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had for that long. Drove him nuts.” Danni concluded. We nodded in unison, both
of us sure that we knew the end of that story. Still, I thought I could still
find the faintest, most subtle hint of anxiety in her voice…
    We began our small voyage
again, having made an informal agreement to forget what happened to Shakes. The
sun was beginning to set in the faded sky, so we only had a few hours left to
the day. Maybe something-
    “Hey Leo, have any money on
you?” Danni asked, nodding in the direction of a worn out arcade, one of the
last of its kind in this charming town of Burybury .
The lights on the once-bright and cheery title sign flickered duly, struggling
just to display “arcade” in big letters. 
    “Uh…a little…” I responded,
shoving my hands in my pocket and pulling out lint, a few quarters, and some
more lint.
    “Perfect! You don’t mind,
right?” she teased, taking the quarters from right out of my palm and
mercifully leaving me with my valuable lint.
    I took a step inside the
place that must have taken half of all the money I ever made. The space was
dimly lit and only a few other people were inside, most of them being bored
staff members; most other teens preferred to hide in the urban jungle in the
summer instead of being in a stuffy, outdated arcade. They’d rather spend their
time in the concrete maze rather than be swept up in a pixelated world of far
off lands, impossible worlds, or whatever else the developers of these machines
could design.
    Danni was already busy at
one of the games. I leaned against the cabinet and took a look at the screen
that she was so preoccupied with.
    “So when are you gonna pay all of this back to me, anyhow?” I asked.
    “Oh, Sooner or later.”
    “I don’t believe you.” I
smirked. She paused the game for a moment.
    “ Aww ,
don’t trust me?” she pouted. Unfortunately, she already knew me inside-out, and
decided to abuse that power.
    “Well…whenever. I’m a
sucker.” I sighed.
    “Yep. There’s room for one
more, by the way.” she shifted over, making room for me at the second set of
controls, consisting of a joystick and a couple of worn out buttons, their
once-bright colors now faded and chipped away.
    “It’s MY money, there better
be room!” I beamed. She returned the smile, and began the game again.
    I didn’t really know a whole
lot about this one; it just seemed to be another generic retro game set in
space. Ironically enough, the name was just as generic: “Space Adventure”. The
cabinet was adorned with comic book-styled explosions, zooming space ships and
mammoth planets, all against a background of the deep blackness of space; even
if I didn’t particularly like the game, the design of a good cabinet was a lost
art.
    “So… how do I play?” I asked
Danni, easing myself into the game already in progress.
    “Joystick moves…red button
shoots, blue button shoots missiles…you’re a smart kid, you’ll figure it out.”
Danni mumbled, occasionally tilting her head in the vague direction of what she
was talking about, too busy to unglue her eyes from the screen.
    I got a decent hold of the
controls, and started surveying the situation. Danni seemed to be doing just
fine as she kept herself busy by abusing the little red button in front of her,
shooting away endlessly at asteroids. I felt content with exploring the
controls a little bit more, getting a better feel for the game. I pressed this
button and that one, the one to the left in tandem with the one to the right,
holding the blue one and the red… I noticed a sudden change on the top of the
screen. I noticed a little meter that said “P1- 11, P2- 9”. I pressed it again,
and saw the meter change to “P1- 12, P2- 8”. She wouldn’t mind if I borrowed a
few lives, right?
    “Ooh, I’m gonna have fun with this one.” a grin spread across my face
and Danni finally caught on.
    “Hey, what the hell!” she
objected as I kept pushing those buttons until the