AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Watching Parker is a ton of fun. His aim is impressive and the score keeps growing higher. More astounding is the fact he can throw himself into fun and laughter when something so ugly happened at his home. I understand it’s his life, and he’s known this history for a long time, but this also means he’s been masking this pain with fun and competition for just as long.
After the basketball arcade game, he makes me play Whack-A-Mole with him. This is one Tess and I played a lot as kids. My reaction time is something to be desired, but I can’t help drowning in laughter as I smash my foam mallet against the fast critters.
We then wander around the arcade some more, watching people mingling around the games. When we near the photo booth, Parker pulls me to a stop.
He hangs a thumb at the machine, asking, “Wanna commemorate tonight?”
“You really want to remember this?”
He slings an arm around me. “Yes. I want to remember the relief I felt at finally sharing the truth with someone.”
I rub my lips together and release them with a smile. “Okay. I’m up for that.”
We nestle on the bench seat inside, and to my surprise, Parker presses a kiss on my cheek as the first photo snaps. I turn toward him, looping my arms around him as I gaze into his big brown eyes for the second photo. When it’s time for the third, Parker makes the strangest yet funniest face at me, and I throw my head back with laughter as the photo snaps.
Parker collects the line of three photos and hands it to me. “Pretty cute, Kikki.”
“You’re not so bad yourself, Parky.”
He grunts, getting off the booth seat. “Eww.”
I laugh, following him out of the booth. “You really hate the name Parky, don’t you.”
“It’s cutesy, and I don’t do cutesy.”
I smirk, grabbing his hand. “I don’t know. I think you’re pretty cute.”
He laughs, tugging on my hand as he takes a few steps backward. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
“Where are we going?”
“I think we need ice-cream.”
My taste buds light up in anticipation. “I think you’re a genius.”
We leave the arcade and walk the pavement behind the strip mall to get to the ice-creamery.
“What flavor are you getting?” Parker asks, tapping his fingers against the glass display.
“I need one scoop of butter pecan, and one scoop of mint chocolate chip.”
Parker grins as the server scoops out my order. “Youneedit, do you?”
I grin back. “Yes. Yes, I do. What are you getting?”
“I can’t decide,” he says, continuing to tap on the glass despite it irritating the server on the other side. “Is rocky road good?”
“It’s marshmallow and chocolate. Can’t go wrong.”
“Hmm. I think I’ll eat my weight in marshmallows and chocolate on the camping trip.” When the server puts my ice-cream cup on the counter, Parker says to her, “Okay, one scoop of pistachio, and one scoop of...”
The server starts to scoop the pistachio as Parker’s half sentence ligers in the air.
I nudge him. “Are you going to finish ordering?”
“I told you, I can’t decide.”
“There’s a cherry one.”
