The Bet || l.h.

- 9 -

Luke signs us in, paying for my ticket no matter how much I protest that I can pay for it myself.

"Oh no, Emmy," he says, shaking his head as he presses my money back into my hands. "I am paying for you, like the perfect gentleman I am. Shut up and accept my gentlemanliness."

I smile as I shove my money back in my pocket, rolling my eyes at him. He hands me my equipment which is a weird vest-looking thing with a plastic gun attached. I fumble with the straps as I shrug it on, my fingers struggling.

"Aww don't worry, Em, Daddy's here to help." Luke leans forward and buckles my straps for me, laughing when I scowl and try to swat him away. "You know they call me the Sexy Sniper around here."

I snort. "Oh yeah? How much do you pay them to keep that title?"

"I keep it in exchange for showing them the incredible body beneath these clothes," Luke shoots back with a perfectly straight face, making me wonder whether he's joking or not. Grinning, he leans in towards me. I swallow hard at his sudden closeness. "But for you, Emmy, I'd do it for free."

I roll my eyes, shoving him away from me. I hope he doesn't notice how furiously I'm blushing, but the satisfied smirk on his face as he turns away from me to look at the employee explaining how to play tells me he does.

I try to pay attention to the directions, ignoring the infuriating boy beside me.

"Shoot your gun at the plate on your enemy's chest like so," she says, demonstrating with a fellow coworker. "Once you get shot, you have to wait ten seconds before returning to the game. Each shot counts for your total overall points. Good luck!"

"Don't look so scared, Em," Luke says, sliding over to me as we start to file into the room we'll be playing in. "I'll tone down the greatness of the Sexy Sniper to spare you."

"Shut up, small dick," I throw back, making him grin.

I take up a spot up on a platform with a good view of the room giving me the ability to shoot more people. Luke ducks behind a wall near me, his gun poking out around the corner. The bell rings to signal the start of the game and lasers go off as people start shooting.

Luke and I team up against a guy with glasses trying to take us down from behind a makeshift couch-sized barrier. With our combined efforts, he goes down. Luke wasn't lying when he said he was good at this game.

A girl bursts around the corner into our area, grinning as she fires at us. Luke curses and grabs my hand, smiling as he drags us to a different wall, shooting at the girl to cover our unprotected backs. I laugh as he hits her and she gives him the finger while she waits for her gun to reboot.

Luke is smiling widely when he looks over at me. I blush when I notice that our hands are still intertwined, dropping his hand and scooting a little bit away from him. He doesn't stop smiling as he takes my hand against, pushing me into the corner.

I open my mouth to tease him, but he cuts me off by abruptly smashing his lips against mine.

After a moment of surprise, I start kissing him back, shocked by my own actions. I take a step closer to him, but he steps away. Before I can say anything, he lifts the laser gun and shoots me.

"Luke!" I yell after him as he starts walking away, chuckling under his breath.

I am going to kill him, I really am.

The bell rings again to indicate that the game is over and we exit the room. I catch Luke as we're walking out the door, his blond head towering well above everyone else's.

"What the fuck was that?" I demand, putting my hands on my hips as I hand my equipment to one of the employees.

Luke grins infuriatingly as he points toward the screen displaying our rankings. He's in the top slot. "I told you they call me the Sexy Sniper. The reputation does not lie, Emmy." He walks out the front door of the building, leading the way to his car.

My mind's still spinning with the memory of our kiss. Acting impulsively, I lunge forward and grab his hand in mine, yanking him back so he has to face me. I drop his hand immediately when he starts smirking. "Luke, seriously. Why did you kiss me?"

He shrugs, reaching out to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear. "I don't know, Emmy, why did you kiss me back?"

"I didn't kiss you back," I protest.

Luke raises an eyebrow. "You totally kissed me back." Grinning, he adds, "At least now I know that I'm your type."

I scowl. "You're not. And I didn't kiss you back."

"You can keep lying to yourself, but we both know the truth." Luke drops the smile as he takes another step towards me, close enough now that I can smell his cologne. "So you're telling me that if I went back in there and kissed the first girl I saw, you wouldn't care?"

"Correct." I cross my arms over my chest, looking him dead in the eye.

Luke shrugs, stepping back from me. "Ok." He starts walking towards the door to the laser tag place and I frown as I call out after him, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to go kiss a random girl," he shouts over his shoulder.

I mutter a long string of curses under my breath as I jog after him, reaching the door just in time to see him stride over to the girl who gave me the finger. His hand tilts her face up so that her lips meet his. A weird feeling in my stomach makes me clench my jaw. No, no no. I was not jealous. I refused to feel anything for Luke Hemmings.

I try to wipe the envious expression off of my face before he can see it, but it's too late.

Luke grins widely as he walks back over to me, ignoring the surprised girl he just made out with. "I knew it," he says just before he crashes his lips against mine once more. This time I'm not taken off guard, my arms coming up around his neck without my permission. Goddammit.

"I'm not jealous," I mutter as I kiss him again. 

His arm slips down to my waist, holding me tightly against him as he grins. I keep telling myself This is the last time every time I press my lips to his. Finally, I step away from him, placing my hand on his chest to keep him away. 

"That never happened," I say darkly as I turn and walk out the door towards his car.

"Em, come on, you can't pretend that wasn't real." Luke runs after me, wrapping his arms around my waist when I yank my hand from his. "You can't pretend that you don't feel the same things I do."

Wriggling out of his grasp, I whirl to face him. "Oh yeah? What do you feel, Luke? I don't want to be another one of your hookups. I don't want to be the next girl who stupidly falls for you and winds up getting her heart broken."

His expression softens as he reaches a hand out to me that I dodge.

"Save it, I don't have time for your lies." I scowl as I stalk towards his car. "I just want you to drive me home."

Luke closes his mouth and quietly slides behind the wheel, an awkward silence stretching out between us as he takes the familiar roads that lead to my house.

A/N: Well that just happened.

They finally kissed!!!!!

Thanks so much for over 250 reads, it means a lot to me <33

- A