Dane and Zion

Chapter 10

       "That's what people who know they're going to lose say."

       I should have been careful with assuming that I was automatically going to get a higher score. I mean, I thought I would because I went to the arcade all the time and Dane rarely came here. It was probably me being overconfident or something because Dane ended up scoring higher than me.

       "Oh, would you look at that?" Dane said. "I got the higher score."

       "Well, like you said, it's not a competition," I said as we put the guns back in their stands.

       "That's what people who know they're going to lose say."

       "Okay, I get it, I didn't have to be competitive. I promise, I won't be at the next game you choose."

       "Is that something you can even promise? You tend to be a competitive person."

       "No, I'm not."

       "Yeah, you are. You even start some competitions at work sometimes, like who can clean their section of the theatre fastest or who could serve the most people before a certain movie starts."

       I wanted to object, but I couldn't. Dane was right; I could be a little competitive at times. Just a little.

       But I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't be competitive, for the sake of Dane actually having fun here. This was the help him get out of his slump and to find something he actually enjoyed doing.

       The next game Dane chose was skeeball, where we actually won a lot of tickets. Of course, we probably weren't going to win enough tickets today to actually buy something worth buying, but Dane did seem to be having fun. At least, I hoped he was.

       Once we ran out of tokens, I asked, "So do you want to get more tokens or move onto phase two?"

       "Phase two?" Dane repeated. "Wow, you really are treating this like a mission. But yeah, I think I'm done for the day. Don't get me wrong, I did have fun but... It's not all that relaxing with all the loudness."

       "So what you're looking for is something fun, yet relaxing?" I asked.

       "Sort of..." Dane said.

       I had to think for a bit, trying to see if I could figure out something that would work. 

       Dane could tell nothing was coming to my mind, so he said, "We could just save this for another day."

       "Absolutely not," I said. "I know you don't want to be in a creative slump anymore, so we will find something, even if it takes all day and all night. Wait... Wait, wait, wait. I think I have an idea."

       "What is it?" Dane asked.

       "It's a secret," I said before leading him out of the arcade and to my car. 

       Dane didn't press for an answer, probably knowing that I wasn't going to say anything about it. I just like surprising people, so I was very stubborn when it came to keeping things a secret. Even if it didn't have to be a secret, like right now.

       The place we were going to wasn't too far from the arcade, so we got there in no time. Once Dane saw where we were, I asked, "So how about this place?"

       "I think it's worth a shot," Dane said. "I haven't been here in years."

       "Really?" I asked as I pulled into a parking space and turned off my car.