We all gathered in the small restaurant with slight sweat gathered on our brows. Gabby, Li, and Victoria were all smiling, and I ginned myself. It had been a long time since I had played laser tag. It was a fun game, and I felt like I had a good round. The confidence on all the ladies' faces showed that they thought the same thing.
I took the paper I got from the bored-looking kid that had the same name I had. I placed it down with a grin, and each put it down on the table, showing their scorecards too. Victoria grinned, showing hers off. "Check out my accuracy," Victoria bragged, and I whistled as I looked at it.
Gabby and Li also made their appreciation known as we gazed upon the ninety-five percent accuracy rate. I looked at the kill rate and noticed another surprising moment that she had only been 'killed' three times to forty kills. That was an excellent rate, and the place on her card was a solid first place in the game. I frowned as I realized that Victoria was still just as hard to win against as she was back in college.
"That is going to be hard to beat," Li replied and showed her card. I looked at her position in the game, and I frowned as I noticed the solid fifth place, and I started to sweat. I looked down at my card, seeing that I got fourth.
Gabby frowned as she put down her card and got in eleventh. It was astonishing how well we all did, and I looked at each other as we stared each other down. Gabby looked the most annoyed as she had thought until we all revealed our places. I could see the revelation dawn on her and the frown that came with it. I looked at her scorecard, and I noticed that the people who killed her were all the same person.
"If it weren't for that little rat, I would have done better," Gabby pouted, and I raised an eyebrow.
"Except on accuracy," I replied with a grin seeing her forty-seven percent hit rate, and Gabby grinned at me.
"Don't need accuracy when you have unlimited ammo," Gabby replied.
I leaned back with a grin, and the ladies ordered some pop since; unfortunately, there was not a bar here. We all grinned, drinking coke now, and Victoria spoke up, "YOu know Gabby, If you continue the way you are going, then you're going to have to do what I tell you to do," Victoria told her with a mischievous grin and Gabby returned the look.
"I will do better next round as long as that blonde kid doesn't follow me around," I heard her bite back, and we all chuckled.
I wouldn't want that either, and I saw a look on Victoria's face as she grinned. I shook my head and got up from the table, "I'll be back in a minute," I told them, and the ladies continued to talk as I went to the bathroom. It would be a good night, and the ladies were all getting along great.
I didn't take long, and the ladies were still talking happily when I came out. I smiled and decided that I would give Chris the bonus. I might have had to deal with extra crap with Li because of the media storm that came with her, but she was a good fit. That was all I needed, and I wondered if the two of them would do their job correctly once they joined the world that I realized that I started to enjoy.
I shook my head, and I escaped my thoughts as I heard a shout out for the next game. I grinned as I rejoined the ladies, and they smiled. We were all excited for the next round, and none of us looked like adults as we gathered with the group for the next game.
We headed in and started to choose our vests as we all looked excited for the next game. Gabby looked determined, and I was set to go. This time, the employee, was a man, and he yelled out the rules before opening the door to let us in. All of us moved in, and I grinned as I lost myself into the maze, looking around for a good spot until the game started.
When things started, I started to shoot, but I frowned as I moved. I was hitting some, but I felt like I had a malfunction. I continued to play, but I felt like shots that should have hit were counted as misses. The game went on as I ran around, but I never even saw them as I repeatedly got taken out of the game. I started to get very annoyed as I was taken out quickly and could barely kill the other players.
The game came to an end, and I knew that I wasn't going to have a good score as I went out with everybody else. I had a frown, and I knew that I would be in deep shit if this kept up. Victoria was mean when it came to these bets, and I didn't want to know what she had in store for me. While I was there, I told the employee that my vest malfunctioned, and he said to me that they would look into it.
I collected my card with that, and the ladies were smiling down at their cards while I frowned, looking at mine. All of them noticed, and Victoria's grin grew as she saw that I wasn't happy with my scorecard. "Is everything okay?" Victoria asked, and all the ladies perked up with her voice.
"I think my vest malfunctioned," I told them as I sat with them. I put down my card, and my accuracy was at ten percent, which was terrible, and I couldn't keep my frown. My place among thirty-five people was thirty-fourth, and I wondered who could have done worse than me in that round.
"Oh, That sucks," Gabby said with a wince, and I looked at her scorecard, which was fifth this time, and I knew from the score they all had I was in last place in the running, and Victoria came out third this time.
"If it weren't for some blonde twit, I would have done better, but he kept following me around and pressing his gun up against the sensor," Victoria said, and I could see her annoyance. "I was faster than him, though, and I started to time myself with the recovery, and he fled. It still took me three deaths to get the timing down." Victoria said.
"Whatever," I said finally as the next game was about to be called. "I will come back next game and beat even Victoria," I said with confidence, and all the ladies smiled as we went into game three with grins.
When I came out on the other side of the game, I felt doomed. I knew I would be punished, and I couldn't keep the scowl off my face. I didn't get a lousy vest when I went in, but this young blonde kid followed me around. He kept on me like a Fly to shit and kept pressing his gun to the sensor. I got to the timing down, and I tried calling the employees attention, but when I finally got the little fucker off me, the round was more than half over.
I collected my scorecard, and I winced with a twentieth place loss, and when I joined the Ladies, I knew I was screwed. I never knew these ladies were good at laser tag when I offered to bring us here except Victoria. But Li and Gabby were good at it, and their scores reflected that as I put mine with theirs.
"Oh no, Rick," Victoria said with barely veiled smugness, "It seems that unless you trounce even me in the last game, you are going to be the loser with the punishment on your head."
I frowned, and I glared at her, which didn't phase Victoria in the least. Gabby and Li were covering their mouths as Victoria gloated, and I knew that I was going to have to try my best in the last game as I leaned back. I looked over the scorecards, and I looked at Gabby. "I am going to make sure I beat at least you hard enough that I am no longer in last place," I promised, and giggles went around the table, and the atmosphere lightened as we started to drink and talk about the games.
I was having fun despite my losses today. Soon though, I needed to be at the top of my game; I waited for the next one, almost feeling my need to win come back. I would not be last place as I knew Victoria had something diabolical for me if I lost, and I wasn't going to let that happen if I could stop it.
Then we heard the voice for the next game, and we stood together, heading back to get vests on.