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“Oh, it’s the truth,” I maintained. “Which was perfect, because when I got interested in theater in high school I was fit enough to become a dancer. A good one. We didn’t have a lot of shows come through, but we were close enough to see shows in Iowa City whenever the University of Iowa did something. My parents were great, really supportive. For my 18th birthday we took the train into Chicago to see Cats.” I quickly held up a hand. “And yes, I know Dorian and the others think Cats is the worst musical of all time. But it’s my favorite, so don’t say anything.”
Andy cocked his head to the side. “I kind of like Cats. It’s silly, but that’s part of the charm.”
“Right?” I said a little too enthusiastically. “It’s different! It’s not like any other musical! You’re not just saying this to make me feel better, are you?”
“I wouldn’t lie about that,” he said simply. “To clarify: I don’t think it’s the best musical ever written. But it’s not as bad as Dorian and Braden make it out to be.”
“Good enough for me,” I said, toasting the air.
Andy finished his beer and eyed mine. “When you’re done with that, we can head on to the next place.”
I gave a start. “Next place?”
26
Nadia
We walked three blocks east to a little hole-in-the-wall place with a big neon sign. Barcade. A video game and arcade bar.
“Um,” Andy said nervously. “Is this okay?”
“Oh hell yes it’s okay!”
I opened the door and darted inside. The walls were filled with every manner of pinball machine, arcade, and other carnival style games. It was exactly like the arcade I used to go to as a kid, with one important difference: there was a circular bar in the middle of the room with a wall of cocktails and beer taps.
“It’s classic style.” Andy held up the felt bag I saw him grab when we left the house. He gave it a jangle. “Everything operates on quarters. Not the silly credit card system.”
I gave the bag a sensual little squeeze from underneath. “Dude. How many quarters did you bring?”
“Enough for a first date. I figure you’re worth about $40.”
“I would’ve valued myself closer to $20, so I appreciate the compliment.” I pointed across the room. “Dude, they have Mario Kart! I grew up on that shit!”
Andy opened a tab, brought us two beers, and then we started going through his big bag of quarters. Four Mario Kart stations were set up in a row, allowing people to play against one another. Andy and I hogged two of those for close to half an hour while going through the old Nintendo 64 tracks. I played as Mushroom, while Andy chose Luigi. It suited the tall, lanky man. Eventually a line formed and we realized we were being selfish, so we refreshed our drinks and made our way over to the pinball machines.
“Best score wins,” Andy said as he shoved a quarter into a Ghostbusters pinball machine. I took the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles machine next to him and grabbed another quarter from his bag.
“You’re on.”
On the first round, he got twice as many points on his pinball machine as I did on mine. The second time was even worse. “You gave me the hard one!” I complained.
“Then let’s switch,” he said with a smile.
It turned out that Andy was just really, really good at pinball. He crushed me even after we switched machines. In fact, I think he was going easy on me because soon he was beating my score by four times, then five.
“I ought to start calling you Tommy,” I said, waving a hand in front of his eyes. I had already lost my three balls and was watching him rack up his score higher and higher.
“Oh, from that song?” Andy said. I let out an exasperated noise.
“From the Tony Award-winning musical! Come on, dude!”
“Oh. I never knew they made a musical about it,” Andy said absently while watching the pinball on his machine. “Are all the songs about playing pinball?”
“I can’t believe you’ve never seen it,” I muttered. “I’m going to find a bootleg copy of the musical and force you to watch it.”
He grinned, taking his eyes off the machine for a moment. “That can be our next date.”
I leaned back on my machine, chest out. “You’re assuming you get a second date.”
