Even If No One Believes Us

I’m not exactly sure what possessed me to actually go into town with Rye Bread but I think it was some sort of ugly hate-me demon who wants to eat my soul. It was like I was being pulled out the door by the demon and it was completely whack.

Wackier then Whack-A-Mole.

Which, by the way, is the best game ever. Which brings us to the conversation, or argument, that was going on between Rye Bread and I.

“What the hell are you talking about? Dance dance revolution is much better then Whack-a-mole,” Rye Bread said as if it was completely obvious. His voice was laced with obvious-medicine. “You, unlike in Whack-a-Mole, get to move around and act insane if your playing DDR.”

“You do realize when you say ‘DDR’ it sounds like your saying ‘Durr’ which makes you sound like a total dip because your words mix together,” smirking at him, I continued. “Anyways, Whack-a-mole is a signature American game. For rizzle.”

“Who says that anymore?”

At that, I laughed out loud, throwing my head back. He stopped and watched me, shaking his head a few times. Then his hair landed in his face so he brushed it away, doing that little flick thing that all boys do. Which, by the way, is annoying. His pants were falling a bit, so he tugged them up just as we neared town.

“Look, there is Game Smart. It’s the perfect game arcade for us to actually see whose game is better. You up for the challenge, Lilly?”

I glanced up at the small sign over the arcade. It was neon green and flashing even in the day light. When I looked inside, I expected a bunch of nerds to be in there but if those guys were nerds, then I was the Easter bunny because they were hot.

Control yourself, Lilly. You have a boyfriend, remember?

No, I don’t remember. I told him to call me and he hasn’t. It’s like he turned his phone off or something.

“Stop talking to yourself and come on,” Ryan grabbed my arm and pulled me into the arcade. Once we were safely inside he dropped my arm and let me look around at the seeming small, from the outside, arcade. It was huge on the inside. It probably had every game imaginable. Ryan laughed at my shocked face. “Yeah, that’s what I looked like when I first moved here, too. It’s really something, isn’t it?”

I nodded, dumbfounded at the scene around me. The lights flashed around us like meteors in the night sky. The pings of the games sounded out like sirens. “Winner” was yelled by one game in that familiar electronic voice as a boy smiled with pride.

“I’m in heaven,” I gasped, catching my breath then beamed up at Ryan. “You know, Rye-Bread, you’re a pretty cool dude if you bring me here.” I smiled then disappeared into the arcade, shoving dollars like an addiction into the slot machines and in turn getting tokens spit out at me like an old man spitting tobacco.

“What? Did you just call me Rye Bread?” I heard Ryan call after me, as he tried to keep up with my addiction. He followed me around the arcade as I began to look for Whack-a-Mole. When I found it, my whole face practically turned into one of those huge smiley faces. “Oh, dear lord help me.”

Tokens flew in the game and my hand flew to the hammer as I began pounding the moles back into their holes. I smirked at the score as it began going up like crazy. Ryan leaned against the front of the game watching me with disbelief, just like all the gamers who stood around me cheering me on. My face was slightly covered in sweat as the score reached 1,000 points. My fingers slipped tokens in more and more until they were gone. The game attendant handed me a stack of tickets and when everyone cleared, Ryan was back in my view.

His lips were curled into a small smile and he flicked his hair out of his eyes. “Your pretty good at that game. Now, it’s my turn.”

He smoothly walked over to the coin machine and slid in a few bucks and waited until it spit coins into the holder. Sliding his hand through the slot, he grabbed his coins and slowly walked back over to the game, pushing me aside gently.

It was like the whole room went silent as he slid the first coin into the slot. A little ping told him to press the start button, and when he did the game started. His fingers and hands fumbled all over the place as the moles kept coming out and he kept hitting them down, he handed the coins to this boy next to him who continuously put the coins in for his game to continue.

500 points.

The little electronic voice dinged and Ryan looked up at me with a small smile.

1,000 points.

I stared at him, shocked, as he kept going. He had the same amount of coins I had, and his game was still a few minutes away from being done.

The points kept racking up and it ended in him having 1,500 points. The game stopped and he looked up at me.

“So, you still think you own at that game?”

My face flushed.

“Come on, they have a prize room too,” he laughed and took my hand, leading me through the countless gamers into a small room full of neon lights. Signs and small buckets of little trinkets filled the cabinets. Smaller prizes on the bottom and bigger prizes on top.

And that’s where I fell in love.

My eyes fell upon a big stuffed tiger resting on top of the old, dusty shelves. It’s big eyes intrigued me and it’s soft looking fur made me want to cuddle it. I flung myself over to the “Prize Master” as they called him, when really he was just the person who took the tickets and gave the prizes.

“How much tickets is that tiger?” I pointed up to the shelf as Ryan appeared behind me, watching me with interest as I nearly jumped up and down in anticipation.

“It seems that the tiger is,” he started then turned to a piece of paper that looked like it had all of the prices on it. His voice was rough and boyish at the same time. “It seems like that tiger is 2,500 tickets exactly.”

“Wow,” my voice came out exasperated and I smiled sadly at the boy. “I’ll have to try to go get more tickets and come back some other time.”

As Ryan and I left the shop, there were no words spoken between us.

And later, as I sat outside behind my house watching the sunset, I realized that maybe living here wouldn’t be too bad after all.

I mean, they had an arcade and really cute boys inside of it. The town was one that I always wanted to live in; Small, old fashioned and beautiful. I closed my eyes as the sun fell behind the earth, turning into night.

I heard foot steps behind me, then felt something drop into my lap. My eyes opened and I smiled at the huge stuffed tiger in my lap then looked up at my brother questioningly.

“Ryan dropped it off,” he shrugged. “He told me to give it to you. He said you seemed like you really wanted it, like it reminded you of something.”

I nodded and watched him leave then looked up at the full moon in front of me. It was weird how sometimes your worst enemy could turn into someone you hate, but yet still can be friends with. It was weird how the world worked. I stroked my tigers head and leaned my head against its.

“I think I’ll name you Ryan, but don’t tell him I named you that,” I whispered to no one but the tiger in my arms. “I still hate him, though."