-Troy- 

The ride didn't take long, and soon enough, Luke parked his car at the side of the road. I looked around, and suddenly knew exactly where Luke was taking me.

I turned to look at him with a smile. "You sneaky dude," he smirked. "I know where we're going."

"Yeah?" Luke asked and turned to see me, resting his left hand casually on the steering wheel while he turned the engine off. I pointed at a brightly lighted entrance on the other side of the street. Luke gave it a short look before he turned to look at me again. "Do you... Is it okay? I mean, we can go somewhere else..."

"Dude – if that's not the place where our first date is, then I don't think we should be dating at all," I chuckled. "That's basically my second home!"

Luke smiled, but then he wrinkled his nose. "It wasn't my idea – Sky told me about it."

"You know," I said quietly, "it's nice you asked my friends for advice."

"But...?"

"No buts," I smiled. "I must warn you though – I might get a little crazy in there."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he replied with a smirk.

I squinted my eyes at him in a playful manner. "You're so going to regret that."

"Me? Never."

There was still tension between us, but it wasn't uncomfortable. I didn't feel bad or weird being there with him. He was always nice and fun to hang out with when it was just the two of us. He somehow seemed freer than usual, like he was finally being himself.

And I guess that was the moment when everything really hit me. I had promised to go out with him, but until now the only thing I had been focusing on was how I was feeling about it – and him – and trying to find some peace of mind. All I had wanted from this date was to finally be able to decide, and that wasn't fair to Luke. I had to give him a real chance.

"What?" he asked quietly, and I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Nothing," I said reassuringly. "Let's have fun tonight."

He frowned a little, looking a bit confused, but he followed me out of his car without saying anything. I was glad about it, because I was kind of confusing myself too. I walked around the car while he was locking the doors and stopped right next to him. I avoided his eyes and turned to look at the madly blinking lights across the street instead.

"You don't seem like a guy who would have his first date in an arcade," I smirked when we started moving.

"Sky said it's your favorite place," Luke said.

"It's true, but you could have chosen something else," I noted, but he only shrugged. "I think that's sweet," I continued when he didn't speak.

He wrinkled his nose, and I laughed, shaking my head in amusement – he clearly hated it when I called him sweet. He was trying to act all cool and tough, but he had carelessly revealed his true nature to me a long time ago. He was just a big softie, disguised as an emotionless jock.

We stepped into the arcade, and the familiar atmosphere welcomed me right there at the door. The smells, the noises, the music, the blinking, flashing lasers... I just loved that place. Luke, on the other hand, didn't look like he belonged there. I had the feeling he didn't even want to be there.

"We can go somewhere else if you want," I told him. "I know you don't like games that much."

"No – I want to stay," he said. "You can teach me."

"Ohh," I cooed and nudged his side with my elbow. "So, that's the reason you asked me out in the first place. You want to know my secrets!"

Luke raised his eyebrows at me, but he was smiling, so I hoped he knew I was just joking. I wasn't sure if I should have made a joke like that after everything I had put him through. I just couldn't help it – my stupid mouth had a will of its own.

"Did I ever tell you that my jokes are really stupid and childish?" I asked and stopped to a halt in the middle of the entrance area.

"They're not," he said and stopped too to look at me.

I waited for him to continue, but when he just stared at me, I started to feel awkward.

"You probably haven't heard any of my jokes then," I muttered.

"I have," he said, and his short answers were about to drive me crazy.

"So, because you're being so quiet, I'm assuming this thing between us is going to be just physical then?" I asked, and even in the dimly lit hall I could see him blush.

"W-What?" he stammered and looked around, like making sure no one had heard me.

"It was a joke," I chuckled reassuringly at his spooked expression. "My jokes are bad."

"O-Oh, okay," he uttered and fell silent. I was sure he wouldn't continue talking, but just when I was about to step closer to the front desk, he opened his mouth. "Did I ever tell you that I'm bad at talking to people?"

I knew our date needed some hard work in order to be successful, but that didn't bother me. It was a good thing we were in an arcade, because there we had something to focus on when having a conversation didn't work.

"I don't mind," I said truthfully. "Let's just agree that we're both awkward people and we're on an awkward date and just try to have fun in an awkward way, okay?"

Luke chuckled a little and nodded. "Fine by me."

"Good," I smiled and took his hand. "I still need almost ten thousand tickets for the grand prize, so we better start playing."

"You need what? For what?" Luke asked while I started leading him towards the clerk.

"Tickets – you're so lucky I'm always carrying my card with me," I said and grabbed my wallet from my back pocket. I pulled out the membership card and showed it to Luke. "We need this to play, and when we win, we get tickets, and I need only ten thousand more!"

"Only?" he chuckled, looking like he still had no idea what I was talking about. "And what's the grand prize then?"

"Xbox," I sighed in anticipation. "I can't wait!"

Luke laughed and shook his head. "So, you have to play in order to play more?"

I smirked and nodded. "I know I could just go buy myself a new one, but what's the fun in that?"

"Or, you can use mine," Luke shrugged, acting all smooth. "Or whatever."

"Maybe I will," I said with a wink.

Then I realized it could have been considered flirting. I turned my back on him as fast as I could so he wouldn't see the flustered expression on my face. I was not flirting with him! I said and did things like that to Max all the time, but Luke probably didn't know I was just fooling around!

God... My childish behavior would definitely cost me someday.

"You know..." Luke spoke quietly, and I could feel him stepping right behind me. "I'd really like that," he muttered into my ear, his breath tickling my cheek, and I sensed his hand touching my side for a split second before he walked past me.

If I had thought I was confused before, now it got so much worse I couldn't even breathe for a moment. The place where he had touched me was sending shock waves throughout my entire body, and his scent was still lingering around me while I tried to jump-start my brain. Luke realized I wasn't following him, so he stopped and turned his head to look at me over his shoulder. I had never noticed how big he really was until I saw all those people passing him by. I had no idea where that thought came from.

"You coming?" he asked, and my brain turned back on. I nodded and walked to him while he was looking around in the arcade. "So... Tickets?"

"T-Tickets... Right!" I said when I remembered where we were. "I just need to recharge my card first..."

I stepped in front of the front desk and gave my card to the lady standing behind it. She greeted me with a smile.

"I just saw you here a couple of days ago," the woman spoke. "The usual amount?"

"Uh – yeah," I nodded, and she put my card into her machine to add more chips in it.

"That'll be twenty-five bucks," she chirped and continued when she spotted Luke, "A friend of yours?"

"Y-Yeah – he's never been here before," I explained.

"Oh! Well I hope you enjoy your stay, and please consider getting a card of your own – we have great deals for members!" the lady spoke to him while I was trying to give her the money.

I saw Luke nodding politely, but I had the feeling he would never get one for himself.

"Thanks," I said when I got my card back and turned my attention to Luke.

"So. Do you want to try something?"

He didn't reply to me. He just stood there and looked at me. I frowned and stared back at him. Then his eyes moved downwards on my body, before he quickly returned his gaze back up.

There was no way in hell I would have missed that look. I knew exactly what he wanted to try. Me. It was an extremely weird feeling to know, to see with my own eyes, that he wanted me. We weren't talking about a mere crush – he found me physically attractive, just like most guys find girls attractive. He probably even thought about me whenever he was... Uhh...

Now I only needed to decide what I should do with that info.

"Thirsty much?" I chuckled.

"I... I could use some water..." he muttered, and blushed.

At least it didn't feel bad. That was all I knew, and that was all I cared about.

"Come – let's go grab sodas and then I'll rock your world!" I said and grabbed his hand.

"W-What...?" he stammered while following me clumsily.

"I'll teach you how to play," I said, stressing the last word. "Get your mind off the gutter!" I added as jokingly as I could.

I looked back just to see his face, and it was priceless. There was some embarrassment, happiness, confusion, and affection going on in his eyes. Lately, all I had seen was hurt in them, so I was glad to see him like that. His pain was my fault, so I could only hope I could still fix things. But... I couldn't shake the feeling I was only ruining everything for good.

I ignored that feeling and stopped by the first game I loved – there were a lot of those – but that one was one of the addicting ones. I knew that was probably not a good thing, since I went nuts sometimes, spending way too much money, but it was my dad's money, so it wasn't that bad. I let go of Luke's hand to get my membership card.

"Last time I was in a place like this, we used real chips," Luke said while looking at my card.

"The world is changing, my man," I chuckled, but then I realized what I just said and I smothered my urge to slap myself – I just couldn't stop making stupid jokes, could I?

I didn't dare to look at Luke while I put my card inside the reader. There was a small screen on it, and it informed me I had way over two hundred chips left.

"Who's SpongeBob?" Luke asked while reading the name of the machine, SpongeBob Pineapple Arcade.

I sat down on the stool and turned to look at Luke. "I suppose you don't watch cartoons," I smirked. "He's a sponge that lives under the sea."

Luke squinted his eyes. I had the feeling he considered cartoons too childish. He looked annoyed all of a sudden.

"That's the earworm I've been having," he sighed. "I heard it somewhere a while ago..."

I laughed and patted his arm. "We've all been there."

"So – how do you play this thing?"

"It's really simple," I said and tapped the card reader. "I just put my card in there, and now I need to select how many tokens we want to use. Here's the chart–" I pointed at the price list that was glued next to the reader, "–you get twelve plays with one swipe, twenty-eight with two, and so on. I usually get forty-two or sixty. You see those coins and cards inside?" I asked and pointed at the bottom of the glass-casing, where there was a platform filled with shiny coins and different SpongeBob cards. "You need to make them drop down that chute in front of the platform. That small moving platform there at the back keeps pushing them, and you need to get more tokens in front of it, so it will push down the ones that are on the edge."

"I kind of figured that out already," Luke chuckled. "But what's with that wheel of fortune on the back wall?"

"You see those orange things that have a hole in the middle and look like pineapples? They go around the wheel of fortune."

"Those that move like a Ferris wheel?"

"Yeah, and there's a hole in the wall under the wheel of fortune. When you push this button–" I said and touched a big, green button on the right. "It sends a token down on that trail that leads to the hole in the wall. If you get the token through one of those pineapples before it goes through the hole, you get extra tokens. Every time you get one through them, that wheel of fortune starts moving and decides how many tokens it will drop down on the platform. It usually gives two or three, but sometimes it can give you fifteen!" I explained.

"Okay," he said slowly, keeping his eyes on the blinking lights. "So basically, you just push the button and hope for the best."

"Pretty much," I smiled and purchased sixty tokens. "Do you want to be the first?"

"I'll let you do the honors," he said and bowed a little.

"Fine by me," I chuckled and placed my hand on the button, waiting for the right moment to send the token down the trail. "Looks like I'm in luck." I smirked when I saw one of the cards close to the edge. "That's Gary – it's the rarest card in here, and that's the only one I'm missing. I'm so going to get it!"

"What do you do with those?" Luke asked and stepped closer to see it – I could almost feel his body on my own. There wasn't even an inch of space in between us.

"You uh..." I shook my head and pressed the button, but my token didn't go through any of the pineapples, and it ended up on top of the moving platform. "You need to collect all nine cards for the jackpot – it's three thousand tickets. One card is worth only fifty tickets, so it's better to get them all."

"And that... What is that? Gary? Is the only one you're missing?" Luke asked.

"Yeah – I've been after it for weeks now. Well, this time," I added and smirked. "I've collected four whole sets already."

"How often do you come here?" Luke chuckled.

"Too often," I laughed. "I know the names of the entire staff here – and they know me."

That arcade was almost literally my second home. Whenever I wasn't hanging out with Max, I came here to pass my time – I didn't want to stay at home. I was only in my dad's way when I was there.

"All right, let's get you that card then," Luke said, and patted my shoulder awkwardly, like he wasn't sure if he was allowed to do so.

"Yes!" I said and pushed the button again, and this time it went through the pineapple.

I had to give it three more times before one single token dropped down in the chute, and I was awarded with two tickets that were automatically downloaded on my card. Luke was silent the entire time, and I could see his reflection in the glass-casing. He was mainly watching me. It felt a little weird to be stared at like that, but it didn't make me uncomfortable.

"Here we go!" I said in excitement when one of my tokens finally pushed more coins over the edge. "Gary is getting closer! I'm so going to have him all for myself!"

"I'm not sure if I like the sound of that," Luke said, and I frowned at him. "I was just trying... It was a joke... A horrible one at that..."

"Oh," I said and laughed lightly. "Ohh!" I uttered again when I realized what he meant by his joke. "Don't worry – I would've made that exact same joke."

"Really?"

"Definitely," I smirked.

He looked still embarrassed, but I had no idea what to say to him, so I focused on the game again. I still had a long way to go to get the card, but I was determined to get it. I tuned out everything else. I did hear some kids running behind us at some point, but I hardly registered it. But then they accidentally pushed Luke against me, and I almost fell off my seat. I heard three young kids giggling while continuing their way, being followed by their parents.

"Ugh – sorry," Luke muttered and stood up, helping me back in my seat.

"Maybe you should stand closer – it's getting really crowded in here," I suggested and pulled him out of the way just in time before the three rascals ran past us again, nearly trampling everyone in their way.

"I'll be fine," Luke spoke quietly, avoiding my eyes.

"Don't be silly," I said and pulled him back when he tried to take a step away.

There were a lot more people in the arcade than a moment ago. I could hear people sighing in disappointment when they saw how close I was getting the rarest card, and I felt glad that we had arrived there in time.

We both fell silent for a moment. Luke stayed right next to me, and I could feel the heat radiating from his body. His scent was all around me once more, and I was losing my focus. Was it a sign? Or was I just overly wary of him, because of... Well, because of everything.

My thoughts were soon swept away, because around ten more tries later...

"YES!" I cheered when the card finally fell down the chute.

I hurried to grab the card before anyone could steal it – some people were that desperate. There were six other cards too, but I had plenty of those back at home, so I just shoved them into my pocket.

"You got it," Luke smiled, and I could tell he didn't understand why it was so important to me.

"Yes!" I said and waved it in front of his face. "I'm so going to get that Xbox soon!"

"Definitely. Only seven thousand tickets to go," he chuckled.

I stared at him for a moment, and a thought was forming in my head. "I've never got this card this easily. Maybe you're bringing me good luck."

Luke snorted loudly and started laughing. I wasn't sure if I had ever seen him laugh like that before. He had to gasp for air at some point and lean against his knees.

"That was a good one," he snickered, trying to calm down. "Oh my..."

"I got Gary using less than forty tokens. That has never happened to me before," I told him. "Why is it so funny?" I asked when he failed to calm down completely – I was feeling quite offended.

"Because I bring nothing but bad luck," he said, and he was finally able to stop smirking.

"We'll test that theory," I said reassuringly. "There's still over twenty tokens left – I think you should use them."

"If I touch that thing, it'll explode – that's how bad my luck is," Luke said.

"Come on!" I said and forced him to sit down on the stool. "I got my card now so blow it!"

"It?" Luke said and turned to look at me.

I stared back at him for a moment before I understood the joke. "You're worse than me!" I laughed.

He laughed too and turned to look at the machine. "You're making it too easy for me."

"Are you suggesting I'm easy?" I asked.

"Have you met yourself?" he chuckled and pressed the button, failing miserably. "Easy isn't the word I'm thinking about..."

And there it was, that same horrible, soul-eating, stomach-twisting feeling I had carried with me for the past four months. I wanted to throw up.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly while he continued playing the game.

"Don't be," he replied shortly.

I shook my head, and the mood was definitely gone. If it ever had been there in the first place.

"You should try to wait until the platform is all the way here," I said quietly and pointed at the moving block. "When the tokens land, it should be there at the back, so they'll drop in front of it..."

"Okay," Luke said and followed my instructions, and this time he got a few tokens to drop.

"Perfect," I praised him. "There's another card right there at the edge," I continued, placing my hand on his shoulder for support when I leaned closer to the glass. "If you get a few tokens there on the right, they might push it down."

"Hmmh..." he muttered absentmindedly, and I saw him taking a short glimpse of my hand.

I was about to remove it in embarrassment, but something stopped me. Luke continued playing without being bothered by it, so I didn't see any reason to pull my hand away. He was probably enjoying it, anyway.

"You got it!" I cheered when the card dropped a few moments later and leaned to get it from the bottom of the chute. "It's SpongeBob himself!"

Luke took the card from me and stared at it. "So there really is a cartoon about a sponge?"

"Yeah," I chuckled and pressed the button one more time. "Aaand we're out of tokens!"

"So, what's next?" he asked and gave me the card.

"Do you want another round?" I asked.

"Sure – I think I'm getting the hang of this," he said and turned back to face the machine.

I got him sixty more tokens and watched while he was concentrating. I was glad to see he was starting to warm up to the arcade. It was quite exciting to be there with someone who wasn't bored with it. Max had never really been into playing games, so I usually came there alone.

"You're really getting the hang of it," I praised him and patted his shoulder.

"I'm pressing a button," he chuckled, "but thanks."

I laughed too. "It requires good timing," I told him. "A few more tokens and those two cards will drop."

I was right. Once we had spent all the tokens, we had six new cards and my Gary. Luke stood up and gave room for someone else who claimed his seat.

"Now that's a game I know," he said and pointed behind me.

"Milk jug toss?" I chuckled. "It's not as easy as it seems," I warned him.

"Trust me," he said and stepped right in front of me, leaning closer, and muttered into my ear, "I'm going to get you that Xbox today."

Once again, I found myself holding my breath. He let out a small chuckle, looking deep into my eyes. His hand was back on my side, but I barely noticed it when his eyes were locked with mine. I couldn't even look away from him, but I wasn't sure if I even wanted to. I had never really noticed his eye color before, and I had to admit I was fascinated. His eyes were icy blue, but there was certain warmth in them when he looked at me.

I let out a nervous laugh when I was able to form a thought again. "O-Okay then."

"I'll show you," he smirked, and released me from his spell by looking away.

He made his way towards the tossing game, but I had to wait a moment to recollect myself. I began thinking that maybe I never said no to him, because... Well... There was something about him. Something I could see and no one else could. It was also nice to be treated like that, like I was special.

I blushed lightly at my own thoughts. It was safe to say I enjoyed our date so far. I wasn't sure if it proved anything, but it gave me some reassurance. Maybe I wasn't such a mess after all. Maybe there really was something more going on. And...

Maybe I liked it?

I walked to Luke, who was already waiting for me by the game.

"So, you're really going to get me that Xbox?" I asked and put my card into the reader.

"Please – I grew up playing games like these," he said.

"Alrighty then," I smiled while he grabbed a ball.

I turned my attention to the game. It had two platforms, and the lower one closest to us had ten holes in it, each giving a different amount of points if the ball went through them. The upper one at the other end had five holes that gave more points than the lower ones. Behind those five, there was a white, seven- or eight-inch-tall thing that looked like the top of an old milk jug, hence the name. That was the jackpot. It was fairly easy to throw the balls in it, but the hole inside it was smaller than the jug itself, and the edges around it were curved like a skate ramp, so if the ball landed on the edge, it usually got tossed back out on the other side.

"My skills might be a little rusty though..." he chuckled, but he still looked awfully confident.

I watched in silence when he aimed and tossed the ball towards the jug. It landed inside the jug, but a little too much on the left side, so it rolled to the right and bounced off. I didn't say anything about it, or it would've ruined his ego. The ball rolled down on the lower platform and ended up falling through a hole that gave us one hundred points.

"Almost," he sighed and took another ball.

The second one shared the same fate, but the third one landed perfectly in the middle of it, dropping into the hole.

"Nice one!" I cheered and checked the score. The jug gave Luke one thousand points, so he already had one thousand and two hundred points.

Luke threw the fourth one that landed inside the jug and didn't bounce off, so he got another one thousand. Then he threw the last one, and it ended up circling around the edges of the jug for a moment, looking like it was about to fall off, but then it spiraled down into the hole.

"Dude – you're really good at this!" I cheered while counting how many tickets he won for me – he got me two hundred tickets!

"Aiming skills are something they require in the football team," he smirked. "Let me try again – if I get all five, you'll get one thousand tickets," he added while reading the prize chart over my shoulder.

"Sure," I said and swiped my card again.

He scored four out of five this time. One of the balls got too close to the edge and ended up rolling over, but he still got two hundred points when it fell in one of the holes in the upper platform.

"Four thousand and two hundred," I cheered and did a little victory dance around him. "Five hundred tickets!"

"One more try," he pleaded. "I know I can get all five."

I laughed and swiped the card. I ended up swiping it three more times, but then... He did it.

"Yes!" we both yelled when the last ball went down into the jug, just like the first four had.

"One thousand tickets!" I hollered and hugged Luke tightly from behind. I gave him a big, fat smooch on the cheek too, without caring how he would interpret it. That dude had already earned almost four thousand tickets for me! "I only need a little over two thousand tickets," I gasped.

"I told you I'll get you that Xbox today. You deserve it," he spoke with a crooked smile.

"That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," I cooed and hugged him again. "Well, the second nicest thing," I corrected.

"Do I even want to know what's the nicest thing?" Luke asked. "Or who said it..."

I gave him a smile. "It was you. When you called me your sunshine," I said, feeling shy all of a sudden.

I couldn't stay close to him after saying such things, so I took my card and started walking. I didn't even watch where I was going. I had turned into a big pile of mess once again.

"Troy?" I heard his voice close by, so he had to be following me.

He grabbed me by my arm and forced me to stop. I refused to look at him when he stopped in front of me.

"Troy?" he repeated my name in a worried tone, but he didn't continue talking.

"I'm sorry," I muttered. "My head makes no sense right now."

"Does it have to?" he asked. "I mean, I'm having fun, and I was hoping you are too."

"I am," I said and finally looked up at him.

"Great," he smiled. "Let's just have fun and forget everything else, okay?"

I didn't need long to think about what to say. I nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay."

"Two thousand tickets left," he smirked.

I laughed, feeling so much better already. "Want to try something else too?"

"Sure," he said, and slowly wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "I think I saw something interesting this way," he spoke casually – at least he was acting casual, but I had the feeling he wasn't sure if he had just stepped over the line.

He did let go of me shortly after, but he stayed close to me while he led me to the other side of the arcade. I decided to stop being so nervous about everything I said or did. I wasn't going to get any answers if I let myself start overthinking.

"I meant it," I said, surprising both him and myself. "It is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."

"Oh?" he asked, and I saw him smiling softly. "The Xbox thing or that slightly embarrassing stuff?"

"The latter, and it wasn't embarrassing," I told him. "It was really sweet."

He smiled without looking at me. Now it was he who looked shy. I had never believed that a guy like him could be shy, but he was so much more than a hot jock. Then I chuckled at my choice of words. A hot jock. And I was his sunshine.

Maybe there really was something going on.

Something good.