Page 112 of End Game

“That was three,” she says, holding up three fingers like I can’t count.

“The first one didn’t count.”

“You said the second one was double or nothing.”

“Which mathematically cancels out one of your wins.”

Her eyes narrow. “That’s not how math works.”

“Prove it,” I challenge.

She laughs and walks away from the table, leaving me to follow her because, unfortunately, she’s cute when she’s insufferable.

The date only gets more competitive from there.

We start making bets—winner picks the next game, loser buys drinks, winner gets control of the TV when we get home. I manage to recover some dignity at skee-ball, lose it again when Cami somehow pulls a stuffed dragon out of a claw machine on her second fucking try, then restore all of it and more when we find Dance Dance Revolution.

Cami stops walking.

“Oh, yes,” I mutter.

She looks from me to the machine. “You?”

The disrespect.

“Get on.”

She shakes her head. “I am not doing this with you.”

“Scared?”

The challenge does it.

Three minutes later, she’s laughing so hard she can barely stay on her side of the machine while I execute a nearly flawless performance beside her.

“Stop laughing and dance.”

“I can’t.” She misses another step. “Why are you so good at this?”

“Natural athleticism.”

“You almost fell down the stairs on the way to the car.”

“Unrelated.”

A kid waiting behind us snorts.

I point at him without missing a step. “Don’t start.”

“Dex.” Cami is practically wheezing now. “He’s like twelve.”

“He knows what he did.”

By the time we finally leave the arcade, my original plan for dinner has been completely abandoned because we stayed too long, Cami is carrying her dragon under one arm, and I have a photo strip tucked safely in my wallet that consists of one decent picture, two progressively more unhinged ones, and one of me kissing her.

It’s all honestly better than anything I could’ve planned.

We end up at a diner, crammed into the same side of the booth because Cami apparently needs access to my fries despite having ordered her own.