Page 54 of A Play For The Heart
I tow her towards the game and we both sit in the seats, side by side.
She peers over at me, a hint of mischief in her eyes. “Oh, you’re going down.”
“I’ve seen you drive, I’m sure I’ll be fine,” I tease.
Before I can even jerk away, her fist connects with my upper arm. “Ouch,” I rub my bicep.
“You’re. Going. Down.”
“Less trash talk, choose your character.” I scroll through the character options, choosing the obvious choice.
“Yoshi? Really. This won’t even be a competition.” She rolls her eyes at me, selecting exactly who I knew she would.
“As if Toad is any better.”
Her eyes swing from the screen where she’s choosing her car to me. “Take back the Toad slander!” she yells, hands waving in the air for emphasis.
I laugh at her outburst. It’s too easy to rile her up, especially when it's about Mario Kart. She looks too cute when she’s passionate, even if it’s in argument to something I said. I pointedly do not take back the slander and choose a course from the list.
We wait for the countdown, then we’re off, battling for power-ups to beat each other. I have no idea how she continues to get the green turtle shells, but I’m one more shell away from losing my cool. Worse, every time I get hit, Sawyer laughs maniacally. The fact I’m not doing well is bringing her true joy.
That’s my girl.
The dude in the cloud floats onto the screen with the sign for the final lap. I look to the corner of her screen, then to mine. With her in first place and me in third, I have two options: let her win and just ride it out, or let her win but make her work for it. I chose the latter.
I drive through a power-up and then get a spiny, blue shell. I launch it at her but lean off the acceleration so that even if she gets hit, she can recover. I watch as it travels forward on the screen directly towards her.
“Goddamnit, Henry!” she yells beside me as her car goes spinning towards the side of the racetrack. I can’t make it look like I’m letting her win, so I start to creep up on her, even though I have no intention of passing her.
She rights herself faster than I expected and shoots towards the finish line. A moment later, she flies over the checkered line, launching herself out of her chair, jumping up and down.
“Eat dust!”
She spins around, doing a victory shimmy before flopping back into her seat. Meanwhile, I bite my lip to prevent the laughter from spilling out. Sawyer flings her hand out to shake mine. I take it, then pull her towards me, stealing a kiss.
“Consolation prize,” I say, basking in the feel of her smile against my lips.
“No trying to distract me with kisses in hopes you’ll win,” she says, but I can see the blush forming on her cheeks, even under the neon lights from the game.
“Round two?” I ask, putting more coins into the machine.
“If you’re okay with losing…again.” She shrugs, trying to goad me. I sit on the fact that I let her win but enjoy her teasing, nonetheless.
“I don’t lose twice.”
“I don’t lose twice,” Sawyer mocks from the passenger seat of my car. She’s been giving me shit since we left the arcade bar about my win-loss record. Which is 0-4 in case anyone was curious.
I’ll give her one of those losses. She beat me. I managed to slip on nearly every banana and found myself in eleventh place, behind the computer-generated players. Which did sting. I threw the other three games though, just to see the smile on her face. I’ll lose in every game of Mario Kart for the rest of my life if I keep getting to see that smile.
“Yeah, yeah,” I respond, feigning annoyance.
“It’s alright,” Sawyer says, placing her hand on my knee. “I still like you, even if you suck at Mario Kart.”
I grab her hand from my lap, intertwining our fingers, then bringing them to my lips. I place a kiss on the back of her hand before putting both our hands in my lap.
“I’m glad to know you won't dump me because I’m bad at video games,” I say, laughing.
I wait for Sawyer to respond or to continue to make fun of me, but she’s silent on the other side of the car. I peer over at her from the corner of my eye and catch her staring down at our hands in my lap.
