Crush

Chapter 7

     Josh and I sat at the table for a while, sharing random stories with each other. After about an hour, we were on the topic of family.

     "So when do I get to meet your mom and dad!" he winked.

     "You don’t,” I said flatly, not wanting to continue this conversation.

     "Why not?” he argued, “I need to meet my future parents!”

     "Stop it,” I said more sternly now.

     "OK, OK…” he said trailing off and putting his hands in the air with an innocent look on his face.

     "I'm sorry," I said, dropping my head.

     "Don’t be sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. Is it because they’re a sensitive subject?" he asked sympathetically.

     "Yeah, sort of.”

     "Ah, I’m sorry Alley. I feel bad now. You know you can talk to me about anything though, right? I’m not a creepy weird guy like most of the idiots here,” he offered a small smile.

     How could I resist? I automatically smiled back.

     “OK,” I said, unsure. I just met him, how could I trust him with this kind of topic? I don’t think I could ever talk to anybody about it but Maya. But she already knew, so there was nothing to talk about. Nobody else needed to know. Period.

     "Well, to lighten the mood a bit, why don’t we go play in the arcade for a little bit?” he asked, smiling even wider.

     "Uhm, I don’t know…” I said slowly.

     "C’mon, let’s go have some fun.” He put his hand out, waiting for me to grab it.

     I stood up hesitantly from my seat and grabbed his outstretched hand. He led me over the arcade room where there were hardly any people because you couldn’t hear the loud music.

     “Well this is nice,” I managed, looking the room over a few times.

     It was packed with games and machines to play; it was almost too much. But it felt nice and comfortable.

     “Yeah, I used to come here with my friends a lot a few years back,” he said, walking up to a pinball machine. “This one was my favorite. All my friends were jealous because they could never beat me.”

     I laughed and watched as he inserted some quarters into the machine and started playing. I have to admit, he was pretty skilled at that game. He even beat the high score!

     “Wow, you’re really good!” I gasped.

     “Thanks,” he laughed, “Do you want to try it?”

     “Oh no thanks,” I said nervously, “I’m not the best gamer.”

     “Well so! It doesn’t matter how good you are, just as long as you have fun.”

     “Nah, I think I’m OK,” I assured him.

     “Alright then, but you’re missing out,” he said cheerily.

     After playing a few games, it was decided that we were out of things to do in there.

     “Where do you want to go now?” he asked, his eyes piercing into mine.

     I didn’t have the confidence to hold the gaze, so I looked down at my hands.

     "I don’t know, wherever you want to go. I’ve never really been here before,” I admitted.