Page 29 of The List of Things

“I never said that. I don’t do the whole losing thing, especially after I just won. Next game.”

He takes my hand and he brings us to Skee-Ball, and I watch as he swipes his card. I just stand next to him, watching him as he takes the game ball in his hands.

You know, Skee-Balls aren’t tiny. They are very normal sized balls… but a Skee-Ball in Bellamy’s hand looks like a child's toy... And I really wish I hadn’t looked because now I can’t stop. I watch as he plays, my mouth basically watering at the sight of him playing a stupid arcade game. I’m not really sure how one person can make the most unattractive things attractive, but that’s what Bellamy seems to be doing with this game.

“Do you want to play?” He asks, and I hesitate, wondering if he caught me staring.

“Oh... No. I’m fine, I can watch. You’re just... Really good.”

Good at holding small objects… Like my fucking throat.

“Do you want me to show you?” He asks, and I want to say no, but how else am I going to tell him I want to watch him hold tiny balls? I’m not going to.

I step forward, and he takes my hip turning me around, but he doesn’t let his hand slip away. He keeps it rested there, gripping me loosely, his thumb pressed to my back, his long fingers wrapping around the front of my body. He leans over, scanning the card again, and then he bends down to grab one of the balls. I watch him shamelessly now, knowing he can’t see me staring at his hands from this angle. He passes me the ball and then lets his hand cover mine, and I think my stomach flips a million and one times. I feel like my insides could win Olympic medals in gymnastics considering how many twists and turns they just did, holy shit.

“Are you okay?” He asks, and I nod, the back of my head brushing his shoulder. He brings my hand back and then forward again. “Let go,” He breathes out, and I do.

Just like he had done before, the ball goes in perfectly, earning us 100 more points.

“Again?” He asks, and I don’t oppose, mostly because I’m secretly enjoying the feeling of his incredibly large hand covering mine which is embarrassing to admit.

But I don’t care. I need to tell Sienna that I hate her for pointing out his hands to me because I never noticed them before. If I had...

Well, I don’t know if Bellamy would have lasted as a friend this long.

After a few more rounds of Skee-Ball, we move on. Making our way through the entire arcade, we play games until our cards run out. We take them up to the prize kiosk and put the tickets together. We wait at the ticket counter, looking to see just how many points we racked up, waiting to see just how big my new prize will be. The number continues to go up until it reads 10,232. We look at each other and Bellamy has a shit-eating grin before turning back to the guy behind the prize counter who looks like he hates his life.

“Whatever she wants,” He tells the guy who doesn’t even change the expression on his face.

He doesn’t nod, or acknowledge Bell at all, he just looks at me, waiting for my reply. Fair enough.

“Which one do I get?” I ask Bellamy, looking at the plethora of giant furry stuffed animals on the top shelf.

They’re all 9,000 tickets.

“I don’t know, the big purple monster looks kinda like you,” He points out, and I smirk, fighting a laugh at his insult.

I look up and see a giant dog stuffed animal, a golden retriever, and I point to that one.

“I’ll take the dog.”

The worker pulls out a step stool and climbs up so he can grab the animal. He takes it from its home and passes it to me, looking to Bellamy for an answer to where the rest of the points are going to go.

“Do they stay on this card?” He asks, and the guy nods. “Cool... Stay here for a second alright?” He asks me, and I nod, watching as he takes the game card with the rest of our tickets, and walks behind me.

A young girl with blonde pigtails is walking with her mom behind us. Bellamy approaches the pretty mom, and smiles at the young girl, saying something to the mom first that I can’t hear. I watch as she smiles, and nods her head, putting her hand on her daughter's back. Bellamy crouches down on one knee talking to the little girl. She smiles at him, her smile so wide it looks like it might be hurting her cheeks. She nods a few times, and he hands her the game card. He stands, making his way back to me.

“Thank you!” The mom calls out.

He just smiles at her, and then comes back to me, placing his arm over my shoulder. We walk together to the exit, and then toward the boat.

“That was sweet,” I tell him.

“She kind of reminds me of my little sister,” He tells me, and I turn my head to him quickly.

“You have a sister?” I ask him, and he nods.

“She’s not so little anymore. She’s four years and a couple of months younger than me. So she’s 18 now. A senior... She was 12 when my parents passed...” He tells me, and I nod.

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