blue jay | janiel

fourteen

Daniel

I walked uncertainly with my arms spread out, making sure I didn't bump into anything as Joey hovered behind me with his hands over my eyes. My feet pitter pattered over the sidewalk and I stepped on a sharp rock.

D: Ow

J: Walk properly!

Joey laughed.

D: It's kinda hard to walk when you're covering my eyes

J: We're almost there

After a few more steps we came to a stop and Joey removed his hands. I looked up to see a wide, low building with a blinking banner that read Arcade Fun Times in blue flashy lights.

D: You brought us to an arcade?

Joey smiled and grabbed my hand, pulling me in the building.

J: I found this place last month and it's awesome. You know, I'd go to this arcade near my house when I was a kid but I haven't gone back in years

D: I didn't think you'd be a gamer.
I hate playing games

Joey threw me a surprised look.

J: That is rude and disrespectful man

I laughed and looked around. The entire room was dark and huge. I walked through rows of large black machines that beeped and threw out noises like gunshots and car revving. The screens glowed and had animated characters that danced behind the glass. There was a bunch of kids that occupied these machines, grabbing the controllers and slamming down on buttons. The flooring was a blue carpet that had colourful squiggles and zig zags.

J: Derek come here

I walked over to Joey, who sat in a chair and slid a coin in the slit of the machine.

D: What game is this?

J: Battle of the Races. This game is the shit

A shiny silver car appeared on the screen and Joey toggled the machine handle, scrolling past car accessories and different types of boosters. I leaned against his chair and watched as he drove his car across a huge island. The graphics in the game were surprisingly good. The ocean was bright blue and the leaves on palm trees were vivid and detailed.

Other cars sped nearby but Joey would bump his car into theirs, causing them to fall behind. Soon enough, Joey was in the lead and he drove over a ramp and crash landed into a sandy pit which marked the finish line.

YOU WIN

Flashed on the screen and a few small white tickets skewed out of the machine. Joey grinned.

J: That was fun. You should play something too

I scanned the room and found an interesting looking game with a red dragon flying around in the screen.

I walked towards it, dropping a coin in the slit and sitting down in the big tall chair.

J: Oooo good choice. I played this last week

The game was tricky. I was playing as a dragon that flew over villages and I had to snatch people up to eat them. The more people I caught in a row, the points became higher and I ended up winning the game with a massive score and a bunch of tickets, more than Joey got.

D: That was actually fun

I got up from my seat and grabbed Joey's hand.

J: You're a natural Derek

We ended up playing multiplayer games and challenging each other during every round. Joey was really competitive which was fine because I was too. The bright screen lights illuminated against Joey's face and brought out the magnificent sparkle in his eyes. And every time he caused my player to die or lose, he'd laugh and his white teeth would shine amidst the dark. He won most of the games and taunted me, calling me names like loser and I couldn't help but smile and roll my eyes. Even when he was being a sore winner he was just so cute.

We exited the building afterwards and stood outside, enjoying the crisp November air. Joey leaned against the low brick building and pulled me close, nose to nose.

J: I'm glad you had fun

D: Anything with you is fun Joey

The corners of Joey's mouth turned upwards and he giggled.
We shut our eyes and pressed our lips together, kissing gently and feeling his delicate mouth on mine. Dogs barked in the distance and I had goosebumps from the cool weather but nothing else mattered in that moment except Joey.