Nice Aim (John Luke Robertson-Duck Dynasty)

Chapter 22

"Arcade!" Reed and Cole chorus, racing each other to the fancy building filled with screaming kids and music-playing-video-game boxes. Daisy trudges after her boyfriend like a small kid being dragged to a historical museum.
"Oh! Can I climb the castle wall?" Mia, Jase's daughter squeals, jumping up and down.
"Yeah!" Jep's daughters, Lily and Merritt I believe, begin to bounce along with Mia.
"Yeah, I'll go with y'all," Jase replies, taking Mia's hand and leading the three girls to the castle wall. River, Jep's son, begins to cry as Jessica bounces him on her hip.
"What's the matter, River?" Jessica coos, brushing his hair away from his face. I feel a small tug on my t shirt that I changed into. I look down to see Jep's youngest daughter, Priscilla, holding the hen of my shirt. I squat down to eye level.
"Hey, Priscilla." I smile at her and she giggles. "What do you wanna do?" I ask her. She holds her arms out and waves her hands. John Luke squats down as well, beside me.
"She wants you to hold her," he tells me an I smile. I hold her around her torso and lift her, placing her on my nonexistent love handle. She slips quite a few times until I get a good grip with my hip. She giggles as we begin to walk around the center.
After a few games and kiddy rides, Jessica and Jep take the kids to the potty, giving me a break. Not that I needed one. Priscilla is a go with the flow girl.
A hand suddenly wraps around mine and my head whips around to see John Luke smile before planting a kiss on my lips. I smile, my eyes closing with the kiss as he kisses my toothy smile. My eyes pop open as he pulls away.
"Will you ride the bumper cars with me?" he asks and I nod, lost in his eyes. He leads me to the bumper car attraction. He takes his seat in a bright red car and I take a yellow one. Some weird plastic gun with buttons on it rests beside the steering wheel. Music begins to play and I watch as the cars with other passengers begin spinning. Spinning? I've never spun in a bumper car. A loud shooting noise fills me ears and not a second later, my car is spinning wildly. I gasp, getting ahold of myself as it stops. I begin driving out of everyone's reach. These guns shoot Lasers that make you spin. This is insane. I squeal once again as John Luke catches up and shoots a Laser. My car spins once again and I sit back, taking deep breaths. I've never done well with spinning. Once im on track again, I shoot lasers one after another, rapid. I watch as every bumper car spins. I laugh before my car starts to spin.
"Ugh!" I groan once the spin ends. I drive forward, shoving straight into John Luke, who laughs, bumping back. Someone in the distance shoots a laser and I spin, my head already aching. My stomach begins to churn. No. No no. Another laser hits my car and I am turning. I shoot lasers to get revenge but the lasers keep coming. I finally find the culprit, a young looking boy with red hair and green eyes. He's got a boyish face and rosy cheeks. "What do you want?" I scream, spinning again.
"A kiss!" he shouts. At least he's confident.
"Stop spinning me!"
"If you agree to kiss me!" the kid shouts. I groan, my stomach churning.
"If you keep spinning me, I'll throw up in your mouth!" my stomach is queasy, my head is lightheaded.
"God, dude, seriously, stop!" John Lukes voice fills my ears and suddenly the spinning stops. I look up dizzily, catching a glimpse of John Luke spinning. I think. The world is spinning to me but in pretty sure he's spinning in front of me.
"Get out of the way!" The boy yells.
"Stop spinning my girlfriend. She's not going to kiss you!" John Luke shouts. The world eventually goes right again and I watch as the boy maneuvers around the track, shooting me again.
"You've gotta be kidding me," I groan, sitting back. Maybe I can sleep it off. When does this ride end?
"She will not kiss you!" John Luke shouts just as the music an spinning stops. Oh thank god.
"Please unbuckle your seatbelts and step out of the cars. The exit will be in the back." I wait for the world to stay level again before unbuckling and stepping out of the car. My legs wobble before my knees hit the cement floor. My stomach churns again and again. My head aches and spins. My hands clutch my stomach and head as I feel hands on my face and face.
"Baby, it's okay. Calm down," John Luke whispers pulling me to his chest. "You're okay." His scent of mint with a musky tint wafts towards my nose, soothing me. My stomach calms and my headache fades. My eyes blink rapidly before I look up. "Not exactly the best date ever."
"Was this a date?" I ask him and he nods with a smile.
"Oh yeah." He leans forward, kissing me. Before I close my eyes, I catch a glimpse of the boy from the bumper cars. His face is turned down in a frown. I smile.
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"Will you go out with me?" JL asks quietly.
"Now?"
"Yeah. We could..go get coffee or something," he says.
"Okay," I agree.
"Let's go," he stands from my couch, pulling me up with him. He slides his truck keys from his pocket and we hop in. The ride is filled with country music in the background and secret glances between us. When we get to the coffee shop, John Luke cuts the engine and pulls me out of the truck. He holds my hand and leads me up to the shop. We take a seat at the booth in the back, away from the hustle and bustle. He takes my hands across the table as a waitress appears. She smiles widely.
"Y'all are so cute," she says in a thick, Texas accent.
"Thank you," I say, giggling. John Luke looks at me with adoration and my cheeks heat. "Um, I'll have a French Vanilla coffee."
"Okay and for you?" she turns to John Luke.
"Black coffee and a blueberry muffin. You should get something to eat." He says the last part to me.
"Uh, I'll have a...banana but muffin," I say, looking at the small menu taped to the table.
"Okay. Is that all?" she asks and we nod. "I'll be right back."
"Stop it!" a familiar giggle fills my ears and I groan, turning towards the voice. Katherine. And her two snobby friends. And three guys around our age. Katherine turns to look at me. "Oh. Kaysie." She turns her nose up.
"Katherine."
"Who's this?" The guy with blond, whispy hair and grey eyes asks, wrapping his arms around Katherine.
"A girl from school, and John Luke."
Oh, hi. I'm Ryan. Ryan Ash." He says. My eyes widen. Ryan Ash. Ryan Ash.
"I'm John Luke." my breathing quickens. He wrote the note. The note to my sister. He killed her.
"What did she do to you?!" I scream, causing everyone to turn to me.
"What?" Ryan looks at me as if I just grew a third eye. "My sister. Hailey. Why?"
"Hailey is your sister?" his face goes pale. I nod. "I'm sorry for your loss."
"You did it," I tell him. He gapes, apalled.
"No I didn't."
"You wrote a note."
"Can we talk about this later?" he asks, eyeing the coffee shop people staring. "You've got the wrong impression."
"Fine!" I exclaim. "Here. Parking lot. Seven pm." I slouch in my seat and John Luke looks at me.
"I'm coming with you this time. I won't have the risk or fear of losing you."