His Dream Life | Park Solomon

Chapter 4

The stars are shining bright above us as Solomon walks us out of his frontyard. Just as we pass through the gate he stops us and say, "there is no way I'm letting you guys walk home,"

"Lomon, there really is no need for you to drive us home. We are perfectly safe and it's only a 20 minutes walk." I protests, but he's still presistent, so I give in. The night wind is cold after all.

He drives carefully with the reason that he's driving precious cargo, as in Sophie. As he turns around a corner, we pass an arcade and my mind flashes back to the conversation we had earlier. ....and I want to go to the arcade afterschool, it was one of the regular things he wants to do. I tap on the dashboard eagerly until he pulls over.

"What's wrong?" Solomon asks worriedly as he leans forward and looks at at the passenger seat window. We are so close together that my heart skips a beat. He looks at the backseat to make sure that Hailey and Sophie are okay and then back to me.

I gulp and say, "we just need to make a pit stop," I try to sound confident, but I'm not sure I do. He sighs a relieved sigh and unlock the doors. We walk on the sidewalk and I stop in front of the arcade. They all look at me with confused faces.

"A few games wouldn't hurt," I say as I open the arcade door. They follow in right after me and Sophie's eyes lights up at the sight of flashy arcade games. I buy a dozen coins and lead them to a game machine. I gesture for one of them to go first and Solomon steps forward.

"Watch this," he says as he inserts a coin into the slot. The game is Tetris and he plays really well. He smiles wide when he sees how high he scores. My heart flutters and I have to look away, so he doesn't see my blushing face.

"This is boring, I want to play that one." Sophie points at a claw machine. Solomon looks at what see pointed and his face lights up just like Sophie did when we entered. He rushes to the machine and hastily intserts a coin. Hailey and I giggle at the sight of him.

"Damn, I've always wanted to try this out!" He pushes the button and moves the control stick around while he moves around the machine to check if the claw is in the right place.

"You've never played a claw machine?" Hailey asks. "I have," he answeres denfensively, "but, I've never won a prize." He moves around the machine again and finally pushes the button. His eyes widen in excitement as the claw grabs a teddy bear. "Almost, almost..." he mutters quitely as the claw slowly approach the hole. At last, the teddy bear drops right on top and landed on the box where you're supposed to pick it up.

"A very special bear for the most beautiful princess, Sophie." He bows down playfully offering the teddy bear to Sophie. "I want the pink one!" She yells as she points to the machine. He eyes the teddy bear and notices that the ribbon on its neck is blue instead of pink.

"Don't worry Sophie, I can get the pink one for you." I say as I insert a coin into the slot. I try to show off my claw machine skills by making a sophisticated face while playing it, but I know I don't fool anyone. "Hailey, you remember that time I got a really big plushie at a claw machine?" I try to show off some more.

"Yeah, I remember. It was because the machine broke, wasn't it? And the plushie fell right out?" She raises one eyebrow teasingly. "Hailey!" I yell and without realising it I accidentaly press the button. The claw picks up two bears at once!

"Both of them are pink!" Sophie points at the two bear as it drops to the box. "Two pink"- I give Solomon a side eye and he rolls his eyes, giggling, "very special teddy bears for Princess Sophie." Solomon grabs the teddy bears and spins them in his arms. "Jackpot," he says as he lifts his eyes from the teddy bears to me.

"One's for me and this one's for Hailey," she grabs the teddy bears from Solomon's hands and gives one to Hailey. "Don't be sad, Hailey. Mom and Dad will be happy again and we'll go to the arcade together just like this." Haileys eyes widen and her brows softens as she sniffles. She kneels down and hugs Sophie tighly. It's a beautiful sight to see, their golden locks of hair swirling against each other and their eyes, though filled with tears, are hopeful.

We walk out of the arcade, Hailey and Sophie obviously walking hand in hand, just when Solomon and I are under the canopy of the arcade, he stops me. "Isla," he turns to me. My name sounds exquisite on his lips. "For you, my first prize." He hands me the blue ribboned teddy bear. "You don't mind blue, don't you?" He teases me. I laugh and take the teddy bear from him. It feels strange to have something from him, a first something, but I don't mind the feeling.

"Let's go, Isla." He smiles at me. We keep up with Hailey and Sophie, who's already standing beside the car. The night is cold, but the stars shine brighter than it has ever been before.

"Thank you, Isla." He turns his head to me just when I'm about to get out of his car. "For taking you to the arcade?" I ask teasingly. He shakes his head with a smile."Well, that....and for making me feel this way, I guess." He looks down shyly. "What way?" I ask, confused. "Normal," he says with a smile. I give him a smile back and tilts my head gesturing my pleasure.

He makes me feel special and I make him feel...normal.