Monsters & Fairytales (22 page)

The still hum of the car came to a stop as I cut the engine. Rolling up the windows, Sebastian was getting impatient. Maybe he was nervous? I couldn’t help but to laugh at him. I felt like he was my son on his birthday. I bet that’s how he felt, too. Oh goodness, his reaction once we actually got inside the place was going to be priceless. Why couldn’t they have cameras set up just inside the doors at places like this, instead of the ut
most
worst twists on rollercoaster’s? I’d buy the picture of Sebastian entering the arcade.
             

Checking on him, I sighed when he was still sitting in the car. He was going to need me to drag him every step of the way, I just knew it. The door creaked and popped open. He still didn’t move.

“C’mon!” I urged him out.

He got up and suction cupped himself to my side. I knew it. Placing my arm around him, I patted his shoulder much like I would do Spike. Together, we walked across the wooden deck with my heels echoing every step of the way. Suddenly, I was yanked back. He stopped moving. Trying to figure out what would make him afraid, I realized we were about to pass over the suspended bridge. Why would he be afraid of that? The alligators were
fake
! Surely, he knew that.

I managed to peel his hand off my side and put my fingers around his. Squeezing with my other hand, I coaxed him forward. This man was made of bricks. Turning towards him, I took the daring steps onto the bridge to show him it was safe. His eyebrow went up.
Was he trusting
me? He really should trust me.
             

With curious eyes, he looked around me then at his own feet. I tugged lightly on him and nodded my head. His foot lifted up. Carefully, slowly, and cautiously, he placed it from solid ground to suspended bridge. His eyes were closed. He touched the wood and a sigh of relief escaped his lungs.

“You did it!
Yay
!!”
I screamed.

I jumped up and down and danced in a circle. He smiled and danced in a circle with me. We danced all the way up to the other side together like complete total nutcases. I loved it. The door man was laughing at us. I guess it helped that he had a sense of humor. He certainly, on looks alone, did not
belong
welcoming kids and families into the place. Joe should be standing there. He’d get all sorts of people to feel welcome and want to spend as much money as possible to stay there with him. No, stop thinking of Joe, this is about Sebastian.
             

When he spoke, I was taken off guard again. The voice that came out of this big, round man was so light and bubbly. I should really stop judging people by their looks. Feeling bad for my previous thoughts, I went ahead and got the all-inclusive package. Hopefully, he’d get some sort of compensation for that. Damn, he was a good salesman.
             

The man pulled out a clump of orange wrist bands and peeled two off for us. Without another word, he taped the bands on our wrists then opened the door for us. It was like stepping into
Wonka’s
chocolate factory.
             

“Oh, wow.” Sebastian mumbled.

He was looking everywhere his eyes could see. Then, he grabbed my arms and danced with me again. I burst into giggles. He was adorable. I was so happy he was enjoying himself.

“Where do you want to go first?” I asked.

“I don’t even know. What is all of this?”

He took off to the right and stopped in front of a claw machine.

“Well, we are standing in the arcade area. There are token games, video games, and things that win you money. Over there, in that corner, there’s the laser tag arena. Out those doors is where the mini golf and go karts are. I have a feeling you’ll like laser tag the best.” I laughed.

I saw a vision of him and myself rolling through the fog. He would, of course, be like a ninja and bounce off walls, doing flips and things. I would be ducked low to the ground to take that final kill without him having a single clue it was coming. Who was I kidding? There was no way I’d beat an alien.

“Alien!” He snorted.

“You know what I meant.”

“Yeah.
I’d win.” He laughed.

He grabbed my hand the way I had taken it on the deck, and smiled at me. Before I could smile back, he pulled me off to the next game. We went down, aisle after aisle, while he stopped in front of each of them for a second. I was laughing uncontrollably. People were looking at us like we were crazy, but I didn’t care. We were the crazy dancing duo who had never set foot in an arcade before, it suited us.

“This one.”
He said stopping in front of one of the slot machines.

“Okay, well we have to go to the counter and get our tokens.”

“Tokens?”

“Yes, they’re the things that make these things work.”

“You mean you can’t just use them?” He asked.

I shook my head and sucked in my lips to apologetically tell him ‘no’. He raised his eyebrow and grinned. With both of his hands on either side of the machine, he lifted up his right hand and in slow motion, pushed the button. The machine went into action. The dial spun and music started playing all over the place. Someone must’ve just left a credit on it. He got lucky. I jumped when the music got louder. People stopped as they went to pass us to see what the commotion was about. Was it breaking? I looked at the screen and my jaw dropped when I saw the three stars sitting there. We had just won the jackpot. Well technically, he had.

“I can’t believe it!
This whole time!”

I swatted his arm.

“What do you mean?” He whispered, although people were finally walking off.

He rubbed where I had hit him and I grabbed a cup next to the machine to start collecting all the tickets that were coming out. Apparently that was boring, because not a single person was left around us as I folded the tickets nicely.

“What do you mean, what do I mean?!”

I jumped up next to him and swatted his arm again.

“You can do magic?!” I hissed.

“Well, duh…” He said matter-of-factly. “How else do you think I change form, enter your world, and all those other things I’ve been doing?”

“What other things?”

I knelt back down and continued folding the tickets. There were so many of them.

“I just won on a machine without your precious tokens… ” He grinned.

“Oh, right. Well, still! You should have told me.”

“Forgive me.”

He started laughing. At this point I was tired of trying to make perfect folds so I was just waiting for all of the tickets to come out. This was insane. There had to be over a thousand already and they were still getting spewed out. We were going to need another cup at this rate. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Sebastian was holding one for me. I snatched it and folded up the others. When it finally stopped, he held his hand out again, this time to help me up. I was really going to have to start paying attention to him if I didn’t want to feel so stupid around him anymore.

“Where to now, Oh Great One?”
I asked.

“Hmm, you pick one.”

He put his arm over my shoulders; I couldn’t help but to smile. It was nice. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy the arcade as much as I was. I grabbed his hand that was hanging over my shoulders and carried on. We passed all the slot machines and started towards the actual arcade games. I found the perfect one.

“This.” I said in front of the racing game.

“What’s the prize?” He asked.

“Bragging rights.”
I smiled.

“What are bragging rights?”

“What?!
You know, who gets to be better than the other one.
Pride.”

“Ah, I know pride. You judge that off games?”

“We judge it off of winning, sometimes, yes. What we win from is to each their own.”

“I see. Well, if that’s really all you want to play for?”

“Mm-hmm.”
I nodded my head.

I got on the motorcycle and set the cups down next to my ankle. He sighed and then got on the other one. He touched the buttons a few times and then the game started up. I felt a little bad that we were cheating, but this place had to rob enough people that a few lousy tokens wouldn't cost them.

“What level?” He called over to me.

“Um, let’s start with the easy one.” I said.

“That’s not a challenge!”

He winked at me then looked back at his screen. A whooshing sound erupted form the speakers when he clicked on the hardest level. I quickly clicked it, too, so I wouldn’t be left behind. Sebastian bent low and dug his toes in like a pro.
It’s
times like this I wish I had a camera again. Then I realized that that meant he knew how to ride. That wasn’t fair! I was supposed to annihilate him. I was awesome at these games when I used to go to the arcade in the mall. The mall! I should have just taken him there. Nah, this was better. It was new to both of us.
             

The game started rumbling. It was almost go time. I quickly followed suit and tightened my grip on the bike. Fake revving the engine, I glared at him and he glared back. The edges of my lips curled into a grin that wanted desperately to smile. He was taking this so seriously! It was priceless.

The countdown started. When the flag was waved, we took off. I gunned it and my bike wobbled at the start up. Mario Kart would be shaking its head at me right now. The shakes led to a crash on the first turn. I did manage to side swipe about three other players. My laughter let itself free at that point. I couldn’t help it. Sebastian was paying no mind to me. He was completely into the game. I tried to imagine what was going through his mind when his eyes twitched.

The machine swerved under me and I realized that I had reset. I tried to go again, but I lost it. This was just too funny for me. My only goal was to wait for Sebastian to lap me so I could wreck him. Peeking over at his screen to see where he was, he held his hand up and pushed me back.
Drats
! He was on to me. I had to just let him win.

The lights started flashing on the monitor indicating it was the last lap. The fake motorcycle leaned in for the last turn towards me and I saw my opportunity. I reached out and grabbed his handlebars. The bike on the screen took a hard left and spun out of control. Three bikes zoomed by and I just sat there with a smug look on my face. Sebastian’s face slowly lost all focus.

“Hey!” He called out. I started laughing again. “That wasn’t fair.” He sat up as the race finished.

“I didn’t know you were a professional driver.” I said.

“I’m not, it’s just a passion.”

His eyes shined a beautiful violet. I grinned at him. The screen flashed a continue offer, but I declined it. This game was not for us.

“I thought you guys didn’t have vehicles, you just walked everywhere?”

“Hence, passion.
We love collecting your possessions and making them our own.”

“How sweet.”
I laughed, rolling my eyes.

He grinned at me. It was adorable. We needed a distraction.

“Next?” I asked.

“Hmm.
What’s over there?” He pointed to the cave.

“Laser tag.”
I said.

“The game I shall beat you in?” He asked playfully.

“What game do you think I stand a chance against you in?” I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in exasperation.

“I don’t know that there is one, Mira.”

He put his arm around my shoulders again and led me off towards the cave.

“Ah, that makes me feel better.” I laughed. “Do you want to play laser tag?”

“Are they real lasers?” He whispered.

“Heck, no!
It’s all pretend. You point the laser at the other person’s vest, pull the trigger when you have it aimed at the lights, and if you take the light out, it counts as a point. When you get all three of their lights out, they lose. The last person standing wins.”

“What do they win?” He asked.

“Bragging rights.”

“You humans.”

We had turned a corner taking us outside of the racing games when someone called us back. I stopped and turned around to the voice. Sebastian seemed to have not noticed it.

“Joe?” I gasped.

I walked over to him, thinking it couldn’t be real. He was holding my cups.

“Mirabelle?”
He was just as shocked. “What are you…? Hey!” 

The sound of his voice went from proper to childish. I made him forget his surroundings, too, it seemed. Those loving arms engulfed me and I inhaled his scent. It was so good to be back in his arms. This day was supposed to be about Sebastian, but Joe had found me. I was so glad he had found me.

“Hey to you, too!
Thanks.”

I took the cups and held them against my chest. It was then that I realized he was wearing a uniform, one that meant he worked at the arcade.