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“I-I-I didn’t. It was just a joke,” Alistair quickly apologized. “You know, how I know you’re not mine, and kidnapping you is the only way I can make you mine?” He began crazily gesturing his hands, his face growing flustered.
“Make me yours? Who do you think I am?” Amelia’s face turned red. She knew she was unnecessarily taking her anger out on Alistair. Seeing David today just brought back all the bad memories of her past.
“I’m really sorry, Amelia. Truly. I didn’t mean to offend you or hurt you. I just thought it was a funny joke, you know, with the blindfold.” Then he shoved it back into his pocket. “But if that bothers you, you don’t have to put it on. We can just go, if you’d like. Or we can cut this date short, and you can go back home. Whatever you want. I just want to make you happy.”
Amelia’s facial muscles loosened their tension, and her eyes of anger turned into eyes of sadness. “No, we can go. It’s my fault. I get that you were only trying to make a joke, and I definitely overreacted. I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”
Alistair was quick to smile and embrace her into a hug. “Of course! We all make mistakes, say things we shouldn’t. I get it. It’s no big deal!” Then he released the hug and jutted out his elbow. “Shall we?”
“We shall.” Amelia looped her arm through the gap created, and he led her into the passenger side of his car. “And yes, I’ll wear the blindfold.”
***
AND IT WAS DEFINITELY to Amelia’s shock when she took the blindfold off thirty minutes later, something she’d never expected to see. Alistair had pulled into the parking lot of an arcade! And Amelia hated arcades more than she hated anything else. The bright lights, the loud music, sticky kids running around, the smell of vomit and piss. And top it all off with rigged and expensive crappy games that serve no purpose other than to rob you of your entire bank account and give you a shitty teddy bear, worth no more than five bucks, in return.
“So, what do you think?” Alistair turned his head as he shut off the engine and looked at her.
Ugh, I can’t tell him I hate it; that’ll crush him.“I-I love it,” she said instead, secretly screaming to herself on the inside.
Amelia used to love arcades as a kid, carnivals, specifically. Her parents would bring her and her brother to one once a year, and the rushed feeling of soaring high above the ground on a rollercoaster or stuffing her face with cotton candy, while her brother challenged their dad in the arcade, was one of the best she’d ever experienced.
But that all changed when she turned eleven. Their family vacation to Wildwood. The trip where she found out that she’d been forgotten. She remembered complaining of stomach pains after stuffing her face with funnel cake and ice cream, and when she came back out from using the restroom, her mother was gone. She’d promised that she was going to wait for her, that she was going to stay right outside until Amelia came back out.
And when Amelia failed to find her mother after looking around, she began to panic. She ran up and down the boardwalk, screaming for her mother, her father, her brother, anybody she recognized who could help her. But with no luck. When she decided to try the arcade, hoping that her father and brother were still battling it out, she found the place much scarier than she’d remembered. The bright lights, the loud sounds, the screaming kids and adults. They were all just too much handle for a young child who was already stressed out about being left alone.
Abandoned.
“Mom?” She remembered crying out loud, only to be pushed to the ground by a horde.
It took several hours later and a long wait at the security office for Amelia to eventually find out that Jason had injured himself while playing Dance Dance Revolution, and both her parents were in such a rush to take him to the hospital that they’d completely forgotten about her.
“It was just an accident,” they’d say. But deep down, Amelia knew they wouldn’t have done the same if she were the one to have gotten injured.
“Great! Ready to head inside? I can’t wait to show you my favorite games.” Alistair clapped his hands together in excitement, and once again, rushed to the other side to open the passenger door for her.
But when Amelia walked in, all the memories of her past came rushing back. The lights. The screaming children. The distinct stench of putrid vomit mixed with overly buttery popcorn. She held her breath, trying her best to not hurl when Alistair pulled her toward the basketball hoops.
“Challenge you in a game?” he asked, picking up a ball and handing it over to her.
Amelia shook her head and pushed it away. “No, thanks. It’s not really my thing. But you go ahead. I’ll watch.”
Alistair scrunched his forehead and rubbed his chin dramatically with his fingers. “Are you sure? We can always go and play something else! Anything you want!”
“I’m sure.” Amelia nodded her head. “I’m more of a watcher, anyway.”More of a watcher? Did I really just say that? What a stupid thing to say!
“Alright, if you insist. Watch me make this awesome trick shot!”
Amelia watched with boredom as Alistair spun around in a circle before shooting the ball, touching nothing but net as the ball smoothly slid into the hoop.
“Yes!” he shouted.
The rest of the night continued similarly as Alistair played every game possible inside the arcade, a true kid in a candy store, as Amelia just stood by his side, yawning and playing on her phone. She made sure Alistair wasn’t looking as she discretely scrolled through Lucas’ social media profile, admiring the tanned abs and glistening smile in his most recent pictures.
“Hey, Amelia!” A voice distracted her, and when she looked up, Alistair was holding a pink stuffed teddy bear. “I got this for you. Took all my tickets, but I really wanted to get you something.”
She grabbed it and muttered, “Thanks.”
“What’s wrong? Do you not like it?”
