"How would you feel about coming over?" Harry asks late Friday afternoon, sidling up to me casually as he tugs his arms into the sleeves of his coat. It's just past five, and the YSL office is slowly beginning to empty, leaving just me and a few other employees as I make one last copy of some sales rates, waiting impatiently for the slow copier.
Harry's been in the office all day for some affiliation with Marcus Chamberlin, and when he hasn't been either signing things or in meetings, he's been using every available second to bother me. Whether it's using other office phones to prank call my extension, or forcing me to make countless copies of pointless documents, I'm just about finished with his practical jokes for the day.
Technically, I shouldn't even have to do desk work since I'm a photographer, but I'm available most days, so Marcus has made me a temporary receptionist while YSL searches for a permanent one. Now, I answer phones and make copies - two extremely fun tasks, obviously.
"To your apartment? Now?" I ask, momentarily distracted by his fingers drumming on the copier in a repetitive fashion, rings clinking on the plastic.
"Penthouse, actually," he corrects causally, hiding a smile. "And just as friends," he quickly clarifies. "I want to get to know you better."
My stomach twists involuntarily and my cheeks flush. "Um, I'm not sure. It's been a long day..." For one, I wasn't sure if this was the best idea. Second of all, I was really just feeling like lying in bed and watching the whole second season of friends with Katie tonight rather than actually making an effort to be social.
"Aw, it'll be fun," he teases, punching my arm lightly. "We could even go somewhere fun instead...like laser lag," he suggests suddenly, eyes lighting up.
"Laser tag?" I ask again. "Doesn't that place close at like seven? I mean...isn't it more for like, ten year old boy birthday parties than childish adults?"
"They're open until ten on Fridays and Saturdays," Harry recites knowingly. "And no way, laser tag is honestly the best first date venue."
"Not a first date," I say.
"Right. But still, let's go, it'll be amazing, I promise."
"But I'm in heels-"
"Forget the heels. I'm driving."
-
Laser Land is basically the defined heaven of any ten to twelve year old boy on this planet. The air smelled of greasy pizza, sweaty socks, and that horrible body spray middle schoolers are obsessed with. But, to a kid, there was no flaw in that combination. And by the awed look on Harry's face, I was afraid he might be considering this very Laser Land location his heaven as well. Although, I, on the other hand, in my heels and dress skirt, felt horribly out of place.
"Welcome to Laser Land, how can I help you?" A middle aged cashier with fiery red hair and exceptionally dark lipstick drawls in a monotone as we approach the counter.
"Two tickets to laser tag please. And I have one of those punch cards too," Harry says, pulling a beat-up card with two punches in it out of his wallet and handing it over to the cashier.
The woman frowns down at it. "I'm sorry, sir. This expired in 2007, you're going to have to just pay. That'll be twenty dollars."
"Twenty? I could have gotten half off-"
"Sir, it's a long line. You're going to have to either pay or step out of line," she interrupts, stretching out her hand for Harry's money. "Cash or credit?"
"I don't see an expiration date on this card. I'm going to have to see the manager," Harry snaps.
"You're looking at her," the woman narrows her eyes and unfolds her hand, repeating her request. "Cash or credit?"
"But...I'm actually kind of famous," Harry protests as a last resort, resting his elbows on the sticky counter and flashing a winning smile. Behind him, I suppress a groan.
"Is that so?" The lady, who's name tag reads BRENDA, asks, obviously unimpressed. "After you give me the money, then maybe we can get a picture," she says sarcastically.
Harry turns to me with a look of shock. "Not with that attitude she won't," he whispers.
I roll my eyes. "Just pay for the tickets, there's a line."
"Credit," Harry finally grumbles, handing over his card and waiting patiently as the cashier swipes it and hands us our tickets. "Have a nice time," she says, expression never wavering from a look of utter boredom.
We continue on to a room filled with at least ten eleven year old boys where Brenda gives us a highly informational demonstration on how to act in the laser tag maze. After explaining the basics of the plastic gun and vest, she claps her hands for attention. "Right, so we're going to divide into teams-"
"I want the hot girl on my team," one of the boys pipes up, glancing at me from across the room with a wink. Oh, my god. Gross.
"Hey, back off bro. Don't talk about her like that!" Harry shot back. My stomach flips at his immediacy to defend me.
"Oh yeah? Get a haircut, Tarzan," the boy hollered back, earning high fives and simultaneous oohs from his friends.
"Fight me, bitch!" Harry snapped. Right on cue, I echo this statement with an ooh of my own.
The preteens, never having heard such a profanity before this moment, gasp loudly.
Brenda yells for the room to be quiet. "You two, yeah, the ones who are twenty years older than everyone else - watch it or you're both out of here. Laser Land is a positive environment and I will not withstand verbal abuse, especially when the recipient is a child."
Harry shoots a small glare at the little boy, who in return, flips Harry off. Harry gasps and points, but Brenda ignores this gesture and continues on with her demonstration session, resulting in a highly offended look from Harry.
Once Harry and I have squeezed into laser tag vests half our size and are waiting patiently to head into the maze, I look sideways at Harry, bumping his shoulder lightly for his attention. "It was nice of you to defend me earlier, you didn't have to do that."
"Oh, yeah," Harry sighs sheepishly, pulling the trigger of his gun absentmindedly. "It wasn't a big deal."
"Thanks. And for the record, I think your hair is lovely."
Harry runs a hand through it. "Right? It's very popular with the ladies." He winks and his dimples etch into his cheeks.
"Shut up," I tease, shoving him lightly, internally thanking the dark of the room for hiding my profuse blushing.
-
A few minutes later, Harry and I crouch in a small corner in the laser maze, me cupping my hand over my mouth to keeping from laughing as Harry intently explains our battle plan.
"I think we've discovered their base," he whispers. "If we can just maneuver up this ramp and shoot down the boys guarding the balcony, we'll be able to disable the base and earn one thousand points for the blue team," Harry tells me.
"Got it," I whisper.
"Okay, let's do this," he replies, lifting up his hand for a high five. I reach for it, but he drags it away at the last second. "Gotta be quicker than that, Maxwell. If you're that slow out on the field, we're gonna be slaughtered."
"This is a game of laser tag," I remind him.
He ignores this. "On three, we're going to move out, ready?" He counts down and then twists out from behind the barrier, inching his way along the wall. I follow, carefully attempting to follow his actions, but my heels click against the concrete, the sound seemingly echoing throughout the space. I giggle and clap a hand to my mouth as he glares.
"Damn it, Maxwell. Those shoes are gonna give us away."
I nod dramatically, bowing my head in mock disappointment. "Go on without me...I will always remember the-"
At this moment, a stampede of ten year olds come out of nowhere, blasting both of our vests until they light up and flash brightly. "You little shits," Harry cries, the words echoing into the distance.
The boys run off, laughing loudly and high-fiving one another as they disappear around a corner. Furious, Harry wastes no time to jump up and sprint after them, hollering various profanities the whole way.
-
The night is exceptionally freezing for late November, allowing small flakes of snow to fall softly around us. The chilled breeze blows up against my face and I sigh, relieved at the cold temperature after the sweltering hot maze we just left. Harry and I sit on the hood of his car, looking up at the cloudless night sky in blissful silence.
"It's so nice to get away," Harry whispers suddenly. He lets out a breath and it fogs up in the air in front of him, blowing away with the breeze.
"Yeah," I agree. "Tonight was fun."
He nods into the distance. "I took that little bitch down, didn't I?"
"That little child? Well, you cursed at him until he cried and then his parents threatened to press charges...so I would say, you took him down a bit too far," I reply pointedly. "Not to mention the fact that we are hereby banned from all Laser Land locations."
"That really sucks, as I had that punch card and all," Harry says with mock disappointment.
"The one that was expired?" I reply.
"Damn, my life really does suck, doesn't it?"
"It really does," I reply jokingly. "Horribly."
"I'll live," he sighs, taking this moment to transfer his jacket to my shoulders in the most nonchalant way possible, even though I already have my own. "Let's talk about something else. Tell me about you."
"About me? I am probably the literal most boring human on this earth," I laugh.
"I reject that completely," Harry says indignantly. "Just tell me about yourself. Like your favorite places and your best memories and your most embarrassing moments and everything in between."
And so I do. We talk for hours, freezing our asses off on the hood of his car, but not wanting to go inside and leave the beautiful view of the stars. I tell him about the time my father left me at a baseball game and drove all the way home without noticing, about my favorite time of the day - when the sun is just rising and rays of light begin to cast shadows through the windows. I tell him about the best Christmas movies and how coffee is, in fact, way better than tea.
And the thing is, Harry actually seems to give a damn about what I have to say. I could be talking about what kind of conditioner I use and he'd laugh and nod and look at me like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
And I don't know. Maybe it wasn't until we drove home, windows cracked open and the radio turned way up just so people could hear how amazing Harry's taste in music was, or when I'd stumbled out of the front seat of his car well past one am, promising to call him so we could hang out and dominate laser tag somewhere other than Laser Land, when I realized. It was then, when I watched him drive off, waving at me much too enthusiastically, that maybe I give a damn about what he has to say too.
heyyyyyy welcome to a random filler chapter that is leading up to some pretty intense stuff. So sorry if this sucked but it is what it is I guess. :)
ps. - made a few changes since i'm not sure how i was feeling about some aspects of this chapter, but i hope you like the just slightly new and improved chapter 9 and expect 10 to be coming really really soon.
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love love love you all,
rebekah xx