Nova Academy

Laser Tag

As it turned out, Connie was an insane driver.

"Stars, Connie that was the curb!" Steven felt his ass leave the seat for a split second and grabbed the "oh shit" handle.

"Sorry," She mumbled. "Big truck. Make driving fun." She merged into the next lane barely using her blinker, earning a honk from the car a few feet back. "Whoops."

"And here you thought I was ruining the environment," He goaded. "Look how much fun you're having."

She gave him a nasty glare for a moment and returned her eyes to the road. "I don't think I'm driving crazy, I think you're just not used to being in the passenger seat."

He didn't have the opportunity to answer back. Just over the horizon, he saw glowing and glimpses of color in the sky. "What's that?"

"Where we're headed. Anna never goes small with outings. I think it might kill her if she tried. My first birthday together was... far, far more than I'm used to. I think I cried the whole time?" She smiled fondly as she turned into the mostly empty parking lot.

He was speechless as he got out to watch the laser lights dance through the air, the neon signs burning their memories into his eyes, the doors beckoning him closer. "Whoa."

Connie slid her arm under his and squeezed. "I haven't seen that look since we were children."

He craned his neck to see the top. The very highest point reached so high that he couldn't see it with the low fog of the evening. "I have my moments."

"It's cold. Let's go inside before they think we're skipping out."

He returned his gaze to hers. "To do what? I was the one that convinced you."

She only winked and began walking backwards toward the doors with her arms raised as she jovially yelled, "Fun stuff!"

"Wait, was that on the table?" She didn't answer, only the shrug could be seen from where he stood. "Connie, if that was on the table there's no way I would've chosen this over you!"

He jogged after her, reaching her just before she walked into the door to hold her hand.

It wasn't until he saw the group sitting at a table together that he remembered he, Hazel and Adam needed a talk. "Give me a second." Connie tipped her head and presented her cheek for his incoming goodbye kiss and ran off to mingle with the group. Steven motioned for the two to follow him to one of the other tables.

"Alright, what's going on?" He kept his voice nonchalant to hopefully let the burn between the two simmer instead of explode.

"We've been fighting over Anna." Hazel crossed his arms and stood tall. "Even though I've known her for longer."

"That's entirely irrelevant." Adam shut his eyes. "Anna is worth so much more than the same argument we've been having for what, 2 1/2 years now?"

"But aren't you gay?"

Adam's left eye twitched. "Homoflexible. Read a book. Even just one."

Steven sighed with irritation. "I don't like injecting myself into story lines anymore, but you were starting to get on my nerves. Anna," He pointed to the girl who'd changed into a neon knitted dress and leg warmers, "Is a lady. You two are grown men. Act like it. Find a common ground, I can think of one off the top of my head that almost all of us as a group share from today alone. I'm not going to walk you through it though." His eyes drifted to Connie like she was magnetized. "I've still got my own story arc to complete."

"It'll happen real soon man." Hazel grinned a little.

"I hope so, which is why I'm not here to babysit you." He forced eye contact with both of them. "We good? We're able to have fun?"