"Nolan, we're leaving! Come say goodbye!" my mom yells, from the bottom of the stairs. I throw my phone to the side before going downstairs in casual attire that consisted of a turquoise-colored shirt, black sweats, and blue- killua socks. My hair is in a messy state, but that doesn't really matter; I'm not going anywhere special today or the next few.
Mom is dressed in a nice, flowy, white dress with her hair in a neat bun. Dad is dressed as he usually is- like he's going to ten business meetings.
"Have fun, and tell the pastor I say hi," I say, getting a major case of deja-vu. Mom nods as she kisses my forehead- dad of course standing still like a statue. After a while, he nods at me too before leading my mom out of the house.
They lock the doors behind them, relieving me from the role of doing it. I wait until I hear the car drive out of the driveway, and on to the road before sprinting back up to my room.
I call Madaline instantly, letting her know that my parents are gone, and she can come over now. It's around 8pm, and her parents give her a curfew, that means she has to be home by midnight. Apparently, they came up with the idea after Madaline convinced them to watch Cinderella for the tenth time. Serves her right. She always joked about how I never had any fun because my parents never let me out when the sun starts to set. They've been a little more lenient, but barely.
She tells me she's already close by, and was just waiting for my call. She'll be here in about five minutes, so I hurry to put on my black converse and small jacket. The weather drops drastically towards the night. I grab my phone along with my keys.
Rushing downstairs, I triple check that everything is cleaned, and neat; my parents told me to do chores earlier and I can't remember if I did everything. After seeing that everything is good, I leave my house and lock the door behind me. I turn around to see a car pulling into my driveway. Not having any time to process it, Madaline jumps out of the car before running to me and jumping into my arms.
"Are you okay?" she whispers to me, her arms encircling my neck. She's seriously strangling me, but I say nothing and let her comfort me.
"I'm fine. Can you stop choking me, now?" I say, lightheartedly. Madaline laughs, but lets go of me. She turns, so she faces the car she jumped out of.
"Hope you don't mind that I brought company?" she questions. I squint my eyes to see who's in the car, but soon stop when they get out.
It's Scarlette and Jackson, Jackson being the designated driver. His hands are stuffed in his pocket, and he has the bored expression resting on his face. Scarlette looked as she always did- amused. Madaline and I walk over to them, and Scarlette is the first to speak.
"Hey, clumsy. Been a while hasn't it?"
I don't get a word out as Jackson answers for me.
"It's been like five days, calm down."
"What are you two doing here?" I ask, ignoring their statements for the time being. Madaline is busy putting on her favorite, pink jacket to answer anything. Jackson nods at her, then sends a glare to Scarlette.
"Maddy here asked if I wanted to hang out. I had nothing else to do, so yeah. She said invite Scarlette, so here she is. I became driver of the night because lighting mcqueen wrecked her car."
I look at Scarlette, who just looks proud. I walk over to her while Madaline converses with Jackson about what we should do. She smiles as I stop in front of her, the reason unknown to me.
"You destroyed your car?"
She shrugs.
"I wouldn't say destroyed. More like, it's in a time-out until the shop fixes it back up. It's going to cost a fucking fortune when it's done, but it's about time my hellcat got an upgrade anyway," she says, the proud smile still taking over her features. I shake my head at her words, not surprised at all.
"What happened to it that it needed an 'upgrade'?"
"Street racing!" Jackson pipes back up, "totaled her car in the end, but still got first place. You should've been there, man, it was badass!"
My eyes never leave Scarlette, her proud smile now turning into nervousness. She scratches the back of her neck while looking anywhere but me.
I decide to leave the questions for later, since Madaline shouted out that we're going to an arcade. She immediately calls shotgun, but not before sending me a wink. I ignore her antics and get in the car. I scoot over, so Scarlette can get in, and put on my seatbelt.
Jackson closes his door, and puts his car in reverse. He never turned it off which means he didn't have to do the whole, put the key in the ignition and blah, blah, blah. He starts driving on the actual road, his bored expression gone, as something comes to mind.
"By the way, this is my car, so my rules, my music, my speed. We all agree?"
Madaline ignores him and goes to touch his radio. He smacks her hand away, starting an argument between the two. Scarlette laughs, her smile making deep dimples appear on her cheeks. I'm tempted to poke them, but refrain myself. Instead, I poke her arm to get her attention. She looks over at me, her head slightly tilting down to see my face, clearly.
"So...street racing?"
"Yeah, it was on Tuesday, and it was insane. People came to bet on ya girl, and that earned them and me some cash," she tells me everything that transpired that night, her smile not once leaving her mesmerizing face.
"Are you okay?" I ask her, her story ending with how she messed up her car while attempting to drift around a sharp corner.
"I'm good, although I didn't have my good luck charm with me," she says, smirking.
She probably meant her jacket, that I still have, but it still puts a small blush on my cheeks. I turn my head, so now I'm staring out the window. Scarlette just laughs and nudges my leg with hers, "Sorry, I forgot I make you nervous," she teases.
"Stop," I whine, covering my red face. She continues to laugh, but stops with all her teasing.
"If you two are done flirting," Jackson announces, "we're here."
I look to the front to see we are, in fact, here. Armadillo's Arcade is displayed on the front with huge, glowing, purple letters.
"No, I don't think I was," Scarlette says, getting out. She leaves the door open, so I can get out on the same side.
There are more cars pulling in, so I guess she didn't want me getting hit or something. I thank her, her mumbling 'welcome' before walking ahead with Jackson. Madaline stays behind with me and grabs my arm, tightly, while squealing. I look at her weirdly, wondering what all the commotion is about.
"Nolan!" she tries to yell as quietly as possible. It wasn't working in her favor because a couple people turned to look at us.
I was thinking about yelling, 'she isn't with me, this is a stalker!', but she might've beat me if I did, "are you seriously trying to tell me there's nothing going on between you two?"
"There's nothing," I say smiling, and pushing her away from me, "how about you and Jackson? You got his number and asked him to hang out? He even called you Maddy."
Madaline blushes and tries to stutter out a response. I laugh because for once, I'm not the one being put in the spotlight and being drowned in embarrassment.
We get to the entrance of the arcade, so Madaline hooks her arm with mine as we walk in. It looks way bigger in the inside with booths for people to sit down, a food court, a trampoline section, and the actual arcade games. I look around in amazement as Madaline drags me to a counter.
"Can I get four cups of coins? Fill 'em to the top," Scarlette says, standing in the front. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a fifty dollar bill. That's how much it costs for coins?
The guy behind the register takes the money before grabbing four cups and filling them with game coins. Scarlette grabs them before passing three over to us. Jackson is off in seconds, saying he wants to manhandle the people in laser tag.
"Wait for me!" Madaline calls out, running after him. That just left me with Scarlette.
"You gonna leave me here too?" she asks, her eyes looking to where our friends ran off. She finally looks to me, one of her perfect eyebrows raised. I shake my head, not trusting myself to say anything. Scarlette nods, happily, and leads me to the arcadic section, "how do you feel about table hockey?"
"Um, I never played before. Let's try it?"
Scarlette puts two coins in the slot on her side, and then two coins in my slot. The scoreboard in the middle of the table lights up, signaling the start of the game. I grab my handle-thing, and wait for Scarlette to start. She gets the puck, smirking while doing so.
"I wanted this to be fun, but I can't help but destroy you, Nolan. Fair warning."
I gasp, offendly, at her bold taunting. Scarlette seems unfazed and hits the puck, so now it's on my side. I hit it back before it slid in the space that'll give Scarlette a point. She hits it back just as quickly, and this time it goes in. I frown as Scarlette cheers for her point.
"You cheated."
"Yes, the cheating excuse. Use it all you want, but it won't help you win."
I put on a mock game face, and we continue the game. It took a while for either of us to score another point, but when I did, the game was on...
Scarlette ended up winning by four points, and gloats about her win the entire time she gets her tickets. I roll my eyes, but smile nevertheless, and congratulate her win.
"Where to next?" I ask, wanting to play another game. It's fun here, and I don't get to experience that much.
"Let's get something to drink. All that winning I did made me thirsty."
I push Scarlette, playfully, and jog over to the food section. I scan the menu to see what drinks they have, and notice sprite is an option. I, regretfully, didn't bring any money, so I have to wait for Scarlette to catch up. Once she does, I point to the menu like a little kid.
"Sprite, please, please, please."
"I don't know, that push kind of hurt my feelings. I think I'll just get a sprite for myself," she says, going up to the register to order. I watch as she gets a single sprite, and turns around to face me, "okay, got my drink. Ready?"
I gawk at her, my eyes trained on the cold sprite in her hands. She walks past me and heads over to a shooting game. Sulking, I go to follow her, when my name is called. I turn around to see a person holding a sprite in their hand.
The lady holds the drink out to me, probably getting impatient with me. I thank her, and grab a straw before chasing after Scarlette. The game she wanted to go to was on the opposite side of the arcade section, and I didn't want to get left behind.
When I find her, she's inserting two coins into both of the slots. Her tickets are hanging out of her back pocket, while her drink is balanced on the game. She must hear me approaching because she turns around as I'm right behind her. I smile up at her, my face beaming happiness. Scarlette squints her eyes, but smiles back with the same joy.
"What?" she asks.
"You bought me one! You said you weren't," I exclaim, taking a long sip of my drink.
"Oh yeah, happy now?"
"Mhm, mhm."
Scarlette laughs, lightly, handing me a makeshift gun. She takes my drink, and sets it next to hers. We start the game, and instantly start shooting down zombies. We're winning the game so far with one minute left on the clock. I shift closer to Scarlette as the last raid of zombies starts to come.
We shout at each other, and occasionally bump into one another while trying to kill the fast moving, green zombies displayed on our screen. The timer buzzers, resulting in Scarlette and I screaming our victory. We give each other high fives before getting out twenty tickets.
"That was cool," I gush. Scarlette nods in agreement as she gets our drinks. She looks around to scan the other games before looking back at me.
"What do you wanna do now?"
"Ummm the motorcycle game, and then eat?" I suggest. The game with the motorcycles looks like something Scarlette would be interested in, and I want food.
"Sure, it'll give Jackson and Madaline a chance to finish up their laser tag."
We head over to the motorcycle game in silence, me drinking my sprite and Scarlette trying to fold our tickets, neatly. Well mine, she said I can have hers.
These little acts make me wonder; Madaline is convinced that there's something going on between us but I'm convinced Scarlette doesn't like me. I, on the other hand, feel as if feelings are starting to bloom. But it's impossible right? I've never liked someone before, so how do I know that I sort of like Scarlette? She's always so nice to me, and treats me differently. Jackson doesn't treat me like that, and Madaline wouldn't willingly give me her tickets, or use most of her money on me.
"Earth to church boy, come in church boy," Scarlette says, waving her delicate hands in front of my face.
"Huh?"
"I said, did you want pizza?"
"Oh, sure, yes...and stop calling me those terrible nicknames!" I scold her, while sitting on one of the motorcycles.
"Why, you don't like them?"
I shake my head, hinting that I really don't like them. Scarlette leans down, so her mouth is right next to my ear.
"But you like sweetheart, don't you? If I remember correctly, you were blushing all over because of it."
I push Scarlette's face away from me, and hide mine in my shirt. She smirks in victory as she sits next to me. I put my sprite down, and notice Madaline along with Jackson in the process. I wave Madaline over, but she tugs Jackson in the opposite direction with a not-so-discreet smile on her face. What was all that about?
"Ready?" Scarlette asks me.
"Yep," I say, ready to play another game.
She puts two coins into her machine, and then two more in mine. The game starts up, and the screen displays a countdown, starting from ten.
"Hey, Nolan," Scarlette calls for me. I look in her direction, and she takes a picture of us both. She shows it to me, and my heart flutters in my chest. Scarlette has a wide, joyous smile encasing her face, her dimples showing and her eyes putting the stars to shame. I don't get to stare any longer because she puts her phone away. I forgot to look at myself- what if I looked ugly? "Oh, fuck, it's starting. You distracted me."
"What, how did I distract you? You took the picture!" I protest, making her smile.
"I was capturing a moment! You were supposed to be on lookout and tell me when the game started!" Scarlette retorts. I wave her comment away, and focus on the game at hand. I soon find out that Scarlette may be good at racing on real life streets, but in the arcade, I own them. I reach the finish line with Scarlette not too far behind me, my score beating hers by a mile.
"Woo!"
"You cheated!"
"Use the cheating excuse. It won't help you win, Scarlette," I tease, reciting her previous words.
"Whatever," she mumbles, "let's get pizza."
I get my tickets from the machine before handing them to Scarlette, so she can fold them neatly. We go back to the food court, with me being the one to gloat about my insane win. Madaline and Jackson are nowhere to be seen, but we still order a medium sized, pepperoni pizza for us to share. We sit in one of the nice looking booths, Scarlette setting the pizza down on the table. I give her, her sprite since she had me hold them.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. I'll pay you back for all of this, I promise," I say, worried she's going to get mad about spending so much on me.
"Don't sweat it. Maybe you can pay me back by going to one of my races, it isn't a proper win if you aren't there," she states, nonchalantly, taking a bite of her pizza. I smile at her words, and take my own bite, "by the way, why aren't you in school?"
"Oh, uh, I was sick. I think I'll be back by next week," I lie. It comes out naturally now, so I just answered without thinking. Scarlette hums, wiping her hands on a napkin.
"You're sick?"
"Yes..."
"And you're out at the arcade, eating pizza and drinking sprite?"
"They say pizza heals the soul," I say, nervously. Scarlette looks like she doesn't believe me, but nods at my answer. I'm thankful for that; I don't want to talk about my super religious parents forcing me to church to confess a stolen cookie.
Madaline and Jackson finally join us. Jackson sits next to Scarlette and Madaline next to me. They take a slice of pizza without question, and preach about how good it is.
"How was laser tag?" I ask the two.
"So fun! We were a team and won, twice!" Madaline shouts, obviously excited to talk about their fun.
She tells us how Jackson snuck up on a team, and got them both in seconds. She tricked someone into thinking she was on their side, and got them out. She and Jackson got someone from the top of the stairs. It all sounds exciting. I tell her about the fun Scarlette and I had, and how I totally won in the last game.
"Nice!" Madaline high fives me. Scarlette complains that I cheated, but I quickly shush her up with some pizza. "So you two had fun?"
"Yep," we both answer, in unison. Madaline nods and sends a look to Jackson. I squint at them, to see Scarlette doing the same. We look at each other before shrugging it off.
"We're out of coins, give us some," Jackson soon says, holding his hand out to me.
"Dude, no. Put your grubby ass hands down," Scarlette objects. I hand over my cup of coins without question, kind of forgetting I had them. Scarlette kept using hers, so it slipped my mind that I had my own. Jackson grins, in victory before giving me a fist bump.
"You should've slapped him with the pizza, sweetheart," Scarlette says, elbowing Jackson in the side. I smile, unknowingly, at the nickname and shrug.
"We can keep using yours, right?"
"I actually have to go home," Madaline speaks up. She flashes us her phone screen, showing us a text from her parents. I take a final sip of my sprite while nodding.
"I should go too, my parents might be back from church," I sigh.
I was having so much fun, and now it's time to go home to parents who only seem to upset me. Madaline looks at me worriedly, but I shake my head, assuring her that I'm okay and she doesn't need to come home with me.
"I'll leave a tip. Nolan, go to the register and get yourself a prize. You should have enough with our combined tickets to get something, yeah?" Scarlette asks, looking at me. I shrug, not knowing for sure.
I've never been to an arcade, so knowing anything about it is unlikely. Madaline takes me to the front while Scarlette stays with a pouting Jackson. I guess the arcade was fun for him too
"Do you like Jackson?" I ask, Madaline, trying to get some insight for myself. She glances at me, no doubt, trying to see if she wants to admit it or not.
"I think- I don't know. Is it possible to like someone so fast?"
I ponder her question for a moment before shrugging yet again.
"What should I get with the tickets?" I ask, afterwards. Madaline wasn't going to get any useful answers out of me, and I wasn't going to get any helpful ones from her. We're so bad at this.
Madaline looks at all the options before a smile comes to her face.
"Get that purple dinosaur- and when you do, give it to Scarlette."
I glance at her, unsurely, but she looks confident in her words. I give the man all of my tickets, and he gives me the purple dinosaur with a small bag of candy. Madaline thanks him before dragging me to the entrance that we came in.
Scarlette is leaned against a wall, her hands toying with the bracelets lined up on her wrists. Jackson is next to her, hands stuffed in his pockets, and his eyes back to being bored. Scarlette notices us first and meets us halfway.
"What'd you get?" is the first thing she asks.
"This," I hold out the purple dinosaur, "is for you and the candy is for me."
Scarlette stands still, so I shake the dinosaur a little until she finally takes it. She holds the dino at arms length, turning it every which way to examine it. Scarlette hums before holding it properly.
"I think I'm going to call him Mater."
"So you like it?"
"It's cool. Come on, we should get you two home before your parents lose their shit."
At that, we leave the arcade and drive to the sound of Jackson's horrible music. They drop Madaline off first, since she had to be home immediately. Then they drop me off with a final wave, and a teasing remark from Scarlette.
My parents aren't home yet, luckily, so I head up to my room before taking a shower. I get dressed in comfortable night clothes and lay down, ready for sleep to encase me and for my dreams to come to life.
My phone lights up, and I reluctantly peel my eyes open to see why. It's a message from an unknown number. I open it to see a picture of Scarlette with the purple dinosaur next to her, and the message 'I actually really like it.' I smile widely before replying and falling asleep.