Once and Again

The Date

Eirick

Rafi was scowling the moment she stepped out of their house, and on our way towards the arcade.

"Can you stop scowling? You'll get wrinkles." I said.

She glared at me.

"It's none of your business." She hissed.

"I just want my prize, no need to be mean." I said pouting.

Rafi narrowed her eyes at me.

"I can just give you a candy if you want a prize so bad." She said.

"But I want to go to the arcade with you." I whined.

Rafi rolled her eyes.

"Are you really this immature?" She asked.

"It depends." I said, grinning.

Rafi groaned and just looked outside the window.

I chuckled, loving her reaction. When we got to the arcade, Robin also went inside with us.

"Is he suppose to follow us everywhere?" I heard Rafi asked while taking glances towards Robin.

"Yep. She's my close in bodyguard, and also my friend." I told her.

I looked around to look for the counter, and when I saw it, I excused myself to buy some tokens.

When I returned to Rafi's side, I gave her a pouch full of tokens. She took it and narrowed my eyes at me.

"Why so many?" She asked.

"Yep. We're going to spend all these tokens. Let's go." I told her, and then I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the basketball game.

"Hey, whoever gets the highest score wins." I said.

"That's kind of the goal right?" Rafi asked, with her eyebrow arched.

I chuckled and scratch the back of my head.

"Yeah, so the loser will buy snacks." I said, and Rafi smirked.

"You're on Salvatore." She said.

We insert our tokens and began playing. As the balls descended, I grabbed one and began shooting, one ball after another. I did missed a few balls when the hoops began to move sideways.

When I looked at Rafi, she keeps on shooting the balls and never did she miss one. I gaped at her, because not only was she good at shooting those balls, she was smiling too. She's enjoying it.

I smiled and decided to enjoy this game too. I insert more tokens so I can continue my game. I grabbed a ball after another and shoot them .

After a few minutes, it's game over for both of us. And looking at our results, I got a score of five hundred sixty, while Rafi got five hundred and eighty.

"I guess you'll be buying me snacks then." She said with a smug look on her face.

I smiled at her and nodded.

"Sure. We-"

She cut me off.

"I know a diner nearby, their food is great and not expensive."

"Okay."

When I saw the car race game got vacant, I pulled her towards it.

"Do you want to bet again?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Nah, let's just enjoy the game." She said.

"Okay, sure."

The both of us took the driver seat and insert a few tokens and started playing. Robin also choose to play with the bike race.

I am actually enjoying this, because it's my first time playing in a real arcade since dad provided us different game consoles in our game room. Being here with Rafi makes me feel normal, like I am not a thrust fund baby. Also seeing Rafi enjoying, and not scowling at me anymore makes me happy.

After the race, which I got higher score than Rafi, she chose to play a game with guns, and shooting zombies. Robin joined us, and the two of them grew close as we progressed in the game. Robin began teaching us how to aim the targets properly.

The next one, is the claw machine. It turns out Rafi was obsessed with this game, because she never have won anything from it.

"Come on you dumb claw!" Rafi exclaimed as the claw once again failed to hold the plushy up to the prize hole.

"This dumb machine is getting on my nerves!" Rafi sneered, pulling her hair.

Then she looked at her pouch, and she frowned when she's already out of tokens.

"Damn it." She grumbled.

Then Robin handed her his tokens.

"You can do it miss." Robin said.

Rafi grinned at Robin.

"Thank you!" She exclaimed and took the tokens so she can go back to playing.

She spend token after token, but still came out empty handed.

"Maybe you should-"

I was cut off by her icy glare, then she turned back to the game. I shrugged and then I felt Robin patted the top of my head.

"Let the miss do her thing. It looks like it's kind of personal for her." Robin said.

"I can buy her those plushies, so she won't get frustrated." I said.

"Yes you can but it's an achievement for her. Sometimes it feels great to acquire things that you wok hard for." Robin said.

With what Robin said, I suddenly thought about it. I grew up being pampered, things handed to me at my will. If I think about it, I never got something I worked hard for. Is that why I am taking everything for granted?

"Oh my god!!!"

I was startled and pulled out of my thoughts when I heard Rafi's squeals. She turned towards us, grinning like a cheshire cat with a small dog plushy on her hand.

"I did it." She said, and her eyes became glassy.

Looking at her at this instant made me realize how fulfilling it is for her to win the plushy. She looked really happy.

"Congratulations miss!" Robin exclaimed, while clapping his hands.

Rafi smiled at Robin then she looked back at the toy on her hands.

"Finally.." She mumbled.

I smiled at the tender moment.

"You want to try more?" I asked, and she looked up to me.

"Really? I can still play?" She asked like a kid.

"Yep." I said then I turned towards Robin.

"Can you please get us more tokens?" I asked.

Robin smiled and excused himself. For the meantime, I continued to watch Rafi caress the plushy, lovingly. When Robin came back, he gave us our tokens and Rafi went back to playing. This time, I chose to play as well, and try my luck.

While playing, I understood why Rafi gets frustrated. The toy always fall whenever the claw is about to move or when it grabs it. I ended up inserting token after token just to win a toy.

At the end of our stay in the arcade, Rafi won three more plushies. They're bigger than what she got first, because of that she's over the moon. Me on the other hand managed to win one. It's a small plushy that is good enough to be a keychain. Despite the size of my prize, I felt fulfilled.

To make up for our bet earlier, Rafi took us towards the diner she mentioned. This is my first time eating in this kind of diner, but when we got inside, I was amazed. The whole diner looks like those in the movies. There are several decorations, stuff that came from the sixties, seventies, and eighties. They even have a working jukebox, how cool is that.

Rafi choose a table at the very back of the diner. A middle aged woman, wearing a waitress uniform approached us, and gave us the menus.

"What can I get you sweeties?" She asked.

"I'll have a double cheeseburger, large fries, large choco milkshake and churros." Rafi ordered, and the waitress wrote it down.

Robin and I stared at Rafi, surprised with what she ordered. Can she eat all those? When the waitress is done jotting down Rafi's order, she turned towards me and Robin.

"How about you two?"

The two of us looked at each other, before looking back to the waitress.

"We'll have what she's having." I said, and Robin nodded.

The waitress nodded then she smiled at us.

"Good choice. I'll be back in a minute." She said then she left us.

As we wait for our order, Rafi told us why she badly wanted to win the plushies. She said when her dad was still alive, they always play in the arcade. Her dad would always win her a plushy. When he passed away, she wanted to win even just one for her dad.

Letting Rafi open up to me with something personal, makes me feel honored. I feel like she's beginning to be my friend.

When our orders came, we immediately began eating. Just like what Rafi said earlier, the food taste great and it wasn't expensive. I really enjoyed the food.

After we ate, we took Rafi back to her house. I stepped out of the car too, to walk her to her doorstep.

"Thank you for today Eirick. It was actually fun." She said.

"Glad I asked for that prize then." I said, and she chuckled nodding.

I pulled the keychain I won from the claw machine and gave it to her.

"That keychain will look nice in your bag." I said.

She looked at the small plushy keychain on her hand, then she smiled.

Then she took one of the plushies she won, a small monkey, and she gave it to me.

"A monkey suits you." She said, then she turned around and went inside the house.

I was left there, dumbfounded.

"D-Did she insinuate that I'm like a monkey?" I mumbled to myself.

Then I chuckled and shook my head. I gave the door one last glance before I went back inside the car, and Robin drove us home.