Suffocating

Illusion; VII

Claire had no idea where to go, so she spoke out the first thing that came into her mind, which happened to be the first thing she saw, which happened the window view of an arcade right across the road.

Granted, she was never really a big fan of the arcade, and she didn't think Roxanne would hear her the first time she said it...

"Claire! This has got to be the best idea you've ever had, ever!"

But as they say, the contract had been signed, and now she had to deal with an excited Roxanne, whose excitement was equal to that of a child on Christmas morning... multiplied by two.

The theory was proven when Roxanne pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, managing to lift her up in spite of her short stature, and knock the wind out of her.

"C'mon! We've got to try out everything!"

... As the world icon Courage the Cowardly Dog said; The things I do for love.

The employee looked startled when he saw two teenagers - or, in Roxanne's case, an eight years old stuck on a teenager's body - putting ten dollars on the counter for entry.

One exchange later, Claire and Roxanne was ready to take over the arcade.

Claire got destroyed at Mortal Kombat, despite the help of the internet telling her all of the powerful attacks to use. She was no match for Roxanne's far superior button mashing.

"I am immortal!" Roxanne had shouted after their third game, which prompted Claire to quickly pull her into another game, a game where she wouldn't get thrashed so humiliatingly, which happened to be a shooting game where you had to work together to kill the zombies.

... Roxanne got 1200 points, while Claire got 250 (she missed and shot one of the zombie's arm, giving her half a point, and Roxanne finished it off before she could do anything.)

"Wowzers, if this journalism thing doesn't work out for me, maybe I should be a cop!" said Roxanne, posing like a poster of a James Bond film - and failing dramatically, at that. "Or maybe just a plain old serial killer."

"No."

Roxanne pouted like a child being denied its candy. "But I'll be good at it."

"No."

Roxanne's faux pout turned into a real one. "You know I'm only joking, right?"

She smirked. "I do."

"Then why are you ruining it with your bland grounded realism?"

"Because I like crushing people's hopes and dreams and watching them suffer."

Roxanne froze, her face falling. "Are you joking?"

It was Claire's turn to pout. "Can't you tell?"

"No. I cannot. Don't ever joke again." Roxanne's face was dead-serious, which discouraged Claire even more, because really, are my jokes really that bad?

"It is." Claire blinked, and her face must've adopted a questioning look because Roxanne chuckled. "I've known you for five years, Claire. I know you more than I know myself."

And I you, she wanted to say but scoffed instead, not giving Roxanne the satisfaction of being right. The girl had enough ego to fill up three trucks, she wasn't going to help overload those trucks, in fact, she was going to empty it... by getting her revenge, getting a full, perfect score on the basketball game.

"Damn." Roxanne clapped and gave an impressively loud whistle, after getting over the fact that she had zero throwing skills. "Just... damn."

Claire, the introvert, said nothing, but her eyes lit up with a new sense of determination, and suddenly she really did want to conquer this arcade.