Page 4 of I Knew You Were Trouble

“That so?” I say with a smirk. She doesn’t give me a second glance, keeping her eyes locked on the target of her affection. “Did you get ink, too?”

She lets out a half laugh, half croak, then quickly shuts her mouth and clears her throat. There is a smile on my face I can’t get rid of and held back laughter that’s gonna crack one of my ribs.

“No,” she says. “I… don’t have any tattoos. I did a henna one once though. My cousin was experimenting with it and she gave me a pokeball. Like from Pokemon. I imagine I caught charmander because he’s the cutest one. It was during all that Pokemon Go hoopla which was super fun, right? I mean everyone played that. Well, not me because I didn’t have a phone yet. My parents were like, ‘don’t you get a phone before you’re sixteen. It’ll rot your brain.’ They were probably right because Amber got a phone when she was twelve and she’s dumb as a rock. Her words, not mine. I wouldn’t say that about anyone, especially my best friend. She did the henna thing with me, too, but she got some fun pattern thing that went down her neck, and I really like your neck tattoo; I’ve seen it in art class. Well, obviously, since you pose shirtless for us. So did you get it in Fort Wayne? Oh no wait, you said you couldn’t find a place. I know how to listen, I swear.”

“Do you know how to breathe?” I ask, my eyebrows sky high. Candace can talk, but I didn’t realize she could talk that much.

The guy chuckles at my joke, and I get a much deserved kick to the shin that he doesn’t see.

“That’s where I know you from.” His eyes drop to her chest briefly. “Candace…” he reads off her nametag. “Good to put a name to the face. How long you been painting?”

Candace opens her mouth, closes it, opens again, makes a croaking noise, then shakes her head hard. Oh this is painful to watch.

“Since you were about five, right?” I say, offering help. Not sure I can take much more of her attempts to flirt, as funny as they are.

“Umherm,” she mumbles, adding a nod. Good, ‘cause I guess whatever noise that was meant yes.

“Cool.” He drops his gaze to his brother crouched by the more expensive knick knacks in the front case. I move over to help the little guy out, give Candace her in without me being witness to it. Maybe that’s why she’s fumbling so hard; she probably knows that no matter how it goes, I’ll make fun of her for it.

“Got your eye on anything else?” I fold my arms on the counter and peer over.

“How much do I have again?”

“Well, after the football, that puts you at three-hundred and ten tickets.” The football was seven-fifty-five—overpriced in my opinion—but he seems happy with it.

“And I can save the rest?”

I nod, reaching for his card. “Just keep a hold of this for your next visit.”

He stands up and takes the purple card from me and puts it in his pocket. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“Zach,” he says to his brother. “Let’s do Zombie Killers before they close.”

“You done here?” Zach asks, and Candace’s lips turn down the slightest bit.

“Yeah. Gonna save them.” He pats his pocket where his ticket card is.

“Oh, we’re coming back, huh?”

“You owe me.” His brother juts his hip with some mighty pre-teen sass. Reminds me of my youngest sister… who is just over ten years old.

“All right.” He playfully punches his brother in the arm, then gives Candace a quick glance. “See you in a few weeks. If not sooner.”

“Yes!” she shouts, then clears her throat. “I mean, yeah.” She gives him an awkward smile, which hopefully the guy finds adorable and not off-putting. They head out of the arcade, and she slumps to the floor, her hands over her face.

“Don’t say it,” she says.

“That was sad.”

She glares at me. “I said not to say it.”

“Have you never flirted before?” I shake my head and join her on the floor. “’Cause, damn.”

“I’ve flirted,” she hisses.

“And… it’s worked?”

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