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because it was a friday evening, mike, lucas, dustin, and will's parents allowed the four to hang out for awhile at the arcade. instead of playing hours of dungeons and dragons, the boys decided it would be better to start venturing out from their "geeky ways".
currently, by the dragon's lair machine, the party was currently yelling at their curly-haired friend. dustin vigorously gripped the red joystick, tugging it every which way. the boy slowly became red and sweaty, due to the amount of pressure and aggression he was using in order to beat the game.
"shit!" he screamed as the four watched dirk the daring light on dragon fire and thin into bone. "no! oh, my god, this cheap piece of shit-"
as dustin slammed the machine with his palm, the cup that they were using to keep the coins together fell. a soft clang was heard as quarters dropped onto the arcade's carpeted floor, shoes, and a few machines.
lucas back-handed dustin's elbow. "nice going."
dustin rolled his eyes in response. the four of them got on their knees, trying to regain all seventy-two quarters, most of which were from lucas's lawn mowing earnings.
the group split as they hunted the money. in between two machines, dig dug and galaga, lucas eyed out a dirty quarter. reaching out his arm, he managed to touch the quarter the slightest bit. before he could actually retrieve it, a redhead had tripped over the boy's forearm. luckily, she had caught herself on her hands.
"crap! i didn't-" the dark-skinned boy started.
"don't worry," the girl interrupted as the two picked themselves back up. "just some word of advice though; maybe try not to carry your arms across the floor."
lucas let out a chuckle as a light blush gradually appeared on his cheeks. "yeah, maybe i'll use that advice next time." he replied, causing the girl to smile.
"dude, are you blind?" lucas's raven-haired friend spoke as he picked up the quarter between the two games. "there's a quarter right here."
lucas turned around and raised his eyebrows in annoyance. as mike held the coin next to his head, he sent a confused look. the darker boy then rolled his eyes, and subtly gestured to the redhead behind him.
"oh...," mike finally caught on. "well, i gotta get these back to dustin. i think that's all of them," he smiled as he walked away.
'finally his emo self does some help,' lucas thought to himself.
smoothly turning around, he was met with the girl again. he grinned at her. she quickly returned the favour and took a few steps towards the dig dug machine. her red eyebrows furrowed together as she yanked off the yellow "out of order" sign.
"oh, sorry, kid," one of the arcade's employees, keith, said as he walked over with his bag of cheese puffs. "something's wrong with the internal wiring. we're getting it fixed by wednesday or so."
the girl sighed as she put down the sign, frowning as the lazy help walked off. behind her, lucas scrunched up his mouth as he thought about how to help. he didn't know the girl, but something inside of him was yelling at the boy to do something.
"hey, don't worry. you're at an arcade. there's tons of games to choose from," he happily said as the girl faced him.
without saying any words, lucas gestured her over to centipede. the redhead stepped in front of the game. she turned her head, meeting lucas's brown eyes.
"try it. it might not be as fun as dig dug, but it's worth a try," the corners of his lips curved up, showcasing his adorable smile.
the redhead reached in her jacket pocket and pulled out a few quarters, inserting them into the machine. she placed her palm on the little ball and started the game. as the girl slowly got into the game, lucas watched from the sides. to be more specific, he paid attention more so to the girl rather than the game.
after almost two hours of playing - even though it seemed like a short passing of minutes - the girl's head turned to the window outside that was showing the parking lot. a blue car caught her eye, and she stepped away from the game.
"hey, um, my brother's here to pick me up. i gotta go," she quickly let out as she jogged outside.
"wha-" lucas was about to shout, but he frowned as he watched the front doors fall close.
the boy let out a sigh. his head turned to the right towards the centipede machine as he looked at the high score. he put on a tiny smile as he whispered out the name.
