new kid on the block (tukkiyama)

arcade

later when tukki and his family left, my parents were tired. it was almost 11, and they still hadent gotten high or drunk. it was too late for them now and they just told me to clean up everything. im too scared to disobey my parents if they tell me to do something directly. especially if they're sober. i nod in understanding, and get to cleaning while my parents go off to bed. i clean the kitchen and dining room, for hours, knowing my parents want it spotless. i dont get done until 2:37 in the morning. i have to be up in a little more than 3 hours, so i get as much sleep as i can in that time. its not a lot.

i get up the next morning and shower, putting the makeup back on over the bruise. i get my blazer on, and grab my wallet, keys, phone, and earbuds, throwing them in my school bag, and setting off a bit early. theres a coffee shop on the way to school, and i need some. i make my parents breakfast, and grab a granola bar, running out of the house before my parents are awake. 

i eat my granola bar in the way to the coffee shop, and i finish it by the time i get into the store. i decide to go for a vanilla cappuccino, and i put in my order. its a 15 minute wait until its done, and i sit down to wait. while im waiting i see a familiar figure walk in.

its tukki.

he orders something, but i dont hear it, and he turns to look for a place to sit, and he sees me. we make eye contact, and he comes over. "mind if i sit here?" i shake my head, and he sits there. "im surprised to see you here."

"same. im here cuz i had trouble sleeping, and i need a coffee. why are you here?"

"oh, this place has the best strawberry shortcake. i usually come here every day if i can. at the minimum im here once a week."

"but didnt you say you hate public places?"

"yes, but its worth it for the cake."

"makes sense."

"oh hey, you wanna head to the arcade after school?" i thought about it. i wanted to stay out of the hell house i call a home as long as i could. i would have to come up with some sort of lie so my parents wouldn't be mad. 

"yeah sure." i said with a small, smile. our orders came, i drank my cappuccino, while tukki ate his cake. we did so in a comfortable silence. we finished, and since we already paid for our orders, we head off to school. we still arent talking and tukki put on his headphones. i put my earbuds in and we continue to walk for a while, and i hum along to my music. when we get to the school gates, we both stop listening to music, and i put my earbuds away, while tukki just took off his headphones. we got to class, and sat in our seats. class started soon after we sat down. 

class went by, boring as normal. i decided overall, to just not tell my parents where i was going, or that i wasent going to be home on time. i doubt they would notice, or care that i wasent home. me and tukki went off to the arcade. we payed for tokens, and got started playing games. 

ive never been in an arcade before, so this is new to me. but at the same time, its exiting. "so what do you wanna do first?" tukki asked me. i looked at him, and scratched the back of my neck, embarrassed.

"umm... ive never been to an arcade before..." his eyes widened.

"how have you never been to an arcade? did your parents never take you to one?"

"no... they dont see the point in them, so i never got to be in one."

"okay we're fixing that." he pointed to a random game. "you wanna play that?" i looked at the game. it was air hokey. 

"Sure." we go over to the game, and put in a couple tokens. the air starts to flow, and we each grab a puck. i get to hit the puck first, and it shoots across the game. tukki hits it back, and it goes back and forth for a little. he scores a point, and i put the puck back. it repeats, and every now and then i score a point. it ends with tukki winning, and im having fun already. we move on.