Untitled

“I don’t know what you’re so worried about,” Steph said to Emily as they walked across the parking lot to the arcade where they were going to meet their dates. Well, Emily was. Steph and her boyfriend, Jordan, were setting her up with the hot new rookie named Ryan. “I told him all about you, he’s going to love you.” Emily stopped dead in her tracks.

“What?” she said, sounding nervous. Steph laughed.

“It was all good, I promise,” she reassured her as she slung her arm around Emily’s shoulders, “I wouldn’t ruin your chances with him man.” They both laughed as they walked through the doors to the arcade. After a quick scan of the room, they spotted the guys standing at the ticket counter. Ryan noticed their presence first, nudging Jordan, who turned around excitedly, rushing to greet them.

“Hey,” he whispered to Steph as he hugged her tightly. She smiled.

“So this is Emily,” Steph said, gesturing to her, “and this is Jordan and Ryan.”

Ryan looked up at Emily, and they made eye contact. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

“Hi,” he said shyly, making Emily sway in her spot.

“Hi,” she replied, clearly stunned by his absolute perfection.

“We got the tokens,” Jordan said, holding up a baggie full of coins, “let’s go!” He grabbed Steph by the hand and led her over to the other side of the arcade to the DDR machine, leaving Ryan and Emily alone.

“Well,” Ryan said quietly. Emily just looked at him, not sure what to say, “what game do you want to play?”

Emily paused, thinking for a moment, “I like skeeball,” she said. He looked at her and his face lit up.

“Skeeball’s my favourite too!” he replied excitedly as he grabbed Emily’s hand. He led her over to the skeeball tables.

He watched Emily bend over and throw her skeeball. The way that her back curved paired with the look of sexy concentration on her face was just too much - he had to look away.

“Yessssss,” she said quietly. She had thrown a perfect ball. She turned to Ryan, who was blushing, “are you okay?” she asked, “am I really showing you up that badly?” She giggled as he turned even redder.

“N-no,” he stuttered, even though it was true. She had thrown seven perfect games, and he had lost miserably every time. It was embarrassing to be beat by a girl, especially a hot one.

“Do you want to go cash in our tickets?” she asked. He nodded.

“Yeah sure,” he agreed, grabbing her hand. A hint of red appeared on her cheeks as they walked through the arcade.

“Where’d Steph and Jordan go?” she asked out of the blue, wondering where her wingwoman went.

“Over there,” he gestured to a corner of the arcade. They were sitting on the floor, drinking soda and laughing their heads off. Jordan had an ice pack on his foot. She looked at them, then back at Ryan. He shook his head, “they always play Dance Dance Revolution, but they both can’t dance. I really don’t understand them sometimes,” he explained while laughing. She giggled again, as they reached the ticket counter. They handed the pimply, prepubescent boy their tickets and chose a giant teddy bear, an alien mask and handfuls of candy. They sat down on a bench and started talking about stuff. They talked about everything from their family, friends, school, what it was like in the NHL, their favourite foods etc.

“Do you like ice cream?” Ryan asked, not sure if that should have been obvious or not. Emily just laughed.

“Of course I do!” she exclaimed, “I’m a girl!” He burst out laughing.

“Jordan and I were talking about taking y’all for ice cream after this,” he pondered, rubbing his chin.

“Where’s your goatee?” Emily asked, in reference to his chin rubbing. He looked her dead in the eyes.

“Well don’t you have sass out the ass,” he teased, “you’ve been sassing me all night.”

“Have not!” she retorted, pretending to be offended.

“Have so!” he shot back.

“Nuh uh!”

“Yeah huh!”

“Nope!”

“Yes!”

“Noooo-” her last remark was cut short by him pressing his face up against hers. She felt her eyes widen, then she relaxed as he kissed her. After they pulled apart, she looked at him.

“What was that for?” she asked quietly.

“I’ve always wanted to shut a girl up by kissing her,” he replied, a little embarrassed. Emily blushed so hard, you would have thought she turned into a tomato.

“You’re so corny,” she said, “but I like it,” she smiled shyly.

He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Jordan and Steph.

“Hey lovebirds,” Steph said, winking at Emily, “want to go for ice cream?”

“Heck yes,” Emily replied, “of course I do!”

They both smiled and got up to follow the other two out the door. They were walking along when Ryan grabbed Emily’s hand again. They both watched Jordan and Steph whisper stupid jokes to each other.

“Why is the nose in the middle of the face?” Steph whispered to Jordan.

“I have no clue,” he whispered back, in a loud stage whisper.

“Because…” she paused for effect, “it’s the scent-er,” she whispered. They both looked at each other in forced silence before Jordan lost his composure.

“That was actually the worst joke ever,” Jordan said in between heaving breaths.

“Then why are you laughing so hard, Gappy?” Steph retorted as she hip checked him. Apparently Jordan didn’t like that because he used his man muscles to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder.

“jORDAN!” she yelled, “what are you doiiiiiing?” she really milked that. Emily started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Ryan asked her, with a suggestive smile. She turned to him, still laughing.

“What, it’s funny!” she replied.

“We’ll see about that,” he said, picking her and throwing her over his shoulder with his man muscles. They weren’t as manly as Jordan’s, but they were definitely manlier than hers.

“Nice ass!” Steph said to Jordan. Her face was practically at that level anyways, “you could probably bounce a nickel off of it,” she added as she slapped it.

“Yo, save it woman,” he said back to her, “or I’ll have to get revenge on you.”

She wrapped her arms around his torso, and started poking his ribs, knowing that he wouldn’t let go of her.

Emily, on the other hand, didn’t trust Ryan that much. She wrapped her arms around his skinny torso, hanging on for dear life. She could feel his rock hard abs.

“Is it still funny?” Ryan asked Emily, hoping he wasn’t pissing her off.

“HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA,” she replied, completely serious, “it sure is! You know, I’ve always wanted a guy to pick me up like this,” she added mockingly, “nice Captain America boxers,” she remarked on the edge of his underwear peeking out over top of his pants that were starting to slide off as they walked, “ever hear of a thing called a belt?”

“You’re so funny, Ms Sassy,” he said back to her, as she reached down and pulled them up for him so he didn’t lose them completely.

They were quite the sight walking up to the Tim Horton’s like that. One couple looking like they were in an abusive relationship, and the other having the girl acting like a human belt. They stopped walking and just before Ryan put Emily down, she pulled his jeans up really high, giving him a huge wedgie.

“Good lord thanks for that,” he said as he tried to free his pants from his butt crack, “that was much appreciated,” she was trying to conceal her laughter, but it wasn’t working. She started laughing uncontrollably. Jordan put Steph down, and stooped down to give her a quick kiss. She turned her head so he got a mouth full of her cray cray blonde hair.

“You’re just adding to the debt, Curly,” he reminded her in a playful voice, after he pulled away.

“What if that was my intention, Gappy?” she said back, grinning like an idiot. He shook her head at her, and she reached up and mussed his hair, a gesture he did not like anyone else doing but her.

“What debt?” Emily asked, legitimately curious. Jordan and Steph laughed.

“The broken toe debt,” Jordan explained in a mock-serious voice. Steph elbowed him.

“Your toe is not broken,” she said, “you can still move it mister.” He grinned at her and she shook her head.

“We should probably go inside, people are looking at us,” Ryan pointed out. He was right. The patrons inside of the building were staring at them. They went to the door and Jordan grabbed it. Once they had bought their ice cream and hot chocolate, they went and sat around a table for five, giving the fifth chair to the teddy bear that Emily had won.

“So, how exactly did you two meet?” Emily asked, suddenly aware that Steph had never told her the story. Jordan grinned mischievously.

“Well,” he started dramatically, “it was after a game-” Steph turned her head swiftly. Judging by her expression, that was NOT how it went. She didn’t say anything so he continued, “I was walking to my truck and all I heard was, ‘OH MY GOD JORDAN LET ME HAVE YOUR BABIES!!!’. I had no idea where it was coming from until I looked into the back of the truck and saw her sitting there with bunny ears on.” Steph was turning red from laughing so hard.

“Number one, I do not sound like that,” she said, still laughing. She was remarking on the overly dramatic falsetto he used to imitate her, “and number two, that is NOT how the story goes,” she finished.

“It’s how it -should- go,” he said back to her. She burst out laughing.

“In all seriousness, I worked with his mom at the bakery she owns in Calgary, and long story short, I wasn’t able to go home for Christmas, so she invited me over for dinner and guess who was there,” she paused for a second, “TAYLOR HALL!” Jordan rolled his eyes at her. “Oh and this guy,” she tossed her head in his direction. Then they both started laughing again. Emily started laughing, and soon Ryan. They were a mess. They quickly finished their food, knowing that they were going to get kicked out if they continued to be loud. Once they finished, they cleaned up their table and left. They started walking back to the arcade, where they had left their cars.

The walk back to the arcade was worse than the first one. Jordan tried to jump on Steph’s back, to get a piggy back, but it didn’t work so well. They fell onto the grass in a big pile of stupid.

As he kissed her, an Ed Sheeran song popped into her head. All I want is the taste that your lips allow. Emily could feel her body shaking from all of the FEELS. He was like all of the love songs coming true. Her brain was going ASDAFASDFALSKDJFASDHASDJ.

The music from inside the arcade was blaring. Lego House by Ed Sheeran was playing. They both glanced over at Jordan and Steph. They were dancing around, lip syncing the words to each other. Emily just shook her head.

“They’re such dorks,” Ryan remarked, “but they’re perfect for each other.” Emily smiled.

“Thanks for tonight,” she said quietly.

“No, thank you,” Ryan said back, “I’ve had a lot of fun.”

“I almost didn’t come,” she admitted quietly. Ryan looked a little shocked.

“Why?” he asked, nervous.

“I don’t know,” she admitted, “I thought I would be awkward around a superstar like you.” He shook his head quickly.

“Nooo,” he said, trying to reassure her, “you were far from it.” She smiled.

“Promise?” she asked, hoping he’d say yes.

“Promise,” he said firmly. He kissed her again. Hattrick for me, she thought in her head.

"And you're coming to the game tomorrow, right?" he asked, hoping the answer was yes. She looked confused, so he added, "Steph's got it covered."

She smiled, "thanks,"

They said their goodbyes, and exchanged numbers. Now Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran was playing. The very tribal part was playing, and Jordan and Steph were doing some weird tribal rain dance. At least that’s what it looked like to Emily and Ryan. The song ended and Jordan caught Emily and Ryan staring at them. He stopped Steph and she turned a bright shade of red.

“I guess you want to to home now hey?” she asked Emily.

“Well, not unless I have to,” she joked. It was getting pretty late, and Steph had to work the next morning, so they said their goodbyes (for Ryan and Emily it was twice).

Once in the car, Emily started bubbling over with excitement. She had such a great time.

“Thanks for forcing me to come,” she said to Steph.

“You wouldn’t have missed that, even if your life depended on it,” Steph joked.

She was right. Emily couldn’t wait until their next date.