Nerve Wreck

Chapter 37

Jack watched as the girls left for the day and simply sighed to himself and walked into his room. As soon as he turned on his laptop his phone started to ring. He looked at the screen to be met with an unknown number. He decided to ignore it and load up his saved game but the phone just kept getting called by that same number. Annoyed, he snatched up his phone and answered the unknown caller.

"Aye?!"

"Finally! Hey man!" Jack knew that voice.

"Max? Dude, why didn't you text me who you were! I've been ignoring you thinking it was some rando with the wrong number."

"Oh. Yeah I didn't think about that. Well, least you ended picking up. Guess who I'm with!"

"Um... I don't know? Elliot?"

"Yup! And the rest of the gang. You wanna join us? We were gonna go to the arcade."

"Sure! sounds like fun, man. Nice that you came back after last time. Thought that you didn't remember seeing me haha!"

"Dude, what are you talking about? I don't remember seeing you at all. It's been years."

"Well, you were drunk when I saw you. You were at the club and my girl called you a cab and we kept you company until it arrived!"

Max let out a very long 'hum' sound while he thought back to the last time he was in town. He could've sworn he only saw his old college team during his stay last time. Needless to say that he couldn't remember seeing him or meeting his girlfriend. Giving up he asked Jack for more details about that night. As Jack explained what happened and what they were talking about Max could only think 'I was either wasted out of my mind or it was someone else' with a small frown stitched on his face. The rest of the group were confused as his face seemed deep in thought.

"Fuck, I don't remember but we're gonna pick you up in ten. Get ready for a fun day with your favorite friend." Zeek and Elliot scoffed at the same time and looked to eachother for a while. Then as if it were instinct they all began to argue who was the favorite.

Alex chuckled and tried to calm the three amigos down but ended up getting yelled at to keep his mouth shut. Alex simply went on to start the car while they kept arguing up until he roared Max's car.

"Hey hey hey! Easy with the lady! Only I do that. Get out." Alex rolled his eyes as their previous senior, Max, switched out with him.

Zeek quickly got in the front seat and connected his phone to the car to which everyone groaned in response. Zeek rolled his eyes and asked what to play as to not disappoint them with his playlist. Max chimed in and recommended some Nickleback to which they all argued which song by them to play. Once they finally picked a song they were already halfway to their destination. Once they were almost there Elliot sent him a text to be outside. 

Jack was on the front porch on his laptop when they arrived to which he quickly closed it and left it on his desk which he could reach through his window. Yelling a quick "Bye" through the window he made his way to the car. Max quickly turned down the volume and got a conversation started with everyone once everyone was present and ready to go. Everyone talked big game on the way to the arcade and even began to already place their bets on each other. Jack got completely shitted on by everyone as no one thought he'd win even one game of air hockey to which he was incredibly offended and swore them off. 

Of course the first thing they said when they got there was order food some of them went on to start gaming while others waited for the food to be ready. Either way the day was off to an amazing start. While Jack waited for the food he sent a text to Gina letting her know he went out with friends in case she was already home. She quickly replied telling him to have fun and she'd see him later. Scrolling through and checking his other notifications he waited for a few minutes until the pizza was finally ready. Bringing it to the rest of the guys, he eyed which games were vacant for him to try out. He wasn't good at these older games but they were still fun to play nonetheless.

Elliot then challenged Jack to pinball to which he eagerly agreed. The game actually dragged on since they agreed on best two out of three games. The rest of the guys gathered around and picked sides and began to cheer. Others in the arcade even joined in the cheer fest for the hell of it. To everyone's surprise, Jack actually won the match. The few that were on his side began to talk major shit to the losers. Zeek grit his teeth and challenged him to a different game. Jack, now nervous that he'll lose this time around slowly agreed to a round at the basketball machine. 

Jack didn't miss a single throw but he was rather slow to everyone's disappointment. Zeek and his corner of the accumulated crowded teased Jack about his lack of speed in this particular game. Jack was beet red trying to laugh it off as to not die of embarrassment. Thankfully, it worked and they all moved on to a different match-up. Max versus Elliot. Space Invaders  was the first match and it was sure one hell of a match. Elliot automatically won when Max jinxed winning as they cleared a level. Everyone booed him and he just started demanding a rematch. 

Still, Elliot won to which Max shamefully admitted defeat. Eventually the guys played with total strangers and exchanged numbers with them as to hang out again in the future. They ended up adding two new people to their group. River which was currently in his first year of college and Felix which was actually the same age as Max though Max was still the oldest as he was going on twenty-five. Still,  they all hung out in the parking lot when they have had enough of games and just talked for a couple of hours.

"I'll add you sore losers to our group chat too so we can make plans."

"Didn't you lose the most out of everyone here?" Felix said in a taunting tone as he cupped his ear as others agreed.

"Yeah yeah ha ha ha. Anyway I sent you the link to my website like you asked." Rives' phone went off

"Okay lemme see. Holy shit dude! I've seen your ads! Can I perhaps send in an internship request directly to you?" River's eyes seemed to sparkle as he just realized how lucky he was to have met Max tonight.