Lucky

“Fuck,” Maxx muttered as I shot his avatar from behind.

“Pay more attention, you’re lagging,” I laughed, quickly popping a gummy worm in my mouth as he respawned.

The final match against Maxx was definitely a challenge, but I was so stoked to have someone difficult to play against for a change. Even so, there were definitely some cheap shots between us, as we were both on the same couch with barely any room to spread our elbows. He’d bump his knee into mine, making me fall down five stories and die. I’d shove his elbow back, making him miss a shot so I could throw a grenade at him and kill him without firing a single round from my rifle. All the guys – and even Jenny at times – would jeer when a sneaky kill or a far-away shot would win either of us another point towards the 25 kill limit.

“Dammit, Sara. You’re really giving me a run for my money,” Maxx complained after I killed him once more, evening the score (so far) to 19 kills.

“No, I’m giving you a run for free lunch,” I corrected, already hunting down Maxx’s coordinates. Zach laughed as he passed us to the kitchen, giving me a quick high-five.

After a few more cheap shots and countless gummy worms thrown at each other, Maxx and I whittled the score down to 24-24. My adrenaline was pumping—which, considering it was just a video game, was pretty stupid. But I wasn’t alone: Maxx’s knee was bouncing up and down like a jackhammer and both of us were flushed.

The last kill was quite an easy one. It wasn’t sneaky or from far away – it was your usual kill: shoot, throw a grenade, and shoot some more. The avatar was down in a matter of a few seconds, bloodstains on the concrete blocks beside the body. The score showed up on the screen, the winner’s name bolded.

He gave me a kiss on the cheek, dropping his controller onto the coffee table and reaching for his glass of peach tea.

“Nice job, Emerson.”

I was still stunned when Jenny hugged me from behind. All the guys jeered and groaned and exchanged money that was placed on the game. Zach came over and gave me a high five, promising me that he’d give me a cut of the fifty bucks he just won, thanks to me.

I had just beat Maxx Danziger in a game of Halo, along with virtually kicking the ass of everyone in the band, including Andrew. I still couldn’t believe it. I nervously chuckled as Jenny sat on the coffee table in front of me, cherry-cheeked and laughing at Maxx’s apathetic expression, as if he didn’t care he just got beat by a girl in a video game tournament.

But even after the fact, I wasn’t stunned by winning. Not by the guys wholly accepting me as a friend or the fact that I caught Jenny mid-make out with the scrawniest, most not-Jenny’s-type guy ever.

Maxx kissed me.

Granted, it was on the cheek. Like a friendly peck. Or a congratulations peck. Or maybe he did it because he had to find some way of expressing his excitement rather than throwing his controller or pissing his pants. But I still over-thought it, just like the teenage girl I was.

|||

The week after the Halo tournament, Maxx started dropping by Yummi’s almost every other day. At first, it was kind of annoying because he’d bring along Dan or Cody or Zach and they’d stay in the same booth for over an hour, throwing packets of soy sauce at each other or pissing off the older customers. Even worse would be when he’d bring Andrew, and Jenny would stare at him the entire time and sometimes space out long enough to not notice the phone was ringing until I’d nudge her with it.

Since the tournie, Andrew and Jenny hadn’t really hung out together; he hadn’t even asked her out. Mostly, he’d wave when he walked into Yummi’s or ask how she was doing if he ordered something, but beyond that, their relationship was practically nonexistent.

At least that’s what I thought until I came early one morning before Miss Xiong or Lenny. I had to clean and restock the bathrooms since I left early the night before, too tired to finish. I walked into the back, expecting the kitchen to be dark except for the plug-in Coca-Cola sign next to the wall phone, but instead, the entire back of the restaurant was lit up as Jenny and Andrew went at it on the front counter, much like when Maxx and I first caught them making out.

I cleared my throat and flickered the lights, reaching over to grab my waist apron and the yellow rubber gloves next to the sink. Jenny finally stopped sucking on Andrew’s face long enough to look over his shoulder and see me leaning against the stove, a hand on my hip and my waist apron tossed over one shoulder.

“You’re lucky it’s just me and not your aunt,” I said, standing up straight and slipping on one of the gloves. “Because if she saw you guys here…” I laughed and pulled on the other glove, still staring at my beat-up Vans. Jenny didn’t need my help to imagine what would’ve happened. To be brief, it probably would have included some form of yelling – either in English or Chinese or a slew of the two – and some back-and-forth gossip between Miss Xiong and Jenny’s mother, her sister-in-law.

“I… I, uh, hope you’re not mad,” Jenny muttered, jumping off the counter and guiding Andrew by the hand behind her as she made her way to the back of the kitchen.

“Mad? Why would I be mad?” I chuckled and tied my apron extra tight, reaching over for Jenny’s to hand to her. “You’re my best friend. I’m only looking out for you, bro.”

“Thanks,” she said, smiling as she wrapped her arms behind her back to tie it. Andrew helped her out, and she murmured her thanks, her cheeks faintly flushing.

“But wait…” I reached over for the mop that we kept by the kitchen floor drain, taking the bottle of bleach inside the bucket next to it and pouring some in. “Why are you here, Andrew? I mean, not that I don’t like you or anything. But, y’know,” I added, rolling the bucket under a tap next to the drain and turning it on, “you’re usually with the guys when you’re here.”

“Oh, um…” He cleared his throat, brushing a hand through his light blond hair. “About that… I’m gonna answer the phone for you, ‘cause, uh, Maxx thought he could buy you lunch today. For the bet,” he belatedly added, glancing every now and then to Jenny as she bit back a laugh of excitement.

“Today?” I repeated, shutting off the tap and dunking the mop into the water, a few drops cascading onto the old tile of the kitchen. “But I was just about to clean the bathrooms!”

“Only you would complain about not getting to clean up other people’s shit,” Jenny quipped, laughing as Andrew suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Ugh,” I groaned, rolling the bucket of murky water towards the side door. “You guys are too cute that even the sight of you together is enough to get me out of here, never mind Maxx buying me lunch,” I laughed.

“Here.” Jenny unwrapped Andrew’s arms from her waist and took the mop from me, even reaching out for the rubber gloves. “Go put on something other than that old A Day To Remember shirt and come back in two hours. Maxx’ll be here then, okay?”

“Okay?” I stretched out, ripping the gloves off. “But you’re sure I can’t—?”

“If you even hint at wanting to work today, so help me, I’ll kick your ass outside and throw the mop water out after you,” she interjected, turning me around by my shoulders and lightly shoving me in the back door’s direction. “That’s an order, Sara.”

“Fine, I’m going!” I conceded, reaching out to open the door. “But you’re sure Andrew doesn’t need some help—?”

“Go!” she yelled, waving a yellow glove. “Before the mop water!” she added, balling up the glove and throwing it at me. I ducked behind the door before it hit me, laughing raucously.

“Thanks, Jenny. You, too, Andrew,” added, giving them both a shy grin. “You guys are great.”

“Okay, enough chit-chat! Move it, Emerson, or I’ll kick your sexy ass.”

I laughed when Jenny smacked the other glove in her hand and raised a menacing eyebrow. “Fine! Going!” I finally conceded, letting the door slam behind me.

|||

With a shower and a quick breakfast, I drove back to Yummi’s after changing out of my work clothes and tossing on some cutoffs and an old My Chemical Romance t-shirt. When I parked behind the restaurant and walked up to the back entrance, I found that Jenny had taped a piece of paper to the door that said in her perfect print: “Go to the front, lover boy is waiting.”

I scoffed, ripping off the sign and crumpling it up despite the smirk on my face. I walked around the building to the front and past Starbucks to reach Yummi’s entrance, tossing the sign into one of the trash bins on my way. Maxx was already seated at one of the patio tables, his head buried under his folded arms on the table. I could see his red M&M headphones coil around the back of his neck and under his plaid button up, the nape of his neck beaded with sweat.

“Hey,” I greeted, nudging his chair with my foot.

His head shot up and he smiled at me, his eyeglasses askew at the end of his nose. He set them straight and fixed his hair, finally pulling out his headphones. I could hear some drum solo come from them as he quickly pulled out his phone and turned off the music.

“Hey,” he sighed, stuffing his phone back into the pocket of his jeans, his keys jingling as his hand brushed against them. He fixed his glasses again, pulling at his plaid shirt to fan himself.

“How long have you been out here?” I asked, quickly looking at my wristwatch. “It’s only a quarter ‘til twelve.”

“Maybe an hour?” he guessed, slightly shrugging his shoulders. “Eh, I don’t know. But you’re hungry, right?” he confirmed, squinting his eyes in the sunlight. “I mean, ‘cause if you’re not, we can do this some other time, or we can do something else, or… Or whatever,” he suggested, biting his lip and rushing a hand through his hair.

“No, no, I’m hungry,” I said, sticking my hands into my pockets. “What did you have in mind?”

“Uh, well… I was thinking Chinese,” he abashedly suggested, quickly looking over his shoulder and into Yummi’s. “I… I mean, if it’s okay. It’s just, I don’t have much money, and… Well, you know Yummi’s is super cheap, so…” He sighed, giving me a reserved look. “I’m sorry I can’t really… I mean, if you just want to hang for the day or something, that’s cool. I make a mean pasta sauce,” he muttered, standing up from his chair.

“No, Chinese is great.” I laughed as his eyebrows perked up, a smile slowly growing across his lips. “Just as long as we go to my place to eat it. I’m ready for a Halo rematch,” I said, poking him in the chest.

He laughed and pushed in his chair. “But you won last time!” he pointed out, reaching to push open the door to Yummi’s and letting me walk in first. He pulled off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt, sticking them back on again. “That hardly calls for a rematch.”

“What? You’re too afraid to be beaten twice?” I taunted, walking backwards to the end of the one-man line to the front counter.

Maxx laughed, trying to hold back a grin as he smirked and pointed behind me. “Not even. But it’s your turn to order.”

|||

We ended up taking my car back to my house. As I drove, Maxx was unable to sit still, bouncing his leg up and down or messing with the radio, constantly switching between a Top 40 and Christian rock station. We kept on a conversation solely about Halo, comparing the original X-Box game to each of the new versions of the game. I’m not gonna lie; it felt good to nerd out with someone like Maxx and not Jenny. Jenny may have been obsessed with Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series, but she hated video games, even if the only video game I ever talked about was Halo.

When I opened the door, Cinnamon, our family’s golden retriever, came bustling down the hallway, barking incessantly until I patted her on the head and scratched her behind the ears. She sniffled Maxx’s feet as he followed in behind me down the hallway and carried the food, and sniffed the plastic bag in his hands before barking twice and running back into the living room.

My mother and father both worked and my younger brother David was out playing soccer with friends, but my sister Becky was still at home, most likely in the living room watching TV. But when we walked past the living room and into the kitchen, Becky wasn’t there either – but there was a note on the fridge that said she’d gone to our neighbor’s house down the street to hang out with one of her best friends. I crumpled up the sticky note and tossed it in the trash before letting a barking and excited Cinnamon outside.

“Cute dog,” Maxx chuckled, ripping open the bag of Chinese food.

“Thanks,” I muttered, walking across the kitchen to look for some paper plates. “Cinnamon, she… She never gets that excited meeting new people. She’s always shy and stuff, but I guess you’re an exception,” I guessed, reaching up for some Dixie plates above the stove.

Maxx laughed, taking out the two Styrofoam boxes of Szechuan beef. “Hey, Sara, I always wanted to know… Um, since you work at a Chinese restaurant, do you ever get sick of Chinese food?” he asked, taking out a small brown bag that held the egg rolls, our fortune cookies, and the sauce packets.

“I actually used to hate Chinese food,” I admitted, dropping the plates onto the table. I took the brown bag from Maxx and opened it, pulling out the soy and duck sauce.

“Oh. Oh! Crap. So… this was a bad idea, right? If it is, just say so. We can, like…” He paused, setting his hands on his hips as he gazed at me, biting his lip. “I can still make a good pasta?” he half-asked, looking hopeful.

I laughed, shaking my head, no, no, that’s okay, it’s fine, please, you’re too sweet. “No, I said I used to hate Chinese food. Emphasis on the used.” I laughed and pulled out the wax paper bag of egg rolls. “When you work at a Chinese restaurant with a boss like Miss Xiong, lunch breaks only last so long when she’s lurking around. Plus, Lenny gives us free food.” I opened the bag and reached for one of the Dixie plates I had gotten out. “So… how many egg rolls do you want?”

“As many as possible,” he replied, grabbing a fortune cookie from the bag. “Do you read your fortune before or after you eat?” he asked, handing me the other cookie.

“I don’t ever really eat fortune cookies,” I confessed, taking it from between his fingers and briefly staring at it. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t like getting my future predicted by a vanilla-flavored cookie.”

Smirking, Maxx nodded and reached for a plate, setting his cookie on its edge. “We’ll wait until after we eat. I always find I get the best fortunes after my mouth is red-hot with spicy beef. As they say, Szechuan beef will Szechuan fire,” he joked, reaching for the chopsticks sticking out of the brown bag.

I paused, a packet of soy sauce tucked between my fingers. “That was the lamest joke I have ever heard.”

“Wasn’t it?” he agreed, slightly wincing. “But at least I didn’t make it up,” he pointed out, flourishing his chopsticks like drumsticks.

I laughed and shook my head at Maxx in mock disapproval. “It was still the lamest joke ever.” As he chuckled, I reached for the open bag of egg rolls, but my fingers accidentally collided with Maxx’s.

“Oh, um—sorry,” Maxx muttered, retracting his hand. “You… You can…” He gestured to the egg rolls, clamping his mouth shut and mussing the hair at the nape of his neck.

“Thanks,” I said, reaching for two and setting them on my plate. “Okay, so, I have Netflix, so whatever you want to watch, I’m up for it.”

“Sweet!” He grinned and reached for some Szechuan beef, piling it messily onto his plate with a plastic spoon. “How about porn?”

I steeled myself, my eyes bug-wide. “Wh-what?” I stuttered, tucking some hair behind my ear.

Maxx laughed loudly, his eyes crinkling as he covered his mouth with his hand. “J-Joke. Sometimes older people make jokes.” He laughed again, cornering some of his rice on his plate. “God,” he sighed, “you should’ve seen your face, Sara.” He chuckled some more, quickly sticking his spoon in his mouth and grabbing the packet of soy sauce from my hand.

“You are such a tease,” I groaned, smacking his arm with the back of my hand. “That was horrible, Maxx!” I giggled childishly anyway and reached for the other Styrofoam box of Szechuan beef. “No, but seriously, what do you want to watch?”

“Mmmm…” he hummed, licking the soy sauce off his fingers. “I think I’ve got an idea.”

We ended up eating lunch in my room on my bed next to my wall of concert photos and posters. Maxx had fawned over them when he first walked into my room, along with my brother Matt’s old Spider-Man sheets that I had on my mattress. Maxx ended up choosing the movie, and decided we just had to watch The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Along with Pokémon and other 90s things, Maxx was a self-proclaimed fanatic of the TV show when he was younger, and he still owned the movie on VHS – it was even at his apartment. During the entire movie, Maxx kept quoting line after line, even trying to mimic each actor’s voice. It was hard not to laugh, especially when he kept making funny faces at me when he would try to imitate the evil Ivan Ooze or Kimberly, the Pink Ranger.

But even after all the Coke that we drank, I ended up drifting off to sleep on my bed, even as Maxx was repeating lines from the movie over and over. I don’t know how it was even possible, or how I ended up that way. I mean, yeah, I guess Chinese food can make people sleepy. A full stomach always makes my dad want to take a nap or watch football and sleep in his dark-red leather La Z Boy. But I would have never in a million years expected to wake up from a spicy beef-induced nap and find myself cuddling with a boy – let alone with Maxx.

I guess you wouldn’t call it cuddling. It was more like leaning back and landing myself on Maxx’s chest. His head rested against a pile of pillows we’d pushed to the end of my bed against the wall before we started eating. One of his legs was criss-crossed under my back and the other hung over the edge of the mattress where his beat-up Vans were kicked off onto the floor. His arm rested inline with my own, his hand completely engulfing mine as his thumb moved back and forth over my knuckles. He lightly snored, somewhere between asleep and awake, and his glasses were askew at the end of his nose. Our plates sat empty on the ground except for our fortune cookies, and the Netflix menu shone on my computer screen on my desk.

I sat up with a start, turning around to see Maxx only slightly bothered by my sudden movement. But he soon opened his eyes, blinking rapidly before reaching a hand up to fix his glasses.

“What the hell?” he mumbled, trying to sit up. I nudged his arm from mine, and it flopped onto his chest, an oof escaping his lips.

“I’d say the same thing,” I muttered to myself, getting up from my bed and straightening up my wrinkled shirt.

“Oh, fuck,” he mumbled, pushing himself up from the pillows. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…”

I messed with the bracelets on my left wrist, trying to find something to distract me from Maxx as his button-up rode up his chest when he leaned back against the pillows, exposing the edge of his boxer-briefs.

“I… I shouldn’t have…” He mumbled something to himself, a couple of curse words escaping under his breath as he ran his fingers through his hair, making it stick up even more than it already was. He gave me a furtive glance, and we locked eyes for a moment before I diverted my gaze back to my hands again. “I’m sorry,” he quickly offered, standing up and pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. “I shouldn’t have… I’ve gotta…” He paused and took a deep breath. “I just… S-s-sorry.”

He picked up one of the fortune cookies from a plate on the floor and stuffed it so frantically into his front pocket that I could hear the cookie crumble in its wrapper. But before he left my room, he paused in the doorway and gave me an embarrassed look, his cheeks aflame.

“I… I shouldn’t…” He bit his lip and quickly turned around, walking down the hallway and out of my sight. But a few seconds later I could hear him pause and turn back around, slowly making his way back to my room.

“Okay, two things: One, I forgot my shoes; and two, I-I-I need a ride.” He gave me a sheepish grin, his hair mussed everywhere and his glasses still crooked at the end of his nose.

I nodded, a grimace fighting to make itself shown, and stood up from my bed. I grabbed his smelly, ripped up red Vans from the floor and walked to the doorway, pushing them into his chest as he let out a muffled grunt. I brushed past him and started down the hallway, my keys already unhooked from my belt loop, without saying another word.