Walking Travesty

The doorbell downstairs rings multiple times, and I hear someone yelling outside. I hurry down the stairs and throw open the door.
"What the fuck took you so long?" Emily asks as she hurries into my house.
"God, Em, I thought someone was dying." I follow her up to my room and she whips around to face me.
"Why aren't you dressed yet?" She asks, eyes wide.
I glance at the clock. "Because we aren't leaving for another two hours..."
"No excuse." She starts searching through my closet for the second time this week. "Unfortunately someone suggested we go to an arcade, so you can't dress up..."
"Oh, the horror," I mock gasp.
She throws a pair of black skinny jeans at me, which I just barely catch. "So is this Jack dude pretty?" she asks as she searches my drawers for a shirt.
"Yeah. He needs a haircut." Alex had introduced us earlier in the day and I realized that I might not be the only crazy person in school.
"On a scale of Donald Trump to Ryan Gosling he's a what?"
"Um, Pete Wentz." I push past her and grab my black Audrey Hepburn shirt out of the drawer.
"Ooh, so he's like a sexy band dude?" she asks as I strip down to my bra and underwear.
"Yeah, I guess." I put on the clothes and she motions for me to spin.
"I like it. Very hot in a casual 'I'm not really trying to impress you' sort of way."
"Thanks?" I laugh and start brushing out my hair.
She touches up her virtually flawless face with some makeup and adjusts her grey v-neck sweater so it shows off her chest better. "If he turns out to be ugly, I'm going to eternally hate you."
I laugh and examine myself in the mirror. "He's cute, I promise."
She smiles at our reflections and tousles her wavy hair. "Good." She turns to face me and pushes my hair out of my face. "If you happen to wanna get some tonight, you guys can have my couch."
I roll my eyes and lay down on my bed. "Thanks." I glance at the clock. Somehow the time had flown by, and it's almost time for them to be here.
"Now remember," she says as she paces back and forth in my small room. "No sarcastic, creepy or cynical comments. No political or sports related arguing."
I laugh and sit back up. "Whatever."
Just then the doorbell rings. Emily squeals and jumps up and down. "Okay, breathe," she instructs, even though she's the one who's practically hyperventilating.
I grab my purse and slide on my shoes and follow her downstairs. "Em, you're bouncing," I inform her as I open the front door.
Alex and Jack are both on the front step smiling. "Hey," Alex says, giving me an awkward half hug.
"Hi." I reply. "Jack, this is Emily, Emily, Jack." I motion between the two of them.
Jack's eyes are huge as he very obviously checks Emily out. "Hi, you're pretty," he says as he sticks his hand out.
She giggles and shakes it. "Thanks, you're quite pretty yourself."
Alex and I laugh and we all walk towards Alex's car. Since I'm dating the driver, I get shotgun. "I like your shirt," Alex says as he starts the car.
"That's code for 'I like your boobs'," Jack announces as he and Emily climb into the backseat.
Alex's cheeks turn pink. "Shut up, Jack."
"Just being honest..."
I grin at Alex and he rolls his eyes and turns on the radio. The car ride is slightly awkward. For Alex and me, anyways. Emily and Jack are chattering non stop and, by the time we get to the arcade, she's practically sitting on him.
We all pile out of the car and into the small, dimly lit building. "Welcome to Adventure Land," a bored looking teenage girl says from behind the counter.
Alex and I both reach for our wallets at the same time, but he shoos me away. "I've got it." I start to protest, but he's already handing the girl a twenty. "Tokens, please." She nods and presses some buttons on a machine, and it starts pouring quarter sized gold coins into the dish below. Alex scoops them all equally into four little cups and hands each of us one. Jack and Emily run off to the arcade and Alex and I follow behind. "I really do like your shirt," he says with a laugh.
I grin and stop in front of a Star Wars shooting game. "Thanks." I glance at his shirt, and it's almost identical to the Blink shirt he'd had on the other day, except it's blue. "You're a Blink fan?" I guess, since I'm just amazing at picking up on stuff like that.
"Biggest fan ever," he says excitedly. "Are you?"
I sit down in the one chair, and he takes the one next to me. "Um, I'm actually the biggest fan, sorry," I say with a smirk.
"Um, you're actually not." We both put in coins and press play.
"I've travelled out of state to see them," I say as I start shooting.
"Jack and I have met Mark Hoppus."
"I kissed him last year."
"I touched his butt."
I glance at him, which is a mistake because his character kills mine. "You touched his butt," I repeat slowly. "Well, I must say, this is my first time going out with a gay guy."
He laughs as round two of the game starts up. "How many people can say they've touched the ass of their idol?"
"Touche." I kill his character, resulting in him swearing and me laughing.
I wind up beating him, and then we move on to different games. The arcade is practically empty, except for us, Jack and Em and a couple pre-teens. I beat him in every game except for Dance, Dance, Revolution, which is sort of hilarious.
"Alex," Jack yells from across the arcade. "I'm hungry."
"We've only been here for an hour," Alex yells back.
"Sorry, I'll tell my fucking stomach to wait a little longer to die of starvation."
Alex laughs and rolls his eyes, then looks at me. "Sorry... do you wanna head over to get pizza?"
"Sure," I smile and we walk over to where Em and Jack are finishing up a very intense looking game of virtual basketball.
"Finally," Jack says in an exasperated voice. "Let's go get prizes and nourish ourselves."
Em and Jack skip towards the counter, arm in arm with their tickets trailing behind them. Alex and I follow and wait for them to cash in their tickets. "What are you gonna get?" I ask as I survey the different toys that look like they were all purchased at the Dollar Store.
"I don't know yet," he shrugs, then his eyes light up. "Woah, look at that freaking panda!"
My eyes follow his pointing finger until they land on a huge, pink stuffed panda bear. I laugh. "Questioning your sexuality again, Alexandria."
He frowns at me, then starts frantically counting his tickets. "Fuck, I'm like, twenty short."
"Here," I say, as I hand him my tickets.
His eyes widen. "I can't take your tickets!"
I roll my eyes. "You bought the tokens."
He hesitates, then grabs the tickets. "You sure?"
"Positive," I smile.
They finish getting their stuff and Alex and I move forward. He hands her the tickets. "The freaking giant panda, please," he says after she counts them out.
She grabs it down and passes it to him. "Anything else? You still have five left."
He motions for me to pick something out. I survey the five ticket rack, until I find a ring that I like. "That," I say, pointing at the butterfly shaped fake diamond.
The girl pulls it out and hands it to me, but Alex snatches it from her, and dramatically gets down on one knee. "Lina, I know I hardly know you, but... will you marry me?"
I laugh and grab it from him. "No, I don't think I could marry a guy who touched another guys ass on purpose."
He laughs and jumps back up and we all go outside. It's colder, the early spring warmth gone with the sun. I shiver a little and Alex frowns. "Shit, are you cold?"
"Nah, I'm fine."
He doesn't listen and throws his arm over my shoulder and pulls me against him as we walk. "Potato and I will keep you warm."
"Potato?" I ask, sort of questioning his sanity. I try to ignore the amazing scent that's coming off of him.
"Potato the Pink Panda," he says in a 'duh' voice.
I laugh and slide my arm around his waist. "I think they like each other," I say, pointing to Emily and Jack who are walking with their arms around each other. Jack's is resting very low on her back, and it keeps inching lower.
"I think I like you," he says.
My eyebrows fly up, surprised by his words. "Oh," is all I can say.
"Sorry," he mutters, running his free hand through his hair. "I just made things awkward..."
"No, no, you're fine," I assure him. "I um... I like you too."
He grins down at me and then we walk into the small pizza place. His arm leaves my shoulders, but his hand slides down to hold mine. Fuck, I was blushing.
We order a pizza then sit in one of the booths. Jack and Emily are talking incessantly about some sort of hairspray, which is kind of... weird. Alex's hand doesn't leave mine and it feels really nice, even though the small, OCD part of my wonders when he last washed his hands.
"Alex, can they come to practice tomorrow?" Jack asks suddenly.
"Practice?" I ask questioningly.
"We have a band," Jack informs me. "Alex is the singer, I play guitar, Zack plays bass and Rian plays drums."
"Okay, no idea who they are," I say with a laugh.
"You guys can come if you want," Alex says with a small smile.
I hesitate. "What time? I have therapy at four."
"Twelve thirty," Jack says. "You guys have to come so Emily can see how sexy I am on guitar!" Jack's lower lip juts out and he bats his thick eyelashes.
"Please can we go?" Emily begs.
I laugh and tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear. "Sure." They both start chattering excitedly. I turn to look at Alex, who's still smiling. "What's your genre?"
"Country," he says with a straight face.
I raise an eyebrow. "Please tell me you're joking..."
He laughs and rumples my hair. "You'll just have to see." Then he jumps up and goes to grab the pizza.
I know it sounds really stupid, and cheesy and girly, but my hand feels empty without his.