------Jason’s POV------
I couldn’t wait to show Lucas Arden’s Arcade. It was honestly one of my favorite places in New York and I was honestly surprised that more people didn’t know about it.
“Come on, slowpoke!” I tugged Lucas’s arm for what must have been the millionth time as we walked down the tunnel.
“Ok, ok, I’m coming!” He said, laughing before pulling his arm away. It was unfair how easily he did that. “How did you even find this place anyways?”
“One of my mom’s friends owns it. She opened like ten years ago, but it never became super popular. And when Demolition opened next door and caused all the foot traffic to just walk by, it kinda became unnoticed. Usually it’s kids whose siblings are next door or some olde folks who want to enjoy a nice round of chess or checkers.”
“They have chess and checkers here?” Lucas asked. “I would’ve thought that it’d be a bit too noisy for that.”
“Lana, that’s my mom’s friend, wanted to cater to all age groups to get business. Fun for the whole family and all that.”
We finally entered the arcade proper and headed to the front desk, where the attendant was standing, turned around looking for something.
“Hey Thor!” I said, waving as we walked over.
------Lucas’s POV------
I did a double take. It was the same guy who put us in the hole freshman year.
“Hey Jason! Hey quick question, have you seen the new prizes?”
“Are those them?” Jason said, pointing over to a big box, labeled, “Prizes”.
Thor smacked his head before going over to the box. “Thanks guys, I’m blind sometimes.”
“Too many hits to the head on the field?” Jason asked, smiling. “You know how that is, eh Lucas?”
I looked over at Jason. “What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you try out for the football team? Or did you decide that was lame after Tombstone the bull?”
My jaw dropped as I looked over at him. “What… How… What?”
He sighed, “Dude, you and your friends literally spend every history class talking about your lives. You think the rest of us just sit there smiling? Sarah’s got a screenplay going, I’m sure it’ll be a bestseller.”
I honestly had no clue what to say, so I just said that.
Jason started smiling, before laughing. “You should see the look on your face, Wonderboy.” He laughed some more before sighing and saying, “Oh, that’s good.”
“I hate to interrupt… whatever this is,” Thor began, “but I have seven cards here that need to be tested, and I see seven people who can help me test.”
"Seven?" Jason said. We looked at each other and both turned around to see Riley, Maya, Farkle, Smackle, and Zay.
"Hey," Riley said.
"Hey guys, what are you doing here?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
"Oh we were just walking by and saw this place and thought we'd check it out," Maya said.
"What? I thought we were-" Smackle started to speak before being elbowed by Riley, "-I mean, yes, that's exactly what we were doing."
"Uh-huh," I said. I knew they were lying, I saw Maya and Riley peeking up over the window at the cafe.
Thor coughed, and Riley and Maya finally looked over at him. “Thor?!”
“Oh, hey you guys! I’m surprised to see all of you here, normally the only other high schoolers are Jason and his friends.”
“How long have you worked here?” Riley asked. “I thought you just played football.”
“Well, football costs a lot to participate, so I picked up this job on the side. My dad’s friends with the owner so he hooked me up.”
Thor then held up some cards. “Since you’re all here, why don’t you help me test these cards?”
We all looked at each other and said sure.
As we all got in line to grab a card, I couldn’t help but notice that Jason seemed kind of upset. Maybe it had something to do with my friends showing up.
Oh who am I kidding, of course it has to do with that. If even I'm kind of upset, he definitely is. I stepped back as the others walked forward. "Are you doing okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, let's go play that game over there!"
------Jason's POV-----
I spent the next hour trying to avoid Riley and the Squad (minus Lucas) by playing only two player games. Lucas kept trying to start up a conversation, but I only gave noncommittal answers, same as when anyone else tried to talk to me.
What business do they have following us? Don't they have anything better to do? Of course not, their lives are revolving around the love triangle, and if I'm with Lucas, they can't argue over him.
"Hey, Jason, wanna play Dance Dance Revolution?" Maya asked, coming over from the machine. She'd handily beat everyone else by a comfortable margin.
"No, but thanks Maya."
"What's the matter? Chicken?" She began clucking at me.
Well played, Hart. No one quotes "Back to the Future" to me and gets away with it. I narrowed my eyes and said, "You're on."
I hopped on the machine and picked a song at random. As the beats began to play, I began nodding my head and moving my feet.
I had to give it to Maya, she put up a pretty good fight, but all my years of dance had increased my dexterity and gave me an advantage.
We hit the final pose as the Squad erupted into cheers. Panting, sweat running down my face, I turned to Maya and said, "Not bad Hart, but it's gonna take more than to beat me."
"How did you get so good?" Maya asked.
"I've been practicing," was all I said. No way was I going to tell them about my dance classes I took, I didn't need any of them to give me flak for that.
I grinned and shook her hand before turning to Lucas. His jaw had dropped and he was just staring at us. He seemed a little flushed for some reason.
"You okay there, Huckleberry?" Maya asked.
He just blinked before shaking his head and saying, "Yeah, yeah, you were great. I just wasn't expecting it was all."
I pulled out my phone before checking the time. "Well, I probably have to get going."
"Really? It's only three in the afternoon?" Farkle said.
"Oh, uh… I have a-"
"Family thing." Lucas interrupted. "Even though you had one last night?"
"My family can be in town for more than one night, Lucas." Really, the audacity of this kid to logic his way out of my lie.
Maya chuckled. “You know, I think I finally like you,” she said.
“You’re not so bad yourself, Hart,” I responded, before turning to Lucas. “I’ll catch you later though?” I would be kidding myself if I said I hadn’t enjoyed myself. It was nice to actually talk with him instead of watching from a distance.
“Uh, yeah, for sure.” He said, glancing at Riley who was staring at him.
“Cool.” Stuffing my hands in my pockets I turned and walked away from the Drama Squad, listening to them begin to talk about plans for the rest of the day.
I spent the rest of the day with Brandin and Evan, who had been Brandin’s boyfriend before the incident. We’d all gotten really close after hanging out this past summer, and though Brandin didn’t remember it, I could see that he was still hopelessly in love with him.
If only I could end up like that with Lucas, then all would be right with the world.
YOU ARE READING
Girl Meets Closet
FanfictionAll Jason Anderson wanted was to get through history class. His life was hard enough as is. But when Mr. Matthews calls on him to share some thoughts, his life will change. For better or worse, he needs to be ready to take on the world.
