DO I WANNA KNOW? II wilbur soot

VI.

after calming down and more aimless walking, we spotted an arcade.

"i'm getting major flashbacks," will said once we went in.

"major flashbacks?" i questioned, unaware of what he was referring to.

"my friend, tommy, brought me to an arcade once for his vlog and he's... chaos and destruction if chaos and desruction was a person," he explained.

i giggled. "wow. is he a friend from streaming?"

"he is, but how do you know about streaming?"

oops. "uh, i may have done a small background check?" i grimaced and he raised his eyebrows. "come on, i was intrigued. i have too know who im working withh before i travel the country with them."

"i'm... flattered, i guess?"

"whatever makes you sleep at night," i joked, wanting to end this conversation, as to not expose myself anymore. apparently, he wasn't too keen on letting it go, though.

"so, did you watch any of my videos?" he pressed on.

i sighed. "yeah, yes i did," i admitted.

"and? what did you think?" he was looking at me with a grin. i stopped walking and leaned on a nearby wall.

"what do you want to hear? that you're awesome, funny, entertaining?"

"all that, actually," he replied, leaning next to me.

"you suck and youre very horrible," i joked, rolling my eyes.

"i don't think you really mean that. you basically just admitted that i'm the coolest person ever and you love everything i do."

"then you need to get your ears checked because that is not what i said. complete opposite."

"come on, just admit it. my content is extremely cool."

"will that make you forget that i knew about it in the first place?"

"i sure as hell won't forget about it, but i'm not gonna mention it if that makes you feel better," he said, leaning his head to the side a bit, urging me to say what he wanted to hear. a sigh escaped my lips and i looked at the ground.

"fine. your content is cool," i said, looking up at him.

"thank you! was that so hard?" he said, clearly satisfied. i laughed instead of answering.

"yes, it was. let's join the others now," i said and started walking towards where everyone had gathered around a shooting game. will quickly followed. apparently this wasn't the end of my torture, because as soon as i joined the group, leandra and zoe looked at me with raised eyebrows and knowing grins.

-----

by nature i'm a competitive person. so when i was challenged to a game of air hockey by mark, i gladly accepted, announcing that i was gonna beat him. but when we reached the point when only one point had to be scored for someone to win, i wasn't so confident. joe had scored, causing me to take the puck and put it on the center of the table. frustrated, i quickly hit it, determined to win this last point. we hit the puck back and forth until i got the point. i immediately cheered.

"yes! i'm a legend at air hockey," i said, throwing my hands in the air.

"no! it was pure luck," mark insisted.

"sore loser, huh?" i grinned.

"no, i just don't like losing."

"isn't that the literal definition of sore loser?" will commented from where he was standing on the other side of the table, where he'd been watching our game.

"not quite," mark defended himself.

"whatever, i still won," i said.

"fine," mark dragged out.

i smiled in victory. "thank you. what's next?" i asked, eager to try out more games.

"basketball?" will suggested.

"yes!"

will chuckled. "fan of basketball too, i see."

"oh no, she's gonna crush us again," mark said.

"not too late to back out, william." that earned a laugh from me.

"i'll accept the challenge, sweatheart," will said and ushered me to the basketball machines. we started the game and i was doing very well. i couldn't see his score because i was focused on mine, but leandra and zoe were cheering me on from behind, saying i was winning. i was on a roll. that was until i felt a hand reach my side. will had tickled me. foul. play.

"what the fuck? you can't do that, will!" i was a little upset that he cheated but i couldn't hide my laughter.

"eyes on the basket, tiana!" i could hear the smirk in his voice. i needed to win. unfortunately, time ran out and i was behind by five points.

"that was so not fair! you tickled me," i said, once i turned to look at him.

"we hadn't established any rules, had we?" he asked innocently.

"there are unwritten rules! i'm never playing anything else with you."

"okay," he dragged out, unconvinced. i crossed my arms. i was about to defend myself when i caught sight of someone familiar.

"oh, no..." i mumbled.

"tiana, are you alright?" will asked, his playful tone now laced with concern.

suddenly, the person i had seen spotted me. he was just entering the arcade and we were still standing next to the basketball machines, which were close to the arcade entrance. "tiana?"

"oh, um, hello."