Oscar

wanna meet at the arcade at 1?

Liam

Sure! See you there!

Oscar

bet, see ya

Liam

:)

Later, when I arrive at the arcade, I don’t immediately see him, which I take as a sign that he’s not there yet. Which is clearly wrong, because after a few seconds of waiting by the door, someone comes up behind me, and I turn at the hand they place on my shoulder. 

Oscar beams as he hands me a preloaded card for the games. 

“I already got you a card.” 

“Oh, thanks. How much was it? I’ll pay you back.” I try to hand him a ten-dollar bill, but he stops me. 

“It’s on me. You can pay next time.” Next time! He says there will be a next time!

“Alright, fine.”

We head further into the arcade, and he makes a beeline for Fruit Ninja. I watch as he absolutely destroys the animated fruit with a fury I’ve never seen before. 

After he’s collected a truly unreasonable amount of tickets from Fruit Ninja, we wander over to the air hockey tables, where we work up a bit of healthy friendly competition. 

“You might be some kinda Fruit Ninja prodigy, but I will completely decimate you at this,” I say as I swipe my card to drop the puck. 

“Uh, that’s what you think.” He grabs the puck when it appears, and we begin.