The Elf on the Soccer Team And the Girl Hidden in Shadow

Chapter 4- Girl Beats Elf

Blaring neon lights dazzled Chaaya's eyes. The bending bars of light made up letters that, in turn made up words. GLEN'S ARCADE AND LASER TAG.

"You weren't kidding. You've really brought us to a laser tag place." Chaaya noted, amusement stringing through her words. "I didn't know we even had an arcade in the area."

"You don't like it?" Auris's voice was laced with worry, and Chaaya chuckled at it until he followed it with less-cute words. "I gave you a chance to pick something, so this is both our faults."

"Jeez, calm down. It's great," Chaaya laughed, stepping down out of the truck. She missed a step. She was used to her little beamer, which had ground directly below the door to great her feet. Auris's truck was a good two feet further from the ground, and her feet met air as she fell out. Auris was fast. He was out of his seat and to the other side of the truck before she could even graze the ground. Like a soccer ball, he kept he aloft, elevated, never letting the slightest injury befall her. 

"Whoa, you ok?" He asked, setting her down on her feet.

"Bit of an overreaction, don't you think? I mean, in that situation, the worst-case scenario is I get a sprained ankle."

"Oh, yeah, I suppose it was," Auris replied, again extending his arm out. She accepted it.

"I'm sorry, I should just learn to say thank you."

"It's no problem. I like it. Every time you open your mouth, I wonder if I'm gonna get sweet or sour Chaaya. Like playing a game of Russian roulette." He laughed. She opened her mouth, readying a sour retort, and Auris made a pistol out of his index and thumb, placing it against his temple as he awaited her words, mockingly loading a round into it. Then mockingly loading another. Then another. Then another.... Then another..... And one more for good measure.

"Got every chamber good and filled?" She smirked, reaching up and pulling the fake gun away from his head. 

"Oh, no. I was loading a magazine. Your mouth tends to lean towards the sour end, so I figured my imaginary gun should reflect my chances." 

Chaaya burst with laughter, slapping her free hand into his chest. "Well, to be fair, you make your own luck with your snarky little comments. Now come on, I'm freezing." She gave a quick tug, and he nodded, leading her along towards the entrance. 

The arcade was packed. Despite the hour, teenagers swarmed the place, an absolute orchestra of several decades worth of arcade games playing their theme songs, responding to player inputs, and the occasional white-snow screen of a broken machine. It was quite disorienting for a shut-in like Chaaya. She could still pick out several recognizable faces. And, surprisingly, people noticed her. Not recognized, per se, but while a few stopped to chat with Auris, they glanced at her. 

"Mr. Popularity, huh?" Chaaya mused.

"Thanks to you. Everybody's been talking about that last goal. We don't have many sports teams who actually win games at our school, so I'll be a celebrity until it becomes a dusty memory."

"Makes sense. But why is it thanks to me?" Chaaya replied curiously, already trying to fathom hi outrageous conclusion for him.

But her imagination couldn't fathom his actual answer, "Because if you hadn't been there I would have let us lose. I don't typically use power like that, but I knew you wanted us to win. I usually try to play at an above-average skill level, which keeps the game challenging for me and fair for everybody else."

Chaaya blinked at this, flashing lights from a nearby game sending flashes into her eyes, blinding her for a moment. She rubbed away the surprise from her face, pretending to clear her eyes of the flashes, "Why play if you can't give it your all? I'd actually meant to ask that earlier."