The Songbirds [On Hold]

Ch 2 Part 2: Pier

[A/N] Told you I would make it up to you guys c: I'm happy with this chapter now.

Chapter 2 continued

"Let's do something fun!" Ashlyn jumped up and away from the bench. "How about we play another game?"

Jacen frowned at the sudden shift in mood. He just wanted to sit on the bench and hold her, but it seemed as if Ashlyn had something better in mind. With a sigh, Jacen reluctantly got up and asked, "What kind of game?"

Instead of answering Ashlyn laced their fingers together and led them towards the shorter pier where all the stores were at. It was an odd sight to see when you looked at them. There was Ashlyn, walking with a little skip to her step and bobbing her head as she hummed a tune, and then there was Jacen; he was a few steps behind Ashlyn and he had a confused look plastered on his face.

"Ashlyn, I'm supposed to be the one in charge of this date," Jacen whined.

Ashlyn spun around and started to walk backwards. "You're so cute when you don't get your way," she snickered. "You don't even have anything planned!"

"So what are we going to play?"

Ashlyn rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "I don't know," she confessed. "I was hoping that you would come up with an idea. You are the one calling the shots today anyway!"

"But you just said-," Jacen started. "Never mind. What kind of games can we play here?" He waved his hand around and gestured towards all of the shops surrounds them.

"I know what we could play! Let's play hide and seek!"

Her boyfriend snorted and shook his head. "That's so childish!" Jacen bumped into something. Ashlyn had stopped in her tracks and started to pout at him. Her golden eyes were wide and he could see the water forming around them. Crap, he thought. "Okay, we'll play," he grumbled.

"Oh honey," Ashlyn cooed. "Sometimes it's nice to let your inner child out."

Even though she was just messing around, Jacen felt a little tug at the endearment. He finally cracked a grin at the brown eyed beauty. "So what are the rules?"

All of a sudden Ashlyn's smiling face was replaced with a serious look. "I just want you to know that I take playing games seriously. I'm warning you that I'm expecting to win, but I'm not a sore loser either. If you get injured, then it's all on you. It was your choice to have me as your play mate. I'm expecting you to give it your all. I will play fair as long as you do the same, but the moment you play dirty, I will cheat. Got it?"

"Got it," Jacen gulped. He actually didn't think that Ashlyn could ever look so serious, and it scared him in a way.

With the clap of her hands, Ashlyn turned back to her cheery self. "So you know the basic rules of hide and go seek: someone needs to hide and the other person seeks them. But considering we're at the pier and we're going to play this a bit differently. The seeker will close their eyes and stand here at the base."

Ashlyn pointed to the public map of the area. "They can just stare at the map, but they can't look beyond that. The person that hides goes off and picks a store to hide in. As soon as they are comfortable in their spot, the hider will text the seeker that they are ready. The seeker goes off and tries to find the person. Now, the seeker cannot move from their spot for three minutes, but after that they can roam around the store. After five more minutes, the hider can leave the store and try to run back to the base. Each game will be fifteen minutes so yeah. Once the person is at base, then the seeker loses. If the seeker catches the person hiding, then the seeker wins. Any questions?"

"So is it hide and seek tag? Does the seeker have to tag the person to win?"

Ashlyn nodded. "Any more questions?"