Madness

Chapter Thirteen : Anything, Anytime

« Life Reminds Me Of A Game.
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A smile was planted on both mine and Jared's faces as soon as we stepped foot into one of our favourite places. Arcade And Games was a small arcade run by a nice old man named John. John didn't particularly like arcade games, but it made him a good amount of money.

"Hey Phil." Jared greeted the man working the counter.

"Hey Jared, Hey Eliot. Who's the new chick?" Phil greeted.

"That's Charlotte. A friend of Eliot's." Jared said.

"Sup." Charlotte muttered.

"Hello to you too." Phil laughed.

"We'll take a hundred game tokens each." Jared smiled.

"Ah stressed you are." Phil smiled back.

"You know it." Jared replied as he paid for the tokens.

Jared handed me and Charlotte our share before walking off to find a game.

"Pick a game." I said to Charlotte.

She smiled before wandering around the arcade. She finally stopped in front of Dance Dance Revolution.

"That." She smirked.

"You want to play alone or are you brave enough to challenge the master?" I asked with a laugh.

"You're good at this game? Please." Charlotte replied.

"Oh it's on." I said with a smirk.

We both stepped onto the dance floor and I put in the machines desired amount of tokens. I pressed the button and stepped back.

"You can choose a song." I said to Charlotte.

She shrugged and hit shuffle for the music choice. I smirked as the game loaded.

"Good luck." Charlotte smirked.

☻ ❥ ☻ ❥ ☻ ❥ ☻ ❥ ☻ ❥ ☻ ❥ ☻ ❥ ☻ 

"How the hell did you win every time!!!?" I yelled frustratedly.

We danced to almost every song on the game and Charlotte won every single time.

"Told you I'd win." She laughed.

"Ha Ha Ha." I replied sarcastically.

Charlotte smirked and flipped her hair. I smiled slightly, but still trying to look pissed.

"Any other games you're so called 'the master at'?" She smiled.

"Just pick a game." I mumbled.

We walked around the arcade trying to find something to do. Most of our game tokens were spent playing Dance Dance Revolution so we had to make sure they were well spent.

Charlotte stopped in front of a game. I stood beside her and smiled. She was staring at a claw machine.

"You see something you like in there?" I asked.

"Maybe." She replied.

She was staring at a small black and brown stuffed teddy bear. I smiled realizing it fit her personality perfectly.

I tapped Charlotte's shoulder and she turned to look at me. I handed her the five game tokens it took to play and she smiled slightly.

"Thanks." She mumbled.

I watched her with a small smile on my face as she put in the coins and tried to line up the claw with the bear. She hit a button and the claw slowly descend toward the bear. The claw grabbed the arm of the bear and lifted it up slightly before dropping it back into the machine.

"No." Charlotte cursed.

"Try again." I said as I put five more tokens into the game.

She lined the claw up slightly to the left than last time before hitting the button. The claw came down and grabbed the bears ear. It rose but dropped the bear again.

"What are these stupid games!" She yelled.

"Relax Charlotte. Third time's a charm." I said calmly as I put in five more tokens.

We now had five tokens left. If she missed then we'd spend the last of our tokens on the game. I didn't care if we didn't eat to do anything else, as long as she was happy. She seems really determined to get that bear.

Charlotte moved the claw to the right of the bear and tried again. The claw tried to grab something but didn't. It came back without anything and Charlotte cursed again.

"Holy hell these things are cursed." She mumbled angrily.

Charlotte stayed still and stared at the bear. I slowly walked closer to her and put our last five tokens in the machine. I put my left hand onto the machine on the side of her and my right hand on top of hers that was still on the joystick of the game. Charlotte couldn't move without pushing me back, my arms caging her. Yet she made no movements to try and get away.

"You almost had it the first time." I said as I moved the claw to where she had it the first time she tried.

"How so?" She asked quietly.

"You have to make sure the claw has a large enough part of the bear to grab. You see, these games are rigged. The claw doesn't close down all the way so you need to fill up the remaining space with the bear." I explained as I moved the claw forward slightly, so it was over the bears stomach.

Charlotte looked down at our hands before returning her vision back to the game.

"Then you let it go." I said as I moved our hands to hit the button.

We both watched as the claw game down and grabbed the bears stomach. The claw dragged the bear up to the top before moving and dropping the stuffed animal into the little exit box. I moved around Charlotte and grabbed the bear from the game.

"Here you go." I smiled.

Charlotte started at the bear happily before looking at me. She suddenly launched herself at me and wrapped her arms around me. I realized after a moment that she was giving me a hug. My arms circled around her and I pulled her closer to me.

"Thank you Eliot." She mumbled.

"Anytime Charlotte." I smiled.

"Seriously though, I mean it. You may have one me an adorable stuffed animal at a game that is totally rigged, but you also put up with me. I know I can be horrible but I really do appreciate you helping me to get home and for not trying to pry into why I was kicked out. So thank you." She said.

Charlotte let me go and gently grabbed the bear from my hands. She smiled at it before hugging it to her chest.

I smiled in adoration as I watched her. She always manages to surprise me. Yet I'd do anything, at anytime, for her. 

Chapter thirteen. This chapter was just a small filler chapter to keep the story going but it included a really cute moment between Eliot and Charlotte.

Question: Who's your favourite character in this book so far?

My answer: I really love both Eliot and Charlotte because I relate to both of them.

Everyone to me: Of course you relate to them, they're your book characters🤦‍♀️