Page 63 of One Last Time

I sucked in a breath, my hands clenching into fists. The blend of anticipation and pure, childish delight that was fizzing through me was intoxicating.

GO!

Arrows flew across the screen and my legs lurched into action. I could hear Lee thrashing about beside me, our feet stomping frantically as we did our damnedest to keep up with the game. I didn’t dare spare him a look. I was completely focused on the screen and I knew he would be, too.

It was a different version of the song from the one I was used to. It was more electronic and furiously fast.

And it was over too soon.

My chest heaved as I tried to catch my breath. I definitely had a stitch now. I collapsed back against the metal bar, and Lee flopped right down on the floor of the machine, hand on his stomach and panting.

The screen racked up our score:54%,it declared.NOT BAD!

“Not bad?” I wheezed. For Pete’s sake, when did I get so out of shape that I couldn’t keep up with a kids’ dancing game? I’d spent months on the track team! And Lee was afootballer.“Not bad?”

“Shelly,” Lee gasped, hand clutching my ankle. “I don’t think we were good.”

“We used to hold every spot on the leadership board of this game. Come on, get your ass up. We’ve got two more songs before those quarters run out. Not bad! Ha! We’re. Gonna. Kill this.”

“It’s gonna kill me first,” Lee muttered, but he hauled himself up, shaking it off. “I don’t remember it being this much exercise, Shelly.”

“I guess this explains why we used to eat, like, three hot dogs a day.”

Twelve dollars and nine songs saw us both drenched in sweat, but finally,finally,back on the leaderboard.

Even the game screen was proud of us:92%! WOW!

A celebration video rolled across the screen, and I let myself sit down at last.

“That song…” Lee puffed. He shook his head, bending over his knees while he caught his breath. He tried again: “That song is going to be stuck in my head for weeks.”

“Hey, it can join your one other brain cell, keep it company for the summer.”

Lee groaned, swiping blindly at me. “Don’t make me laugh. I don’t have the energy to laugh right now. Oh man. How did we do this all day long as kids?”

“Get it together, old man.” I picked my phone up from where I’d left it on the floor next to Lee’s wallet and cap and my sunglasses and took a picture of our score and spot on the leaderboard.

It had taken the second round of songs for us to get back in the groove. The muscle memory forDDMmust have been in there somewhere because Lee and I had found our rhythm again. We even pulled a couple of tricks as we got more and more into the game. Nothing as great as we used to do, of course, but nothing too shabby either.

Ninety-two percent expert.

I’d take that.

“I know you kids,” a voice said. We both turned to see an old guy standing nearby wearing a red cap and a red polo shirt with the arcade’s name in swirly writing on the pocket. “Don’t I know you?”

We both looked at him for a minute before Lee said, “Wait…Harvey? Oh man! We almost didn’t recognize you! It’s us—Elle and Lee. We used to be here all the time.”

He squinted back at us. “Didn’t you get your arm stuck in the claw machine?”

Lee blushed, but he was grinning. I climbed to my feet as he proudly confirmed, “Yup! That was me!”

“Back for one last round on this thing, huh?” Harvey fondly patted the side ofDance Dance Mania.

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Lee laughed, saying exactly what I was thinking. “We’ll probably be back here all summer, taking over that leaderboard again.”

Harvey’s wrinkled face pulled into an apologetic smile. “Well, good luck with that. This old gal’s going out to pasture in a couple of weeks. Retirement date’s set for sixth of July.”

The words punched the air out of my lungs in a way that none of the dancing had.