Arcade Lover

Chapter 2

"I can't do that, you wretched woman! Are you trying to get me fired?!"

Lisa watches her friend's expression turn vicious, but she was too used to her overreacting that she didn't feel one bit of remorse.

"Can't you just tell Ms Bae I forced you to do it? Please, do a bro a favour."

"It's not like you're the one with the job anyway, she wouldn't care!"

The blonde sighs, tapping her fingers lighting on the countertop of the arcade, wrecking her brains to think of what to say to convince her friend with sun-kissed, silky hair. She was sometimes jealous of her hair.

"Okay. How about this? You fill this entire basket of tickets for me as much as it can take to the brim, and chicken will be on me for the rest of the week. How's that sound?"

Her friend, Jisoo, had her eyes widened in glory, before the girl immediately retrieves a basket from the stack just behind her. She was a sucker for chicken, and she worked at the arcade full time. It's been barely a week since she started, and she interviewed for this job because she was a sucker for games. Her all-time favourite was the arcade hoops. She threw them balls like crazy.

"Any amount of chicken?? One whole week??"

"That's right."

"Holy shit! This is better than winning the lottery! Lisa Manoban is paying for my chicken?? What the hell happened to you?? You were always the one trying to freeload off me!"

"I do not!" Lisa grits her teeth threateningly, "Just hand me the basket, quick. And I hate to break it to you but winning the lottery is better than one week free of chicken."

"Maybe, but I don't get this treatment from you at all even though your ass is so rich. This is once in a lifetime." Jisoo beams proudly, the sounds of the ruffling tickets in the counter drawers fuzz for a bit before Lisa was welcomed with as per her request.

"I can't believe I'm risking my entire job for this. The company's first policy is to not give away any free tickets and here I am, giving you an entire basket worth of eighty dollars. All this for chicken. Lalisa don't fail me now."

The blonde's eyes widened, "Eighty dollars??? Tickets costs this much?"

"Yes. You don't know because you don't ever come to arcades. What brings you here today anyway? And why're you stealing these much of tickets for? I still don't understand why wouldn't you just pay for these damn tickets, they're worth nothing compared to your savings."

Lisa smirks devilishly, "Oh, I just wanted to drop by to ask you out for supper and visit your workplace for a bit, check in on you since you just started working here. But I got caught up with something else. And it's a secret. Also, making a deal with a friend is more interesting rather than paying eighty bucks to a random ass arcade place. Thanks for the tickets!"

Jisoo shakes her head as she observes her silly friend leave the counter, hand gripping onto a basket full of tickets that she had just red-handedly stolen right in front of her face.

Lisa heads back to the standing machines, where she had been still for almost an hour now before the trip to get more tickets for a certain brunette.

"You sure you don't want your money back?" She finally hears her give up after their collective discussion about the brunette insisting to pay when all Lisa wanted was permission to watch her play. She'd feel the guilt for personally violating the pretty girl's comfort space, so she set that as a deal instead to make her feel better about the odd stares she was presumably giving the latter.

No, she wasn't a creep or anything. She just loved how sparks seemed to fly around the brunette when she spammed the machine with enthusiasm. It was exhilarating watching her play, the way it gives Lisa butterflies in her stomach. It was the first time she felt the need to waste her time in an arcade. Not for the games, but for the intoxication she feels just by watching someone else. Someone so bewitching and captivating even from her back.