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Leaning against the open window, Natalie took another drag from her cigarette. Big plans were up for the day. It’s been roughly about a week since Taissa and Van had officially found out about Jackie and Nat’s relationship. That was also when they also found out about the other couple’s relationship. Well, Natalie knew and she always kept private about it.
Van didn’t take the news in the way she expected her to. She was cool with it obviously, but in her words she felt betrayed that Nat didn’t tell her she was seeing anyone.
Jackie and Nat’s relationship isn’t new, but they hadn’t even told anyone yet. They were coming up to about roughly 4 months into their relationship. One time after practice had brought them closer. That little moment started more conversations as time went on until they were at one party. They ended up in the bathroom making out and it nearly turned into a hookup, but Jackie had stopped her. Her reasoning was that if they were to go farther she needed to break up with Jeff.
“Nat, does this look okay?” Jackie’s voice filled her ears. Whatever thoughts she was having tuned out. Taking one last puff, she set down the cigarette on the ashtray Jackie always leaves out for her in her room.
Jackie’s outfit was simple compared to what you would typically see on her at school or at a party. Currently she was just wearing a pair of jeans with the new shirt Nat had got her recently, which was a blue and grey short sleeved rugby shirt. When Natalie initially started dating her she had found the stash of men’s clothing in Jackie’s room while waiting for her while she talked to her parents downstairs. When she asked about it Jackie told her about how she didn’t feel much like herself when she dresses as feminine as she does.
That little conversation led to another and now her stash was bigger. Some of her other stuff was left at Nat’s trailer for when she spends time over.
“I think you look great.” Nat would make a comment on how it would most likely be cold where they were going, but she knew Jackie planned this just to steal her leather jacket for later. Her response had given her one of the many genuine smiles she got to appreciate every time they saw each other. Nat gestured for Jackie to come to her with her hand. Once they were in arms reach of one another. Nat cupped Jackie’s face and pulled her into a quick kiss.
Before it went any further, Nat pulled back. A slight chuckle escaped her lips at the pout she saw on Jackie’s face. “We can continue later. We have a date to go to. Don’t think it would look good if we showed up late. Plus you hate showing up late.” She wouldn’t be able to handle all the teasing they would get from Van. Knowing her luck, Tai would also be involved.
Jackie’s face changed quickly to a pout to an anxious expression. She was able to cover it up quickly, however Nat had caught it. With her hands still cupping Jackie’s face, she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “What’s wrong? Is it too much too soon? I know when they found out and after we parted ways with them you panicked. That’s okay if you aren’t ready. There’s no time limit to this and it is scary ass shit.”
Jackie quickly shook her head, “No, that’s not it. Well, at first it was, but I’m okay with myself now. It was a surprise and even because of that I think it was nice to finally tell someone. It may have not went the way we would have wanted it.” Natalie waited patiently as Jackie continued her rant. She knew her girlfriend had a habit of rambling when she was nervous, “Maybe it was good that it was Tai and Van. Sorry, I got distracted. I’m nervous because I’ve never went on a double date plus the only time I’ve ever played laser tag I sucked at it.”
The last part was mumbled, but Nat was able to get the gist of what Jackie meant. From what she knows the only dates Jeff and Jackie really went on involved going out to places either by themselves or as a group. She wouldn’t count that as a double date type of thing either. Parties didn’t count either.
“Eh, this time it’s different when you're with people you actually like. Plus you get to do stuff instead of being arm candy. I’m sure we’ll still kick ass even if your aim is shit. You can talk tactics with Tai.” Aiming a soccer ball and shooting a fake gun were two different things. She could understand why Jackie had problems with it. “Plus you have me, I can carry you to our ultimate victory.” Natalie had really good aim. You can back this up by glancing at Jackie’s bed to see a few stuffed animals Nat has won her at those stupid carnival games. “You are so right. My hero.” Jackie dramatically placed the back of her hand on her forehead as she sighed out her statement.
They shared a quick kiss before they pulled away from each other. If Jackie wanted to get there early they would have to leave now. The place that was decided on recently opened a couple weeks ago. Van brought it up as a whim stating that Tai and her were planning to go themselves, but if Nat and Jackie join they can either kick ass with them or get their ass kicked by them.
If anyone knows Jackie Taylor you don’t challenge her and expect her to opt out of it. It truly struck a nerve when the expression on Jackie’s facial expression changed. It didn’t take long for her to accept that challenge.
Wiskayok didn’t have many places like the new arcade that they were going to. It was a renovation of the old one, but let’s not get technical. It had newer machines and the introduction of laser tag in their town. The closest one they had was a town over so this was a win for the teens that lived here. When Jackie heard about it her first two thoughts on it were ‘this would be a great spot to take Nat’ and ‘we could totally do a whole team thing here.’
They took Nat’s truck to their destination. Jackie had her own car, but they only used it for long distances. Other than that they preferred the truck. It had many nice memories in it plus Jackie preferred not to drive if she could. It’s not like she didn’t like it. If she had to drive she would.
Instead of building a new arcade the owners decided to renovate and expand it instead. So technically it wasn’t a new place, but everyone practically called it one. The whole process took a few months. Jackie didn’t know anything about construction so it didn’t sound that bad to her.
“What do you wanna hit first? I don’t go to arcades often so I’m going to take your word for what you think is best.” Jackie stated. Her hand caressed Nat’s hand that was on her thigh. The sound of music filled the background as their talk continued, “Well we can either play the really fun games or go for the ones with the most tickets.” Nat answered honestly.
“We can do both. I brought my mom’s card. She probably won’t notice.” Her dad just got a promotion anyway, “Plus I really want to win you something.” Jackie admitted. She was bringing her own stash of coins anyways just in case the card didn’t work.
“Arcades always have cool ass prizes.”
“If there isn’t anything good we can always save the tickets.”
“That’s smart. You know ever since I was little I always wanted to buy out a whole arcade prize area.”
“I mean we can do that now. I have the money.”
“Not the same. We have to earn the tickets. Jackie just ended up agreeing. They definitely have to tell their plans to Tai and Van. It would honestly be a very good motivator.
——
“We are getting all of those juicy details today, Tai. I want to know everything.” Van gripped Tai’s hand as they left her trailer. The other girl let herself be dragged by her excited girlfriend. “I do agree with you, but we can’t push too far.” Even if Tai wasn’t close to Jackie Taylor she knew that if they pushed too far it would only go wrong. This was coming from someone who at least had more time to process before someone caught her and Van making out. At least for Natalie and Jackie it wasn’t their coach.
Jackie and Natalie were a pair she didn’t expect. It made a pretty kick ass love story. She kept her curiosity to herself even though like Van she wanted as many details as possible.
“It is nice to have people we can hang out and not hide ourselves with.” When the initial shock wore off and the two duos parted ways from each other Tai thought it was about damn time. Van and her had a bet that Jackie and Shauna were secretly a thing, but they were both wrong. Tai had so many questions, but using context clues she could probably figure them all out.
“I so agree.” Van got into the passenger seat of Tai’s car. Once she was buckled in she added to her statement, “10 bucks says that they were a thing before Jackie broke up with Jeff.”
Tai had a determined look on her face. “You’re so on.” They shook on it as Tai made another bet, “I know I’m right on this one so I’ll be nice $5 on Shauna not knowing Jackie is with Nat.” The reason she made this bet was because she had been hanging out with Shauna recently. They had a project together. Shauna mentioned it briefly by saying she thought Jackie was seeing someone new, but she had no idea who it was.
“They’re probably already there.” Van made an offhand statement as they finally drove out of the trailer park. She was fiddling with the radio to try to find something to listen to. When she finally found something she relaxed back into her seat. Van knew she already set them back leaving a few minutes since she was desperately searching for her leftover tickets from the last time she went. She found them stuffed into the wrong shoebox when she eventually found them.
They renovated the whole thing, but she doubted they changed anything about the ticket system. She did hear that you could pay with credit and debit cards now.
“Definitely, Jackie likes to get there early. Wonder how that works since Nat tends to arrive late to practically everything.”
“I’m sure they made it work somehow.”
“Yeah, true. You would think with how different they are they wouldn’t be compatible.”
“Everyone loves a good old opposites attract love story.” Tai and Van could be categorized into that, but not like Jackie and Nat.
The arcade was located two blocks away from downtown. Compared to the other builds around its architecture is more diverse along with more appealing to young audiences. Most buildings in their small town followed the same unruled aesthetic. White and tan was the most likely color of choice. Bars and the record store had more thought out color pallets, but it didn’t beat what this new arcade looked like.
“Because I’m a great girlfriend and I love you so much. I did some research to see what new machines were being put in.” Van always kept up on any new information about the arcade. It was one of her favorite spots. If she had the chance she would work there, but every time Van asks there is never an available opening.
“Ooo, what is it?” Tai questioned with her eyes on the road. Even if she wasn’t actively looking at Van she could tell she was excited.
“For the shit place we live they actually have 3 new machines, but the one I think you’ll like the most is called Red Earth. I don’t know the full details, but it is made by the people who made street fighter and I know that’s your favorite game as of right now. Anyways it’s called Red Earth.” Van continued her rant on what she knew about this game. The coolest part Van personally thought was the password system. It lets whoever is playing save their progress to come back later. That was a completely new thing to her.
There was also another game she wanted to try with all of them. The game only supports up to four players that was absolutely perfect. She didn’t know Jackie’s style of arcade games, but she knew Nat would love it. Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara was its name. Van never played the first one, but she’s heard great things about it. It’s a bummer that they didn’t have the first one. Hopefully it doesn’t matter. Van knew that the game had many different paths. The replayability was off the charts. Plus there were six classes to choose from.
The last new game they added was a racing game. Van didn’t play those much compared to other types of arcade games. She liked getting as many tickets as possible. Van will just have to ask. If she doesn’t get much out of Jackie she’ll just offer suggestions.
“I’ll definitely have to check it out. That does remind me I need to check on my high score on Street Fighter 2.” Tai and Van had been here a few times for dates. Tai always made it a mission to always check on her high scores and if she was dethroned she would spend as much time as possible to get it back.
The arcade came into view and Van excitement became more apparent. She was practically shaking in her seat. Tai placed her hand onto Van’s thigh to ground her. It did help. The outside did look the same. They seemed to have just repainted it and added more neon. You can’t go wrong with neon. The new part of the arcade was right next to it. They ended up buying it out from the people that used to own it. If Van had to take a guess she would say that’s where the new laser tag game had been placed. It made the place look like a small strip mall just for the arcade. The pizza place next to it was still in place. Looking more rundown than usual due to the new remodeled place next to it.
“Ah, there they are.” Tai vocalized, taking Van’s attention from the building away to the couple. Nat seemed to have chosen the furthest away spot as possible. Her reasoning would probably be so Tai can park next to her, but she knew all the tricks. That probably was the case too, but parking away gives you a place to kiss in private in a public area. Tai and Van have done that dance many times.
Nat and Jackie were currently sharing a cigarette as they leaned against the bed of Nat’s truck. The cigarette was barely a stub. It got tossed once they noticed they recognized the people in the car that was approaching them.
Tai didn’t have time to fully park her car before Van unbuckled her seatbelt and practically threw herself out of the car. Tai didn’t even get to finish yelling at her when the door slammed shut.
“Jesus fuck.” Nat muttered, as she watched Van nearly eat shit. “You good? You know you didn’t have to throw yourself out of a moving vehicle. It’s like you have a death wish.” She chuckled, approaching the red haired girl.
“Eh, you know me and that wasn’t a death wish. Call it a tactical move.”
“You’re so full of shit. That didn’t even make sense.” A snicker left the bleach blonde’s lips as she embraced Van like they haven’t seen each other in ages.
As the best friends embraced each other and fell into laughter Taissa rounded the corner. Her face irritated, but only out of being worried for her partner. When her eyes fell on the embracing pair it fell into a soft look.
“Turner.” Jackie announced her presence approaching Tai. A smile was on her face and she nodded her head in recognition to the other girl.
“Taylor.” Tai mirrored the same response.
Jackie and Tai stared at each other for a few seconds before breaking into their own fit of laughter.
People would say Tai and Jackie weren’t close because they butt heads too much or it was jealousy on both sides for different reasons. Rivals outside and on the soccer field. In fact, they respected each other more than anything. Tai respected Jackie for how she can lead and command a room while Jackie respected Tai for her skills.
“You ready to kick some ass?”
“It's going to be a piece of cake.”
“While Nat was driving I had a few ideas.” Jackie admitted, “Care to hear them?”
“You bet.”
As Van and Nat returned to their girlfriends they were met with a debate on how they can easily win games of laser tag. The only problem was they had no idea how the layout would be.
“They’re definitely going to make some kid cry from all this aren’t they.” Nat commented to Van.
“Oh 100%.” Van replied with confidence.
“We should stop them before they plan some world domination or something.”
“Yikes, but it would be kinda hot.” Van spoke with uncertainty.
“Hmm, I can see your point.”
——
The talk of tactics was halted as they entered the arcade.
“Holy shit.” Nat’s eyes widened taking in the new appearance. There was no change to the lighting. The pool tables were now in the front compared to how they were in the middle originally. The air hockey tables were next to them. The layout was still the same besides that. Van was happy about that. At least she didn’t have to memorize them again.
All the old carpet was gone. It was replaced with new carpet filled with bright stars and swirls in all colors. The walls were what was catching their attention. It was a mix of graffiti, neon signs, and video game references. It would probably usually clash, but with the way it is presented it looked amazing.
Small towns typically don’t get the luxury of things like this.
“Van, you’re the expert. What should we do first?” Jackie questioned.
“I know you ladies are excited for laser tag, but we should save that for the last event.” Murmurs of agreement passed through the three of them. “But since we’re here for ya know let’s play some games. There’s some good co-op games I wanna play with everyone before we split up to do our own things.” The word date floats around the room.
Van’s attention turns away from the full group and only onto Jackie. “Alright Jack Jack, you’ve said you’ve been to arcades before. Got any favorites?”
Jackie took a moment to register Van’s words after the nickname before nodding slowly, “I’ve only gone once or twice, but the two games I enjoy the most have to be Pengo and air hockey if you count that.”
“Ooo, not bad choices. Honestly I should have expected it. So you’re a maze game type of gal. I can work with that.” Van already knew Tai and Nat’s personal favorites so there was no reason to ask.
“Thank you?” Jackie answered with uncertainty.
“Honestly if you like those you should try Tetris. Maybe Pac-Man too.”
“I see. What games did you want all of us to play together? Maybe we could do all of those first before we separate to play our own games?” Jackie suggested.
“Good idea, Cap. There’s this new co-op game I mentioned to Tai in the car, but it’s called Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara. Now before you start protesting try it out. I’ve heard really good things about it and apparently people who never like this type of stuff like it.” Van clapped her hands together doing her best Jackie Taylor impression and began to lead their little group to where it is. She could see it from here so she didn’t need to ask.
It wasn’t as busy as it usually is. They intentionally planned this double date around it. With the current collection of coins between all of them they didn’t need to visit the counter to get more.
They caught the last end of the game that was before them. They only needed to wait 5 minutes until they could play. That was Van’s guess anyways. “It doesn’t look that bad.” Jackie whispered into Nat’s ear. “Yeah. You’re right. It might go to shit still.” She answered honestly.
“From what I know about DND-“ Jackie cut off her sentence when she saw the look Nat was giving her. She shoved the other girl with barely any force, “You asshole. Don’t look at me like that. I played a one shot my cousin made for my birthday.”
“Did you like it?” Nat questioned earnestly.
“It actually wasn’t that bad. He used my love for puzzles to get me into it. I wasn’t that interested at first, but I didn’t want to let him down so I played anyway.”
Van heard the tail end of their conversation and decided to jump right into it, “Damn your cousin sounds cool. I always wanted to play. I have so many ideas.”
Jackie had to agree with that, “Yeah, he is.” She thought about it for a second before adding to her statement, “I’m sure if I ask him he can set something up for you or for a group.”
“We can make our team play. Maybe just varsity.” Van suggested, walking up to the machine. She insisted on playing for the first game.
“It can be claimed as one of Jackie’s classic bonding sessions.” Tai added on to Van’s statement even though she didn’t seem to think much of it. She took her spot right next to Van. Jackie and Nat slipped right next to them. That conversation seemed to end there, but later on down the line it would most likely be brought back up.
“I’m picking the magic user.” Van blurted out. Her only reason behind this pick was that she liked magic. She also knew a bit about the magic system in this game.
Jackie was the next one to choose her character and that being the cleric. It was actually the class she played during her cousin’s oneshot.
Tai and Nat selected their characters at the same time. Tai chose the fighter while Nat went for the thief.
“Not sure how I feel about that character design for your character, Nat.” Tai vocalized, “Van’s character looks more like a thief than yours.”
“It was either that or the dwarf. The elf looks like a terrible ass character.”
By the time they finally finished the game over an hour had passed. “We barely beat that stupid dragon, but we fucking did it!” Van exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air with glee. High fives were shared between the four of them.
“That felt like it took forever.” Jackie stretched out her already sore fingers.
“There’s more to come, Cap.”
——
The two couples settled into a booth. Baskets of food were placed in front of each of them. Jackie and Nat sat next to each other while Tai and Van sat on the opposite side of them.
They ate in silence for a little bit. It was quiet until Nat caught Van looking at the two of them with a smug smile. “ Any reason for that smug looking face over there?” She questioned stuffing her face with a few fries.
“Yes, actually. I want the dirty secrets.” Van gripped the end of the table as her words came out very passionately, “As your best friend, Nat, I deserve to know.” She quickly added to her statement, “If that’s okay! Of course if it’s not you don’t have to.”
Jackie and Nat shared a look. The longer they took to answer the more Van fidgeted with nerves.
Nat took the initiative, “What do you want to know?”
“How did it start?”
“It was more of a string of events that led to us getting together.” Jackie admitted. Nat agreed with her statement enough to add on, “We started talking more after a practice. I think Jack had some type of meeting with coach and I was just smoking. Anyway those details aren’t important. Ended up talking for a while. We parted ways later.” They actually ended up staying out almost past midnight.
“Do you remember that party a while back the night before Jeff and I broke up for good?” Jackie questioned. The only response she received was two nods in her direction. Thus her story continued, “Nat actually almost hooked up that night in one of the bathrooms. It didn’t go any further because I didn’t want to be a cheater even if it’s Jeff. So I broke up with him.” It didn’t feel right to do something like that even though she would be technically still a cheater since she made out with Nat before breaking up with him.
“Does it count?” Van whispered into Tai’s ear. “I’ll give you $5 instead of $10. They had a little thing, but they weren’t together so you can’t get the full prize.” She stated, in a hushed manner.
“You know even if you’re whispering we’re sitting right in front of you.” Nat bluntly stated, “Also, are you betting something?” She added. She didn’t seem to be mad about it.
“Yeahhh, sorry. Trust me it’s not as bad as you think. I just thought that you guys might have been a thing before the whole Jeff breakup, but I was wrong. Kinda. We’re just fine tuning it.” Van answered honestly.
“It could be worse. I know how the two of you are. I’m gonna take a guess and say you have more.” Jackie at first thought she would care more about Van’s declaration, but her time with Nat has softened her. She’s still the same girl from before, but a lot happier. It felt nice. Even if she still had the heavy burden of her image. Being with Nat softened the blow.
“We don’t really have many since we didn’t even know how much we would get out from you.” Tai revealed, “Shauna doesn’t know, right?”
Jackie tried so hard to hide a wince, but those two seemed to have caught it. Nat wrapped her hand around hers to help ease her.
“It's not like I don’t want to tell her. It’s just complicated. You know. I hate lying to her. It would change a lot of things.” Jackie wiped away a tear that threatened to fall down her face. Plans for the future would change. Shauna wouldn’t hate her for being in a relationship with a woman. It feels like an entirely new boundary to cross.
Before she caught feelings for Nat it had been Shauna for her. She’s also pretty sure it was mutual too.
It would break Shauna’s heart if she knew, but it would also hurt her because she didn’t know. It was quite the predicament.
“We won’t tell a soul. It’s the lesbian solidarity. Also don’t feel like you have to tell her now. Don’t rush coming out.” Van’s words dripped in sincerity.
“You seem happier, Jackie. That’s all that matters. No wonder you were a prude.” Jackie’s mouth hung open as the whole table bursted into laughter at Tai’s comment.
“You guys are the worst.”
——
The two couples parted ways. They agreed to meet later so they can end their time together with laser tag.
“What do you wanna do first?” Nat asked, scanning the room.
“You choose. I feel like I’ve just been dragging you around. Plus you did tell me earlier you were gonna show me your awesome skills. As you phrased it.” The blush spreading across Nat’s face was worth it.
“Fine, let’s do this.” Jackie followed Nat to a corner of the arcade where the basketball hoops were. She stopped herself when the both of them were in front of the skee-ball machine.
“Oh right, I remember you telling me this was your favorite game not that long ago.”
“It gives you a lot of tickets and I’m also really good at it.” Nat fed the machine coins and watched the machine come to life.
“I’m okay at this. Usually when Jeff and I went places like this I was usually just playing the role of arm candy.” Jackie started her own machine a few seconds after Nat.
Both of them concentrated on their games after that. Nat finished first with Jackie trailing not that far behind.
“I hope I don’t make you feel that way.” It came out so soft that if Jackie wasn’t any closer to her she wouldn’t have heard that. Her eyes were on their scores. Nat won by a long-shot. Her attention snapped once she heard those words.
Closing the distance Jackie took Nat’s hands in her own. Rubbing circles on the back of Nat’s hands she gave her best smile, “Nat,” Jackie said her name with so much sincerity it formed unshed tears in Nat’s eyes. “You make me feel the opposite of that. I feel like I’m actually becoming a person I like instead of hiding myself and pretending to be someone. I used to hate myself for it and never thought I could be brave enough to ever find out who I am.” Jackie paused her statement as she surged forward to pull the taller girl into a hug.
“That’s why I love you.” It was the first time Jackie has said it and she’s been building up the courage to say it for some time.
The urge to kiss her had never been stronger than it was right now, but sometimes a kiss wasn’t needed. They held onto each for a few more moments before letting go of each other.
If anyone noticed that their faces were red from crying no one said anything.
“Jack, I-“ Nat was handed a tissue that Jackie apparently had on her so she could wipe her face off. Jackie rested her hand on the inside of Nat’s arm. The look she was receiving was an unspoken answer, ‘It’s okay you don’t have to say it back.’
Jackie’s hands clapped together, breaking the emotional tension filling the air, “Well, we got distracted. Anyways you kicked my ass.” Her joyful tone mixed with irritation got a good laugh out of Natalie, “The more you play the better you’ll get. Trust me I was shit when I first played it. Now I’m trying to get a perfect game, but my aim isn’t as good as it can be.”
“You were also right about it giving so many tickets.” Jackie collected her own bundle of tickets while Nat did the same. The difference in tickets could be seen with Nat having more compared to Jackie’s. They were lucky no one stole their tickets while they were distracted. That happened once to Jeff and she found it funny even though she had to play the role of comfort when it happened.
To gain as many tickets as possible they played a few more games. Their bundles of tickets. Jackie ran out of space in her jeans for them. The tickets ended up in the many pockets of Natalie’s leather jacket.
“Aren’t you taking this a little too seriously?” From Nat’s point of view she was currently watching her girlfriend try to win her something from the claw machine. There were four claw machines in this arcade. The one Jackie was currently on was filled with stuffed prizes. The other three consisted of candy, tickets, and different types of balls. The last one didn’t seem possible since most of the balls were bigger than the claw itself.
“This is very serious. I want to win you something and you’re lucky because I happen to be very good at this.”
“I heard Shauna once say you spent over $20 one time.”
“Hey, I was off my game. That was not a good week for me.”
“Fine. Fine. Take the stage.” Nat’s hands raised in surrender.
“Yes, ma’am.” When Jackie set her mind on things it was hard for her to back out on it. So far she has tried twice and has had no luck besides moving it slightly. Even with the time limit she made well with her time. The two angles she had were on the right side and the one in the front. Her goal was to get the black and white tiger that was at the top of the pile.
With clever positioning and with only 10 seconds left Jacket pushed the button and watched the claw go down. At first she didn’t think she would be able to grab it due to the weird angle it had, but the claw picked it up anyways. She watched it slip out and hit the side of where it needed to be. Now it sat lying on the plastic barrier and was just about to fall in. Without even thinking about it Jackie positioned herself a few feet away before body slamming herself into the claw machine.
“Jesus fucking christ!” Nat cursed, “What the fuck, Jackie!” It caught her off guard that some of her Italian accent bleed through her words.
“Damn, that hurt more than I thought.”
“What did you think was going to happen?”
Jackie groaned before noticing her planned worked. She grabbed her prize out of the machine before facing Nat. She smiled innocently at the other girl like she just didn’t do what she did. Her arms were out offering the stuffed prize she worked very hard for.
“It looks just like you. You give off the same vibes.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Nat took the tiger from Jackie’s arms and set them in her own. She studied it for a few seconds, “I think this is the first time someone has won something for me.
”
“Well, expect more in the future.” Jackie poked her nose before skipping off to the air hockey tables. Nat rolled her eyes fondly before following after her.
Natalie learned the hard way that Jackie was really good at air hockey. They played best of three and Jackie won three games in a row.
“Next time I’m not playing against you. Now for your amazing victory, what would you like.” Jackie thought about it for a second before pointing at Nat, “Your jacket.” Was her simple answer.
“I’m not surprised. I feel like I don’t wear this as much as I used to.” Nat handed over the jacket and Jackie slipped in it. It felt like a hug and with Nat’s smell on it was even better.
“It’s payback for all the clothes you’ve stolen from me and I did give you one of my favorite hoodies.”
“You offered. Plus I know you have a full box of things that are mine and a lot of pictures of us that you don’t have on your wall.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
Nat eyed the pool table from her current position, “I could redeem myself by challenging you to pool.”
“Why do that when my parents own one? I know you’re spending the night too so how about you challenge me then.” Jackie played with a piece of Nat’s hair.
“You got a deal.”
“We don’t have much time before we meet up with Tai and Van so how about you help me get better at shooting. I need to at least be decent enough if we want to crush anyone.”
“I’ll try my best.” It wasn’t a secret that Nat hasn’t held a gun since that incident, but this time it’ll be different.
“If it’s anything like you on the field and playing arcade games I know I can count on you.”
——
“It looks like you kept your high score,” Van examined the scores before settling on the one under Tai’s, “that guy is really close.” She pointed at the guy’s score. “It’s almost under 10,000.”
“Yeah, who knows when this guy will come back. I’m pretty sure this is the guy that took it from me last time we were here.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I recognize that name.”
“You don’t mind if I work on getting a new high score?” Tai asked.
“Go for it. We’re at an arcade it’s supposed to be fun plus I’ll be fine. There’s so many games I wanna play.”
“You’re the best.”
“Go kick some ass.”
“I will.”
They split ways, but they were both still pretty close to each other. Van was just a few machines down.
Van checked in after every game she played to check on her progress. This process lasted almost two hours before Tai ended up losing. She didn’t see that mad about it in the end. She was able to beat her high score by 15,000 points. That put her roughly 25,000 points ahead of second place.
“Nice. Honestly with how much you play this game you should just buy it and keep it in your house.”
“Yeah? Let’s just smuggle it out of the arcade no one would notice.”
“We can get Jackie and Nat to help. If we end up in jail Jackie can bail us out.”
“What if she ends up with us there?”
“Then Lottie? Jackie would probably call Shauna.”
“That would be funny to see.”
“‘Hey Shauna, I know it’s late but can you bail me and a few of our friend’s out? I’ll pay you back.’” They dissolved into laughter just thinking about it.
“How’s your ticket collection looking? I know you played a lot of games while I was working on my high score.”
“It looks amazing right now. I took a quick look at the prize counter and I saw a gameboy. I really want to get it.”
“Let’s work on it then.”
Just like Natalie Van wanted to work for it. Tai at one point offered to get it for her, but she declined it. She appreciated the gesture, but it wouldn’t be the same. She wanted to feel like she earned it. Van wouldn’t mind games, the console was a different story.
She had been saving up for a while to get it. Van was worried at first that it would have been taken away from the prize counter when it reopened. She was lucky she was wrong.
“Did you see any games with good jackpots? Preferably something easy so we can abuse it.”
“Down the Clown and one of the coin pushers looked good on jackpots. There’s also a claw machine that has tickets, but I’m terrible at those games. I would end up wasting coins instead of winning.”
“Sounds good. Let’s start with those. We have about over an hour before we have to meet back up with Jackie and Natalie.”
“Do you wanna go out to eat after this? Just the two of us? I know it’ll probably be a little late and you have to do something tomorrow, but I really want to take you out after this.”
“I will always make time for you, Van. How about this, we go out to eat and after I finish helping my dad I can come over and pick you up. We can go watch that new movie you wanted to see.”
“That sounds great.”
Working on getting the jackpots went better than expected. They only hit it once on the clown game, but not on the coin pusher. However, they still get a good amount from that game. The jackpot they got was smaller compared to the other one they didn’t get, but Van still thought a 150 ticket jackpot was good.
She took the time to count up her tickets. From all the saving up she did she had about 1243 tickets. Tai’s tickets only added about 156 of those 1243. She needed 1500 tickets to get the gameboy. It used to be 2000, but there was now a higher prize above the gameboy. A PlayStation was the highest reward one could get now.
“I’m under 300 away from getting the gameboy. Do we have time for another game?”
“Yeah, more than enough, like 30 minutes. We can play that clown game to get more. I could also hit a skee ball game.”
“Meet up in 20?”
“Yeah.”
They high-fived each other before taking off in different directions. They had a mission to complete.
As agreed they met up in the same spot each with a bunch of tickets in each hand. They both didn’t have the chance to count so that was now what they were doing. Van wasn’t able to hit the jackpot again, but she did get about 87 tickets. She thought that wasn’t bad for the time limit she had.
“How many did you get?”
“I only got 68 and that was because the stupid ass machine took forever to spit out tickets.”
“Shit that definitely isn’t enough.”
“Yeah, you’re right. What are we going to do?”
“Maybe after we play laser tag we can play more? We can play a few more games right now.”
They were 102 tickets short. By the time they had to meet up with Jackie and Nat they were 85 tickets short.
——
“Your aim did get better. I noticed that. You had more points this time compared to the last game. Just take my advice for when we go in.” Nat had explained most of the tricks of laser tag she knew offhand.
“Right. I feel more prepared than before. Maybe not enough to use an actual gun, but a fake one yeah.”
“Yeah, no real guns for you.”
“Don’t trust my skills?”
“I would need more convincing. In a survival situation I wouldn’t want you to be holding the gun. It’s a whole different experience and you also have to have the mental capacity to handle shooting things.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I would cry.”
To pass time while they waited Jackie folded all the tickets in Natalie’s leather jacket neatly. She didn’t like how they were just shoved in there. Every time she put her hands in the pockets the tickets felt like they were in the way.
“I did some thinking on my idea earlier.” Jackie voiced.
“The buying out all the arcade prizes idea?”
“Yeah, that one.”
“You don’t seem too excited about it anymore.” The look on Jackie’s face looked like someone kicked a puppy.
“I don’t want to be that type of rich person. I would feel like my mom if I did that.”
“If you did do that I know with how kindhearted you are you would give them to kids. You probably would keep the candy to yourself.”
Jackie playfully shoved her, “I would not. I would keep some of it and give it away.”
“See I was right.”
“What were you right about?” Perfect timing of Tai and Van to show up.
“Just a little conversation we were having.” Jackie simply answered and the duo decided not to push it.
“How did the ticket grinding go, Van. Did you get enough?” The group of four made their way in line for laser tag.
“No, I’m 102 off.”
“Do you want my tickets?” Jackie questioned, looking back at the red head, “I didn’t think I was going to use them so I was thinking of giving them to Nat, but if you want them you can have them.” Jackie’s offer wasn’t out of pity, but simply out of kindness.
“I don’t need them before you ask, Van.” Nat quickly answered. She knew how Van worked after all.
“Are you sure?” Van hesitated, she went to reach out of them before she stopped herself.
“Yeah, of course. Nothing really interests me when it comes to the prizes. If you don’t feel comfortable with it that’s fine too. If Nat didn’t want them I’ll probably find a kid to give them to and make their day.” Jackie enjoyed making kid’s days when it came to little stuff like that. It’s what made a happier childhood in some cases.
“No it’s okay, I’ll take it, but not them all. I would feel bad.”
“That’s fine.” Jackie simply smiled at her before handing over a bundle of tickets she got from the pocket of the leather jacket.
“I didn’t count, but if that’s not enough just let me know.”
“I’ll check after, thanks.”
“No problem.”
They didn’t talk for a bit after that. They enjoyed the silence. Nat held the stuffed tiger to her chest. Jackie had offered to put it in her purse earlier, but Nat declined. Tai ended up questioning the said stuffed tiger. Nat then had to explain how Jackie won it for her by body slamming the claw machine. Let’s just say Van couldn’t stop laughing for a while.
The earlier topic of tactics Jackie and Tai had hours beforehand ended up coming up again between the two of them. A question was brought up on positioning. Would it be better to move as a four player unit, a two player unit, or just themselves. Jackie thought four would be too much so they settled for pairs. Van and Jackie would go together while Tai and Nat went together. It would be different then what they’re used to, but they are a team so it shouldn’t matter what pair you were with.
They were going to be on the same team with two additional people with them. Some random dad with his son would be playing with them. It would be a 6v6.
The rules were explained and their gear was given to them.
“There’s only two sensors. I honestly expected more. It would be so cool if there were some on the arms.” Van inspected the gun. Some places have pistols. This place gave you something that looked more like an SMG.
“New York most likely has those, Van.” Tai try shooting the gun, but it wasn’t usable yet.
“If not, you can create it.” Jackie added in.
“You’re so right, Jackie.”
Their conversation was cut short when they were told the game was about to begin. The guy gave them two choices when choosing game modes. It was either lives or points. Most people agreed on points. Tai and Jackie thought it would have been better for them to go on lives. It felt more was at stake.
“Tai, we should play again after this, but I have an idea.”
“I’m listening.”
“2v2. Me and Nat against you and Van.”
“Oh, I see what you’re doing.”
“What do you think?”
“It’s a deal.” They shook hands on it. Van and Nat noticed the display.
“I don’t think we’re going to like that.” Nat whispered to Van.
“Agreed. Whenever they agree on something it’s so scary.” Van shuddered thinking about how last time they teamed up during a team hangout everyone got destroyed by them.
“Let’s hope it’s something good.”
“We should get Laura Lee to pray for us.”
“I’ll mention it next time I see her.”
“If we’re alive.”
The two teams entered the arena. As promised Nat and Tai went their own direction while Van and Jackie went another. They stayed relatively close just in case. Jackie tried to keep track of where the other team went, but she ultimately lost them after a few turns.
“There’s no high ground so there goes our idea of taking it.”
“We can’t stay in the same spot. You get my back and I get yours. The back sensor gives the most points.”
“Sure thing.”
“We can pretend we’re spies.”
“Is this the part where you start singing the X-Files theme song.”
“I actually wasn’t thinking about that, but you just gave me an amazing idea.”
“Oh god.”
“More like an oh yeah.”
The timer counted down and when the alarm went off the game officially started. The game timer started at 6 minutes. Nat and Tai's current position was holding a wall near the middle. It was still on what was considered their side.
“You’re going to have to cover my back. Mine isn’t covered like yours.”
Nat gave Tai a quick salute before focusing once more.
Tai and Nat’s plan was to try to hold this position for as long as possible before having to move onto other ideas that they came up with.
“We should use our random teammates as cover if needed.” Tai suggested.
“You can try that.”
By the time the game ended Tai and Nat ended up in the enemy territory shooting them from their blind spots. The using teammates as cover idea worked until Tai accidentally made the kid cry since he kept getting shot at. They found out one of the more promising strategies was to move in a zigzag. They preferred the more aggressive style of getting points. It was either that or the held corners. Between the two of them Nat had the most points.
As for Jackie and Van they chose a different approach. Instead of Tai and Nat’s aggressive approach they played a more defensive and silent approach. Jackie didn’t think Van was being serious about playing as spies, but that’s what it turned out to be. They even had hand gestures. Van covered the front while Jackie got the back. Using communication and positioning they were only hit about three times the whole game. Jackie didn’t hit as many shots as Van did, but her callouts were able to generate more points. When the timer officially sounded they knew they could relax.
“Fuck yeah, spy bros!” Van raised her hand, waiting for a high five.
“Spy bros.” Jackie laughed in disbelief as she high-fived Van.
“You would be an amazing spy partner. If I need to do cool ass spy shit I know who to call.”
“Let’s hope we won. Even with how many times we shot them I doubt our scores alone would let us win.”
The duo were the last ones back. They took a glance at the screen. In fact, they did win.
“Damn Nat and Tai’s scores are so high.”
“It seems you guys finally decided to show up.” Their conversation was cut short with the sound of Tai’s voice and two sets of footsteps coming towards them.
“You guys seemed to have scored a lot.”
“Your scores weren’t that bad.” Tai’s face gave away her true thought process. She didn’t seem that impressed.
“We had a different approach.” Jackie admitted.
“Spy bros.” Van whisper shouted.
“I don’t even want to know.” Nat sighed.
“Wait, Nat and I need to know something. What were you two whispering about?” She pointed at both Nat and Tai. The two people in question looked at each other before Jackie spoke, “We kinda made a deal.”
“A deal?” Nat already sounded skeptical.
“It’s nothing bad. Just a 2v2 with just us.”
“Jackie came up with the idea.”
“I mean it doesn’t sound that bad, but what’s the catch? What does the winner win?”
“How about we figure that out after the game.” Jackie suggested.
“That’ll give us time to figure out what we want when we win.” Van shared a smirk with Tai.
“Who said you’re gonna win?” Nat challenged.
“This is already going great.” Jackie slipped the teen working a $20 to step up the next game for them. She chose the lives version of the game. Both for a quicker game and it seemed to have more at stake. The teenager working gladly accepted the cash and went to set the game up. They apparently would have three lives each.
“Van likes the stealth approach better than aggressive. Tai wouldn’t be able to handle it. She likes to move. My idea is we go for Tai first then. She’ll make herself an easy target due to her aggressiveness.” Jackie whispered to Nat as they entered the arena once again.
Nat nodded as she whispered back, “With the clothes you’re wearing with the leather jacket it’s hard to see you so be my cover. You always did better when you focus on your shot. Be my backup.”
On the other side of the arena Tai and Van were deciding their own strategy.
“Jackie doesn’t have the best shot when she’s on the run so we need to keep her moving. The problem with that is that she is really good at hiding herself.”
“Okay, we can save her for last. We need to take Natalie out. She’s the heavy hitter.” Tai adjusted her gear.
“We can double team her.” Van proposed.
“Let’s try that.”
In this version of laser tag there was no need to reload.
“Shit, before I forget, Jackie has a really good trigger finger for someone that’s never shot a gun so be careful.”
“Okay.” She didn’t think that would be a problem if Jackie’s aim wasn’t the best.
The alarm went off signaling that the game began and they were soon off. Van and Tai moved while the other two stayed in position.
Tai crossed the middle and over to the other side and as she turned a corner she was hit. She didn’t get to see who hit her before she pushed herself away from the wall. Hiding behind the very same wall she turned to Van. “Shit I didn’t see who hit me.”
“Good shit, Nat.” Jackie thought. Nat looked back at her and with hand signals she tried to tell Nat to switch with her.
“What?!” Nat whisper shouted.
“Switch with me. Use me as bait. What you just did won’t work again!” Jackie sent the same energy back.
Nat agreed with her plan and they switched quickly as possible. By the time they finished Tai and Van were already back. Jackie had a perfect shot, but Van saw her first. They both shot at the same time, but only Van’s hit.
“What the hell. Is this stupid gun not working? I swear I hit you first.” Jackie complained.
“Pfft, I’m just quicker.” Their plan seemed to have worked when Van’s sensor went off when she was hit.
“Goddamnit! You were a decoy. Tai, get Nat!” When Van turned back to Jackie she was already gone. Luckily, Tai was able to get Nat’s sensor on her gun.
They were all at two lives now.
“We should have them cornered by now. I see the back wall.”
Nat and Jackie had changed positions and were not behind those two. With only Tai in view they both shot her. They knew they got her when they heard her curse and also saw her sensor explode with lights. As a distraction Jackie threw a bouncy ball in their direction as a distraction.
“What the fuck just hit me?” Van practically shouted looking around for Nat and Jackie.
“Van, I’m down to one life.” Tai sighed.
“Don’t worry. We still got this.” Van encouraged.
For a solid 30 seconds no other action was found. It made both parties nervous. It changed when Tai was able to shoot Jackie when she rounded a corner by mistake, but it had cost Tai her last life as Nat was posted not that far behind her.
“You got this.” Tai tried to smile even if she hated losing. She exited through the door moments later.
The game was back on. Van tracked Nat’s movements and she was able to line up a perfect shot until Jackie Taylor got in the way.
Jackie threw herself in the line of sight, taking the bullet for Natalie. Nat didn’t expect it seeing the look on her face, but she took the shot and hit Van.
Jackie was officially out of lives so she exited as well.
Nat was up by one life until Van changed that by somehow getting behind her.
“Fuck.” Nat groaned.
“Now we’re even.” Van smirked.
They locked themselves into a Mexican standoff for a few moments before they both fired. Nat’s bullet registered before Van's, making her the winner of the game.
“I knew I would lose because I had the broken one.” Van said in dismay.
“Hey, it was a good game.” Nat wrapped her arm around Van’s shoulders trying to cheer the other girl up.
They entered back into the starting room to put their gear away. When Nat was done she felt a pair of arms throw themselves around her.
“We won!” Jackie shouted with glee.
“You gotta stop throwing yourself everywhere. I would expect it from Van, but not you.”
“You’re rubbing off on me.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Jackie’s eyes scanned the room to take a look at Tai and Van, “You guys doing alright?”
“Yeah, it was great even if we lost.” Van admitted.
“You outdid our tactics. It was smart. I hate losing and I’ll probably sulk about it for a bit, but it was a good game.” Tai said.
The group all exited the area and started to make their way over to the prize counter. Nat and Jackie stayed behind the other two discussing what they wanted from the bet. They didn’t have anything really in mind and they both agreed it couldn’t be about soccer. They couldn’t risk losing nationals over a stupid bet. So when they finally decided on something it was simple, but would probably be a lot for Tai and Van.
“We got the idea for losing the bet. Nat and I talked about it and we think you’ll like it.”
Van was waiting at the counter for her tickets to be counted while Tai leaned right next to her talking about something. Most likely their plans for later. When they heard the announcement their conversation was cut short, “What’s the idea?” Van was the first one to speak.
“We agreed it couldn’t be soccer related for many reasons.” Nat added on from Jackie’s statement.
“You got that right.” Tai mumbled. She would have denied it so quickly if it would fuck with their win streak.
Jackie took center stage again in the conversation, “I would feel like an ass if we did anything remotely bad for reasons so it’ll be fun. Nat and I thought since you lost how about you guys plan our next little get together. We had fun and I know you guys had fun. So, it’s on you to plan the next one could be anything. You have to buy the food and all that stuff.”
“Huh, not bad. I expected worse.” Tai didn’t seem to mind it neither did Van, “Aw I knew you guys love hanging out with us.”
“Don’t push it too far.” Nat shoved Van’s shoulder playfully.
Van had successfully acquired her gameboy after grinding for it for so long. The others didn’t get much for themselves besides maybe some stupid plastic toys and candy to eat. There wasn’t much to do after that so they all decided to leave.
Leaving was the typical fanfare it was. Hugs were exchanged as well as goodbyes. They would see each other at school anyways.
Tai and Van drove to the place Van suggested they eat at while Jackie and Nat simply went back to Jackie’s place. Jackie did want Nat to teach her how to play pool after all. Plus they had access to her parent’s liquor cabinet.
——
When the soccer season was in play the Yellowjackets’ soccer team always try to sit together. Varsity had one table while JV had the other. Today was a typical school day during lunch.
“Hey, Cap, you still got bruises from body checking that claw machine from earlier this week?” Van innocently asked, trying to cover up her chuckling with her hand.
“Wait, Jax, what is she talking about?” Shauna ended up asking next before Jackie could respond.
“Oh, well.” Jackie nervously rubbed her neck, “They’re almost healed. Did you decide to bring this up since Nat and I kicked you and Tai’s asses at laser tag?”
“Wait, when did you gu-“ Mari was cut off by Tai, “Nat’s the one that did most of the work.”
“That might be true, but I had a heroic sacrifice.”
“Yeah, by throwing yourself again.” Nat expressed.
“I’ve rubbed off on her. I’m just that cool.” Van boasted.
“We’ll win next time anyways.” Tai casually threw out.
“Oh, no you won’t.” Jackie quickly added.
The four of them went on and on about this conversation leaving the rest of varsity questioning what the hell is going on. It was only stopped when Shauna pulled Jackie out of the conversation, “What’s up with all of this.”
“Oh, just typical team bonding.” Jackie simply shrugged. The other three knew the hidden meeting, but to everyone else it meant something else.
“Wait, why weren’t we invited?” Mari bulldozed right into the conversation.
“Yeah, Jackie, you’re always preaching that we hang out to team bond, but basically none of us were there besides the four of you.” Allie voiced too. Jackie wasn’t sure why she said that since Allie always had an excuse to skip team bonding unless it was mandatory.
“I would love to join in next if you invite us next time, Jackie.” Laura Lee voiced.
I’ll figure something for all of us to do.” Jackie ended up compromising.
The bell rang soon after that and all the Yellowjackets went in different directions leaving Tai, Van, Nat, and Jackie still sitting at the table.
“Didn’t think they would get that jealous.” Jackie muttered.
“Hey, maybe more can join. Tai and I keep speculating that there’s more of us on the soccer team.”
“Of course there’s going to be more we’re a soccer team, Van.” Nat said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Eventually we can have another team on the tally board.” Tai got up from the table to gather her things.
“I didn’t think you were being serious when you said you made it.”
“I’m always serious, Jackie.”
The four of them went their separate ways not long after that.