Eden

Chapter 5: It's a Small World

Jade's POV

I squeeze the trigger.

"If you have any tricks up your sleeve you better pull them out now." I try to laugh as obnoxiously at Noah as I can. My finger squeezes the trigger again and a zombie explodes like an egg left in the microwave for too long. Mr. Toughguy really thought he could take me on at this game. Feels good putting him in his place.

"It's not over yet." He sneers. "I'm only a few points behind."

"Pshh only a few points. Looks more like a couple hundred to me."

"Oh yeah?" he says, his voice implying he has no intention of backing down. Abruptly, he bumps me out of the way with his hip. I don't even have time to react as he grabs my gun and randomly fires around the screen, missing the hoard of zombies.

"What the hell?" I punch him in the arm before regaining control of my gun.

"Now we're even." He winks at me.

I swear, every time he opens his mouth I get this uncontrollable urge to punch him in the face. I would push him back, but he's a whole foot taller than me. His tight blue shirt hugs tightly against his chiseled chest and six-pack abs. This kid looks like he burns EPO for fun. It would be like trying to move a boulder up a hill.

What the hell am I even doing? I came here expecting to give him his lighter and never see him again. Nothing more, nothing less. How did I end up in this situation? More importantly—why am I not leaving?

Get a grip and walk away, Jade.

My hand twitches as I begin to pull away from the game, but my eyes shift to the scoreboard to see that I'm no longer in the lead.

I can't let Casino Boy beat me. I'll be seriously disappointed myself if I let him walk out of this arcade with a smirk on his face. If I'm never gonna see him again, kicking his ass serves as a decent goodbye.

"You seriously make me wanna jump overboard." I roll my eyes as I reload my gun.

He chuckles as he blasts off a zombie's head. "That makes two of us."

The corners of my lips begin to twitch up into a smile at his comment. Noah's a prick but he's pretty quick with a comeback.

The increase in the number of zombies tells me that the final round is quickly approaching. He doesn't stand a chance.

Someone taps my shoulder.

I briefly look away from the game to see that it's just Kai standing behind us, sipping the smoothie he left to go get. I wave to him before quickly refocusing on the game.

"Noah?"

I freeze as I hear Kai call Casino Boy by his name. Noah and I both turn around to face him. Noah's perplexed expression quickly turns into a beaming smile.

"Hey!" Noah steps towards my brother and they exchange a simple handshake.

I'm at a complete loss for words as they embrace each other in a friendly way.

"Dude, I can't believe you're on this cruise!" Kai laughs in astonishment.

My head spins as they immediately strike up a fast-paced conversation about people that I don't know. Does this mean they knew each other before they got on this ship?

"Hold up." I finally manage to cut in. "How do you guys know each other?"

The two of them finally remember that I'm still standing there.