Chapter Twenty-Three
NATE
The room is massive. I mean the size of half a football field, and from one end to the other, the floor is lined with an obstacle course of inflatable products. My mouth drops open as laughter and cheers filter through the air from the college boys currently residing on the field.
Alex steps up to me, places her hand under my chin, and lifts my jaw closed as she chuckles.
“It’s cool, huh? The kids’ room is big. But the adults’ area is massive.
” She gestures with her hands. “This arena is so much fun, and the games are epic, Nate.” Her hand goes to her hip.
“Oh… and I’m gonna whoop your ass, sexy boy. ”
I raise an eyebrow as she tugs me over to a massive barrel.
She plunges her hands inside, fishing out a pair of bright red socks and tossing them at me.
I catch them, nearly dropping our precious tequila bottle in the process.
She stifles a grin, eyes sparkling as she watches me fumble, and I can only blame the alcohol for my clumsiness.
“Careful now, no dropping the liquid courage. Put the socks on. We gotta obey some rules,” she says, pulling off her pixie flats and sliding on the red socks.
I place the bottle on the floor, kick off my boots, and pull on the red socks. They’re a tiny bit small, but as Alex said, we have to obey some rules, I suppose.
“Okay, you ready?” she asks, bouncing up and down on her toes.
“How many times have you been here?”
“A lot. C’mon, race ya to the top.” She takes off to where the first inflatable is bright yellow, with a blow-up arch over the entrance reading ‘START’ in big, bold green letters. Alex jumps onto the inflatable cushion and races inside the arena. I chuckle at her enthusiasm.
What have I got to lose?
I run with the tequila bottle in hand, ensuring the lid is on tight, then jump onto the cushion. It’s squishy beneath my feet, causing me to wobble from side to side. I let out a small laugh and carefully walk further inside the inflatable.
Once inside, there’s what looks like a rock climbing wall—all inflatable, of course—and I notice Alex is already nearly at the top.
She looks down and grins. “Gonna have to move quicker if you’re even going to consider yourself a competitor, boss.”
“I’m at a disadvantage, Alex. I have a bottle,” I call back.
She grins. “I would call that an advantage, but hey, I might be a closet alcoholic. However, you’ll never know unless you catch up to me,” she says, climbing higher.
I chuckle, shove the bottle halfway down the front of my jeans, and climb the wall. It’s actually quite challenging, and I’m super fit—I work out, lift weights, and train hard—but fuck, this shit is awkward.
Alex looks down and lets out a loud laugh as she scales the wall and stands at the top. “Ha ha, sucker, see you at the next inflatable,” she jeers and rushes off.
I chuckle as I climb, dig in, and pick up the pace.
Alex’s igniting the fighter in me, and I want to compete with her and not be left behind like fucking always.
So I race to the top and stand to view two slides on the other side, leading me down to the next inflatable.
Grabbing the bottle from my pants, I hold onto it and slide down.
A smile creeps onto my face, and I must admit, this is actually pretty fun for a childish place.
Sliding into an open ring-like area, I glance around at the little pillars. I’m not sure if they’re for people to stand on, hide behind, or something else, when suddenly a ball comes flying out of nowhere and slams into my side. A ding echoes, and the pillars light up pink.
“What the fuck?”
I hear Alex giggling from somewhere in the ring.
“It’s like dodgeball, and hide and seek all at the same time.
I’m pink, you’re blue, the first one to get to four wins…
aaand go,” she yells from a direction I can’t tell due to the sounds reverberating off the walls.
Another ball hurtles toward me, hitting me on the arm.
The pillars light up pink again, and I scoff.
“Hey, I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t even know we were playing. You don’t play fair, Alex.”
“Life’s not fair, boss,” she replies, running out from behind a pillar and throwing another ball at me. I dodge out of the way, catching the ball, and a ding sounds. This time, the pillars light up blue.
“Don’t I know it,” I murmur.
She goes to hide behind another pillar, and I throw the ball at her, but it misses and hits the pillar instead. I quickly dart off to the left to hide behind a pillar.
“It’s true, though, Nate. Sometimes, life throws you curveballs. But you have to roll with the punches.”
Furrowing my brows, I pick up a ball from the floor near me. “So what is this? Life Lessons 101, while playing hide and go dodge?”
“Something like that. You need to know that even though you’re having a hard time and feeling down, she’s not off gallivanting either.”
That ache in my chest is back, and I rub my pec to alleviate the sting. It does not help. “And this is supposed to make me feel better?”
A ball flies past my head, and luckily, I duck out of the way. Looking toward where it came from, I notice her arm sticking out slightly from behind the pillar. I hurl the ball at her, and it smacks her arm. The pillars light blue as she yelps an “Ouch” and falls to the floor.
“Shit.” I bolt toward her, and as I turn toward the pillar, I’m smacked by two balls at the same time, one in the leg, the other in the stomach. I groan as the pillars light up pink, dinging continuously.
She smiles up at me with an evil grin. “Gotchya, boss.”
“You evil little pixie.”
“All’s fair in hide and dodgem.”
She stands and grabs the bottle of tequila from my hand, unscrewing the lid.
She takes a long swig, then hands me the nearly empty bottle, but the buzz is there.
I’m a mixture of emotionally depressed and intoxicated, not to mention slightly confused as to why Alex brought me here in the first place, but I’m soldiering on.
“C’mon, the next one should be fun in our inebriated state,” she says, grabbing my hand and pulling me through the rest of the ring and out the other side into the next inflatable.
It’s another ring, but in the middle is a long inflatable tube.
I look at it, wondering what the fuck this one’s about.
Compared to the last ring, this one seems, well, average.
Alex smirks and grabs the bottle, placing it on the inflatable floor, then walks over, picking up an inflatable rectangle.
She hands it to me and picks another one up, smiling so wide it’s contagious.
“Right, let’s duel, compadre.” She jumps up on the inflatable tube, balancing like a pro, and waits for me, so I follow and exhale.
“Am I supposed to hit you with this stick and knock you off?” I ask, and she nods.
“You can trrry,” she says, squinting her eyes and smirking at me.
“Alex, I’m not sure I’m up for thi—”
Without warning, she smacks the inflatable rectangle into my side, sending me off-balance immediately. I wobble to the right but catch my balance and stand back up, glaring at her.
“Alex… chill. This is meant to be fun, remember?”
She sighs with a grin and wacks me again, which causes me to wobble once more.
I glare at her again—her smile wavers, but she thumps me once more. I stagger, nearly losing my balance, and shoot her a look so fierce it could cut. “What the hell is your problem, Alex?”
She smiles and lowers her stick. “You! You’re moping around, being a sad sack of shit, when you’re obviously such a great guy. You have so much to give the world.”
“Me? I have nothing to give the world, Alex. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing. I can’t even keep the one woman I thought was right for me.”
She smacks her stick into me again. This time, I tense up and smack her back, but she doesn’t budge, which pisses me off even more. “Fuck! What do you want from me?”
“I want you to listen to yourself.”
“What?”
“Ria told me about your self-doubt, and I see it too now. I see it every day… when I tell you a painting has sold, you don’t believe me.
I see it in the way you look at your brother and the way you carry yourself around him.
How you shrink like you think he’s better than you.
You have to stop it! Just because Ria believed in you and left you doesn’t mean you’re not worthy of being the amazing person you are.
Just stop! I believe in you, or I wouldn’t be here. ”
“You think you know me?” I ask and shove her once more, but again, she doesn’t budge.
How the fuck does she do that?
“I know you’re hurting. I know you miss her. But, Nate, you need to keep going. Missing her doesn’t bring her back into your life. She misses you too—”
“Not helping!”
“Just because you miss someone doesn’t make your decisions easier or the path clearer. Nate, you gotta let go.”
Those words hit me like a ton of bricks, and a pain ripples through my chest so fierce it takes my breath. “No! You don’t fucking get it. I use the pain as my muse, Alex. Without it, I have no art.”
“Bullshit! You were talented before Ria. You don’t need her.”
My nostrils flare, and I jab Alex right in the stomach. She wobbles slightly but remains steadfast. “I don’t expect you to understand. You need to fucking drop it. I need her, Alex.”
“Nate, let her go,” she says, hitting me across my left side, causing me to stumble hard.
“No,” I call out.
“Let her go,” she says, pummeling me with the stick.
This time, I lose my balance and fall head-first onto the cushioned floor, bouncing hard.
“She’s letting you go, Nate,” Alex says, still standing on the tube.
My breathing becomes harsh and fast as rage burns through me, so smoldering hot I can’t control it. I groan out loud as I stand and start to pace.
Alex jumps down from the tube and watches me as I walk back and forth on the puffy mattress floor.
“Nate—”