Page 35 of Maxwell

“I don’t know... I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Maxwell hedged.

“One more. Or are you scared?” she asked with a roll of her neck.

Chuckling to himself, he shook his head. “If you think I’m going to go easy on you, I’m not.”

“I don’t want you to,” she snapped.

“Okay,” Maxwell said, throwing up his hands in surrender. “I see you’re a masochist. Get ready for another ass whooping. Let’s go.”

Jasmine didn’t win the third race either, cursing angrily when the game ended.

Rubbing his palms together, Maxwell asked, “What’s next? I’m feeling lucky.”

Jasmine cut her eyes at him and marched away to buy more tokens. He lowered his gaze, admiring the view of her swaying hips while he tried not to laugh and piss her off more.

“I’ll cover this time.” He bumped her out of the way with his elbow and pulled two twenties from his wallet. After he purchased the tokens, he asked, “What do you want me to beat you on next?”

She shoved a finger in his face. “You’re not going to beat me again. Know this.” She scanned the room, stopping when the game she wanted caught her eye. A slow smile expanded across her lips. “How are you with a gun?”

“Not bad,” Maxwell replied hesitantly.

“Let’s see how good you are.”

She took him over to a shooting game. Only one of the mounted plastic guns was free, so they had to take turns. He watched as she racked up points with what seemed like very little effort. When she finished, she made a sweeping gesture with her hand. “Your turn.”

“Thank you.” Maxwell stepped up and went to work, firing at the targets.

When he finished, his score was lower than hers.

“Well, well. You were saying?” Jasmine asked, all cocky.

“I wasn’t saying anything,” Maxwell said, irritated.

“That’s because this time, I spanked your ass.”

“Didn’t you say you had a gun the first night we met? You have an unfair advantage.”

“Quit your whining and take your L like a man.”

“You have a lot to say for someone who got beat three times. I want a rematch.”

Jasmine tilted her chin up. “Let’s go.”

They played two more times, and she beat him once and he scraped out one win. They continued to challenge each other as they moved through the room. They played whack-a-mole, another racing game with cars, and retro games like Pac-Man and Space Invaders. Most of the conversation was them smack-talking each other.

He also was very aware of the proximity forced on them by the loud arcade, which made them have to not only raise their voices from time to time, but he had to lean in close on occasion to hear what she was saying. At some point she pushed up the sleeves of her sweatshirt, and he was conscious of the warmth of her arm against his as they crowded around the same machine.

After he beat her at air hockey, Jasmine threw up her hands in defeat. “I don’t believe you that you’ve never been to an arcade.”

Maxwell moved away so the teenagers waiting nearby could get their turn.

“I said I’ve never been to an arcade. I never said I haven’t played video games before.”

“Where did you play?” Jasmine asked.

“At a friend’s. His father had a man cave in the basement and had all kinds of games, including air hockey.”

“You never mentioned that.”