Soft Boy

All My Little Friends pt.2

   "What do you wanna do next!" I ask Hudson. She looks around the arcade. 

   "I wanna play games!" she says. We all run to the arcade, caregivers chatting casually behind us. Lily, Hudson, and Carter go to skee-ball while me and Aaron go to the Motorcycle race simulator. 

   "I bet I'll beat you!" I say to Aaron. 

   "No way! Daddy and I play this all the time!" Aaron says getting on the motorcycle. I get on mine and we start racing. 

   I take the lead, then Aaron does. We go back and fourth in first place, Aaron ultimately winning. 

   "Good game Leo!" Aaron says shaking my hand. I giggle and shake his back.  After the motorcycles we play laser tag. Mommy teams up with Aiden and Aaron teams with me.

   "Babies vs carers!" I say excitedly. We get our laser guns and put on a game vest.

   "When you're hit the vest will vibrate," Aiden says.

   Aaron high fives me and we run in the course. The arena is huge with twp sniper towers.

   "This is gonna be fun!" Aaron says excitedly. He's such a nerd.

   We run around looking for mommy and Aiden. I spot them and hide up against the wall.

   "Do you see them?" Aaron whispers. I nod. As mommy's walking in the opposite direction I shoot her in the back while Aaron gets his daddy. We giggle and run off.

   "They never knew what hit them!" I say excitedly. That's when our vests buzz. We were in perfect range of the sniper tower! I look up and see Mommy and Aiden snipping us.

   "Take cover!" Aaron shouts. We run to duck behind a barricade.

   "They have the advantage!" I shout. I can see Aaron thinking, then he sighs.

   "I have a plan, but its a death mission," he says seriously. I giggle at his intensity.

   "Whats the plan?" I ask. We're a few feet from the opposite tower. He wants to sneak over to the tower and shoot back at them and hope for the best.

   "Okay lets do it! One... Two... Three!" I say. We both break into a sprint and head towards the tower. Before mama and Aiden can react we're shooting at them. We hear them panic from across the arena. Aaron I get hit by them twice before the buzzer goes off and the game is over. We all meet in the game entrance to see our scores. Aaron and I stare in shock.

   "We lost by one point!" Aaron says stomping his foot. I sigh and take off my vest.

   "Mommy you bested me!" I say. She chuckles and kisses my forehead. 

   We go meet up with the others, they played the jump rope game and wack a mole.

   "I won jump rope!" Carter says proudly.

   "I won wack a mole!" Hudson says happily. 

We decide to stop at the bar and get drinks, we were all pretty thirsty after playing so hard.

   "I want a Shirley Temple!" I say excitedly. My friends look puzzled at me. I giggle and tell them what it is.

   "Its cherry 7-up with cherry syrup and a real cherry! Its super yummy!" I say excitedly. Mommy chuckles. You can have one, that much sugar will get you all excited.

   "Daddy can I have one?" Aaron asks.

    "Yeah we want one too!" Lily says to Jeremiah.

   "Please mommy! I want one!" Hudson says to Leah. All the caregivers chuckle and cave in. We all get a Shirley Temple and bring it to the bowling ally.

   We all play a big game of bowling before we go.  I get happy to see I'm in the lead. When I lived with my mom we went bowling every Thursday. I got really good.

   "Go mommy!" I yell as she takes her turn. I must've thrown her off because she got a gutter ball. I giggle and give her a hug.

   "Nice try!" I say. When the game is over its pretty late. We all say goodbye and Hudson exchanges Instagrams with everyone else. We even add her to our regressor groupchat.

   "You're super fun! Maybe if we're all good you can come play with us again," Lily says to Hudson. She blushes and tugs on her mommy's hand.

   "Please mommy? Soon please?" She asks. Leah chuckles and ruffles her hair. 

   "You'll see your friends again, princess. I promise!" Leah says. We all cheer and high five.

   Mommy brings us all back to the apartment where Hudson and Leah's car sits. I know Hudson has to go back to the hotel, she leaves early tomorrow morning.

   "Bye Leo," she says opening her arms for a hug. I hug her tightly.

   "Don't be sad Hudson, you be back soon! Mommy Leah said so!" I say attempting to cheer her up. Hudson smiles again.

   "You're right! Bye Leo, I'll call you when I get home!" she says before hopping into her car. Mama and me wave them off, and soon we can't see their car anymore.

   We go into our apartment and mama gets me ready for bed. I decide to sleep in the bed with mommy tonight. We talk as we cuddle before bed.

   "Mama I miss Hudson already," I say.

   "I know baby, but she'll be back soon. I know it," says mommy. I start drifting off and soon enough I fall asleep in mommy's arms.