Note to self: never play laser tag again.
Coming out of the dark room with its glowing surfaces had been like waking up after sleeping late on a Saturday morning to find the sun shining through my window and hitting me square in the face. I had to blink a few times to reorient myself as to where I was.
And slow my racing heart.
Adrenaline coursed through my body like a drag racer, dangerous and illegal. Or at least, it should’ve been illegal. No wonder some people became adrenaline junkies. The euphoric high was super addictive. And like a conscientious person, I stayed away from addictive substances.
Another mole popped his head through a hole, and I wacked the plastic rodent with the mallet. Lights flashed, and tickets spewed from the machine.
After this. I’d stay away after this.
“Wow. You have hidden talents, Nicole.” Molly sidled up to me and fingered the loops of tickets I’d placed on the corner of the machine while I played.
I ripped the perforated edge of the stream of tickets I’d just won. “Beginner’s luck.”
Ben, never too far away from Molly when they were together, came to stand on the other side of his fiancée, Chloe in his arms, clutching a stuffed monkey he’d managed to finally win in the claw machine. Would have been cheaper just to buy the stuffy at a store rather than keep slipping coins in that machine.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never been to an arcade before,” he said.
I looped my tickets up and counted the tokens I had left over. Enough to play one more game. “If you met my mother, then you’d have no problem imagining such a thing.”
He winced. “Pretty strict?”
“I guess. Although, she claimed higher standards. There were always more important things to do than games and such. And she’s not wrong, you know. Why waste time seeking your own pleasures when you could be helping someone else?”
He nodded, considering. “I’ve always found it easier to pour out of myself to help others when I’m full first. Does that make sense?”
“Meaning you have to stop at a gas station and refill your tank at times or you’ll start running on fumes.” Jocelyn stepped out from behind a game.
I hadn’t even seen her there.
Drew rounded another game set up in the middle of the room. “Gas tanks? What are you talking about? She drives an electric car.”
Sierra jogged up, face flushed. “Mom, do you have any tokens left?”
I gave her my last two, and she raced away with a “Thanks” flying over her shoulder.
Okay, maybe I wouldn’t stay away after all. Not if places like this put that kind of shine in my kid’s eyes.
“Guess I can count these now.” I held up the tickets.
“Definitely have enough for a bouncy ball,” Jocelyn teased.
“A bouncy ball, a temporary princess tattoo, and a lollipop,” Molly said.
Chloe lifted her head off Ben’s shoulder. “I want a lollipop.”
I counted off ten tickets and handed them to Chloe. “There you go. That should be enough for a sucker.”
“Yay,” Ben said with zero enthusiasm. “More sugar.”
Molly laughed. “By the time you get her home, she’ll have crashed from all the excitement of the day.”
I kept reeling the loops of tickets through my fingers.
“Way to go there, Applegate. With that many you can get yourself the NERF gun and practice your aim.” Drew smirked.
Sierra joined our circle, her own tickets spilling over her hand. “Mom has a no gun rule for the house.”
