Taste | Changbin

Chapter Seventeen

Han dragged Lennon from game to game. Some of them, she had been unfamiliar with. He took the time to explain how they worked. She kept looking over her shoulder every few minutes. Changbin had left her with an uneasy sense of paranoia. Han had yet to pick up on it. 

"Is there anything you want to specifically play?" 

"I don't think so. I'm okay with following you around and having you pick out the games. I'm sure there's still a bunch that we haven't explored." 

"Have you guys tried Pac-Man yet?" Hyunjin's voice cut in. 

Lennon glanced over her shoulder. Hyunjin was munching on a piece of red licorice. "Felix is determined to beat Changbin's high score. He's been playing it for the past half hour, but he isn't coming anywhere close. I've been trying to pull him away from it, but he won't leave." 

Han snorted, "good luck with that! Everyone knows that it's impossible to beat his score. People have tried, but nobody has ever come close." 

Lennon perked up immediately. "What's his score?"

"He has almost a million points. I don't know what level he's gotten to. I don't pay attention to it, but he brags about it all the time. He brags about it so much that it goes in one ear and out the other." 

"Can I try it?" 

"Please!" Hyunjin clasped his hands together. "Please try to! Maybe you can play and Felix will leave the game alone. We've been gifted five hundred points from the oldest members and he's wasting them all on that stupid game. There are so many more games we could play, but he refuses to leave it alone. I'll take you to it." He turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. 

"Are you any good at Pac-Man?" Han asked. 

"Uh, maybe? It's been a while since I've played it, but I used to play it all the time as a kid. I was good when I played it, but it's been a while. I don't remember my highest score." 

"Felix!" Hyunjin called out.

"Just one more chance, I swear I can win this time! One more chance, that's all I ask!" The screen reflected off his pale skin. 

Hyunjin grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the game. "Lennon wants to try. Besides, you're almost out of points on your card. We both know that you're not going to beat Changbin's score, you're not anywhere close." 

Felix puffed out his lips with a frown. "I wanted to bruise his ego a little." 

"I know, but let Lennon try. You've been standing there for a really long time. Let's go play something else to get your mind off it." 

"Okay," Felix hesitantly agreed. He started following behind Hyunjin. Before he got too far away from the game, he called out Lennon's name. She glanced over at him. "Make sure you kick his ass!" 

Lennon chuckled, "I can try, but I make no promises." 

Felix laughed and followed behind Hyunjin into the sea of people. More people had filled the building since they first got there. Lennon had been trying not to pay attention to it. Han had been doing a great job keeping her focused on the arcade games. The pair had been talking nonstop. 

"Do you know how to play?" 

"Yeah, but it might take me a few warm up attempts since it's been a while." She scanned her card and grabbed the red handled joystick. Pressing the start button, she began moving the character around to avoid the ghosts. 

It took her three more tries before everything felt familiar again. Years ago, her mom had worked at a small pizzeria. In the back corner, there had been a few arcade games to keep people entertained. Her dad worked in construction and her mom made pizzas. Money was tight after her dad ended up in a bunch of debt due to a failed business. 

There wasn't extra money for a babysitter. Twelve year old Lennon was handed a cup of coins and told that she could play the arcade games in the back of the store. She spent hours rotating through the handful of games, but she always came back to Pac-Man. There was something about the noises that captivated her. 

She played it for hours. The warm smell of basil and other herbs floated through the restaurant. The establishment made their own pizza sauce and crust. They made other things too, but pizza was what they were most well known for. 

After everything happened, after her mom died, she was old enough to work at the establishment herself. She worked there for two years until the couple that ran it announced their retirement. Nothing was ever the same after that. 

After spending hours making homemade sauce and throwing pizza crust, after helping customers and answering the phone, after eating the leftover pizza at the end of the shift; she'd play a round of Pac-Man. In those few minutes, she hadn't lost her mom. She liked to imagine she was still behind her throwing dough high into the air. 

She liked to pretend that her dad hadn't lost himself along with her mom. He hadn't started drinking at home. She craved the past, she'd do anything to relive it, but you can't rewind time. You can go back to the past whenever you wish, but nobody is there anymore. Everything has changed. 

The sound of Pac-Man dying ripped her out of the past. She blinked at the rapidly flashing screen that announced she died. She grabbed the points card out of her back pocket and swiped it again. 

"You're trying again?" Han asked. 

"Yeah, but this will be my last time. I know how addicting this game can get and I don't want to end up like Felix. I don't want to spend all of my points here." 

"Do you care if I go a few games down and play a game?" 

"Go ahead, I'll be here." 

"I'll be back!" 

Lennon grabbed the joystick and took a deep breath. Was she going to attempt to destroy Changbin's high score? Yes. Did she want to destroy his ego? Fuck, yeah. 

Was this going to make him hate her more? 

Absolutely.