Games of Chance

Thirty Three- II

"Okay, stop here." 

Juliana hesitatingly obeyed, coming to a slow stop in front of a short, squat building made of dark brick. Faint music played from speakers inside and a sign in tacky neon letters above the front door read "Eezy's 24-Hour Fun 'N Games!" 

"...here?" Juliana questioned. 

"Yep," Chase nodded confidently as she pulled into the parking lot. "Apparently my dad owns this place. Ever since Meg found out she could get in free, she's been coming here every day after school with her friends. She says it's a lot of fun, and if there's one thing I trust her taste in, it's entertainment." 

"Your father sure does have a... strange investment profile," Juliana noted as she stepped out of the car. "So what exactly is this place?"

"You know, your typical bowling alley slash laser tag slash arcade game setup. Nothing too fancy." 

Juliana blinked. 

"... you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" Chase shook his head. "Just come inside." The faint music grew louder as they approached the double doors, stepping into a large, semi-lit room. 

"Should we have brought Maskeys?" Chase whispered in Juliana's ear, looking uncomfortably at the crowd around them. He hadn't expected this place to be so full on a weeknight, but the Arcanese clearly liked to party, and even his limited social sensibilities told him that the last thing Juliana needed right now was to be recognized and mobbed. 

Surprisingly, Juliana didn't seem to share his concern. "You'd be surprised how often I can take a stroll down the street in broad daylight with zero issues. People notice much less than they think they do... an infinitely useful fact for covert organizations like the Order." 

"Wow... I guess you're right," Chase looked around, realizing how absorbed everyone seemed to be in their phones, games, and conversations. 

"Mr. Hewkin, you are back!" the elderly Asian lady at the front desk waved cheerfully. 

"Yeah, hi," Chase smiled as he approached the counter. "Two tickets please."

"We are actually at capacity," the woman looked regretfully over her shoulder at the crowd. "But you, I can accommodate," she grinned, placing two bright yellow wristbands on the counter in front of her.  

"Who's the beautiful young lady?" she whispered, her eyes darting over to Juliana, who thankfully had her back turned. 

"Oh, um..." Chase turned his gaze toward the ceiling, frantically racking his mind for something to say, when the woman mercifully jumped in. 

"It's alright, I understand. You're entitled to your privacy. Well, I hope the two of you have a lovely evening." 

Mumbling a 'thanks,' Chase quickly walked back to Juliana, handing her a wristband. She peeled off the tape and attempted to maneuver it around her left wrist, letting out a quick breath of frustration when she couldn't get the two ends to meet. 

"Need a hand?" Chase smirked, reaching over to help her with the wristband. "When you can shoot a moving target from twenty yards away but you can't put on a paper wristband." 

"I can and will strangle you, Chase Hewkin," Juliana raised her fists in mock confrontation as the pair made their way down to their bowling lane. 

"I don't doubt that," Chase affirmed as he picked up various bowling balls, testing their weight until he found one that seemed right and began to carry it over to the lane. 

"These things are half as light as Roy's mace... and one isn't even expected to swing them around," Juliana frowned as she balanced the heaviest bowling ball on the tip of her left pinky. "In the Order, we would-" 

"Nuh uh!" Chase cut her off before she could continue. "We're not talking about the Order tonight. Tonight isn't about them." 

Juliana paused for a moment before a look of understanding came over her face. "Got it." She approached the lane, releasing her ball with the precision of a trained warrior and watching with a deadpan expression as all ten pins fell unceremoniously to the floor. 

"Okay, I'm bowling against a superhero," Chase shook his head as he picked up his ball and took aim. "This is absolutely, completely not fair." 

"You were the one who selected the game," Juliana shrugged, nonchalantly juggling three bowling balls. 

"Can you like... be more normal?" requested Chase, who noticed that people were beginning to stare. 

"You're going to have to help me with that," Juliana put down the bowling balls, a small smile creeping up on her face. 

"Hmm..." Chase scanned the area, spotting a snack counter with large bags of colorful cotton candy lined up along the edge. "Let's start with some cotton candy. What color do you want?" 

"Actually... " Juliana shifted her gaze between Chase and the cotton candy, looking a little embarrassed. "The truth is, I've never had it before. So I don't really have a preference." 

"You've never had... cotton candy?" Chase stared in disbelief. Even during his nerdy childhood filled with hefty books and Lego starships, he had fond memories of ice cream on a hot summer day and cotton candy at a fair. Seeing the genuinely curious look on Juliana's face, he wondered what other ordinary experiences she'd never even heard of. 

"Well, it's made out of pure sugar, and that's not exactly the kind of fuel needed for Order training." 

"Remember what we said about the Order?" Chase raised his eyebrows. "Tonight isn't about them. I'm buying you some cotton candy," he announced as he made his way over to the line at the snack counter with uncharacteristic resolve. 

 Even the best of us have moments in our lives when we encounter a challenge we cannot surmount alone. Mrs. Montgomery's words echoed in Juliana's head as she watched Chase fidgeting impatiently, so irrationally but adorably excited by the prospect of introducing her to junk food. 

If Juliana had ever faced a challenge, it was this moment: she'd lost her lab, her powers, her grandfather's respect. Her archenemy wielded the same power she did, and her own sister was on his side. Normally, she would pull out her journal and start brainstorming strategies. The Order part of her brain even wanted to scold Chase for wasting her precious time with bowling and cotton candy, but when she saw the look in his eyes, she knew that wasn't the right thing to do. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, this was clearing her head, reminding her of what she cared about in life. And the longer she spent with Chase, the surer she was that it had nothing to do with the Alpha Box. 

"I can do it! I can do it! Just one more try- pleeeeeease, daddy?" the high-pitched voice of a little girl cut through the air and Juliana turned her head to see her standing in front of a jumbo dartboard game, pouting up at the man standing next to her. The man sighed, placing a dollar bill in her hand. "Alright, Kaylee, you can try one more time. But after that, you're meeting me by the front door," he instructed before walking away. 

The girl- Kaylee- pushed the dollar into a slot, causing the dartboard's concentric circles to light up and five darts to be dispensed into a small container. She picked up the first dart and stared at the bullseye, her tiny body quivering with determination, before she hurled it through the air. Watching it hit the wall beside the dartboard and clatter to the floor, leaving her point total at 0, Kaylee let out a deep sigh. 

Something about the defeated expression on the girl's face pulled at Juliana's heart. Realizing that Chase still had a while before he would get to the front of the snack line, she gingerly made her way over to the girl, tapping her gently on the shoulder. "Would you like some help?"