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"D-d-damn it!" The brown hair, short-stack exclaimed as she kicked the Mrs. Pac-Man machine in agony once very hard.
"Calm down." Rian ordered with a laugh as he shoved Jasey's styrofoam cup of grape juice back into her hands. "It's my turn though, watch out." He pushed the girl aside from the game and took charge, entering his last remaining 2 shiny, bright quarters with a smirk and a tiny, overly-confident burst of energy.
"I-I'll calm down once t-that j-j-joystick works." She put the straw up to her lips and sipped, flustered and embarrassed from her outburst.
Zack shot the girl a look before going back to watching Rian avoid the colored ghosts. Which he thought chased him like they were chasing some sort of high. A great one, to say the least. It reminded him of all those nights Rian had come to sleepovers high last year. Zack shook his head.
The air nearly smelt like summer. School had only ended a few weeks ago but the kids were still buzzing with excitement. The outside was hot and sticky, but inside the arcade, Rian, Zack, and Jasey Rae felt more comfortable than they had since last time school was out. With the AC blasting and the nostalgic feeling they only ever felt while they we're together, summer was already off to a great start. Not to mention they got to do their favorite thing in the world; play arcade games.
The arcade was their designated hang out spot ever since the fifth grade. Every weekend, every Christmas, February, April, Easter break, every off day, every summer- since fifth grade- was spent in that very same spot. They never missed a beat; almost every game had a high score belonging to either "JAE", "RI", or "ZCK" Today, however, unbeknownst to Jasey Rae, her trio would grow. Though if she had any say in that at all, it wouldn't have.
"Forgot to mention your friend's a sore loser, huh?" Alex Gaskarth joshed as he pushed the door to the arcade closed and strolled over to the same Mrs. PAC-Man game he'd been playing since he himself was old enough to remember. It wasn't just one group's hang out spot.
"Hey, lex!" Was all anyone got out of Rian before his short attention span flickered back to his game.
To which Alex turned to Zack and Jasey Rae after giving Rian. nod and a smile in return.
"She's shy." Zack stated as though it would completely clear up the fact that Jasey was now bright red and hiding behind Rian as he lost the hell out of his round. "But Jase- Alex and Jack. Alex, Jack, meet Jasey Rae." Zack introduced for her.
To be clear, he wasn't wrong about the shy part in the slightest. They were best friends. He knew her in and out. That was his job. But Jasey felt a little stab of pain in her side as Zack chose to describe her with just one word. Even though she knew he wasn't attaching any negative connotations to it or even implying anything bad about her, she felt as though he was. Jasey chewed on her straw.
Rian was popular at school. Both Zack and Jasey Rae knew that very well. Jasey didn't really like to hang out with Rian's other friends though. Her stutter often prevented her from feeling confident in any setting besides the ones she's comfortable in, and needless to say, has known for years. Rian's other friends were simply uncharted territory and so were the wild parties he often talked of.
Today alone was a big step for the girl considering the fact that Rian had known these Alex and Jack boys since they all started the 8th grade. All of these kids went to the same exact school together, but not all of them had ever actually talked before today. Rian, with both a big heart and a big mouth, often finding himself telling Alex and Jack of his two best friends- Zack and Jasey- and nothing else. He liked to share their crazy adventures or tell them crazy (elaborated) stories or even sometimes just show the boys some weird pictures he had lying around his room. He'd forced Zack to mingle with the two boys on occasion so they could get a true sense of these tales, but it was never more than 5 or 6 times in total. He'd tried to make Jasey do the same, but she was too stubborn.
Which is why Rian chose July first, 1990 to finally spring the rendezvous upon her. She was completely unaware that anyone else would be tagging along that day. Zack was as well, but everyone knew he wouldn't have disagreed with Rian even if he had shared his plan.
"Hi!" Both new boys laughed out at the same time, Jack's laugh being more contagious and loud.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Jasey Rae." Alex insisted politely over the sound of Rian finally dying and reluctantly switching places with Zack.
"Yeah, we hear about you too much to not be friends." Jack added.
"Aww, mm-my b-boys love me." Jasey was cocky once you got to know her. And she was absolutely over the top, extremely confident in front of her two life-long friends. The tables would be very turned if she were alone at this arcade. Needless to say though, she was still partially hiding behind Rian- who was mentally eye rolling over how confident and shy she was being at the same time.
"No, you're just too stupid to not talk about." Rian clarified. "Jack and Alex heard the story about you falling off my neighbor's roof 12 times today alone."
