Sliding into an open ring-like area, I glance around at the little pillars. I’m not sure if they’re for people to stand on, hidebehind, or something else, when suddenly a ball comes flying out of nowhere and slams into my side. A ding echoes, and the pillars light up pink.
“What the fuck?”
I hear Alex giggling from somewhere in the ring. “It’s like dodgeball, and hide and seek all at the same time. I’m pink, you’re blue, the first one to get to four wins…aaand go,” she yells from a direction I can’t tell due to the sounds reverberating off the walls. Another ball hurtles toward me, hitting me on the arm. The pillars light up pink again, and I scoff.
“Hey, I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t even know we were playing. You don’t play fair, Alex.”
“Life’s not fair, boss,” she replies, running out from behind a pillar and throwing another ball at me. I dodge out of the way, catching the ball, and a ding sounds. This time, the pillars light up blue.
“Don’t I know it,” I murmur.
She goes to hide behind another pillar, and I throw the ball at her, but it misses and hits the pillar instead. I quickly dart off to the left to hide behind a pillar.
“It’s true, though, Nate. Sometimes, life throws you curveballs. But you have to roll with the punches.”
Furrowing my brows, I pick up a ball from the floor near me. “So what is this? Life Lessons 101, while playing hide and go dodge?”
“Something like that. You need to know that even though you’re having a hard time and feeling down, she’s not off gallivanting either.”
That ache in my chest is back, and I rub my pec to alleviate the sting.It does not help. “And this is supposed to make me feel better?”
A ball flies past my head, and luckily, I duck out of the way. Looking toward where it came from, I notice her arm stickingout slightly from behind the pillar. I hurl the ball at her, and it smacks her arm. The pillars light blue as she yelps an “Ouch” and falls to the floor.
“Shit.” I bolt toward her, and as I turn toward the pillar, I’m smacked by two balls at the same time, one in the leg, the other in the stomach. I groan as the pillars light up pink, dinging continuously.
She smiles up at me with an evil grin. “Gotchya, boss.”
“You evil little pixie.”
“All’s fair in hide and dodgem.”
She stands and grabs the bottle of tequila from my hand, unscrewing the lid. She takes a long swig, then hands me the nearly empty bottle, but the buzz is there. I’m a mixture of emotionally depressed and intoxicated, not to mention slightly confused as to why Alex brought me here in the first place, but I’m soldiering on.
“C’mon, the next one should be fun in our inebriated state,” she says, grabbing my hand and pulling me through the rest of the ring and out the other side into the next inflatable.
It’s another ring, but in the middle is a long inflatable tube. I look at it, wondering what the fuck this one’s about. Compared to the last ring, this one seems, well, average. Alex smirks and grabs the bottle, placing it on the inflatable floor, then walks over, picking up an inflatable rectangle. She hands it to me and picks another one up, smiling so wide it’s contagious.
“Right, let’s duel,compadre.” She jumps up on the inflatable tube, balancing like a pro, and waits for me, so I follow and exhale.
“Am I supposed to hit you with this stick and knock you off?” I ask, and she nods.
“You cantrrry,” she says, squinting her eyes and smirking at me.
“Alex, I’m not sure I’m up for thi—”
Without warning, she smacks the inflatable rectangle into my side, sending me off-balance immediately. I wobble to the right but catch my balance and stand back up, glaring at her.
“Alex… chill. This is meant to be fun, remember?”
She sighs with a grin and wacks me again, which causes me to wobble once more.
I glare at her again—her smile wavers, but she thumps me once more. I stagger, nearly losing my balance, and shoot her a look so fierce it could cut. “What the hell is your problem, Alex?”
She smiles and lowers her stick. “You! You’re moping around, being a sad sack of shit, when you’re obviously such a great guy. You have so much to give the world.”
“Me? I have nothing to give the world, Alex. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing. I can’t even keep the one woman I thought was right for me.”
She smacks her stick into me again. This time, I tense up and smack her back, but she doesn’t budge, which pisses me off even more. “Fuck! What do you want from me?”
