Second Chances

Her eyes lit up when they pulled in to the parking lot with the giant sign that read: Mini Golf – Go Karts – Arcade Games.

“I figured you needed some fun after everything that’s happened,” He said nervously, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

She turned to face him with a huge smile. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled him in for a hug. “Thank you Brian. Thank you so so much,” She said close to his ear.

“You’re welcome Sam,” He replied quietly, hugging her tighter.

Their moment was broken and Brian took the keys out of his car with him while they both got out. Little did Sam know, but he had a few tricks up his sleeve tonight.

As they walked in, Sam took a left and headed for the bathrooms while Brian kept moving forward towards the counter.

“Hey Gates!”
“Hey Shawna,” He smiled back at the dark brunette behind the counter.

“Is that the lucky girl?” She asked, hinting to Sam. Brian nodded. “Well Mr. Hanson said it was alright for tonight since Wednesdays are usually one of our slower nights. But he said you had to keep up with your end of the bargain and bring the posters for his son.”

“Already done and signed. I’ll bring them by tomorrow afternoon.”

Sam came back out and walked up to Brian. She noticed the dark brunette and gave a friendly smile, which she gladly returned.

“Enjoy your night guys,” Shawna said before disappearing into another room.

Sam looked up and Brian with a puzzled expression. A cocky smile played on his lips as he debated in his head whether he should tell her now or not. Telling her now obviously won.

“This whole place is ours for tonight.”

Her jaw nearly hit the floor when she heard those words. “Are you fucking kidding me?!”

He laughed at her reaction. “Nope babe, whatever you want to do tonight,” He said putting an arm around her shoulder and leading her out to the go kart track.”

“Have I ever mentioned that you’re the coolest one of all the guys?” She said with a cheesy grin.

“I don’t think they’d be happy if you told them that.”

“Whatever, they can deal. I want to beat your ass in this race though.”

She pushed his arm off and took off for the track where a guy already stood, waiting for them to get there. A black and a purple kart were already at the starting gates for them. Sam decided to be nice and let Brian have the purple one, taking the black one for herself.

“I let you have your favorite color because I knew you wouldn’t be mad losing in your favorite color kart,” Sam explained, buckling herself in.

“And so you picked the other one so you could blend in on a lighted track?” He asked, raising his brow and mimicking her actions.

“That’s right baby! I’m gonna be the Dark Knight!”

Brian shook his head and laughed. “Okay Batman.”

“Let’s go Barney.”
“Barney?”

“Well you can’t be the Joker,” She said in a simple tone. “That would make you my enemy and I would have to defeat you.”

“Whatever you say,” He said, taking the wheel in his hands.

The lights in front of them started their countdown, starting at red and going through the three stages of yellow before finally turning green. Brian and Sam stepped on the gas and took off around the track, giving dirty looks to each other and smashing each other in to the wall every now and then.

When the final turn came on the last lap, Brian took his foot off the gas and Sam sped past him, crossing the finish line and pumping her fist in the air. She took a victory lap around the track as he pulled back in to where they started, admiring her child like behavior.

He thought it was adorable.

She pulled in behind him, unbuckling herself and meeting him where he was standing.

“That was fun!”

“You up for golf?”

Her eyes dropped to the ground. “You, Matt, and Zacky are way better than I could ever be.”

“Awh come on Sam! You just have to take the putter and hit the ball and make sure it get’s in to the hole,” He explained, grabbing two putters and two colorful golf balls.

Sam tried to hold in her laughter, but she couldn’t.
“That’s what she said.”

Brian rolled his eyes. “So mature.”

“Oh you know it!”

They set off for the first hole and to Sam’s surprise; she didn’t do half as bad as she thought she would. Brian was a bit better though, only taking three shots while it took Sam six. It continued in that pattern for the next four holes, ending up with Sam almost taking out the little windmill with her putter because it wouldn’t let her get the ball through.

Brian chuckled as he watched her take her stand at the seventh hole. She looked like a stripper holding on to a pole. Her eye down on the neon colored ball and her arms all in the wrong spot.

“Sam.”

“Shut up! I’m concentrating!” She hissed. He shook his head and leaned his putter up against the hole marker.

“Sam.”

“I got this!”

He ignored her and stood behind her, wrapping his hand over hers on the top of the putter. A swirl of butterflies filled her stomach as her breathing became a little shallow.

“You have to hold it the right way in order for it to get to the hole,” He explained, swinging the club just above the ball with his hands still on hers.

Now was not the time to crack another ‘that’s what she said’ joke so Sam kept her mouth shut, though he did give her the perfect opportunity.

“And if you keep your eye on where you want it to go instead of the ball, it’ll go further.”

He pulled her in to his chest, making her stand up straighter. “It’s all about the posture too.”

He leaned in close by her ear, placing the putter right in front of the ball. “Check where the ball is at.” She looked down, as did he. “Then look where you want it to go.” He saw the end hole and was right on target. “Then swing,” He said and brought her arm back, swinging and hitting the ball.

While the neon ball traveled down the green carpeting, Sam put her head on Brian’s shoulder and looked up at him. She didn’t even know what he was saying the whole time he was giving her her ‘lesson’. All she could focus on was his breath hitting her neck and how good it felt.

He stiffened up, assuming that he did something wrong, but realized he did nothing when he saw the glimmer in her eyes. There was this moment of silence between them where no words were being spoken verbally, but the constant moving of eyes made everything so clear.

What happened next was unexpected, for the both of them.

It took her a second to register it in her brain, but his face was getting closer to hers. She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes, letting it go the minute she felt him place a light butterfly kiss on the corner of her mouth. Then, she felt the electric shock when his lips finally touched hers.

She knew it was wrong, but she wasn’t going to stop it.

He left her with one last gentle kiss before pulling away and watching her eyes flutter open.

Then the realization of what he had just done hit him. He quickly let go of her and stared at her mortified. “Sam … I …”

She bit her bottom lip again, not really knowing what she should say to him. After all, she did kiss him back and she did like it.

But he just got out of a relationship and she wasn’t sure if she was ready for one quite yet.

FML.