AUTHOR’S NOTES: SORRY IF THE CONSTANT STATING OF NAMES IS ANNOYING.  BUT I CAN’T COME UP WITH ANY OTHER WAY OF DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN THE 2 MAIN CHARACTERS CAUSE THERE ISN’T A DIFFERNCE OF GENDER.  OH WELL, ANY TIPS?

CHAPTER 8

Sarah impatiently waited at the red light in the downtown streets of Vancouver.  It was almost 8 o’clock and she was eager to get to the laser tag arena.  She had been giddy ever since she’d talk to Larisa the night before.  And as she was driving to the meeting place, she’d been so overcome with anticipation she thought she’d burst. 

After Sarah had parked her car in the far corner of the crowded parking lot.  She quickly looked over the parked cars and looked for Larisa vehicle.  Then it hit her that she didn’t even know if Larisa drove much less owned a car.  In fact she didn’t know anything about Larisa.  All she knew is that she wanted to know everything about her.  Every embarrassing moment, every joyous moment, and every dark secret.  She wanted to be the one person Larisa could truly open up to and could fully trust.  She wanted to be Larisa’s somebody.

She had no clue as to why this feisty small town girl had such a huge effect on her.  Most people had absolutely no effect on Sarah.  She was indifferent to a lot of people.  It made no difference whether they were sitting beside her or if they were on the opposite side of the world.  But then this female stranger just parades into her life and whips everything into a storm with the blink of an eye.  And she doesn’t even know it.

Sarah walked towards the entrance and peeked inside through the window in attempts to spot her date.  No luck.  So she just leaned against the outside wall and waited.  She constantly kept glancing at her watch thinking it had been ages, when in fact it had only been seconds.

“Is there a problem with your watch?”

“Oh shit!” Sarah exclaimed as she jumped away from the voice.  She looked over wide-eyed and saw none other than Larisa.

Larisa smirked and said, “Hmm, didn’t know you swore.”

Sarah exhaled loudly and began blushing over the fact that she’d gotten so scared over nothing.  But she just smiled back at Larisa and shrugged her shoulders. 

“Ready to go in?” Larisa asked as she walked past Sarah to open the door for her.

“You bet.” Sarah replied as she walked through the door and nodded her head in thanks.

Both girls strolled up to the front counter and signed up for the next 2 games. After they finished paying they sat down at a vacant table outside the arena to wait for the next game to start.

“Wow, this place is pretty impressive,” Larisa commented as she her eyes mildly scanned the 2-story building. 

“Yeah, it is,” Sarah agreed as her gaze followed the other girl’s.   

Larisa’s gaze strayed from the building and focused on Sarah, “Are you ready to get whipped?”

Sarah couldn’t help but laugh.  “Mmmm, I don’t think I have to worry.” 

Larisa looked at her in disbelief, “Well, we’ll see about that.” She shot Sarah a cocky smile.  “I highly doubt a bookworm such as yourself can beat someone like me.  So don’t feel too bad when you lose.  I won’t make fun of you too much.  And remember, it’s just a game.”

Well, least Larisa hoped she could beat Sarah.  Larisa was actually a little nervous about this.  She didn’t want to look bad in front of Sarah.  Plus Larisa hated to lose.  And besides, how hard could laser tag be? 

Sarah offered Larisa an insincere smile while scrunching her eyes closed and wrinkling her nose.  As soon as Larisa began laughing Sarah let her face relax and looked at the girl sitting opposite of her with her big blue eyes.  “I’ll try not to feel too bad.”

Just then a voice came over the speakers announcing that the next game was about to begin. 

Larisa and Sarah got up from their table and walked into the preparation room where all the equipment was.  The girls each put on an assigned vest and gun and awaited further instruction. 

“Damn, I feel like Rambo.” Larisa joked.  Sarah just shook her head and smiled.

A tall man about 21 years old walked out in front of the crowd of players and began to speak.  “Alright people!  Welcome to Laser Planet.  Thanks for joining us here.  Now you all wanna have some fun right?  Great!  But before you can go in there and start shooting up a storm, we gotta lay down the ground rules…”

At the end of the short orientation, the man announced, “Ya got 15 seconds to find a safe spot to start from, and then the war begins.  Let’s get to it!” Then he waved everyone into the arena.

Sarah let out an excited laugh and called out “Come on Larisa! Let’s go!” as she rushed towards the arena entrance. 

“Alright, I can do this.” Larisa said to herself as she marched in closely behind Sarah. 

Larisa surveyed the arena.  All she could comprehend is that it was 2-stories of relative darkness, plenty of different pathways and ramps, neon murals on the walls, and there were tons of black lights.

“Go. Go. Go.” Began echoing throughout the arena as everyone’s guns and vests were activated. 

Larisa pointed her gun at a painting on the wall and pulled the trigger.  She saw the tiny laser hit the wall for an eighth of a second, then disappear.  ‘Hmm, interesting.’ She thought.

“You have been hit.”  

“What?!” Larisa exclaimed as she whirled around to see who shot her.  And there, smiling mischievously, was Sarah.

“You got to watch your back if you want to stay alive in here.  Got to keep on your toes.”

“Oh my god!  I can’t believe you shot me!” Larisa cried still in disbelief.

Sarah just shrugged.  “It is free for all you know.”  And with that Sarah took off leaving a trail of “you have been hit’s” behind her.

Larisa watched on in amazement, “Novice my ass…” 

She cautiously walked out into the heart of the battlefield.  She could see Sarah in the middle of it all. ‘Damn, the girl’s whooping some ass out there.’ She thought to herself.  But then she decided she better focus, she was never going to win if she just kept watching Sarah. 

The game continued on for another 15 minutes until the guns and vests were deactivated.  Then the sweaty players walked out of the arena and to the room where their scores were to be displayed.

Sarah walked out with a proud smile on her face.  Larisa walked out with a look of gloom plastered on her face. 

Sarah looked over at Larisa and immediately took notice of her bad mood.  ‘Oh, I didn’t think it’d bother her this much.  Maybe I shouldn’t have shown her up like I did.  Oh I blew it again.’

Just then the scores appeared on the screen.  Sarah being first, and Larisa right down in the bottom three.

Larisa saw the scores and walked away mumbling curse words under her breath.  She was expecting that type of score, but it was still discouraging.  Especially since her date got first place…and after she bragged endlessly about how she’d win. 

Larisa heard footsteps approaching her quickly, but she refused to turn around. 

“Larisa.  Larisa I’m sorry.  Don’t worry about it.  You’re just a beginner.  Nobody’s #1 when they’re a beginner.  You did good for your first time.  I came in last when I started.”  Sarah encouraged as she stepped out in front of Larisa and smiled at her warmly.

Larisa looked Sarah in the eye and said, “Well, I just don’t like losing.  I’m not going in there again.  I’m not doing that agai-” Larisa paused when she took in the pleading look Sarah was giving her.

“Please?  It’s just a game.  It won’t be any fun if you’re not around.  We’ll actually stick together this time, and I won’t be a show off.  I swear.  Just give it one more go.”

Larisa was about to dispute, but Sarah just kept looking at her with her big blue eyes.  “Ahhh, fine then.” Larisa tried to hold back a grin, but she couldn’t.  Not with this beautiful girl looking at her the way she was.

“Good.” Sarah said with a smile. “Now let’s go back in, the game’s going to start soon.”  With that, they walked back into the orientation room together.

This time around they stuck together and just had a good time.  But Larisa was still feeling inferior since she was still getting shot left and right.  Normally she was great at sports, a natural.  But guess this just wasn’t her thing.

“You have been hit,” sounded out for what felt like the hundredth time that night and Larisa let out a frustrated groan and sulked off down a dark and empty corridor.

Sarah saw a slight movement out of the corner of her eye and spun around to shoot, but saw that it was Larisa walking away and turning a corner.  She trotted after Larisa to catch up to her.  But she slowed down as she approached the corner.  She slowly peeked her head around and saw Larisa seated on the ground leaned up against the wall.

“What are doing way over here?” She asked gently.

“Trying to save my dignity.” Larisa replied in a dreary tone.  Sarah slowly walked over towards her and kneeled down in front of her.

“Ah come on, it wasn’t that bad.” She said softly.

“Easy for you to say.  You kicked everyone’s ass,” Larisa said with a hint of jealousy.

Sarah sighed heavily and said, “Listen, we can leave now if you want.  We can go do whatever you want.  Or I can just leave you alone if that’s what you want.  It’s my fault that you’re having such a miserable time.”  Sarah’s gaze fell from the other girl’s eyes down to the floor.

As Sarah’s gaze fell and her voice became heart-rending, Larisa began to realize just how much of a jerk she was being.  ‘I wanted this second date so bad, and look what I’m doing.  I’m totally blowing the whole date just because I’m a poor loser,’ she thought. 

During the awkward silence between the two girls, Sarah had folded her hands upon her lap and kept studying the ground.  Sarah was so preoccupied with all the thoughts and worries running through her head that she didn’t realize Larisa reaching out to grasp her hand until their hands were in one another’s.  Sarah’s eyes shot up to Larisa’s face, she hadn’t been expecting that and slowly she realized this was the first time they’d touched.

Larisa looked away the moment Sarah shot her a surprised expression, but she didn’t release her hand.  Why should she?  Sarah didn’t pull back.

Larisa slowly turned her head back to look at Sarah through the darkness.  “I don’t want you to go.  I know I haven’t been acting it, but you’re what’s made my night incredible.  I don’t care where I am; I just want to be around you.  I know we don’t even really know each other, but I’d love to get to know you.  I don’t know what it is about you, you’re just, I don’t know.  You’re special.  I’m sorry I don’t act that way, but-” Larisa’s touching confession was abruptly ended as Sarah kissed her so subtly that Larisa didn’t even notice until it was over.

Larisa stared stunned at Sarah whose deep red blush could even be seen in the shadowy corridor.  But before she knew it, Larisa had wrapped her arm around the slender girl’s body and pulled her towards herself and kissed her intensely.  A small moan escaped the girl’s throat.

After the kiss ended, Sarah pulled back slightly to look around to see if anyone saw.  Nobody knew they were alive.  With her newfound assurance Sarah place her arm around the back of the other girl’s neck and moved in for another kiss.  This time though, the kiss involved their tongues surveying pristine territory. 

Sarah felt Larisa take off their vests since they were getting in the way.  She was just about to get anxious for fear of anything else being peeled off, when she slowly realized there was no sound at all in the arena. 

“Um…could we have our equipment back please?” Came a nervous voice from the end of the passageway.

Both girls practically jumped off of each other and went furious shades of red. 

“Uh yeah. No problem,” Larisa replied as calmly as she could as she picked the vests and guns up off the floor and walked towards the guy.  Sarah followed closely and tried best she could to use Larisa’s body as a visual shield.  Larisa held out the equipment to the employee and once he took it from her, she quickly grabbed Sarah’s hand and ran out of the arena.

They ran outside laughing and smiling and finally came to a halt once they reached the far end of the parking lot, free from crowds. 

Larisa brought her hands down to Sarah’s waist and tilted her head upwards to kiss her softly on the lips.  The kiss was short, but sweet.  Larisa then pulled back and gave Sarah a silly grin.

“See, you’re cute.” Sarah said referring back to the comment she made on the phone the night before.  Larisa gave her a disgusted look and shook her head.

“Mmm, I think so.  I had fun tonight.”

“I had a good time too, believe it or not,” Larisa responded with a laugh.  “We’ll have to go out again sometime.  But next time…I choose the activity!”

Sarah laughed heartily and nodded her head in agreement.  “Thanks,” she said softly.

“Huh?  For what?” Larisa asked a little bit confused.

“For what you said back in the arena.” Sarah said tenderly.  “No ones ever said anything like that to me.”

“There’s no need to thank me, it was just the truth.” The brunette responded as she gazed at the girl she was holding who was smiling contently.

“I think we may just have something special together.”