“You’re twisted, woman.” He shakes his head and his whole body shudders.
I try to hide my excitement at how much he doesn’t want to do it. It will only make it that much sweeter when he ends up liking it.
“Fine, if that’s the level of ante we are betting with, then I want you to wear a promise ring if I win.”
Now it’s my turn to look upset. “Callahan, we aren’t even officially dating.”
“Well, it can start off as a promise for that, and then eventually be a promise for marriage.”
He is so intense, it should really put me off. Instead, I find myself shaking his hand in agreement.
“Fine,” I say.
“Fine.” He leans in and seals the deal with a kiss.
We head in and I buy the amount of tokens on a card that you wish you had been able to get as a child. Enough that we will be here for a few hours. Setting the rule that ticket count is what will determine the winner, we go off and start playing.
Somehow remembering it’s a date, we stick by each other’s sides for the most part and play the same things, even basketball, despite the fact that it doesn’t give much of a reward. When we end up at the air hockey table, I almost forget that we are competing for the most tickets.
“You want to lose twice in one day?” he asks, tapping his card against his knuckles. The air starts up, and the puck moves around as we go to our sides.
“Sir, when will you learn that I never lose?” I smack the puck across the table. He deflects in a way that showcases his quick reflexes. Hitting it right back, we get into an all-out match.
“Do you know how much time I’ve spent playing this?” he asks as he scores a goal.
He now has three points to my one.
“I thought you didn’t get to play games,” I growl in frustration.
“I said we didn’t play video games. Our parents bought one of these for the basement, and this is how we settled beefs without fighting.”
Scoring another point, he takes the time to do a little dance.
“You’re a monster,” I say when he blocks again.
This just causes him to chuckle, which he doesn’t stop doing for the rest of the game. He is full-blown out of breath from laughing when we finish, him with ten points and me with two.
“I should have bet on this,” he says, as he pulls me towards a table in the food area.
“Yeah, well, you didn’t,” I huff, crossing my arms.
This just gets him going again, and he doesn’t stop until our food shows up.
“So how else was it growing up with that many siblings?”
He dips a fry in ketchup and then tosses it into his mouth.
“Well, at first it was just me, Rowan, and Finn. My parents thought they were done, and then my mom got pregnant with Connor when I was twelve. After that, the other two just came along.”
I nod, taking a bite of my burger.
“Like I said, we became responsible for them from the get-go, having to help out, which I didn’t hate. It was cool having these tiny little humans to play with and love on, but it was also weird with the age gap.”
“But it’s clear you guys are still close.”
He nods.
“Yeah, for sure. It’s just the way of our family. But that distance between when we were born is why I’m closest with Rowan.”
