70% Sweet | h.s. au

chapter 3: serendipity

For the past half hour Zach has been showing me around town and proving that there really isn't anything interesting here. There were countless amounts of offices in the cute buildings, a couple of dinky restaurants, an ice cream parlor, some thrift stores and boutiques, but according to Zach, the best part of this town was just ahead on the corner of Main and 5th.

"Now you may think this is childish of me, but this is the best part of town. Please don't laugh," he urged me as he was itching to run ahead but held back to walk with me.

I laughed at his childlike behavior. His eyes squeezed shut as he laughed at his actions too. I paused and admired him laughing. The way his smile grew so wide that he got insecure and covered his mouth. Why is this boy so cute, it's kind of annoying.

As we got closer to the destination, I could see the bright neon lights that were starting to fade that spelled out Arcade.

No way. This arcade looks 40 years old, but it seems like it's still going strong.

"Oh yea. This is the best thing in this town," I agreed as I looked at him. I was being one hundred percent serious. No sarcasm.

"Now I've been going to this arcade since I was a kid, so this place has a special place in my heart," he grabbed my hand to lead me inside, "But not only is it an old run down arcade, there is an attached diner to it that has mediocre food," he added.

"I didn't think this place could get any better," I giggled as I took in the surroundings around me.

Right when you entered, there was this pungent odor that slapped your nostrils silly. "Why does it smell like pee pee poo poo in here?"

"Ah yes, this place is really old and over the years it has acquired many smells," he answered with a straight face, showing no humor. "It gives this place a touch of whimsy." He couldn't hold his serious tone any longer and burst out laughing. I chuckled with him as well.

The worker that was standing at the entrance gave us a stern look, probably annoyed that two teenagers are blocking the door. He trudged over to us wearing his old stained uniform and asked in a mundane voice, "Zach I can't have you sell your special treats here anymore, so you need to either actually play the games or take yourself and your hook up out of here. You're making this place less family friendly."

The worker then looked at me up and down and help out his sausage finger hands, "I'm Arnold. I work here."

I hesitantly extended my hand to take his when my hand was pushed away by Zach as he said, "She doesn't care and she's not my hookup." I looked over questioningly at Zach at his behavior and saw his jaw clenched as his black eyes burned holes into Arnold.

The older man just laughed at Zach's reaction as I looked back and forth between the two very confused on the tension all of a sudden.

I chimed in to diffuse this weird interaction, "Show me that 'mediocre' food you were talking about," I urged as I grabbed Zach's jacket sleeve to pull him towards the smell of grease.

He reluctantly gave into me, but still held a strong glare towards Arnold. I don't know what got into him or why Arnold somehow flipped a switch in Zach's behavior.

We stepped into the diner and man was this place old. Cute, but old. It gave me 50s diner vibes. We choose a random booth and sat across from each other. A waiter came up not too long after and I let Zach order for me since I trusted he knew what was good here.

Silence arose between us. Not one of us wanted to discuss the scene that played out moments ago. I began to look around finding a jukebox. I slipped out of the booth as Zach was looking at his phone waiting for our order.