Henry Esprit
"Well first things first, who's gonna be a team?" Kevin asked. "Ah good question, lets see, I know just the couple." Mrs. Leno suddenly moved behind me and Andrea and pushed us together. "These two." Now I was confused.
"Wait, what teams." I asked. "Most of the games are 4 player local, there are 5 of us so 2 people have to team up." Kevin answered, as if it were obvious.
I could feel Mr. Lenos death stare from the other side of the couch as Mrs. Leno pushed us together. "Alright then let's begin." Kevin began scrolling through the games before finally picking one. He picked a fighting game and got the game setup. Andrea was playing first.
Andrea chose a character who used a katana, Mr. Leno chose a fist character, Mrs. Leno chose a priestess looking character, and Kevin chose an assassin type character.
Everything seemed normal until the game began its count down. ***3…2…1…FIGHT*** The moment the word "FIGHT" sounded I felt the atmosphere change. I looked around and all 4 members of the Leno family were giving off a fighting aura that made me nearly pull out the Vocare talisman.
"GAH NO DAD!" Kevin suddenly yelled, his character had gotten knocked off and he was eliminated. Andrea who was sitting next to me was next to be eliminated, attempting to throw the controller but it got caught on her wrist strap.
Mr. and Mrs. Leno were focused, pulling off moved in the game I didn't even know existed, their battle went on for nearly 10 minutes before Mrs. Leno finally won.
"ADAM! HOW DARE YOU!" I was taken aback. Mrs. Leno had won but she suddenly got super angry, I could see the veins popping out on her forehead. Did Mr. Leno throw the game and let her win.
He didn't say anything and just sat there while his wife was hitting him on the shoulder. Andrea handed me her controller and pouted. I laughed and took the controller.
Kevin started the next game. I chose a character with a katana, the same one Andrea had chosen and everyone else chose the same character as before. I focused up as the game began its countdown. ***3…2…1…FIGHT*** In the same way as last time the atmosphere changed the moment the fight started.
Without waiting I immediately attacked Mr. Leno. Based off of Mrs. Leno's reaction, he was obviously the best player, it's only natural to take out the strongest first. I lost nearly instantaneously, and that's how the next few games went.
With either Mr. or Mrs. Leno winning, even when we switched games. No matter what type of game it was, they won. Fighting, skill, trivia, fps, everything.
Someway through the middle of a skill based game about trying to open a treasure chest with chains, Mr. Leno suddenly Asked me a question. "So Henry, what do you do for a living?" The question caught me off guard. "Oh, uh, I'm a student and I work part time in public service." "I see." After that question he went back to focusing on the game.
A few minutes later as I was taking a sip of my drink, another question flew my way, this time from Mrs. Leno. "So what made you fall for our Andrea." I nearly spat out my drink, if the last question caught me off guard, this one completely ambushed me. "Um, well I don't really know how to describe it.
At first I guess you could say I was drawn to her looks, and after watching her for a while, and seeing how hardworking and kind she was, I just got drawn further in. I started coming up with ways to interact with her and I just kinda started falling deeper. Even now when we hang out or go on dates I can feel myself jumping further down the rabbit hole."
I started scratching the back of my head and could feel my face flush up, I had never really thought about it or spoken it either, I felt so awkward and vague putting it into words. I looked over at Andrea and could visibly see her face turning bright red. "Hmmmm, I see." Mrs. Leno gave an almost satisfied smirk.
No more questions were asked after and we continued to play games for a little while. Eventually it started to get late and I decided to head home. As I was leaving Mr. Leno reached his hand out. I shook his hand and he nodded. I think he might've had a better expression of me than before.
I left the house and Andrea followed me out to my car. As I was about to get into my car and tell her bye she jumped at me and hugged me. 'Drive safe, have a good night." Naturally, I hugged her back. "You have a nice night too." We stayed that way for a few more seconds before she let go and ran inside. After she closed the door I got into my car and drove home.
Andrea Leno
My face was red as I ran back inside. "OOO" I closed behind me and could hear my brother beginning to make fun of me. Before he got the chance I punched him straight in the nose. "OWWW, WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" He grabbed his nose and almost fell to the floor.
"Well he's a nice boy, don't you think?" My mom said to my dad. He stood there for a moment before responding. "He passes, barely."
That's some of the highest level of praise I'd ever heard dad give someone. I was ecstatic, he had pretty much approved of Henry. Maybe I could invite him over more often. "Really, after hearing him say all that about our daughter I thought he passed with flying colors." GAHH, don't remind me of that. I was so embarrassed. Hearing him describe his feeling like that was amazing, but being in front of my parents was so embarrassing.
My face turned completely red again and I ran upstairs. I was curious to hear more about what my parents thought about Henry but I was too embarrassed at this point. I needed to get to bed, I had school in the morning.