Page 32 of Just Another Meet Cute

“So how should we divide up the teams?” Ian suggested as we stood outside the laser tag entrance. His hand fidgeted with the strap of his vest to tighten it.

Before anyone said anything, I immediately scooted over to Ryan’s side. “I’ll be on Ryan’s team.”

Ian looked surprised and a tad disappointed, but he didn’t say anything. This was the first time we’d seen each other since he drove me home last Saturday night, but we’ve been texting every day this week. Pretty much all day, actually.

It was a mistake to respond to Ian’s text that day.

And the day after that. Even though our texts were perfectly innocent (Linh read them and agreed that they were innocent and kind of boring), they were like a drug.

And I couldn’t make myself stop replying.

Every message, every joke, made me want another one.

Each time I would tell myself that this was the last one. And then the next one would be the last one. It was like the never-ending text message.

I was determined to set boundaries in person though, and it was imperative to stay away from him. Thankfully laser tag was the perfect way to do that. Running and hiding from each other was pretty much a requirement if you wanted to survive.

The rest of us separated into different teams—Linh was on my team with Ryan, while Ollie and Megan were with Ian.

After Linh won rock, paper, scissors against Ollie (Go, rock!), we got to go in first. Our team had a minute to go inside before Ian’s team came in.

Once everyone was inside, the lights would dim and our guns and vests would glow in our team colors.

Ryan took my hand and pulled me into the room. He let go when we were halfway through the first room. It was a giant maze with walls of varying heights. Lights glinted off the wall in the corner like it was a reflective mirror.

“Do you want to separate or find somewhere to ambush them?” he asked with his arms crossed like he was ready to do battle.

Linh immediately shook her head and backed away from us. “You guys can go ambush them if you want. I’m a loner. I’m going to go find myself a good hiding place as high as I can go. You know, the Katniss Everdeen strategy.”

My left eyebrow rose. “So, we’re going all Hunger Games now?”

“Minus the squirrel steak.” She turned her face slightly and flashed me a quick wink that I hoped Ryan didn’t notice. Obviously, her strategy had more to do with leaving us alone rather than actual laser tag tactics.

Before she could race away, I reached out to grab her sleeve. “Don’t forget, we are the shadows.”

Her loud sigh practically knocked me over. “And the smoke, we rise.”

With a grin, we turned to Ryan. His eyebrows scrunched together as he stared at both of us. “I feel like I’m missing something.”

“You didn’t give him the Sylvester memo?” Linh shook her head. “What do you guys even talk about on your dates? Or do you just make out the whole time?”

My cheeks burst with the heat and I waved her away. “Just get out of here before I shoot you myself.”

Laughing, Ryan kissed his three middle fingers and waved them in her direction as she backed away. “May the odds be ever in your favor. At least I know that movie reference.”

I patted his arm. “Don’t worry, you’ll learn.”

“As long as you’ll be the one to teach me.”

Before I could respond, the overhead lights flashed twice, signaling that the other team was about to enter in another minute or so. The game was about to start.

With a deep breath, Ryan took my hand. “Let’s get a bit farther in so they don’t run right into us.”

“Good idea.” I followed closely on his heels as we zoomed through the maze and found ourselves in a room full of barrels and random doors. Symbols and pictures were drawn all over the place in bright neon colors.

We barely crossed half the room when suddenly the lights went out and came back very dim. I could barely see Ryan’s face if it weren’t for the purple lights glowing on the lining of our vests and arm pads. The neon paint on the walls and barrels gleamed.

Everyone was inside the arena now. My stomach immediately dropped.

Catching my breath, I immediately ducked down to crouch behind two large barrels. Ryan followed me as we heard someone rush through the doorway. Maybe two people. They were kind of loud.

My heart pounded frantically. I wanted to cover it with my hand in case I needed to muffle the sound, but I didn’t dare move.

We stayed frozen as the footsteps grew closer to us. Step by step. Finally, they stopped a few feet away. I waited for them to pass us up or leave, but they stood there like they could sense us. We were all frozen for so long that I swear my foot started to fall asleep.

Unable to stay still any longer, I leaned forward to the left toward Ryan and peeked through the little seam between the two barrels covering us. There were two shadowy figures in front of us, looking around the room, but my eyes immediately zoomed in on the person on the left.

Ian.

Of course, it would be him. Maybe his twin sense knew that Ryan was nearby.

Sucking in a deep breath, I slunk back so he wouldn’t see me. I poked Ryan and pointed past the barrel and at his face. I think he understood because his eyes widened and he glanced around the room again.

As I crouched there, I couldn’t help leaning back to peek at Ian again.

Ironically, I thought it would be safer to be on Ryan’s team so I wouldn’t have to be close to Ian.

But somehow my plan backfired. Just because I wasn’t physically near him didn’t mean I would stop thinking about him.

Especially now that he was on the opposite team, and I was actively looking for him.

Finally, Ryan pointed at me and motioned toward the other side of the room.

I thought he meant for us to go over there together, but he suddenly stood up.

Before I could even yank him back down, he bolted in the opposite direction toward the stairs heading upstairs.

Ian and the other person quickly ran after him.

“Hey, Ryan, wait up! I have something to tell you!”

His laughter seemed to bounce off the walls. “Like hell you have something to tell me! You’ll have to try to catch me first!”

Red lasers bounced all over the place, and even though I knew they were harmless, I plastered myself against the metal barrel as they passed me.

Now that I was alone, I jumped to my feet. My right foot was still asleep, and I gritted my teeth together and forced myself to move toward the other side of the room. Painful tingles ran up and down my foot and leg with each step.

My fingers clenched the laser gun tightly in my hands, and I peered around a tall door. There was a ramp that went straight up. I didn’t know what was up there, but it was either this or the stairway the guys went down.

There was no choice but to go up. Especially after Ryan used himself as bait so I could escape.

I edged along the wall and tried to blend in, despite my glowing vest. Shifting the laser gun to my right hand, my left hand covered my chest to hide as much of the light as I could with my fingers.

When I reached the top of the ramp, I realized this was one of the main floors. And this room was huge compared to the one I was just in.

The arena had three floors, but the first floor was mainly the waiting area and equipment room.

The second and third floors were where the real game started.

The smaller rooms had themes whereas this room was a mixture of everything.

Mini mazes with ramps that went up and down, barrels that ranged from huge to tiny ones, doors, and half walls to hide behind.

There were even mini turrets with towers and windows overlooking everything.

Deciding to get to one of the turrets so I could keep a lookout, I headed for the ramp on my left. It took less than a minute for me to reach the top. Before I could duck into the turret though, I heard a small thump beneath me.

My heart pounded in my ears, and I held my breath as I crept around the giant boulder to hide. I didn’t see or hear anyone else around me, but I knew that there was still someone out there.

The hairs on my arms were sticking up by now.

My nerves were tingling in overdrive as I dropped down to my stomach and army-crawled over to the balcony.

Inch by inch, I peered over the balcony and spotted someone standing near the ramp.

A guy. He glanced around the room with his laser gun held loosely at his side. His face was in the shadows though.

Recognizing the dark hair, I almost called out to him when I realized his gun and vest were glowing red. Wait, that wasn’t Ryan. It was Ian.

With a soft gasp, I ducked down again before he could catch sight of me. My body was plastered to the floor as the handle of the laser gun dug into my side.

There were two choices. I could either attempt to sneak away before he noticed me, or I could stay and get revenge for being his butler last week. And for all the times he annoyed me. Which were a lot.

It was a pretty easy choice. I didn’t even have to think twice about it.

Leaning forward with the laser gun gripped in both hands, I positioned myself against the floor like a sniper. When Ian turned slightly away from me, I took aim and fired.

I missed the first time. The red beam hit the wall behind Ian. He swung around to stare at it. Before he could react, I pressed the trigger of my laser gun a couple more times. Finally, one of them hit Ian’s chest plate.

He glanced down at his flashing blue vest in dismay. The lights on his equipment and gun shut off. Pretty much putting himself in time-out for thirty seconds. “Shit!”

Ducking inside the turret, I collapsed against the wall and shoved a fist against my mouth as I struggled not to laugh out loud. Tears gathered in my eyes instead as his frustrated face flashed in my head.

Linh and Katniss were right. It was way better to be up here looking down at everyone.