If Santa had a Son

Chapter 16 - Laser Tag

Chapter 16

Laser Tag

Hayden continued to drag me throughout the mall, attempting to start a conversation every once and a while. I wasn't quite sure why I was letting him drag me throughout the mall, but I wasn't really paying much attention.

Mackenzie had tried to call me several times, but I just pushed 'ignore.' She ditched me, let her come and find me.

Hayden finally came to a stop in front of an arcade. An arcade. Wow, I hadn't been to one of those in forever! A huge grin spread across my face as I looked at the sign.

"I'm guessing you like arcades?" Hayden chuckled, pulling me inside. The whole place was lit with black light and everything was glowing.

"Hell yeah, I do!" I exclaimed, running up to the token machine. Right away I put in a twenty dollar bill and collected my five hundred tokens. "What?" I asked when Hayden gave me a strange look.

"That's a lot of tokens..." He smiled, poking my nose. "But if they make you happy."

"I like games..." I muttered, walking to my first choice. "Hayden, we' can share tokens and then you buy the next batch, okay?" He nodded, following behind me.

Oh yes, Fruit Ninja. Hayden was going down! He raised an eyebrow at me when I put the coins in the slot. Smiling I pressed, multi-player. The fruit popped up on the screen, and I immediately cut through all of them before Hayden could react. He frowned and went for the next one, which he also missed.

For the next ten minutes, we played Fruit Ninja on the giant screen. By the end of the game, I had cut one thousand fruits and Hayden had cut... one hundred.

"Oh yes, who's the queen of fruit?!" I squealed, doing a happy dance. "This girl!" And then I pointed to myself, sticking my tongue out at Hayden.

He rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out back. "Immature much?" He scoffed, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the next game.

"You're just mad because you suck at cutting fruit." I sang, skipping ahead of him. After a five minute conversation about who would pick the next game, Hayden finally won.

I still don't think it's fair that he held me upside down until I agreed.

He picked some sort of racing game. I had to sit down in this big chair that had a petal, steering wheel, and a huge screen. Hayden sat next to me, giving me a triumphant smirk. With a sigh I put in the tokens, gripping the fake steering wheel tight.

"I'm winning!" I squealed as I zoomed ahead, completely leaving Hayden in my dust. Yeah, it was a video game but still.

He started grumbling next to me, saying incoherent words under his breath. At one point I caught the words 'stupid game.' Well...He might have used some more...colorful language...

My purple car continued to speed down the empty road. Everyone was behind me. Don't ask how I was so good at it, usually I sucked. Just lucky, I guess.

"Seriously, Bree, how the hell are you so good?" Hayden sighed after I beat him three times in a row.

"I don't know..." I muttered, "Maybe because...You're letting me win!" Somewhere between the second and third race, I had come to that realization. Hayden was totally not trying. He just smirked, grabbing my hand and leading me to an empty table. I scooted into the booth while Hayden sat on the opposite side.

"What kind of pizza do you want?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Cheese!" I exclaimed excitedly, giving him a huge smile. He nodded, winking at me before getting up and heading over to the counter.

While he was gone I examined the whole place. I'm not even sure how the mall held an arcade that big. There were rows after rows of video games, tables everywhere, and screaming kids flinging themselves out of their mother's arms.

Actually, it was mainly teens that occupied the space. Only a few kids ran around on the indoor playground. The only thing that really caught my eye was the glowing flight of stairs behind the children's play space.

"Alright," Hayden said, sitting back down. "It will be here soon. Cokes okay to drink, right?" I nodded, still eyeing the stairs.

"Hey, what are the stairs for?" I asked, pointing with my index finger. He glanced over his shoulder, a smile spreading across his face.

"Laser tag, want to play?"

"Hell yeah!" I squealed, hoping to my feet and grabbing his hand. "They'll leave the food here, let's play now!" He chuckled, nodding and following behind me. I practically ran through the crowded room and up the stairs. It had been years since I had played it and I loved the game. In fact, I was laser tag deprived.

When I got to the room there was a crowd of people already decked in their gear. There were two different colors; green and blue.

"Want to play?" The worker man asked. "I can add you before they start." I nodded, already reaching for my gun and chest-plate-thingy. He punched some buttons in on the machine, took my money, and then strapped a helmet to my head. It had a green visor that covered my eyes and nose.

Team green, yes!

I glanced over my shoulder, noticing that Hayden was decked out in blue gear. A smile slowly crept over my face, my stomach twisting slightly.

"Hayden!" I called, getting his attention "We are so going to win." I motioned to my teammates, a smug look crossing his face. He just shook his head, smirking at me. The look in his eyes made me think that was a bad idea. So far he had been letting me win...Something told me not anymore.

"Hey," A girl said, tapping my shoulder. I turned around, noticing how bright her green eyes looked when up against the green of her visor. "Is that your boyfriend?"

"Oh, no!" I said quickly, hoping the black light hid my blush. "Just a friend..." She gave me a smile and nodded. Something was off in her eyes...was it jealousy?

"Alright!" The man announced, raising his hands. "Listen up!" He continued on to tell us the rules, making sure we all understood before releasing us in a large room. There were towers glowing all different colors everywhere. For the next thirty minutes, I ran around, ducking behind pillars and shooting at people.

A few of the 'deaths' were interesting. The people would freeze, glance down at their gun, and then start twitching. Then they would fall on the floor, gasping for breath, before falling still. And then, just when I was about to call for help, they would hop up, wink at me, and then run off into the 'dead' section of the room.

When we were done, the man took our awesome outfits and handed us a piece of paper. I immediately threw mine in the trash before stomping off to our table. It was more crowded by then, so I had to weave in and out through people. One little kid ran straight in front of me and I went tumbling to the floor.

"Damn it!" I hissed, cupping my elbow. I hate the funny bone...Whoever named it had issues.

"Bree, are you okay?" Hayden asked, helping me to my feet. I just shrugged. "Don't be mad because I won." He smirked and I stuck out my tongue.

I didn't mind that he won, it was the way he did it that bugged me. We had been the last two people 'alive' and he shot me. Right in the head. Before going off on some sort of rant about how the blue team was more 'epic' than the green and how 'amazing' he was for winning it for them.

I huffed one last time, stomping my foot for good measure. Yes, I was acting like a child, but the rant wasn't necessary. When our table was in sight, I froze. There was a girl sitting on our table looking extremely bored. She had long black hair that reached her hips and brown eyes. She had on a long sleeved red sweater and black jeans. Hayden laughed when he saw her, running the last few feet to our table.

"Hayden!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Hey, Hannah," He chuckled, lifting her up until she wrapped her legs around his waist. And then she crashed her lips to his, gripping fist full of his hair in her hands. I froze immediately, averting my gaze and scratching the back of my neck. Well, this was awkward.