“Yes.”
“Right,” Cameron said before she picked up the puck and moved it to the side of the table.
“And no.”
“Oh.”
“It’s confusing,” Lacey said. “I guess I feel the same way you do, but I have no right to complain because we’ve been spending time together just like they have.”
“Yeah…” Cameron said. “Okay. Let’s just finish this game so that you can make me better at pool.”
“I never promised to make you better.”
“You said you’d teach me.”
“I can teach you, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get better. I mean, look at me – you’ve been teaching me this, and I’m still terrible.”
Cameron shook her head and replied, “I think that says more about my teaching ability than it does about your learning ability. I’ve been going about it all wrong. Let’s try this: no points.”
She slid the points she’d gathered back over to zero and watched Lacey take her index finger to push the one point she had earned back over to zero with a flourish, making Cameron laugh.
“Done.”
God, Cameron liked her. Lacey was just… Well, she was just what she needed, and she couldn’t need Lacey right now.
“So, this is just like pool with the angles, right?”
“Yes,” Lacey replied.
“And you’re good at pool.”
“I’m not a pro or anything.”
“But you’re good with the angles.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“So, it’s just the speed of air hockey, then. Let’s play without the speed for a minute; see how you do.”
Cameron reached down and turned off the air on the table.
“You realize that puck is going to hardly move, right?”
“It’ll move enough,” she replied and hit the puck, but without the air, it only made it to the center of the table.
Lacey practically cackled.
“Okay. Okay. I’ll just hit it harder.”
“Can we just call it on my pro air hockey career? I don’t have a table at home in my tiny living room. It’s not like I’m going to play again anytime soon.”
“Do you want one?” Cameron asked.
“An air hockey table?”
“Yeah. I can get you one.”
“I’m sorry; what?” Lacey asked.
