His Naughty Lessons

** Eli **

Eli could barely remember the last time that someone had crushed him so hard in a game. Maybe he was getting out of practice indeed ... though he didn’t mind it the slightest bit.

In fact, seeing Harper in such a badass spirit was the best thing he could ask for, and he loved this date idea more and more with every minute. The two of them hadn’t exactly played pinball together before, but her competitiveness and hardcore skills were the same way they had always been, taking him straight back to those days when they used to lounge on the couch together, sharing an intense game full of excited shouts and cheers just like this.

He couldn’t have enough of it, and he could only wish that this arcade was sufficiently large for them to be lost inside for the whole day.

As it turned out, his wish was granted. When they arrived at the second floor, the space opened up to a much bigger room than downstairs, darker yet flashing with all sorts of hotblooded game scenes, some moving fast across screens and some projected directly onto the floor. At the center of the room was a large theater-style display, showing a live stream of a Starcraft tournament that had already attracted a busy crowd.

"The person downstairs wasn’t joking about the league," Harper chuckled when she saw his intrigued glances. "The Den has registered teams in a handful of E-sports. Actually, Starcraft was what originally got me introduced to this place back in the day. But don’t ask me for a game — I’m so rusty now, didn’t even keep up with all the new game features over the years."

That revelation elicited an impressed gasp from him. "You almost went pro in college?" Eli asked incredulously. The two of them used to dabble in that game as kids, though mostly in the much simpler campaign mode. Despite the watered-down challenge, it was still one of their favorites, and he remembered spotting the inspirations immediately in her Go Deep project. Maybe he should’ve expected how much their shared interest had influenced her even after she grew up.

"Well ... Turned out that school was too busy to leave any time for serious gaming, so not really." She darted one last nostalgic look toward the big display. "Anyway, I prefer less brain-intensive games now, and there are a lot of them on this floor. Wanna give it a go? I’ll let you pick the machine this time."

Hmm, less brain-intensive ... Eli took a careful scan of the room. "How about a co-op for a change? We’ve had enough competition today." He nodded to the next aisle over. "Teenage mutant ninja turtles?"