Ophelia McCarthy (breatheoutside) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-10-08 10:59:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | #november 2017, liam, liam x ophelia, ophelia |
Who: Liam and Ophelia
Where: High School
When: After school, Tuesday, Nov 14
Status: Complete
With all the rain that had kept him inside all weekend, Liam was glad to be back in school. He’d felt like a shut in, but it was so cold outside, and so wet, that he just didn’t feel like facing the weather. He’d done his fair share of that Friday night, marching through the storm over to Jen’s house, but that had been worth it. It had been fun hanging out with her, something he hoped to repeat that weekend, so long as he could come up with a good movie. It felt like it was important that he select something good in order to keep it going, even if he hoped she’d still want to hang out if he picked out a dud. He also wanted to ask about Hunter and Sebastian, even if he knew it wasn’t any of his business. Knowing that Hunter had been possessed, and that Sebastian was a witch, it made him curious. But he didn’t know what Jen knew and he’d told her he could keep his mouth shut. It felt like he should prove that, even when it came to keeping it from her.
At least there was one person who might know things, who he could ask without giving anything away. When he spotted Ophelia in the halls after school, he called out to her and waved, then started in her direction. He wasn’t in a hurry to get anywhere today and it would be nice to catch up. “Hey,” he smiled. “Haven’t seen you around as much lately. Greg keeping you hidden away?”
Ophelia was in damn good spirits, herself. Her mother had been true to her word and made a doctor’s appointment for her for Thursday, so she would be on birth control before the week was out. She was excited for that, even if she knew it would take a month or so to be effective. It was just responsible preparations for the future, and that just made Phee feel better about everything. Maybe that made her a dork, but whatever. It was for a sexy cause.
She was at her locker switching out the books she would need when she heard her name. Phee looked up and smiled brightly as she saw Liam approaching. She’d been meaning to catch up with him, and doing so outside of school hours somewhere there wouldn’t be any prying ears would be for the best. “Hey!” she greeted cheerfully. Leaving her backpack on the floor, Phee gave him a one-armed hug once he was close enough. “Not on purpose ... but we have been eating lunch together a lot. Sorry! Are you rushing off somewhere?” She picked her bag up to slip over her shoulders.
“It’s cool. I’d be more worried if you weren’t eating together,” Liam said. Greg seemed like a nice guy, but he ran with a crowd that could be kind of superficial, that might protest his junior band nerd girlfriend sitting with them. Well, except for Sebastian. Liam supposed that helped. Either way, he was glad they were making it work. He’d never seen Ophelia look so happy. “Nope, not going anywhere fast. Just home. Maybe by that new arcade on the way? I dunno, I’m not in a hurry.” He could call his mom to come pick him up, or he could rush to catch the bus, but he kind of wanted the freedom of getting home whenever he wanted.
Phee was honestly kind of grateful that when she and Greg did have lunch, they had it somewhere alone and not at his usual table in the cafeteria. Greg wasn’t hiding their relationship by any means, but Phee wasn’t ready to try and make a place for herself with those kids. Not only were they all popular and athletes and snobby, they were all seniors. So just having her boyfriend to herself while they ate -- or didn’t eat, more often -- was fine by her. She needed to eat with Liam more though, she told herself. And Jen. “There’s a new arcade?” she asked, looking pleasantly surprised. Phee hadn’t heard. “You wanna go? I’ll walk with you!”
“Yeah, totally!” Liam grinned. “I was hoping to go this weekend, but we were kinda rained in and I wasn’t even sure it’d have power, you know?” The whole town had been kind of a mess, some of the roads too deep to drive on, and he knew some people had had issues with flooding. He’d been lucky Jen’s dad had been able to drive him home, otherwise he’d have been stuck. Which wouldn’t have been bad, he liked hanging out with Jen, but… he couldn’t help but think it wasn’t the sort of sleepover he’d enjoy. Not a place his brain needed to go. “So how’re things with you and Greg anyways? Taking him to the dance?”
“Yeah, it was gross,” Phee agreed with a nose wrinkle. Then she had to grin, because Liam was asking about Greg, and that was an invitation to gush. At least a little bit, right? Gushing was part of the fun of finally having a boyfriend. “Things are um, kind of amazing,” she said with a huffed laugh and a bit of cheek flush. Phee reached up to tuck some hair behind her ear, then stuck her thumbs into the straps of her backpack. “He’s so sweet to me, and we have a good time together, and ugh, the making out is like, unbelievable.” It was more than making out, of course, but Phee didn’t need to gush too much, even if she wanted to. “But yes, I asked him and he wants to go.” She beamed at Liam. “How are you?”
Liam didn’t mind listening to a little bit of gushing. Ophelia had listened to him whine about girls on and off for years, so it seemed fair. If they were still together in six months and she was still gushing, then he’d probably start in with the hard eye rolling. “Glad the making out is incredible,” he said with a laugh. That’s what everyone wanted, wasn’t it? Someone they liked, had fun with, and enjoyed making out with. It was unfortunate that it was so hard to come by. “I’m good,” he smiled with a little shrug. “Not a lot going on. My mom’s teaching me some new stuff, so that’s been kinda cool.” It would have been nice to share it with Ophelia, but he knew how her family felt about magic. There just weren’t a lot of witches their age to talk to.
Seeing how Greg had been Phee’s first kiss even, the quality of making out seemed to be pretty damn important. Maybe she just didn’t have enough experience to know better, but so far everything she and Greg had done had been fantastic, and that wasn’t something to take for granted. Phee had heard too many stories about girls her age having bad experiences when it came to sex. Not that Liam would probably get that, so Phee would leave it at what she’d said already. Plus, Liam wasn’t making out with anybody as far as she knew, and it would be rude to rub it in. “Yeah?” she asked, looking over at Liam with a quirked eyebrow. “What kinda stuff?” She turned to start walking toward the exit with him.
Sometimes Liam worried about talking about magic in public, but with so few people even believing in it, he knew they were more likely to think he was talking about a movie or a game if they overheard anything. “New protection spells. How to seal off a room from different sorts of threats. Or the opposite, like how to trap something in. It’s not super exciting, but the base spell can be used a bunch of different ways.” He knew he was nowhere near creating his own spells, but he liked trying to understand the theory behind it all. Someday he’d get there, even if he had no idea what he was going to do with it.
Phee knew they weren’t the kind of people that most of their peers paid attention to, and talking casually about something made it look totally normal. She smiled at what Liam said and nodded. “That’s awesome, sounds like good stuff to know,” she told him. Phee glanced around them to make sure nobody was directly around before she added, “Our dad is going to start teaching us. We had our first lesson on Sunday, and it went really well.” She grinned a bit; even if she couldn’t get into the specifics about why this parental change of heart had happened, it was all too exciting not to share.
Liam kind of believed that so long as he was living in Point Pleasant, the more magic he knew, the better. He wasn’t sure how it was other places, but here the need to protect and defend from the weird seemed higher than normal. It reminded him of Jen and her brother and the demon possession. Maybe if they’d had wards on their house, Hunter would’ve been safe, but it was hard to say. Maybe he should offer to put some up, once he had a little practice on his own. “Seriously? That’s awesome!” Liam grinned. “Did you learn anything fun? What’d you start with?” He’d never quite understood why Ophelia’s parents were so against her learning magic and was glad to hear they’d had a change of heart, for whatever the reason. It seemed like such a waste, especially with someone like Ophelia who was usually a quick study and seemed to have natural talent.
“Just really basic stuff,” Ophelia said, shrugging one shoulder. “How to call forth our element, then how to keep it under control.” Sebastian hadn’t been so great at that part, it seemed like, and he’d been frustrated about it. Phee couldn’t really blame him. It seemed like the Magic 101 lessons they should have been getting years ago. Better late than never was a valid angle, but still, Phee couldn’t help but be kind of resentful that it had taken this long and something crazy like Bash doing what he did for their parents to think they needed to know this stuff. “But it’s going to be a weekly thing, so hopefully we’ll get a handle on it pretty fast.” Phee smiled at Liam. “Then maybe we can practice together!” She usually didn’t like having study partners, but with magic it seemed a little different.
“You’ve got to start somewhere and the fact that you’re finally getting to start is huge,” Liam grinned. He thought most new witches usually had issues with either one or the other— calling their element or controlling it. His issue had been control. He could call forth a first at thirteen, but too often that resulted in him setting something on fire. Luckily, he’d mastered that. The only time he’d lost control in recent years was when he’d almost thrown a fireball at Jen, but those were different circumstances. He’d thought she was a ghost. “If you’re getting weekly lessons, you’ll catch up fast. I’d love to practice with you. It’d be nice to, like, share spells and shit. All the others I know are so far above me.”
Phee had the feeling that Sebastian wouldn’t want to practice with her all the time, so having another witch in training to try stuff with sounded great. She’d always been envious of how open Liam’s family was about magic, and that she got to learn. It had just been so unfair of her parents, no matter what the reason was. She was going to try not to be bitter though, things were changing. “Yeah, for sure,” she agreed with a grin. “I’d love to know what you know. I dunno how much my dad plans on teaching us, but I wanna learn as much as I can.” Now that they’d unlocked that door, Phee didn’t want anything else to get in her way. She would soak in magical knowledge wherever she could, whether they liked it or not. That was how she felt, anyway. She pushed through the doors with Liam and headed down the school steps, breathing the crisp air in deep. “I don’t even care if it makes me a basic bitch, I love fall,” she added with a content sigh.
Liam knew exactly what Ophelia meant. He wanted to learn as much as he could and he didn’t want to be restricted to what his mother was willing to teach him. He didn’t think he was all that interested in dark magic, but there were some things he’d like to know, just in case he ever needed them. Like how to banish a demon. He tried not to go there, sure that was way beyond him and hoping he never needed something like that. Still, he’d prefer to at least have the spell available, just in case. “I don’t think anything about you is basic,” he said with a little laugh, tucking his hands into his coat pockets. He had something he wanted to talk to her about, but he was hoping to get a little farther from the school first. “I like the fall. The colors, the scents, the holidays. I feel like it’s the time of year that goes by the fastest. Once the snow starts, I feel like it’s winter forever.”
She gave a little appreciative laugh at that, glancing over at Liam. “I mean, I kind of have to love spring when everything’s blooming, but autumn’s my next favorite,” she agreed. “Everything just smells different and it’s just ... another cycle in all of it, you know? And I love the cooler air and candy corn and hoodies and everything.” It was also possible that she was just riding this young love high and everything looked amazing through that lens, but whatever. Phee was going to enjoy it for as long as it lasted. She deserved to feel something besides crappy about herself for a while. “So how’s it going?” she asked, nudging Liam with her elbow. She gave him a little grin. “Hung out with Jen much lately?”
“Yeah, I kind of suspected spring was your favorite,” Liam smiled. With the way Ophelia was with plants, even without training, he couldn’t imagine any other season topping the list. It was hard for him to decide which he liked best. There was something enjoyable about every season, so long as it didn’t linger longer than it should. But for every one he liked, there were also things he didn’t like. It was one of the few times that picking a favorite seemed impossible. “We watched a movie together Friday night,” Liam said with a little half smile. “Just as friends, but it was fun. My power was out and she invited me over.” Sometimes it was easy and other times he struggled. The key, he knew, was to keep pretending things were normal until they were. He’d meet someone else eventually and then they’d be cool.
Phee probably should’ve liked summer more than she did, with how good it was for all the plants, but she hated being too hot, so there was that. The sticky humidity and mosquitoes were not her jam. But every time of year had something to offer. She was more interested in what Liam said about Jen than breaking down the seasons. Phee raised her eyebrows and smiled at him. “Hey, that’s a good sign though, right?” she suggested. “What kind of movie did you watch?” She didn’t know quite how Jen felt about Liam, so she didn’t want to try to play matchmaker too hard, but an invitation over during a power outage was a good start to something more than friends. At least in her romance-drenched mind.
“I guess. I mean, she said she likes me, but not…not like that. Or something,” Liam frowned a little, trying to explain, except he wasn’t entirely sure he understood. He just knew that Jen just wanted to be friends and he could do that. He could. He would not make things weird. “We watched Annihilation, which was really good. Sci-fi thriller with Natalie Portman. If you like those kinds of movies.” It seemed to have a bit more mass appeal than a horror movie might, but Liam wasn’t sure if it was up Ophelia’s alley or not. He pressed his lips together for a second, considering, then pushed forward. “I met her brother. And his boyfriend,” he said glancing over at her. He wouldn’t say who, he knew better, but he needed to know if Ophelia knew before he said anything else.
Oh. Phee’s face fell a bit, because that was not a good sign. Well damn. And now she felt kind of guilty for bringing it up. She’d gotten the impression that Jen was kind of into Liam, but maybe she’d been wrong. Or maybe Jen just sucked at boys. It was easy to do at their age. Phee sucked at boys too, she’d just happened to get lucky with an easy one this time. “Yeah, I’ve wanted to see that one,” she murmured. Phee was about to go on and focus on other topics when Liam mentioned Hunter. And Sebastian. Her eyes went a little wide and she panicked for a second on whether or not she should deny deny deny. But that was stupid, if Liam had seen Bash with Hunter with his own two eyes. She looked a bit ruefully amused then. “Did Bash freak out?” she asked.
“Kinda,” Liam said with a little laugh. “I think it caught us both off guard. And then everyone in the room suddenly needed to make sure I could keep a secret. And then before we could say anything else, their dad got home and it was clear that was the bigger crisis.” Which was maybe a bit over dramatic, but Liam suddenly had a front row seat to perhaps one of the most awkward parent meets boyfriend exchanges he’d ever seen, in life or on tv. “I think what surprised me more was that it didn’t really seem like him.” He didn’t mean it in a bad way, just that the guy he usually saw walking the halls at school was loud and confident and usually the center of attention. The Sebastian he’d seen at Hunter’s house looked like he wanted to sink into the floor and disappear.
Phee groaned with sympathy, wincing through the whole description. That all sounded painfully uncomfortable, and now Sebastian had met Hunter’s dad? Even if he hadn’t shown it at the time, Phee was willing to bet that her brother had been freaking out, especially having to be driven home by Sheriff Barrett. “How do you mean?” she asked Liam at the moment, looking curious at that observation. Phee knew Sebastian was much more than he seemed on any average school day, but she didn’t often think about him the same way his other peers did. Liam didn’t know him very well, as far as Phee knew, but now he was in the circle of trust too. Luckily he was actually trustworthy.
“I dunno,” Liam said, a little bit hesitant to describe Sebastian to Ophelia, like he might offend her or say something wrong. He didn’t have a sibling, not really, but he always imagined he’d be protective of them. But then nothing he was thinking was bad, just so different from what he knew. “He’s usually, like, Mister Charisma. Super confident, friendly, comfortable anywhere, with anyone. I don’t know him very well, but… I think all I’ve ever seen is the football star and homecoming king. And this was like… a different version of him. Awkward, maybe insecure. Really, really uncomfortable. Which maybe only stood out because he’s always seemed so smooth.” He knew it was perception, seeing someone from afar without really knowing them, but that was what he saw. “Maybe I just didn’t realize he was normal.”
She definitely wasn’t offended. Phee smiled knowingly as Liam talked, understanding what Liam meant now. She knew exactly what he was talking about -- the two sides to her brother’s personality. Or the protective facade he wrapped around himself, anyway. Not that Sebastian wasn’t genuinely friendly and confident, she just knew there were more layers than that. She chuckled a bit and nodded. “He makes it easy to forget sometimes,” she said. “Both my brothers do. But yeah, he’s ... I dunno, he’s really scared of coming out. Which I get, you know? But I think once he saw that like, nobody really cared in a bad way, he would get over it and get comfortable with it and chill the fuck out.” Phee knew the real problem wasn’t so much their peers as their parents, but she didn’t want to get into all that. She offered Liam a bemused grin. “But yeah, the great Sebastian McCarthy, mortal after all.”
“I dunno how he does it,” Liam said with a little laugh. “My head would explode.” It was so different than how Liam operated that it was hard for I’m to wrap his head around. He didn’t know how to be anything other than himself. Hiding something that big, that affect that much of his life, seemed impossible. Magic was different. It didn’t affect him day to day. Even then, pretty much everyone knew he believed in the supernatural. They just didn’t know why his beliefs were as strong as they were. “So… does Jen know about you? I mean, like, witch-wise? Do you think Hunter knows?” He didn’t want to bring up what had happened to Hunter, but it might matter, if he was dating a witch. It might help. But it sooooo wasn’t his secret to tell and he knew he was just being nosey now.
Ophelia didn’t really know how he did it either. As much as he got on her last nerve sometimes, she was in awe of her brother about a lot of things. His ability to just rule a social life had always been one of them, but then she’d found out that there was so much else going on with him than that. It had kind of been a revelation. People were complicated and surprising. She shook her head at Liam’s question. “No, she doesn’t. And I mean ... Hunter knows about Sebastian, obviously, but I dunno if they’ve ever talked about me,” she said, her brow furrowing a little. She’d never really thought about that possibility. Not that it bothered her much, it was just strange to think of her brother talking about her to his boyfriend for some reason. Maybe he hadn’t. “Does Jen know about you?” she asked, looking over and raising an eyebrow at Liam.
“Yeah, I almost set her on fire the first time we met,” Liam said with a fond little smile. It had scared the shit out of him at the time, and been horribly embarrassing, but looking back he had to laugh. “We were both looking for that missing girl on Ludlow. At the Zinneman house.” Which was about as much as he wanted to talk about that house. Despite his fascination with the supernatural, Liam was legit scared of that house now. “I told her about me, but I’m pretty sure I’m the only one she knows. Or she just didn’t tell me. Even if Hunter told her about Sebastian, it would’ve been weird for her to mention him.” That would have opened a whole host of questions that couldn’t easily be answered with ‘he’s dating my brother’. “I was just curious. I’m pretty sure the only reason your brother trusts me to keep his secret is because i’m already keeping my own.”
Oh yeah, Phee remembered Liam telling her about that now. She had to laugh again, but she tried to keep it quiet and short. “Sorry. The hazards of being a fire witch, I guess,” she offered with a lopsided grin. “When Greg learned about all this and got a little freaked out, I told him the worst I could do was get him really muddy or something. At least your element is useful for defense.” Phee was sure earth could be useful, once she learned more and figured out how to make it that way. “But yeah, Bash is probably getting kind of nervous, more people keep either finding out about the gay thing or the magic thing or both. I think it’ll all end up okay though. And then he’ll like, move away to college and be able to tell people whatever he wants, you know?”
“I thought she was a ghost,” Liam said, as if that was a good reason for an open flame. His mother would be appalled. Looking around, and making sure they were a good distance away from anyone else, Liam continued. “You’ve totally got defensive magic. It’s just different. You could make vines come out of the ground, or even your hands, and wrap around someone to keep them from moving. Or you could make the ground open up and suck them in. Not that you want to scare Greg, but I think there’s a lot you could do once you learn.” He couldn’t see a reason Ophelia would need to do any of that, but it was always good to know defensive magic, in his opinion. “What’s holding him back?” Liam asked. “If lots of people already know, and he’s got a boyfriend, like… why not just come out?”
Those were all good ideas for the future, and ones Phee had had herself. She just didn’t know enough yet to control things that well. All of the vines growing out of her at the Halloween party had been completely spontaneous. She’d made lots of jokes about making the earth crack and swallow someone up, or calling up mini volcanoes, but all of that seemed like really powerful magic that was beyond her at the moment. Hopefully her dad would help her get there, or somewhere close, anyway. “Yeah, once I learn,” she agreed with Liam with a warm smile. He was a sweet friend, and it was nice to have someone to talk to about magic who wasn’t family. Stupid complications. She shrugged at Liam’s question about Bash and gave a sigh. “He’s worried about my parents, mostly,” she said. “Like my dad might freak out and pull Sebastian’s college money or something. Which ... I get it, it’s scary. I feel bad for him. But I dunno. Compared to some other stuff going on, it doesn’t even seem that important, you know? Like, he’s gay, so what? Let him be gay and happy.”
Liam was in agreement with Ophelia— it didn’t seem like that big a deal, but it also wasn’t his problem to deal with. Maybe he’d feel differently if it was him, or if he was afraid his parents might reject him. They’d always been pretty open and understanding, something he’d maybe taken for granted. “What else is going on?” he asked curiously. They hadn’t really had a chance to catch up lately, but it was also possible he’d forgotten something. Or she could just be referring to all the crazy that had happened in the last few weeks. Liam was just glad he’d stayed in on Halloween.
“Oh, uh ... it’s a long story,” Phee answered with an apologetic little smile. “Just other family drama.” She knew he would probably be dying of curiosity -- she would have been -- but the whole story wasn’t really hers to tell. Phee didn’t know what-all Liam knew about blood magic, if he would worry like her parents had or what, but he probably already knew too much about Sebastian’s secrets. It was embarrassing to be in big trouble at their age anyway. “I think it’ll settle down. But honestly, I don’t think they would freak out about him being gay as bad as he’s expecting.” Phee shrugged. “But it’s up to him, so ... we’ll see.”
The lack of explanation made Liam even more curious, but he could tell it was something that Ophelia didn’t want to go into, so he didn’t push. Family drama could be stressful in its own way. He knew he was selective about who he talked to when he got into it with his mom. It didn’t happen often, but they were both a little bit explosive when they were angry. “I assume Greg’s cool with it?” Liam asked. The two were joined at the hip most of the time, when Greg wasn’t with Ophelia at least, so he couldn’t imagine Greg didn’t know.
“With Bash being gay?” she asked, her eyebrows lifting. She was sure that Bash had been worried sick to tell him too, but honestly Phee couldn’t imagine Greg not being cool with it. He really was such a big sweetheart. “Yeah, he’s totally fine with it.” Phee gave Liam a smile. “I think he was kinda surprised, but he doesn’t care what Sebastian is. Greg just wants him to be happy, like I do. I think him being a witch was way bigger news.” She chuckled faintly, gazing down the sidewalk in front of them and adjusting her backpack straps a bit. “He’s kinda stressed out about keeping all the secrets though, I think it’s hard for him to not talk openly about stuff.”
“Being a witch is bigger news than almost anything,” Liam grinned. One would hopefully, eventually, not be a secret, while the other would always be, at least on some level. Liam knew there were a lot of people who knew his mother was, their assumptions based purely on her maiden name if they didn’t know for sure. Being a Wolfe instead of a Lyttle kept him a little more hidden, which he supposed he was thankful for. He liked having control over who knew or guessed what he was. “At least the witch stuff doesn’t come up often. And when it does, it’s like… because it’s needed, not because it comes up in normal conversation. But I could see how that’d be a lot all at once.”
The witch stuff seemed to have been coming up a lot, considering what was going on in their family -- there had been a lot of abnormal conversations happening, and it was stressful. But Phee didn’t need to launch into all of that. They were getting closer to the arcade now, and she was ready to forget all about her family and their Issues for a little while. It was all exhausting and annoying to think about, and she just wanted to have some fun. “Yeah, I really don’t mind most people not knowing anything about anything,” she told Liam with good humor. “I’m glad Bash finally told Greg though, I dunno if I could date him without letting it slip, you know?”
“Yeah,” Liam nodded. “That’s be a pretty big elephant to try and ignore.” It’d be one thing if she was dating someone else, but then she was dating her brother’s best friend. Liam thought he was good at keeping secrets, but if he was that close to someone, he wouldn’t want to keep something like that from them. He thought. It wasn’t a position he’d ever really been in. “So what kind of games are you into?” he grinned over at her. He’d always loved video games, had just about every console there was, but arcade games were a different breed and he didn’t have quite the level of practice that he did on his games at home.
“Like, arcade games?” Phee asked with a little laugh. “Or just in general? I don’t think I’ve been in an arcade since I was like, a kid.” There wasn’t one in Point Pleasant -- until recently, anyway -- and the only arcade she remembered seeing had been on some shopping trips down to Portland when she and Bash were pretty young. “Back then I super loved Ms. Pac Man though. So retro. And like, the driving games? ‘Cause it made me feel all mature to be behind a fake steering wheel.” She grinned a bit and shrugged. “You? Any favorites you’re hoping they have?”
“I was thinking arcade games, since that’s where we’re headed,” Liam laughed with her. He supposed he should have been more specific, since there were so many options, but she went with it well enough. “I used to love the driving games, but I’m like you, I haven’t played those kinds of games in years. I’m hoping to be better than I used to be now that I actually know how to drive.” Not that that necessarily meant anything, but it’d be fun to find out. “Oh, and skee-ball! I’ll play that if they have it. I’m excited to see what they’ve got.”
Arcades were a dying breed anyway, it seemed like. Most people had consoles or just games on their phones they liked to play. Which made it pretty cool that a retro arcade was opening up in town. It would at least give the teens somewhere else to go besides Moxie’s or The Orion. Phee laughed a bit at what Liam said about driving -- she didn’t think it would make much difference either, but who knew -- then her face lit up a bit when he mentioned skee-ball. “Yes!” she said, adding a bounce to her next step. “I love skee-ball! Ooh, I wonder if they have one of those dance game things? With the pads you stomp on? I played that once, it was fun. Dance-Dance-Something.”
“Dance-Dance-Revolution,” Liam grinned. “I’ve never played it, but I’ve seen it in movies and online and stuff. I’d probably be a mess, but I’d give it a try.” He’d heard it was a retro arcade, but maybe they’d have some of the newer games as well. He hoped so, even if it meant he’d make a fool out of himself. At least he thought Ophelia was the type to play it with him and laugh along. “So you’re up for a skee-ball challenge then?” he asked, thinking that might be fun. A little competition never hurt.
Phee pointed at Liam in a ‘yes!’ fashion when he said the name. She’d only played it that once years ago, when she was lighter and more nimble so she doubted she would be great at it now, but she would give it a shot if this new arcade had the machine. Maybe it could be a good workout or something. Not that Phee was really aiming to lose weight, not anymore. It was probably stupid, but having a boyfriend who actually liked her body was very liberating. “Uh, do you mean am I ready to totally own your ass at skee-ball?” she asked with a grin. Phee was all about some friendly competition.
“We’ll see about that,” Liam said, eyes narrowing as he smiled. “Winner buys the other a shake at Moxie’s?” If he lost, he could handle the loss of bragging rights and the cost of a shake. If he won, yay shake! Anything was better than heading home and working on his homework. If the arcade was any good, then it would probably be on his list of places to hang out after school and they were always in need of more of those.
“Deal!” she chirped, beaming at him. It sounded like a good enough bet to her. She didn’t even know if she was any good at skee-ball anymore, Liam might wipe the floor with her, but it would be fun regardless. And if the place was enjoyable, it would make a good spot to suggest Greg take her on a date and he could win a bunch of tickets and get her a stuffed bear or something. But before that, she just wanted to have fun with her friend and enjoy the afternoon.