Sugar

21

chapter twenty one
florence thompson
song: beautiful people – ed sheeran ft. khalid

By some miracle both Ben and I had Sunday off with no other plans but sitting home in our pajamas and eating junk food, so instead of wallowing alone we decided to get together and go out for the day. Rico was stuck at the diner today, covering a shift for Audrey who had covered his shift when he decided to be a no show. Aria was off on a get away with Brandon, not even bothering to answer texts or calls from any of us.

Ben and I had settled on going to the movies and an arcade after.

"That was a waste of money," Ben grumbled, running hand through his waywardly dark hair after slipping his jacket on.

I sighed as we exited the theater, the night winds were beginning to pick up, whipping my hair into my face and causing goosebumps to rise on my skin as we searched for Ben's black car.

"Yeah, definitely," I mumbled, my eyes lighting up when he unlocked the car with his remote and the lights flashed to the right, giving away where he'd parked the car.

We hurried over to the vehicle, I was tugging my jacket further around me in hopes to keep the wind out and warmth in. When we finally made it to his car I wasted no time in getting in, closed off from the harsh night temperature. Shivering, I waited impatiently as he started it and quickly cranked the heat up.

"Arcade still?" Ben asked absentmindedly as he swiped through his phone, the light illuminating his face in the darkened car.

"Yeah, sure," I shrugged, leaning back into my seat as I began to focus on warming up. I closed my eyes, trying to even my breathing and stop my jaw from chattering.

It wouldn't have been so bad but genius me had decided to settle on a thin jacket for our outing.

Wordlessly Ben slipped his phone into his pocket and shifted the car into reverse before pulling the car out of the spot we'd been parked in. In a moment we were moving out of the parking lot and headed towards the local arcade that we went to constantly when we were younger.

When we finally pulled up to the building a wave of nostalgia washed over me, a small smile tugging at the corners of my lips as I looked up to the blinking neon sign.

"We better get in there so I can start kicking your ass in Ice Ball," Ben joked, smirking as he glanced over to me.

I rolled my eyes, laughing at him before unbuckling myself and sliding out of the car as Ben did. We both rounded the car, meeting each other at the front before we started towards the doors.

When we finally made it inside it was amazing how similar it was to when we were younger. It seemed as if nothing had changed except for possibly a few new games that they'd added. The interior was still about as 90's as it gets, purple neon lights covering the entirety of the room.

"If I remember correctly," I began, looking around the room, "it was me kicking your ass in Ice Ball."

Ben chuckled, rolling his eyes at me.

We quickly checked in, getting out coins and beginning to go around and look at all the new games. When we got halfway around the room Ben pulled me over to a video game he was interested in and insisted for me to play after him.