Page 65 of Just Another Meet Cute
My mouth snapped closed. Damn, he caught me.
“So now that I know it wasyou, I think I’m allowed to get another free shot.” He dramatically cocked the laser gun upward.
“Excuse me, the first one was notfree.” I grabbed his arm so he couldn’t aim at me again.
“Again with the physical contact.” Ian let out a low whistle and shook his head disappointedly. “You have to learn how to play by the rules if you want this to be fair.”
“I don’t play fair.”
“I’ve noticed.” His eyes sparkled happily. Suddenly he leaned down until his lips were right by my ear. My breath got caught in my throat as I could feel rather than hear his words now. I tried to ignore the shivers that were dancing up and down my spine. “Well, now that I know that … neither will I.”
Pulling back a tiny bit, he stared straight into my eyes and gave me a slow wink … before he shot me again—on the chest plate this time—just as the lights came back on to signal the end of the game.
I let out a loud gasp and he bumped his forehead against mine with a snort of amusement. “There. We’re even now.”
Closing my eyes, I counted to ten in my head to calm myself down so I wouldn’t give him a kick where it would really hurt. Luckily for him, I glared at him instead. “You could try to be less of an ass.”
“I could try, but it probably won’t work.”
God, it wasn’t even possible to insult him.
I tried to sweep past him to leave, deliberately digging my elbow into his side. “By the way, you’re supposed to wait a minute or two after my stuff turns on again before shooting at me. That’s very unsportsmanlike of you.” I knew I was being a hypocrite, since I had done the same thing to him a few minutes ago, but I was too annoyed to think clearly.
He stepped to the right to block my way. “Ah, so you DO know the rules. Or at least how to break them. This should make the next game a lot more interesting now. Are you ready?” Ian asked innocently, already walking away before I could answer.
Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of following him, I stayed right where I was. My jaw was clenched so tight that the sides of my neck were sore. I wanted to stomp up and down in frustration, like a little kid. He was so arrogant and irritating and … and …
I was so mad that I couldn’t even think of the words, and that never happened to me. And I had thought Ian was getting a tiny bit nicer. I should have known that it was just a fluke.
There was no time to throw a tantrum though. Not when I had a game to win.
Now that the lights were on again, my eyes scanned the room and tried to memorize all the hiding places and paths between the boulders like my life depended on it. Which it did if I let Ian beat me again.
Okay, if he wants to play again, then we’ll play again.
Game on.
“So not only are you two amazing at Pictionary, but you’re also a pro at laser tag.” Megan shook her head as she popped a french fry into her mouth. Her lips pursed into a round circle as she breathed in and out to cool the hot fry. “Is there seriously anything that you and Iancan’tdo together?”
I searched her face for any sign of jealousy or annoyance, but there was nothing. Either she didn’t feelthatway about Ian, or she wassoconfident about their relationship that no amount of laser tag or Pictionary could ever shake it.
Probably the second one.
She was right though. I hated to admit it, but today turned out to be pretty fun. The most fun I had in a while—and it was mainly because of Ian. He was a worthy opponent.
Even though our entire group was playing, the game became a challenge between us to see who could find the other person first. Who would have the most points in the end. Honestly, Ian and I would have kept playing after everyone called it quits, but we couldn’t just play with the two of us. We’d already asked.
“Technically, we weren’tplayingtogether,” I said, glancing at Ryan and Ian at the snack stand out of the corner of my eye.
“Thank God, or you two would have squished the rest of us like bugs,” Linh complained as she swept her hair off her forehead.
Ollie nodded but didn’t say much. His eyes kept sliding over in Linh’s direction, like they’d been doing all afternoon. And he only spoke to her. “Do you want to check out some of the other games, Linh? Maybe shoot a couple of zombies?”
“Sure.”
They were already strolling off when I called out, “We’ll stay here. Thanks for asking.”
Without looking up, Linh waved over her shoulder as Megan snickered. “Guess Ollie’s little crush isn’t fading anytime soon.”
