I could really use a wish right now

Elle was giddy as she looked around at all the flashing lights and inhaled deeply of the popcorn and bubblegum aroma. A wide grin was etched across her guileless face and her blue eyes sparkled like the airplane-stars outside. Unfortunately, there was also smoke in the air, so she coughed a little bit too. It took her a minute to catch her breath.
The sounds of blips and beeps were a music she wanted to dance to; she could have twirled right then and there…and so she did.
It had been ages since she’d been able to feel like a kid, and the arcade was pulling at her inner child with a yummy red licorice rope.

Elle had made a few tips on her long, Long, LONG shift, so she pulled a wad of crumpled bills from the dainty little purse wrapped across her, literally bouncing when she shoved them into the machine and waited for them to return as coins.

What was she going to play first?! The young woman’s eyes roamed over the various machines, chewing steadily on her bottom lip (which was a nervous habit) and mentally taking stock of her money situation and which games she was going to waste it on.
Oh! That zombie hunting game sure did look like fun. It was too bad she never learned how to hold a shogun despite her daddy being sheriff and all…

Playing absently with a tousled curl of blonde Elle shook her head and moved on to the next option. Street Fighter. That Chun-Lei was some tough little chick! Elle thought to herself that one day she might like to wear her hair in two little buns like that.
But the line was long and she was too ready to get her game on to wait it out.

And then her twinkling gaze landed on a crowd gathered around what had to have been fate. Guitar Hero. Huh, imagine that! She’d been playing the instrument since she was like, five. There was NO way she could pass this up.
The willowy blonde pushed her way through the sea of bodies until she came to the line for the game. Elle was so keyed up watching, she could barely keep still. She rolled back and forth on her heels. She bit her non-existent fingernails. She clasped her hands in front of her chest and bounced up and down.

Elle imagined the anticipation was almost as sweet as actually getting to play. It was such a rush. Now, if only the douche-bags in line beside them waiting to play some a black ops style shooting game would stop touching her ass.
It was like the diner all over again.

The waitress spun to give them the stink eye, but it only made them laugh like assholes. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned to face her guitar game. She was next in line!
This time the jerk weed actually pinched. And it hurt!
“Assholes!” Elle twisted towards them again and swore; her hands on her slender hips. “Stop that!”

They laughed harder and even high-fived.

By the time it was her turn to step up and drape the fake plastic guitar across her chest; Elle was fuming, and those nasty boys were cracking up all over the floor. They thought it was pretty damned funny. Ugh! Why oh why hadn’t she brought that pie fork?! The one with the grabby hands could use a stab and twist, she thought and reached for the instrument, but the group of males took it upon themselves to push her out of the way and cut line.

Elle was madder than a bull at the rodeo, but she wasn’t going to sink down to their level. Holding her breath she stormed over to get a coke from the snack bar, and stomped over to plop down at the first table she came to. Which…just so happened to be occupied.

“Hey.” She said nonchalantly to the pretty brunette across from her, but acting as if it were no big thing she was sharing a table with a stranger, Elle stuck the straw in her mouth and started chugging. She was angry drinking. If she drank, she could get one heckuva’ buzz, but she didn’t so…she had to make do with the caffeine high.

“Don’t I know you?” Elle finally turned in her stool to face the lady, tilting her head a little as she regarded the petite dark haired woman. “I’m sure I’ve seen you somewhere…”

And she stuck her straw in her mouth and chewed, regarding the woman with a wide, curiously azure gaze.

Elle’s cheeks took on a pinkish tint when the woman confirmed their acquaintance; the compliment from the pretty woman like a corporal pat on the top of her crazy curly blonde head. She dipped her chin and chewed harder on the straw, stretching out her clammy palm until it made contact with the other.
It was a little embarrassing when she ran into people she’d waited on out of uniform, especially when she hadn’t gone home yet to shower and change. Elle always imagined she still smelled like fried food and onions, and there was probably a bit of flour or spilled coffee somewhere on her clothes.

It would have been lucky that the subject had gotten changed so quickly because she SURE didn’t want to talk about that shit-hole or have to thank Lily for the praise, IF the reason for the topic change hadn’t been the bad-mannered teenagers from the Guitar Hero game.
Elle rolled her eyes and sighed, straining her face at the brunette as if to silently apologize, like -she- had something to do with the boys’ behavior. Imagine her pleasant surprise when Lily, in not so many words, told the boys to shove it up their ass-holey assholes. The young blonde had to cover her mouth to keep from exploding with laughter, and then on a second thought, let the amusement bubble up out of her.

The teens were taken aback, of course. They hadn’t been expecting a female to put up with their snide remarks and then be able to throw them right back.
“Yeah, shoo!” Elle echoed after Lily, reaching out to flick one of them on the tip of his nose. The boy scowled, but he was already humiliated, and tucked tail and left along with the others, head hanging down in shame.

“Oh. My. GOSH!” Elle clapped her hands and then bounced out of her chair, scooting the tall stool closer to Lily’s. “That was absolutely amazing. You are like…my hero now. Seriously.” The young woman beamed at the dark haired female as she slid back into her seat. She rested her elbow on the tabletop and propped her chin in her palm as she gazed at the woman thoughtfully.

“Boys are so vulgar.” She told the female, shaking her head. “But I guess grown men aren’t any better…” Elle added quietly, remembering some of the grabby-handed customers she’d had during her shift…which Lily had probably seen.
Gah. No wonder she wasn’t concerned about finding a cute guy and the whole fairytale love thing…why on EARTH would she want anything to do with the whole male species?

The willowy waitress let her mind wander, along with her gaze, which landed right back where it had started. Obviously the boys had scared off any competition that might have been waiting to play and the game was abandoned.

“Heyyyy…” Elle looked back at Lily with an impish grin. “The guys you just chased off wouldn’t let me play what I wanted but now it looks like it’s free. Come on. You haaaave to rock out with me.”

And with that the slender blonde grabbed Lily’s hand, tugging her toward the arcade game.

Yay! So the slightly older woman who had instantly become her hero didn’t run in the opposite direction when Elle not-so-subtlety invited her to play. This made the young blonde feel like clapping giddily and bouncing up and down like a three-year old, which she did, even as Lily’s phone chimed and she pulled away to answer.

Elle strapped the plastic guitar across her chest and was picking her alter-ego on screen-- an Asian looking female with striped stocking and black pigtails, trying her best not to eavesdrop on the phone conversation, which was altogether impossible for the off-duty waitress especially seeing the woman’s soft eyes turn to bright stars and a blissful smile stretch across her pretty face when the person on the other end spoke.
The teenager chewed on her bottom lip and pretended to focus on picking a song, when really she felt like dying a little when she heard the short, but sweet exchange between the lovers. It kinda’ felt as if she’d just invaded some secret between them…Lily and this Brennan that made the woman’s cheeks turn a sweet shade somewhere between blush and scarlet when she ended the call with a quiet ‘I love you too’ before tucking the cell away.

Was Brennan a boy’s name? Elle asked herself inwardly when Lily turned back to her with a question of if she was really sure about the challenge, and she quickly forgot her mental inquiry and nodded enthusiastically.
“I’ll have you know I can pick a guitar like nobody’s business.” The blonde smirked and arched a slender eyebrow. “I’ve never played this, but it can’t be THAT much different…right?”
She readjusted the instrument across her middle and picked a song that was familiar-- Sweet Home Alabama-- before tilting her head at her new champion.

“You outta’ be asking if I’ll go easy on you…” Elle chirped with a playful grin that brightened the already glowing atmosphere around the teen. A contagious laughter bubbled up from her when the song started and she struggled to keep up with this finger on the red button and then another finger on the blue, but win or loose, the young woman didn’t care. This was just what she needed…being a kid with no worries about whether she could put money in her gas tank or if she could afford a room to sleep the next night.

“So…” Elle couldn’t help the curious expression that was written across her visage when she let her attention stray from the game. “Is Brennan your boyfriend or somethin'?”

Elle wasn’t the kind of girl to be bothered by Lily’s preference in ‘partners’, nor was she the kind of girl to be concerned by the choice words that were coming out of the woman’s mouth when she messed up a guitar riff, even IF they were bad enough to make a sailor blush. Instead she snorted in amusement, sticking her tongue out of the side of her mouth and trying to concentrate on the series of colored buttons that her fingers were supposed to follow.
The intense look of concentration didn’t last long before Elle was laughing uncontrollably, not only because of Lily’s accusation, but because the cartoon audience in the game had begun booing. They were THAT bad.

When the song ended Elle didn’t opt to play a second round because by now she’d found out she really wasn’t as good at the old game as she was actually picking a guitar, and she was -so- over it, and hung the plastic instrument back on its holder so she could turn back to her new friend-slash-hero. The discussion about Lily’s girlfriend wasn’t anywhere near over yet, just because Elle was a big curious cat that still had, oh, three or so lives left.

“So, this Brennan must be really good looking because BOY! You shoulda’ seen the color your face turned with all that gooey I love you too stuff (she cooed this part, btw). I reckon it was something along the lines of tomato soup…or fire engine red.” The blonde waitress teased and pocketed the rest of the change she had set aside for a second or third round. “Anyway, it must be nice…you know, to have found somebody. I don’t think I’ll bother with love for…well…for a few more years, if ever.”

Prattling on, again, as usual, Elle steered Lily around the arcade; oblivious to the fact the woman might have something else to do or somewhere else to be.
“So…you know what I do. You’ve tasted the god awful food at the diner. What do you do, Lily?” She inquired, her guileless gaze darting around the busy place for their next target. “You don’t look like the type of woman to be hanging out in places like this, but if you told me you were a professional gamer, I’d believe you…”

And then the blonde stopped dead in her tracks, an arm held out horizontally to stop her partner as well; her gaze wide like the moon and her mouth partially open in awe. “Oh, snap. Laser tag….” Elle turned her face to Lily with a hopeful stare. “Oh please oh please oh please oh please Ive never played and I want to so bad and its no fun without someone to shoot the laser-y thing at oh come on you gotta!” Yes, this was said in one sentence, full speed, without even a pause for breath. How could Lily refuse her?