Collision Course [+ Additional Levels]

Level Twenty - Playing Games

Andrew lifted himself onto his tippy toes, peering through the crowd. He wanted to see if he could spot Moe first before he started calling out his name. "Where is he?" he muttered, turning on his heel. So far, he'd looked everywhere that he thought Moe would be at. Now, he was looking everywhere else in the building.

He sighed as he lowered his heels back to ground. Was he worrying too much? He honestly didn't know. Wait, no―he didn't think he was. Yeah, he was worrying just an average amount for a friend. Moe had grown to be like a brother to him, which, meant a lot, with Andrew's own brother, Louis, away in Europe. The thought of his sibling gave him pause. How long has it been since he's thought of him? He'd been so narrow-minded lately. He tried to picture him so far away, eating croissants or something. Or probably making them, actually; he recalled hearing him mention his aspirations to be a cook. Andrew didn't remember his birth parents with him and his older brother being raised in foster families since when they were young. Not long after Louis left the house (and not long after, the country), did Andrew follow suit, moving out to live where he did now, with his friends Karan, Mira, and Moe. He walked casually through the main walkway while keeping a lookout for his missing friend, lost amidst memories and emotion. Moe he had known since they were in high school. He could relate to him so much, and he usually knew what he was thinking. Nowadays however, it was a struggle to know what was going on with him.

All he knew was that snakes can't bite food so they have to swallow it whole, and they have flexible jaws which allow them to eat prey bigger than their own head. If their head is broad with a skinny neck, they're more likely to be venomous than if their head is narrow as well as if they have round pupils instead of slitted ones like a cat. There was such a thing as purple snakes in real life, called Amblyodipsas, but those were in Africa. He hasn't been able to come up with any that were native to North America in his research.

Oh, all that, and snakes don't have eyelids.

He stopped, and rubbed the bridge of his nose, the action pushing his glasses up. The very reason that Karan had sent them two to the arcade was because he'd wanted them to relax, and to have video games take their minds away from recent events. And here he was, getting himself all worked up about it again. It was too easy to slip into. Andrew then realized that he wasn't acting like himself. He knew that he should be ecstatic to be at the arcade, finally coming to take a look at the place and exploring every video game that they had. But no, instead of searching for games he's never played before, he was wandering around searching for Moe. He had no idea how long it'd been since his friend had left him "to go lose at some other game."

He shook his head and looked at the watch he wore on his wrist. He was surprised at how much time had flown by since they arrived. All the more reason to look for Moe, right?

Andrew was distracted from his nagging concerns as somebody bumped past him, pulling someone else along by the wrist.

"Oops! Excuse me! Yeah, you totally have to check this guy out, he's amazing!"

The other laughed. "Okay, okay! Where's he at?"

"He's playing Q*bert, over there!"

At the mention of that particular game, he immediately looked up at them. "Hey, where?" he asked her.

She turned back. "Right over here, follow me!" she said.

Her friend shook her head. "You dragging the whole arcade with you?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, of course not, but he asked."

Andrew quickly leapt forward so as to not lose them, and he followed the two through the length of the building. "Hang on!" he said, weaving through passerbyers.