Watching a movie has never been this disturbing.

I'm sandwiched between Blaire and Kyle. After the lights go out and the opening scene rolls in, the audience is silent for several minutes. We completely focused our attention on the screen. However, fifteen minutes into the movie, Blaire keeps wriggling in her seat and I hear muffled giggles.

I cringe at Ian and her. I will not lie, but it's a little annoying. We are in the back row seats that are half occupied. But that doesn't stop us from receiving some stink eye from the surrounding people.

I'm changing my mind about what I've said before. Having a double date is a bad idea.

As I shift uncomfortably in my seat, not daring to look to my right, Kyle searches for my hand in the darkness and thread his fingers through mine, giving me a light squeeze.

I lean into his side. "Help," I whisper into his ear. "They can't keep their hands off each other!"

At my plea, he leans slightly forward, putting his hand inside our popcorn bucket. He tosses a couple of them in Ian's direction to send a silent warning message.

They pull away from each other, but not for five minutes, before they exchange muffled words and giggles. Now, after witnessing the undeniable attraction between Ian and Blaire, I wonder how on earth did they hold out that long when their parents were dating. Incredible.

As if on cue, Kyle behaves oddly as well. He rests a hand on my left knee and slowly slides up my thigh, but I stop him before he gets past two inches.

"Kyle, what are you doing?"

He whispers into my ear, and I can almost hear the smirk in his words. "We can't afford to lose to them, can we?"

After suffering from his multiple advances, I now know better. "Haha, nice try." I remove his hand and grab his chin, forcing him to stare forward at the screen. His cheeks are squashed together, so he ends up looking like a pouting kid. "Behave."

He huffs in disappointment just as Blaire turns towards me and loops her hand around my arm. "Help, Riley! This Ian! He can't stop dropping spoilers about the movie."

That's why they couldn't stop laughing earlier. "You sounded like you were enjoying yourself earlier."

"No! He's annoying as hell!"

"Baaaaby," Ian whines. "Am not!"

"Oi, Hernandez. Stop gluing yourself to my girlfriend."

Someone in the audience shushes us and we all fall back into our seats. My cheeks are flaming in embarrassment. The four of us sitting together is a bad idea because our noise level automatically turns up several notches and I don't know how we're going to survive this for the next two hours before someone chases us out.

"That's it," Kyle mutters beside me. "We're bailing."

In the darkness, we exchange a look of agreement. We cast a look towards our unsuspecting friends and rise from our seats slowly, slipping out quietly. Behind me, Blaire's confusion rings in her hushed voice. "Where are you guys going?"

I whisper back. "Toilet!"

"The hell? You guys need to hold hands to go to the toilet? What is this—preschool? Oh. Or is it hanky-panky time?"

Her questions fall on deaf ears as we make our escape. Once outside, Kyle shakes his head at me, amused. "Should have done that earlier."

A chuckle escapes my lips. "We wasted our money, though."

"That's a lot better than having others report us to the staff for being a nuisance."

He's right. Fingers intertwined, we step out onto the streets. "Where are we going now?"

He thinks about it for a second. "While waiting for those two kiddos, let's go to the arcade?"

"Arcade?"

"Oh, I forgot. You don't remember it, right?"

I shake my head, and his grin widens. "So we shall consider it your first experience, which makes it even more fun for you. Come on."

He leads the way down the street, passes a couple of buildings before we end up in front of the place he has been talking excitedly about. The sign screams GameX Arcade with flashy LED lights illuminating the store. From the outside, it looks rather retro, but it's what tells me that this place has been sitting here for years.

There are several tall boxes with monitors and controls. Bikes or cars, they look fun. Kids of all ages are hogging almost half of the machines and slamming the buttons rapidly, as if their life depends on the outcome of the games.

Kyle exchanges some cash for credits at the counter before pulling me over to an empty punching machine. "Let's try this first."

I eye the machine warily. "Wow, that's a really strong start."

"Really? But this is the best stress reliever. Want me to demonstrate?"

Sensing his excitement, I think he has done this several times. He delivers a power punch without hesitation and the score climbs to a shocking 961. I gape at him in disbelief and he chuckles. "Your turn."

I frown down at my fist. "Am I going to break my wrist?"

"No," he chuckles. "But be careful."

Mirroring his actions, I wrap my right wrist with my left hand and shift my legs apart. As Kyle nods at me encouragingly, I punch the machine as hard as I can. As the number soars up to 821, my excitement grows. Kyle's right, there's something fun about all this. I imagine putting all my worries into a punching bag and clobbering it.

We move on to the other machines; minion whacker, claw machines, racing games. At the street basketball machine, Kyle and I get all competitive. He wins by a large margin.

I pout, refusing to concede. "Again!"

A smirk plays on his lips, one which I want to wipe off on the floor. "Go ahead."

"Show-off."

Laughing, he stands aside and watches me play repeatedly. Truth to be told, even if I don't win, it's still fun. I don't think I ever felt like a real kid until today. It's nice to let loose and forget about real-world problems.

My excitement heightens as the numbers on the scoreboard increase and when it flashes 160, I punch a fist into the air. "I did it, Kyle! I beat you!"

When he doesn't answer, I turn around but realize he's nowhere to be seen. "Kyle?"

People walk right by me, but none of them fit the image of my boyfriend. As seconds pass, my worry grows. I decide to leave our spot and search the entire arcade. "Kyle?"

But he's nowhere to be found. Not at the pool tables or the racing rides.

He's gone.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out quickly to read the message, thinking it's probably him, but what I receive isn't a message. It's a picture of me and my boyfriend from an unknown number. The arcade at which we are currently at now.

My heart freezes, and the hairs rise on my arms. Is this a sick joke? Is somebody watching us now? The picture looks like it was snapped a couple of minutes ago when we were at the punching machine.

And Kyle's still missing.

Fear clutches at my throat, and I quicken my pace. "Kyle!" I call out his name several times, my voice full of anxiety, and earn a couple of odd looks from strangers. But their stares don't bother me. "Kyle!"

My breathing becomes erratic, almost as if a panic attack is approaching. When I can't find him, tears form in my eyes. I catch my breath, running my gaze across the machines. A sense of déjà vu hits me suddenly, and I get flashes of images in my head. The old me. Pictures of Mom, Kyle and people whom I assume are my old friends in my mail.

I reel back to reality, stumbling backwards and nearly tripping over my feet. I place a hand on one of the empty arcade machines to steady myself and calm my anxiety. This has happened before, I'm positively sure. Someone has stalked me like this in the past, sending me pictures of myself and my loved ones. It's a warning for me. For Mom.

Still deep in my reverie, I jump and almost scream when someone clamps a hand on my shoulder and turns me around.

Thankfully, it's just Kyle.

"Wait! Riley, it's me." He holds up his hands, realizing he gave me a scare. "Sorry, I didn't want to ruin your game. But I had to step away for a second because I saw this granny leaving with her kids and she dropped her purse. I ran out to return her and she couldn't stop thanking me." He peers into my face, confused at my tearful expression. "What's wrong?"

I can't seem to form any words with my lips. Swallowing down the lump of emotions in my throat, I hug him out of sheer relief, grateful he isn't hurt. Surprise jolts through his body before his arms come around me. "Babe?"

"I'm fine," I assure him, but he returns me a dubious look. "I really am. But Kyle? This is going to sound weird, but I think I know the reason we broke up last time."

😭🥲

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