Friends

PART SEVENTEEN: ON-THE-HOUSE

Sparkling lights were seen upfront the mall and we sat on the guidelines. Decorations that I've bestowed were one thing I haven't seen in my entire life. Growing up, my father knew I shouldn't be committed to these things. They gain attraction not to wealth but affection to my eyes. Not my belief to recognize the most, but he wasn't right either. After cooling our accelerating hearts out, we ran up the escalator through the arcade. "Tokens. I need tokens," Wayne said to the group and Fiona glared at him. "I don't have change, do I? Unless you want the machine to receive twenty dollars," he added.

"The machine does receive twenty dollars, but here put ten dollars. Who knows how many tokens we'll get," Jade commented to the conflict as she passed her money to Wayne. "That's ten tokens, two for each of us."

"First one to the claw machine, here I go."

Fiona and Harry caught up but I was first, "You're in a good mood today, Rode. I'll head to the basketball station. Want to come along, Fiona?" Harry asked, as they released their breaths outrunning me. "Sure, dibs on the first basket," Fiona said, they both ran catching up on one another.

Jade was playing a game of race, while me and Wayne were stuck in the claw machine. "What do you want?" I asked Wayne, the machine is filled with stuffed toys of bunnies, deer, and birds. His eyes started observing the one he wanted. He pointed at the machine, "The red panda one. Can you get it for me?"

"Sure, I'll try. This is a walk in the park for me." I excelled at best on my first try. Before I perceived motion figures, I came to my belief to regard the machine as a scam. To be candid, the claws are a district away from the goal but consider the prize slipping away from the handle. Eyes on the prize, I was here to reward Wayne, to obtain the red panda. The machine turned our tokens into something, apparently, a bunny. As I clasped the soft ears, the gray bunny reminded me of Fiver, a brother and a fighter in the novel Watership Down. "This is cute but I'll work harder for you."

He handed me his two tokens, and the other token had the claw slipping away again. The red panda is near. The others came to watch me as I used our last token. I felt intimidated by the controller. "No, to the right. It'll bump soon afterward," Wayne suggested. Wayne became worried about the last tokens we had left.

"No, you asswipe. It should be to the left, it'll be more attached. But hey, this bunny is cute," Fiona added. "Do you want it, Jade?"

She refused, "I'd rather watch Charlie win that red panda."

"Are you sure? I saw your eyes blink faster than me," Fiona said, looking into her eyes. She smiled, "You want it. Take it."

Jade took the stuffed toy, "Thanks. You got me there."

The next second, I decided to slip the claw to the left. Not because I don't trust Wayne, but it's the way out. All of a sudden, Wayne became an avid friend who ran around in circles. "You caught it, thank you, Charlie. Thank you, thank you, thank you. God, it's so adorable. I don't know how to thank you. This is amazing." He became a bright guy for a moment.

"When will you return the favor to Charlie?" Harry asked for his intuition, "He did a lot for you, remember."

"I'll make a change to the register. Wait here," he ran to the cashier as he made the change to the twenty dollars he bought. He went back, holding a multiplicity of ten dollars. Harry asked, "What's that money for?"

"You'll soon know. In the meantime, let's not waste our time," he said.

We went through the department stores—window shopping as the employees looked at us. We saw the brand-new offers, sales, and clothes. Fiona saw a glamorous gown that was similar to Jade's outfit during the pageant, "I fancy you in that clothing, Jade. Spectacular evening gown."

"Oh, dare me not. You'll look even grander than me in that gown," she said.