The neon lights strobing in the dark, the constant noise of tickets being spat out, and the ringing of the arcade machines were a recipe for a migraine. On the bright side, it was mainly guys in the place, meaning I only really had to be wary around the people I had come with. Was there some sweet irony in there somewhere? Maybe, but I couldn’t go digging for it since I must have dozed off when we were reviewing it during English class.
“What do you think about this one?”
I turned toward the dual-monitor machine Serena was pointing at. Her entire body was crackling with raw energy, and the only reason she didn’t dart off in random directions was the hand Aubrey had placed on her shoulder. They truly were like a pair of sisters in some regards, although I doubted they realized it themselves.
“Never mind, your opinions no longer matter. Let’s play that first!”
Aubrey simply rolled her eyes and kept pace with Serena. At her insistence, Aubrey had thrown on a waistcoat that was long enough to stop a few inches above her knees. It was a blessing in some ways, as we were drawing enough attention already. And I wasn’t foolish enough to think they were staring at me, or even my hyperactive companion. Sure, a few people were openly ogling her, but the vast majority had their gazes glued to Aubrey. She seemed uncaring of the leers she received, or perhaps she was simply used to it.
Pretty privilege had its downside too, I guess.
Reluctantly releasing her, Aubrey unleashed the human missile at Mach 10. Serena barreled toward a group of kids waiting at the coin machine, only to become sheepish as one of their mothers scolded her.
“She’s worse than a little kid.”
Aubrey brushed a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “She’s worse than most untrained dogs.”
Harsh words, yet I couldn’t deny they fit.
She jerked a thumb at the machine Serena had pointed out earlier. “You ever played?”
“A few times. I used to come to the arcade a lot when I was younger.”
She hummed. “Then you better play with her. She’s insufferable whenever it comes to shooting games if the other person can’t keep up with her.”
“Here.”
Some tokens were shoved into my palm, and I jerked my hand away as her fingernails brushed my palm. A few of them spilled through my spread fingers, rolling around on the ground until they tilted onto their sides or rolled under a machine. My stomach churned in protest, and I was glad the loud beeps of the machines covered how ragged my breathing had become.
“...My bad.”
Aubrey gave me a hard once-over. I tried to wave her off, and she looked over to Serena. “Don’t just go around grabbing people without warning. Ask him before you do something like that again. Now, go pick all those up.”
“I got it, I got it. Sorry, Grant.”
“It’s fine.” I weakly grinned. “I’m just not good with so much stuff going on at once.”
Damn it. I couldn’t let my guard down with her. She was too quick, too sneaky, and I knew she was prone to touching people without much consideration.
The girl paid no mind to her surroundings, bumping into people and machines alike. She apologized to them all, even though the machines merely droned on while the people tried to put more distance between themselves and her. When she pushed herself up from her knees, Serena brushed off the front of her baggy jeans. Her left fist was clenched tight, holding onto the coins with a firmness that showed she didn’t want to end up picking them all up again.
“Now we can play?”
“Now you guys can play,” replied Aubrey, sounding all too much like a nagging mother.
The game she decided on was a refurbished set of arcade cabinets that had two plastic guns holstered on flimsy elastic racks jutting out dead center. A vertical bar—flecks of rust running around the edges—rested between the pair of them, ensuring the players stood apart. A perfect game for me, considering it would limit our proximity. The only problem was that I needed some coins of my own. I reached into my pocket, feeling for the folded twenty-dollar bill I always kept on me in case of emergencies. This hardly constituted one, but I also didn’t want her to get the idea of forcing more coins on me.
Fortunately, she had scampered ahead and saw fit to pay for both of us. I picked up the gun, testing the weight in my hands before looking over to her.
“I’ll pay you back.”
“It’s fine. Now, pay attention or you’ll drag me down.”
Eyes narrowed in concentration, I focused on the flashing screen. Blocky character models were having a wordless argument as zombies roamed around the hastily arranged barricades. The graphics were reminiscent of the PlayStation or early PlayStation 2 games, with everything having extremely jagged edges.
Invasion.
The narrator’s deep voice boomed through the speakers and set off a chain of zombies that broke past the obstacles blocking their path. They groaned and growled while they swiped at our player characters. I fired off a few shots, finding it strange how there was no reticle on the screen. I squeezed the trigger a few more times, firing blindly into the large crowd, which allowed most of my bullets to connect. The game flashed, and we were onto the next scene of utter carnage; flames dotted the background while thick smoke was a constant companion around the corners of the screen. I fired away from the cabinet to reload my gun and continued my less-than-stellar performance.
Compared to me, though, Serena was a seasoned pro. She did tricks with her gun like shooting behind her back, preening whenever Aubrey unenthusiastically clapped. Whether the girl knew it was sarcastic or not was up for debate, but it didn’t kill her showboating in any way. A zombie met its demise at the end of her shotgun after a dramatic twirl. What was the point of it all? I had no idea, but we continued to progress through the game thanks to her efforts.
It carried on like this until there was a lull in the action. Turning away from the cutscene, she smacked her hand down on the metal bar, creating a faint ringing.
“Aren’t you kind of terrible?”
“What? You’re looking down on me now?” I fired a bullet into the chest of a fast-approaching zombie that popped up the second the cutscene ended. “I feel like I’m picking up all the slack here.”
There was no chance in hell that was true, yet I wasn’t going to feed into her ego. I also couldn’t deny having her say that stung a little, considering that she was just screwing around. It was time to kick it up a notch.
The rest of the game was a blur, the plot taking a backseat to my competitive nature. I aimed, ducked, and dodged in an attempt to keep pace with the FPS goddess next to me. Sadly, it was all to no avail.
“You suck.”
I couldn’t form a response. The sheer difference in our final scores spoke volumes.
Aubrey pushed off the coin game she had been leaning against and strode over to us. “That’s putting it lightly.”
I groaned. “Not you too…”
“I wonder if we should just go home after that horrible performance.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed.”
“Oh, c’mon. It wasn’t that bad for a first try.”
“I’ve seen trained monkeys with better dexterity than you.” Serena shook her head slowly. “I would honestly stick with turn-based games if that’s what you’re good at because this showing was not it.”
Aubrey snickered, covering her mouth with her hand at the last second to try and appear more innocent. “Lay off a little or Grant’s not going to want to play anything else with you.”
“You’re right. I’ll write down all my criticisms and slip them to him tomorrow.”
“Thanks a lot.”
She smirked, raising her hand like a witness would in a courtroom. “No need to thank me. I’m just doing what I can for the lost souls of this world.”
We wandered into a corner of the rectangular room where a few people who looked to be in middle school were gathered around a racing simulator game. Their friends were certainly vocal, jeering whenever they struck the wall and cheering whenever they pulled off a sharp turn. The two girls twisted and turned on the bikes, their white-knuckled hands clenched around the handlebars while they leaned heavily to their left. Their long hair swept over their shoulders, close to touching the metal steps that led to the seats of the motorcycles.
Serena practically started vibrating on the spot. “Let’s ride those next!”
“Sure, as long as you…”
I paused briefly, spotting Luke across the arcade. He immediately waved me over, only to nod toward Aubrey and Serena a second later. Whatever he’d wanted from me apparently wasn’t worth being caught by them, because he lowered his hand and hurried away around the outer edge of the arcade.
“...can convince Aubrey to play.”