge, when I feel something press against the back of my vest.
