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Gavin nodded, smiling as he pointed at the machine that readMortal Kombat II. It was the same one that had been in Tybee. “Kung Lao versus Mileena? Like old times.”
Ginny grinned as they walked to the machine, they slipped their tokens in and using the controls picked their characters. Glancing at each other briefly, they smirked and then when the familiar voice said“Fight!”, the two of them kept their focus on the screen. Not having used the arcade version of the game in a long time, Gavin’s hands fumbled over the controls at first and he was glad that Ginny struggled at first too. But by the time they were in the second round, both of them were absolutely focused and able to get their characters to do exactly what they were good at.
“Fatality! Mileena wins.”
Gavin groaned as Ginny started cheering, because of course she’d won. He pushed off the machine and cracked his back, realizing that bending over the controls like that as an adult was not advisable. Glancing at Ginny, he found her dusting off her shoulders with a proud smile and Gavin rolled his eyes. She looked too smug for his liking, but he was also very impressed that she’d still kicked his ass.
“All right, all right, no need to get cocky.”
“You’re just jealous that I finally got the better of you,” she shot back with a grin. “Another round?”
Even though he knew he wasn’t going to beat her with another round, Gavin agreed because he wanted to see if he could remember all the old cheat codes he’d used to win in the past. But instead of turning to the machine, he grabbed Ginny’s jacket and tugged her against him. She made a sound between a gasp and a squeal, hands landing on his chest as he looked down at her.
“Kiss for good luck?”
Ginny’s eyes narrowed, like she knew he was trying to distract her, but relented. Their lips met in a slow tease, brushing against each other at first before they parted and tongues slipped out. Gavin groaned into her mouth as he pulled Ginny even closer, their bodies flush. Someone cleared their throat and they pulled away, Gavin frowned and glanced at the kid standing behind them with his arms crossed.
Just like old times.
Instead of responding to the kid, they released each other and turned to the machine, slipping in their tokens. Gavin smirked when he heard the kid huff, the sounds of retreating footsteps making him glance at Ginny. She winked and they turned to the screen as the first round started. This time, Gavin was fully focused, his fingers knowing exactly what to do, the combinations to work to make sure he got the right attack modes. He didn’t let Ginny’s little gasps and frustrated groans distract him, because even if he didn’twin, he wanted to make sure he could still play this game without losing so miserably.
“Brutality! Kung Lao wins.”
“Yes!” Gavin tossed his hands in the air and turned to Ginny, who watched him with her lips twisted. Sheknewwhat he’d done, because he’d done that to her twelve years ago too.
“I won’t say theCword, but we both know what you did.”
Faking shock, hand on his chest, Gavin shook his head. “Miss Thomas, I don’t know what you’re accusing me of.”
“You’re lucky you’re cute, or I’d be demanding a rematch.”
“Was that the C word?” he teased and hooked a finger into the waistband of her pants. “I’m happy to go another round with you anytime.”
Ginny snorted out a laugh, gently nudging him away. “You can make it up to me by winning that weird looking animal on display.”
Gavin followed Ginny’s eyes and saw a fluffy pink thing that could be an elephant or a dinosaur or maybe even a giraffe. Either way, it was ugly. But he nodded and held his hands out for tokens. If there was one game he didn’t need to cheat to win, it wasDonkey Kong. With tokens in hand, he checked the high score and rolled back his shoulders. Whoever KOV was, Gavin was going to knock them off the top spot. With one last glance to see where Ginny had gone—she was atMs. Pac Man—Gavin slipped his token in and settled in for a winning game.
His girl wanted the ugly pink stuffed animal? He’d get her the ugly pink stuffed animal.
* * *
Despite beating the high score onDonkey Kong, Gavin didn’t get enough tickets that could win the ugly pink monster. He did however win Ginny a sharp-toothed unicorn with sparkly wings, hooves and a horn. It was the weirdest thing he’d laid eyes on, but she looked so fucking happy about it. In fact, when the bored teen handed it over the counter, Ginny had squealed and bounced around like that little girl fromDespicable Me. She’d made sure to shake it in his face and repeat, “it’s so fluffy!” more times than was necessary. But that kind of joy made him happy, so he didn’t really give a shit.
While they could have stayed longer and played more games, Gavin wanted some alone time with Ginny. Besides, there was a pretty long line of kids waiting for theMortal Kombatmachine, and he didn’t think it was fair to hog the whole thing forever. Ginny did hiss at the kids a few times, which worked at first, then became pointless because they kept coming back. Instead, he led Ginny and her scary unicorn back to his truck as she tapped away furiously on her phone.
“This wasn’t part of the original plan, but I want us to visit one more place,” she announced as he held open the passenger door and helped her in. “That okay with you?”
“As long as I get to spend it with you, I don’t care.”
Before he could close the door, Ginny was dragging him back to her, their lips colliding in a messy kiss. They laughed before fitting their mouths together perfectly, a sigh of contentment slipping out of him as he kissed her back. If Ginny wasn’t careful, Gavin would admit a lot of things right there in the parking lot of an arcade. It would be poetic given their history, but that was not how he imagined telling her that he still loved her.
Instead, he pulled away with a gentle nip to her bottom lip and closed the door. Smiling to himself, Gavin walked around to the driver’s side and found Ginny grinning at him as he climbed in.
“I’m happy. Are you?” she asked.
Happy doesn’t even begin to cover it. Nodding, Gavin started up the truck. “Happiest I’ve been in a while.”
And it was true. Even when they were snapping at each other, Gavin had felt a sense of happiness because he had Ginny back in his life. But this kind of happiness was different. His feet hadn’t touched the floor since their evening at Mama Renata’s and his heart had beat this steady, comforting rhythm too. When he was with Chandler, she’d instilled a certain level of peace and happiness in him and Gavin had felt that impression of her in his life. But then the relationship ended and he went back to feeling like something was missing. It was only once Ginny came back into his life—pissing him off and turning him off all at the same time—that he resembled his old, full self.
