someone his own age—in the Mansion.
“It would be awesome. Maybe we can convince him to stay a bit longer.”
Nosferatu’s Nightmare was a ghoulish 3-D game. Silver balls shot through winding tubes with neon bats running across them, and squeaky coffin lids opened and closed in attempts to catch the ball.
“Open Dracula’s coffin—one thousand points,” a monsteresque voice commanded as Sebastian hit the ball over a gravestone.
Becky rested her head against Matt. Sebastian couldn’t concentrate and lost the silver ball. He relinquished the controls to Matt and stood next to Becky.
Matt pulled on the lever and clicked the flippers. A graphic of fangs clenched down on a woman’s neck flashed on the video screen along with the sound of a woman screaming.
“It’s not really like that,” Sebastian said to Becky.
Matt was just as naive as Becky. He, like she, was missing all the obvious signs that another guy had fallen for his girlfriend. And, most important, that the other guy was a vampire.
Matt scored a massive number of points and kept the ball in play like a professional gamer. Even Alexander was engrossed. Matt politely gave the controls to him. “Here—try it.”
The four of us watched as Alexander clicked the flippers as if he’d been doing it his whole life. The ball hammered the bumpers, skyrocketing his score. He got multiball after multiball and racked up points in the millions.
We all cheered as “Highest Bloody Scorer” came across the screen and the machine lit up with blinking red and white lights.
“Alexander seems to be in heaven,” Becky said as we moved to another game. “I think it’s great that his best friend is in town. I know it’s been good for Matt, too. Since he and Trevor stopped being friends, he does seem a bit lonely. Now he has two new ones.”
Two Jet Ski simulators opened just as we approached them.
“Let’s do this!” I exclaimed.
Becky and I each hopped on a machine. Matt gestured to Sebastian for him to ride along with Becky as
Alexander sat behind me.
Sebastian was tentative as he settled on the ski behind Becky.
“Put your arms around my waist,” she said, lacing his hands around her. “You don’t want to fall off.”
Matt swiped the card before Sebastian could change his mind.
Suddenly we were off, jetting over waves and avoiding wayward motorboats. I could almost feel the heat from the Miami sun, the ride felt so authentic. I peered back at Sebastian, who was hanging on to Becky for his life.
“Slow down!” he said as if we were really tearing down choppy waters. “Slow down!”
Becky let go of her throttle as I passed her and a half dozen computer-generated opponents until we soared through the finish line.
Alexander and I hopped off our Jet Ski, while Sebastian still clung to Becky.
“It’s over,” she said. But Sebastian didn’t move.
“Want to do it again?” Becky asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“Need some help?” Matt asked.
Instead of being thrilled by the ride and embracing his crush, Sebastian was green. Matt handed him a soda he had just bought. “Here, drink this.”
For the next several hours the five of us danced, boxed, and jousted our way through Hooligans.
Alexander and the gang hung back at the table while Becky and I counted and cashed in our skeeball earnings tickets. Becky and I each had enough tickets to win a stuffed bear—Becky pointed to a sparkling teal blue one, and I spotted a shimmering black bear.
The girl handed the blue bear to Becky. Just as the cashier was about to take the black one, another worker grabbed it.
I sneered. “Hey, that was my bear!”
“I’m sure it’s going to a nice kid, though,” Becky said, trying to ease my disappointment.
Just then, we saw it was Trevor holding the black bear.
“Kid, yes—nice, no,” I remarked.
“That was our last one,” the girl said. “They weren’t very popular, so we stopped ordering them. We have tons of pink ones.”
“I ought to rip it out of his hand,” I told Becky.
Alexander, Sebastian, and Matt were mesmerized watching two men battle it out on Lazer Wars. I didn’t want to bother Alexander with my swiped winnings.
“Haggling over children’s toys, are we?” Trevor said, sidling up to me. “So is that Alexander’s competition?
I guess he hasn’t heard of a brush before.”
“I didn’t want this one,” the Pradabee whimpered to Trevor, tugging on his Polo. “I told you I wanted a pink one.”
The Pradabee’s voice was like black fingernails on a chalkboard—and not in a good way.
Trevor glared at me and flung the black bear on the counter as his date retrieved a new plush.
I grabbed the bear, which had landed on its back, and dusted it off.
“You’re lucky you’re going home with Raven,” Becky said to the bear. “The alternative would have been disaster.”
Matt and Alexander were settling the bill while Becky, Sebastian, and I headed outside. Sebastian engaged
Becky in conversation. He fawned over her in a genuine love-struck manner, complimenting her hair and comparing her beauty to that of a famous actress. She was so mesmerized by his attention, she didn’t see a small row of bushes in front of her and tripped and fell onto the sidewalk.
Sebastian and I immediately rushed to her side.
“I’m okay,” she said with an embarrassed laugh.