Savage Love

8. Teddy

The sugary smell of cotton candy wafts into my nose as we walk into the arcade, children and their parents are littered all over the place, while some groups of teenagers are hanging around as well.

I swivel my head around in search of less childish games as a sudden wave of self-consciousness hits me. "Let's play basketball," I say pointing to the machine.

He chuckles, briefly flashing his dimples. "I must warn you, I'm really good at shooting."

"Sure you are," I say in a low tone, instantly regretting as the words slip out of my mouth. He's silent at first but then he laughs and shakes his head slightly.

I feel my cheeks heat up and I lower my gaze.

He interlocks fingers with me and guides me towards the machine. He begins rummaging through his pocket to find some coins while I stand behind him.

After slipping the coin in, the machine lights up, and he turns to face me, "Okay, let's play so I can beat your ass," he says, dragging his voice on the last words. I laugh catching onto his joke.

I pick up a ball and breathe in, trying my best to remember what coach Fernandez used to tell us about shooting. As I am still trying to perfect my stance, I open my eyes and see Damien making the hoop.

I squeal, letting the competitive side get the better of me as I start to shoot, awfully missing the rim. "How are you good at this?" I ask, still yet to make one shot.

"I used to play basketball in college," he said as his ball entered the hoop again.

I pick another ball, "oh, I used to play in high school... Yes!" I jubilate, finally making a shot. I looked up at the scoreboard, it's 10 points to 2.

I stretch out my arm and latch onto his wrist with my left arm, preventing him from shooting while I try to make some shots with my right arm. "You're cheating," he says, sounding more like a plain statement than a complaint.

He struggles a bit, unbalancing me. He reaches for my arm and snatches my ball, then shoots it at his basket, scoring another point. I stomp my feet on the ground and my heels clank, "it's not fair, I'm out of touch," I mumble.

"Life's not fair." He winks at me, I roll my eyes, suddenly remembering that this was exactly how my brother acted whenever he was winning at an arcade game. "You sound just like Luke."

"Who's Luke?" He asks as I make another shot. "My older brother-" I perk up when my ball enters the basket -"yes in your face!"

"Well I bet he's a cool guy, also, I'm still winning and time is almost up." I look at the timer, just 20 seconds to go. I begin to increase my shooting pace, missing horribly as I do.

With a ding sound the scoreboard freezes, It reads 24 points to 8, and I scoff, "you got lucky."

"Wanna try again?" He asks with a mischievous smirk. While I contemplate my decision a child runs smack into me, knocking me off my footing. Strong arms crawl along my back holding me in place while I grab his tricep for support.

He stares down at me, his dark brown eyes laced with concern. I clear my throat and stand upright, breaking away from his hold with flushed cheeks. His arm slithers away from my back, leaving a warm tingling sensation behind.

A middle-aged woman comes running, "I am so sorry Jeremy wasn't looking where he was going, what do you say Jeremy?"

The little boy tilts his head upwards to look at me. "I'm sorry," he says, then scurries off to the virtual dance area. She mutters more apologies before going after her son.

"Are you okay? Damien asks, I nod. We decide to get some cotton candy from the stall by the entrance, and while I stuff my face with cotton candy, Damien cuts his piece by piece.

"Mhm, why do you eat it like that?" I ask. He pauses, "like what?"

"Cutting it off and eating it chunk by chunk," I say, struggling to swallow mine.  "So I don't get stains like that." He reaches out and swipes my bottom lip with the pad of his thumbs.

I look down at my feet, suddenly appreciating the shape of my toes. I hear Damien chuckle. We sit in silence for a little while until I'm done. Immediately I look up I notice a teddy bear sitting on the shelf of a game booth. "I want that teddy," I say and get on my feet.

"I can win it for you," he replies. "Nah, I got this one." I begin to walk towards the booth. I ask the operator how many points I'd have to score to win the teddy. "Well if you get 50 points you'd win the teddy, you have three minutes before it's the next player's turn," he says in a monotonous voice.

I turn to Damien who shoots me two thumbs up and a small smile. I'm used to playing zombie attack so this shouldn't be a problem. I grab the controller which is shaped like a gun and the game starts. I stick my tongue out and squat, wearing all the determination I can muster as I begin to play.

A few minutes later my turn was over and I didn't reach the required score. I walk out feeling slightly deflated. "I told you to let me win it," he says with arms folded across his chest. I scoff, "nobody can reach that score, Damien."

"I bet I can," he says as he joins the line. While we are still waiting, a little boy screams, "yess mommy I got it!"

I shoot my head out to see the cause of the jubilation. He reached the freaking high score and what's worse, it was Jeremy. The game was rigged, it's ageist, racist and sexist, I conclude, folding my arms in annoyance.

Damien seems to find it cute as he laughs at me while poking my cheeks. The operator puts a SpongeBob stuffed doll as the next price and I snort. "What? You don't like SpongeBob?"

"I hate SpongeBob." Damien puts his arms on his chest and drops his jaw in an attempt to fake a hurt reaction.

"What? He's a yellow pain in the ass, squidward deserved better."

"I think the real pain in the ass was Patrick," he says.

"I think they're both assholess." A woman shoots me a dirty look while covering her daughter's ears. I suck on my lips and walk away from the line.

"You really wanted that teddy didn't you?" He asks. "Well I think it's really cute, I like the fact that it was black and white, and the whole Halloween theme was going great. But let's go, it's all good."

We head out to the parking lot, "so what restaurant did you have in mind? I ask.

"There's a new place in town, I hear the service is really nice so let's try it out."

"I hope it's not too expensive?"

He chuckles at my question, "don't you like expensive restaurants?"

"Not really, it's a waste of money and the food is hardly ever enough, it's a dirty trick to make you order more food."

He unlocks the car with his key, "you sound experienced," he jokes.

"Trust me, I'm experienced in other things as well." For the second time within one hour, another dirty joke slips out of my mouth. He laughs and then opens his mouth to speak, but I interrupt.

I clear my throat, "I worked in a fancy restaurant when I was in uni, trust me, they can add more than two spoons of rice on a plate," I add, to save the situation.

I open the door and enter the passenger seat. My phone beeps, and  I dig through my purse in search of it.

Mom
Mija, your papa's condition is getting worse and his medication is finishing, I don't have money could you please send some cash? - 18:21 pm

Me
Worse? What's wrong with him? Is he okay? Can I call? I'll send the money as soon as possible - 18:21 pm

Mom
I'll call you later so we can mija, I don't want you to overthink, stay safe. - 18:22pm

With a sigh I slip the phone back into my purse and then look around to find Damien jogging towards the car, I didn't even notice he went back. He opens the door and hops in. "Where did you go?"

"Just needed to use the restroom," he responds, and like that he starts the car and we drive off.