Choices and arcade fun.

The rest of the afternoon we spent it having plain fun. We tried to and succeeded in forgetting about our troubles and focused only on the present and the things we were looking forward to about the future. In fact, it was in the middle of us bowling that I got a very sudden, very important email. So important, even, that I read it to myself before bringing it up to the girls.

It was an email from Luke telling me he had found three large plots that seemed ideal for the type of house I had in mind. Though the type of house I had in mind was mostly his idea but I didn’t mind. Every time I tried to picture my own house I thought of something way too small.

There were pictures attached, but considering they were barren land mostly, it didn’t make much of a difference. What I should be paying attention to was locations. Two were in the outskirts of the city and the last one was even further away, about a full hour away, kind of like Sarah’s house but in the complete opposite direction.

That should’ve made me dismiss that option from the get go. I mean… it should have. But dammit, that plot… There was a fucking gorgeous shot that showed the mountain not too far in the distance and a large pond nearby. The greenery all around also made it more appealing to me. It looked like a picture straight out of a fantasy series or something. I had the thought of sitting on a porch or a balcony with Cake on my lap and a cup of coffee in hand and just… being there, taking it all in. Seriously, I didn’t know we had places like this one nearby! But then again this past year was my first time going out of the house so much.

It was the most tempting choice, but also the most impractical. So far from the city, we’d have to commute every day for an hour or more. Yeah, more than an hour when you consider the distance to the university and traffic at the usual peak hours. It ended up being far closer to two hours.

…

Anyway, this wasn’t a choice I’d be making on my own, so there was no point in overthinking it.

I was brought back by Noelle’s gleeful cheer at getting a strike. She turned around and gave us two V-signs with that cute smile of hers.

Since we were seven players, Diana, Mila, Noelle and I were using one lane while Sarah, Alice and Grace were playing in the court next to ours.

“Shit, she might actually beat me…” Mila muttered, standing up to take her turn. “Okay, time to kick it up a notch!”

“Don’t go TOO hard,” Diana advised.

“Please, I’ve got this.”

Noelle sat down next to me after I high-fived her for her strike. She giggled and kissed my cheek out of nowhere. The only other people bowling were using the lane at the opposite end of the alley, so I was happy to indulge in a bit of intimacy.

“At the rate you’re going, you’ll actually beat Mila, Grace and Alice. Hell, you’re not that far off from me,” I told her.

Noelle giggled more. “But Diana’s still kicking our butts, though.”

“I used to play a lot,” Diana told her.

“And she believes it’s rude to hold back,” I added.

“Well, it is,” Noelle agreed.

“CRAP!” Mila cursed as her ball went to the gutter.

“Diana warned you, Mila,” Alice told her from the next lane just before she took down eight pins in one shot.

“Come on! I don’t wanna be last!” Mila moaned. “At least let me beat Grace! She sucks at this!”

“Hey!”

We laughed, but that email must’ve left me more distracted than I realized because Noelle suddenly held my hand and gave it a squeeze. “Did something happen?” she asked me. Diana turned to look at me as well.

I shook my head and smiled at them. “No. Just… I got an email that got me thinking. It’s kind of important, but we can talk about it later. It’s not urgent.”

I really did leave it for later. We kept playing until our full game was over. Diana did indeed kick our asses, followed by Sarah only 6 points behind her. Noelle and I tied, Grace was right behind us and Mila, in a **** attempt at a comeback, failed most of her shots and came in last.

“I hate bowling. Whose idea was this?” she asked.

“Yours,” we told her.

“Now, shall we check out the arcade?” Diana suggested, glancing at me and Noelle. “I see two enthusiasts getting a little restless here.”

“I mean…”

“...Not really.”

Noelle and I tried and failed to play it cool.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Sarah said. “I wanna fight Noelle.”

“Does this place have air hockey?” Mila asked. “Grace, fight me!”

Grace sighed. “What are you getting so worked up for? We both lost in the end. But sure, I like air hockey.”

“Alice, I bet I can beat you at a racing game,” I told her, pointing to the cabinets.

“Oh, those look nice! Oliver, come on!” Alice actually grabbed me by the hand and dragged me in. I was happy to be dragged and Diana followed behind us, chuckling at the display.

Honestly, that race taught Alice more about video games than our whole last session did. Mainly, it taught her a very important lesson: Games are not real life.

I beat her in every race. I CRUSHED her in every race. Diana also did better than Alice and so did Noelle after she finished kicking Sarah’s ass. Alice was fuming in frustration, and though I sympathized, it was also pretty funny.

“Cars don’t work like this! How are you drifting at such a sharp angle without spinning!?” she asked me. “Also, this wheel feels so loose! Are you sure it’s not broken?”

Her own real skills were working against her here. She didn’t push the fake car to its over-the-top limits like Noelle and I were, and since Diana just stuck to conservative driving, she was also avoiding crashing. Alice, meanwhile, tried to race like she would in a real car but found it didn’t respond the way it should.

“Video games suck,” she said, pouting. And yet she slid the card over the machine to put in another credit.

Mila and Grace returned from their air-hockey match, with Mila as the very proud, gloating victor, so we had them and Sarah continue racing Alice.

“Drive like you’re on the road and push it little by little,” Diana told the blonde. “That’s how I made sense of it.”

Alice nodded and followed Diana’s advice. And now with a clean win under her belt, Alice giggled shyly and said, “Okay, I take it back, this is kind of fun.”

And that’s what eventually led to us having a racing sim setup in the house.

Author's Note: I'll be going on something of a hiatus during November, though not fully. I have stuff to do and very little time to write. I'll still try to post two chapters a week if possible, though the William branch will be going on a full hiatus this month. This goes for the Patreon as well. I'm sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

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