Dirty Laundry by Gibslythe

Day 6 Ch. 18

Wednesday, December 21st

5:01 P.M .

Keith couldn't believe he'd agreed to this.

There he was, standing in the middle of an arcade, one that had required an hour and a half drive all the way to Scottsdale, Arizona. And why had they driven so far? Why was Keith in an arcade?

He was about to play lazertag.

Lance had been adamant about his date choice, and despite everyone's pleas, it was decided that the group date would ensue at the Wunderworld Arcade. The night would be filled with video games, over priced popcorn, and an all out battle of laser tag.

Normally Keith would be thrilled to pummel Lance in a competitive game of blasters and lasers. Not this time. Their date night game would be way different in comparison to the laser tag games Keith and his friends had played at university. This time Keith and Lance would be team mates - which was fine too, Keith wasn't complaining on that part. He was more than ready to battle fake aliens with Lance at his side. Except, they weren't battling aliens. They were battling the other date members, couple to couple, and Keith was beyond worried.

It was three teams. Rosa and Jaime (the purple team), Daniel and Rachel (the green team), and Keith and Lance (the red team- much against Lance's wishes). Lance, Rachel, and Rosa were ecstatic, the three of them as enthusiastic as children. They'd raced to the laser tag room, deciding on their vest colors almost immediately. On the other hand, Jaime and Daniel were just proud they'd even survived the drive up.

And Keith? Hell, Keith was just worried Rosa would bust a hip.

Their laser tag instructor was a teenage girl named Lucy, a short girl that popped her gum too much and spoke as if bored. She lead them through the rules of the game after each group decided their team colors. (A long ordeal that consisted of way too much bickering.)

"Alright," Lucy began, popping her gum for the hundredth time. "The rules are as follows: no running, no screaming, no jumping over the obstacles, and keep two hands on the blaster at all times. Oh, and no physical contact."

"Damn," Rachel commented. "What a bummer."

Lance snorted. "What? Were you and Danny planning to make out in the arena or something?"

"More like kick your sorry ass," Rachel spat with a snicker.

Their instructor, Lucy, simply popped her gum. "Do whatever you want in the arena, I don't care. Just don't break anything."

Lucy continued on with the rest of the instructions, nodding off the rules and points of gameplay so blandly that Keith feared Jaime would fall asleep. Once she was finished, the group followed her single file through a black door.

The arena was amazing; Neon colors filled the dark room, covering large black obstacles in the form of spray paint and outlining detailed images of space scenes with galactic planets.

"Alright," Lucy mumbled, punching a code into a keypad by the wall. "You've got fifteen minutes. Have fun, or whatever."

"Good luck," Rosa proclaimed happily, hugging her blaster close to her chest. "Play fair!"

Lance just smirked, following the others into the arena single file. A deep, robotic voice boomed over the intercom.

" Warriors! Geeeettt Ready!"

The three groups raced into the arena, each separating into their respective bases, Overly loud dubstep music echoed off each game obstacle, making it both hard to hear and hard to speak.

"Are you ready to get fucking creamed?!" Rachel yelled over the music, gripping her blaster and getting ready to run. She was ecstatic, her toothy grin spread across cheeks already red from the room's heat. She was like a teenager, no one could've known she had two kids at home.

"Hey!" Rosa called from her base on the other side of the room. "No cursing!"

The voice above them began to boom numbers counting down from ten, and Keith moved his blaster into position.

"Mamá , we can curse if we want," Lance called out in a whine. "This is an adult date! No kids!"

Keith couldn't see Rosa, but he could just imagine her face; nose pointed up, eyelashes batting, all in a playful display of snootiness. "I refuse to say 'fuck' in the presence of children like yourselves."

Lance gasped, faking disgust and pain. "Ma! How dare you? I'm twenty years old!"

"Just let your mother have her fun," Jaime called from his base. "Now everyone! Play safe, yeah?"

"Shhh!" Rosa cried out. "The countdown! We're almost ready!"

She was right; the loud, robot voice declared the number five. Then four, then three, slowly two, and then…

One.

The first to move was Rachel, a battle cry escaping the young woman rather dramatically. Through the cracks of a few neon boxes Keith could see Rachel leap over several fake boulders, her hair whipping her cheeks violently.

"Alright," Lance began, tugging Keith back by the vest to stop him from racing into battle. "We need a battle strategy."

Keith gaped. "Seriously? This is laser tag , it's not like we're fighting for our lives."

"Are you for real? Las tag is always strategy worthy. I have to win; there's no way I'm losing to a bunch of senior citizens."

"Fine," Keith huffed, turning around fully so that the two of them could hide behind a tall pillar. "What do you have in mind?"