(This was too large to post in one post, so what follows is the set up. I will be posting a link to the rest as soon as I get it posted. TL;DR at the bottom.)
I think it’s been long enough now that I can talk about this lucidly.
The night I met Less I definitely couldn’t have though. It’d been a brutal week at work and, so, I went to a barcade in town to blow off some steam and some quarters. I went with a few of my friends, but quickly ended up deserted (I guess there was some show at some bar nearby and they knew I wouldn’t care for it). Three beers down and a couple rounds of pinball later and I was feeling more at ease.
I headed to the bar to refill on beverages and quarters. I leaned against the bar waiting with a 10 in hand. It was then that I felt a hand on my back. I expected to see one of my friends, returned, common human courtesy having returned to them (bitter? Me? No!). But, much to my delight, it was a petite, dark-haired girl, wearing a low cut top with a denim jacket, holding out a 10 dollar bill at me. Her hair was short, in a sort of angular bob-cut that made her look super hip and her jeans were high waisted, her top sloppily tucked into it.
“Snag me some while you’re at it?” She gave me a smile and I nodded, taking her bill and turning around to find a bartender waiting for me. I handed him the bills.
“Together, or separate?” He inquired, holding up the bills.
“Uhm, separate, I guess,” I stammered, the beers settling me in a nice, slight buzz. A few moments later, I had two plastic chalices filled with more coins, ready to do some damage on some Crazy Cab! Turning around, I found the girl and handed her the cup of coins.
“Thanks!” she called out over the blaring contemporary synth pop, examining the cups as though she was trying to find which one was the facsimile. This got me inspecting the cups until I heard the sound of coins clattering. Looking up, I saw her pulling her cup away from mine, a sneaky smile on her lips, punctuated with a pert “oops!” I looked down at the coins, noticing that her cup was empty and mine twice as full. My fizzly brain tries it’s best to work out a solution. Fortunately, she was on top of it.
“I guess we’ll have to stick together!” She shrugged, stepping closer to me. Normally I’d spiral into some tailspin, mulling over every possible way that this girl was trying to manipulate me or how she was trying to prank me or some such. However, the alcohol was working in my favor tonight, keeping me from ruminative cycles and giving me an ‘ah! Why the hell not?’ attitude.
“I guess, I’ve got the cup, so, first pick goes to me!” I smirked, half expecting her to fight for first game, but instead she nodded.
“Lead the way, cap’n!” She swung her hands at me, prodding me to move somewhere, to play something.
Turns out I’m not great at Crazy Taxi. Not even good, really. I don’t know why I had such a fond memory of that game in particular, but I sucked and Less had noticed. She was courteous enough to not say anything, but she was clearly amused by my consternation. After about a dollar of tries she snagged up the cup.
“You’ve had your fun, my turn!” She darted over to a nearby Area 51 Cabinet and put a coin in, putting another in for me. “Join me?” She unholstered her gun, standing at the ready. Her jeans hugged her hips generously, a sliver of skin escaping between the hem of her pants and the lip of her top that had escaped, raised from her gun-holding stance. After gawking stupidly for a few seconds, I took my gun and proceeded to join in.
Turns out Less is about as good at arcade games as I am. We made it to the first boss (or second? I don’t remember) and that was with spending about 3 dollars total on continues.
“I said YOU needed to watch the incoming missiles, I would worry about the enemies!” She holstered the gun as the game begged us for more coins. I realized that if this was our track, we’d be out of money long before we reached the third boss.
“I was watching them until you started letting up on the enemies. I was getting shot at!” I definitely wasn’t angry and I was hoping she wasn’t actually either.
“Alright, so clearly we’re both really bad. What are you doing here if you’re not good at games?” She smirked, taking a seat at a nearby table. I followed along.
“I mean probably the same thing you are!” She gave me a look of skepticism. Clearly she didn’t feel that I had her figured out as well as I felt I did.
“Oh yeah, and why is that? Why am I here?” She crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair defiantly.
“To snag high scores off of good players!” Somehow I pulled that one off in my state. A laugh burst out of her in surprise and her elbows returned to the table as she leaned in, her defiance slipping away.
“A lot of good I am for that!” She laughed, taking a swig of her beer. She stared off into the crowd, a contemplative look on her face. She was really cute. Her dark bob cut was messy, her eyes circled carefully with eyeliner, enough to give her a dangerous look, but not so much that her eyes sank into her skull. I couldn’t tell that night if she had lipstick on or not. I still don’t know. Regardless, it was a simple look, fairly natural.
“We’ve got a lot of coins left to burn!” She commented, returning her gaze to me. “At this pace we’ll never leave.” She hopped up from the table and proceeded about the place, indiscriminately moving from one box to the next, either playing or forcing me to play. Like I said before, I’m no good at any arcade games. I enjoy them immensely, but the more she got me to play, the more coins we wasted! It really only took about an hour for our $20 investment to disappear. Maybe closer to two hours.
Regardless, we ended up outside the bar in the cool evening weather. I thought once the coins ran out, our tryst would be over, but she stuck by. And it was more than welcomed.
“But seriously, you’d make an awful paperboy if that game was any indication!” She laughed, sitting next to me at a
booth, bohemian lighting arrangements giving the little patio a nice ambiance.
“And a miserable cab driver, a bad X-man, a terrible pacman thing. What’s your point?” I inquired, sipping on what I’d intended to be my last drink of the night.
“What the fuck is pacman anyway?” She dodged. “I mean, he’s definitely not a man of any kind.”
I shook my head, smiling at her. “Why did you do it?” She frowned back, shaking her head in confusion. “Why’d you dump your coins in with mine?”
“Like I said ‘oops’. It was an accident,” her smile cracked, giving her that look of trying to get away with something.
“A few too many drinks?” I flicked her cup, looking up at her.
“Yeah. Exactly! No questions asked!” She flicked the cup reciprocally, almost knocking it over.
“I mean, what were you trying to accomplish? Why was your cup ever even that-
“I said no questions asked, pal!” She frowned at me, unable to fight back a smile. She took a swig of her beer in order to hide the emerging expression and I shook my head in submission.
“Is that also why you’re so bad at arcade games?” I teased. She shook her head, leaning in toward me.
“Nope. I’m actually just bad. But don’t tell anyone,” she put her finger on my lips. “What’s your excuse?” She pulled back, looking down her nose at me. I shook my glass of beer and she laughed. “I don’t know if I believe that!” She leaned forward again, a dangerous smirk on her face. “You’re not THAT drunk, are you?”
She was right. I wasn’t. But I also wasn’t about to make her privy to this! ‘
“I’m pretty drunk!” I slurred, completely fake. And she caught me, bursting out in laughter.
“My god! You suddenly got a LOT drunker,” she rummaged through her purse, shaking her head at me with periodic disapproving glances. They were sharp, but seemed playful in nature. “Well, if you’re not too drunk, would you want to go help me water my plants real quick and then maybe we could snag up a table at a cafe or something?”
Watering her plants? That had to be a euphemism, right? There was always a peril with being invited up to someone’s apartment after only a few hours of knowing them. It’s not as though I’ve been in that situation a lot of times, but, it’s hard to know if you’re there because they actually just have to run up to their place or if they’re luring you into something slightly more intimate. Whatever her reason for inviting me up, parched plants or otherwise, I agreed, but, of course, not before making fun of her for watering her plants in the middle of the evening!
**TL; DR – Met a girl while drinking at a barcade. Played games with her for a few hours before we went back to her place to ‘water her plants”**
Source: reddit.com/r/gonewildstories/comments/7v1c87/mf_taken_back_to_her_place_part_1a_longsetup