enchanted ||c.leclerc||

009

Ria was leaning against the wall of the dark arcade - that Lando had somehow convinced the owners to lend to them for the night - with a slight smile playing on her lips as she watched Camila and Carlos desperately trying to shoot down aliens, 3D glasses sliding their noses as they did so with big plastic revolvers in their hands. 

Ria knew this was for her, but she didn't find herself indulging in many of the games scattered around the near-black arcade with only rainbow disco lights lighting it up dimly, the fluorescents dancing in patterns that became sore to the eye after awhile.

She could see Lando and Max having their re-match at virtual golf, of which was accompanied by a lot of curses on Max's part. Ben and George watched whilst shouting words of encouragement. Ria didn't know where Daniel was, but last time she saw him he was following after Lewis, and she didn't imagine he was doing anything different now. 

"Not going to help your friend kill the aliens?" Charles came up behind Ria, straining to be heard over the heavy bass blasting out of the speakers. 

"I was actually just going to try rescue Lewis from Daniel," Ria returned Charles's smile in a way that felt almost like second nature at this point. 

"I don't think Lewis minds. In fact, I think he quite likes the attention." Charles laughed before looking around the arcade. "Plus, I saw George hanging around with Daniel earlier. I don't think he's annoying Lewis too much. But what about you? You've got to do something, Riri. This is for you." 

Ria rolled her eyes at the use of Carlos's nickname Charles - and Lando - had also picked up on but couldn't help but grin. And she was happy to hear Daniel was bonding with another driver as well as becoming Lewis's second shadow.

"I'm very bad at arcade games, you know." Ria said as her excuse, hoping Charles wouldn't press the matter further. 

"It's fine," he said and then his eyes lit up which made Ria worry. "Hey, will you play Dance Dance Revolution with me?" 

"What the hel-" 

She was about to ask what on earth that was, but before she could he had already grabbed her hand and was pulling over to a very brightly lit machine completely foreign to Ria. 

"So what you have to do," Charles pulled Ria onto a square with blue and pink arrows pointing every which way. "is look up at that screen, and whichever key comes up on it you have to step on." 

"That can't be that hard," Ria decided as Charles stood on his own square beside hers. 

"Uh-huh," he chuckled and than slid a coin into the slot, making the screen in front of them light up. 

The screen showcased two options, fast and slow, and Charles grinned at her. "Which one do you want?" 

"Fast." Ria said determinedly, as the competitive side of her that her football career had created within herself emerged. Charles nodded in amusement and hit on fast, which caused Wannabe by the Spice Girls to suddenly fill the air, drowning out the bass that had previously been playing. 

As soon as the music started playing, patterns on the screen came up faster than Ria's eye could see, never mind her feet keeping up with the speedy instructions. She stepped on the pink sideward arrow when she saw it light up on screen, but by the time her foot connected with the pad she was already five steps behind. 

"How do you do this?" Ria heard Charles shout over the Spice Girl's verse of "I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want." 

"I don't know!" Ria giggled as she glanced over at Charles who was even worse than she was. He seemed to have completely given up on following the order on screen and decided to create his own dance.