Val was cursing Alexander for ruining her date. She had momentarily forgotten about him when she came off the elevator and saw Zack standing there with a single white rose. The crowd had blurred around him as he looked up and smiled at her.

Zack had performed an exaggerated bow as he held out the flower to her and rose to wink at her. He grabbed her free hand and placed a kiss on her hand while never taking his eyes off her. The butterflies stirred again but then Alexander's mouth suckling her breast had intruded on her thoughts.

She had pushed the image from her mind only to have it intrude again as he grabbed her hand on the bus, placed his hand on her back at the restaurant, and placed his arm over her shoulder as they waited in line for their turn on the wheel. Each time she had to aggressively shove the images from the forefront and focus back on Zack. Sweet Zack that was doing everything right and deserved to have a fully engaged date.

"Val?" Zack called as he waved a hand in front of her face.

"What, I didn't hear you," Val said as she looked at him again.

He was looking down at her with some concern and Val did not like it. Well, she did like him looking at her, she just did not like being the source of the furrowed brow.

"You've been wool gathering all night, what is on your mind?" Zack asked her.

"Just some issues with my boss," Val evaded.

"Anything you want to share?" Zack pressed.

Val shook her head and smiled at him as they finally entered a carriage.

"I'm trying not to think about it right now and enjoy my time with you," Val said with a mischievous smile.

"Hmm, how to keep you distracted," Zack mused. "Do you like pinball?"

"What is pinball?" Val asked him.

Zack looked at her askance and placed a hand over his chest.

"She doesn't know what pinball is, we have our work cut out for us Zack," he proclaimed.

Val giggled at his antics and burrowed into his warmth. Zack played with the ends of her ponytail as the wheel began going around in full rotations finally. Val looked out in wonder as the water and city would come into full view before disappearing again as they dipped down.

"Is this your first go round on a ferris wheel?" he asked her.

"First time on one this big," she admitted.

"So, it was a small rock you lived under then," Zack jested.

The comment surprised a laugh out of her, and she looked up at him. Zack was looking at her and she wondered if he had been looking anywhere else the whole time.

"Yes, a small rock," Val agreed.

"I'd like to kiss you right now," Zack told her.

In response, Val reached up a hand behind his neck and guided his lips to hers. His lips were soft and warm as they gently coaxed hers. His kiss was beckoning, inviting her in to participate compared to the demands of Alexander's. No, she chastised herself as she deepened the kiss. She was not going to compare Zack to Alexander.

Zack gave while Alexander took. Zack encouraged when Alexander dominated. Zack was a slow burn while Alexander was a blazing inferno. Zack was good and pure while Alexander was off limits and damaged.

Zack deserved someone better than her. She was tainted by her demon blood, but she found herself too selfish to leave him alone. He made her feel like she was good too, or at least could be.

"Why do you like me, Zack?" Val asked.

"I don't know exactly," Zack admitted. "There is something about you that calls to me. I see a kindness in you that I think you try to hide. I see someone strong when I look at you. I see someone that I want to adventure with and teach about pinball. I want to discover what else there is out there that I can expose you to, and I suspect there is a good deal of things that I'll learn from you. You see this world differently than I do and I want to see it with you."

The wheel came to a stop, and he placed a quick kiss on her lips before drawing away. Taking her hand, Zack led her off the ride and back to the building of Miners Landing. He pointed to a building on the pier next to them before they lost sight of it.

"The aquarium is over there, you should take the kids there to see the octopus," Zack told her.

"Do they have jellyfish?" Val asked him as they wended around the noisy crowd.

"Sure do. I like to just sit there and watch them float around sometimes to relax," Zack informed her.

They walked into the arcade and Val's ears were assaulted by a cacophony of shouting voices, bells, buzzers, and competing music. Val looked around in wonder at the people milling about. There was an interesting mix of activities going on around them.

She laughed as a gleeful child tore past her being chased by an exhausted looking man, she assumed to be their father. He was tired but he exuded the same childish glee as they dived into some seats in front of a screen and grabbed onto the steering wheels. She looked at them in fascination as the man placed quarters in the machine and they started picking out characters on the screen.

"Is that a mushroom man?" Val asked Zack as she pointed.

"That is Toad, have you never played Mario Kart?" Zack asked with disbelief.

"I've never been to an arcade before," Val admitted.

"But you've played video games, right?" Zack asked.

Val shook her head as she looked around to see a machine where the man was throwing balls into a hoop. He was flexing and looking over at the girl next to him expectantly each time one swooshed through the net, but she was not paying him any attention. He was trying to talk to her, but she was pointedly ignoring him while she looked at her phone and a pink bubble appeared from her mouth before popping.

"What is that she is chewing on?" Val asked as she pointed at another pink bubble.

"You've never had bubble gum?" Zack asked her with even more shock.

Val shook her head again and Zack started leading her to a counter.

"I think that rock of yours was bigger than I thought," Zack told her.

Val watched curiously as Zack purchased a pink canister labeled Hubba Bubba and led her off to a quieter area. He pulled out a section of the pink tape and tore it off before handing it to her. She looked at it curiously while he tore off another piece and popped it in his mouth.

She mimicked the movement and then marveled at the sensation. The sugary taste filled her mouth as she chewed but it did not seem to break up no matter how much she chewed. Zack looked at her with mock seriousness.

"Okay, this is bubble gum, you chew it but don't swallow," Zack told her.

"What if I like to swallow it?" Val asked him.

A blush crept onto Zack's cheeks as he stopped chewing for a moment. Val blinked in surprise that the question would elicit that response before she realized how it had sounded. Then she was even more shocked that she had not been trying to be suggestive, what was this man doing to her?

"No swallowing, got it," Val said, surprised to feel her cheeks warming.

How did this man manage to make her giddy as the first day of carnal behavior class? She was far from untrained, but he made it feel new again. Zack cleared his throat and regained his composure.

"So, once you have the gum good and soft, use your tongue to roll it up into a ball," Zack instructed.

Val tried to follow his instructions but coughed when she almost swallowed it.

"I use the back of my teeth to push against to form the ball," Zack told her.

Val tried again and was more successful the second time. She nodded at him that she was ready to move on.

"Now, use your tongue to flatten it out into a circle," he told her.

She did as instructed and gave him another nod.

"Okay, now push your tongue into the gum so that it comes out of your mouth without poking though," Zack told her.

Val tried to comply, but her gum broke the first time. She started the process over until she achieved the desired outcome and looked at him expectantly. It was an odd sensation feeling the gum cool around her tongue sticking out in the air.

"Now the hard part, you're going to try to keep your lips sealed around the gum but leave enough space to blow out and inflate the bubble around your tongue," Zack said before demonstrating.

He blew a small bubble before sucking it back into his mouth. Val gently blew to little effect and tried again. The third time she blew harder and watched in amazement as her vision became engulfed by a pink bubble.

The bubble popped and splattered across her face. Zack was laughing as she pulled pieces off her cheeks and nose. He put his arm across her shoulder, and she felt the vibration of his laughter as he turned her back to the room at large.

"Bubble gum, check. What next my lady, the world is at your feet?" Zack asked her.

Val clapped her hands together as she looked around. She was happy from the souls of her feet to the tip of her hair. She could not remember the last time she had felt this free; she was floating. She looked up to Zack, grateful that he had given her this. She wondered if this was what it felt like to fall in love.

"I want to see this pinball," Val declared.