Page 49 of Falling Together
“You know what, buddy?” Erin said from across the room. “You’re going to need some energy to play all of those games. I think we should go downstairs and have breakfast first. What do you say?”
Blair breathed a sigh of relief that Erin had managed to read her mind. “Your mom is right. You can’t play games when you’re hungry. You won’t do as well, and then we won’t get as many tickets, which means we won’t get as many prizes.”
Nolan nodded a bunch of times, then gave Blair a thumbs up. “I wantlotsof prizes.”
After getting dressed, Nolan skipped out of the room in front of Erin and Blair to go get breakfast.
“We make a pretty good team, don’t we?” Blair whispered to Erin as she watched Nolan run toward the elevator.
Erin looked completely relaxed as she smiled at Nolan as well. “We really do.” Erin’s smile turned into a smirk and she added, “Well, that is, whenyou’renot too busy having fun with yourself in the shower.” She lifted an eyebrow at Blair, then ran down the hallway toward Nolan before Blair could think of a rebuttal.
Damn.Blair had no idea where Erin’s newfound confidence had come from, but it was sexy as hell, and she hoped it stayed around.
***
“Mommy! We need to play more games.” Nolan clawed at his mom’s legs while he whined.
“Yeah, Mommy!” Blair said, copying the tone of Nolan’s voice. “There’re so many games in here we haven’t even played yet. How are we going to get a bunch of pointless prizes if we don’t play them all?”
“Seriously?” Erin rolled her eyes at both Blair and Nolan. “I think we’ve spent enough time and money here already.”
“How about this?” Blair pulled the fifty dollar bill out of her pocket that she had been saving for this very moment. “The rest of the games are on me.”
“You are not seriously thinking about getting fifty dollars worth of tokens, are you? We’llneverleave.”
Blair laughed at the fact that Erin was using the same tone of voice to speak to her as she used with Nolan. It was fitting because Blair was acting about as mature as Nolan right now, but she was having way too much fun to care. “That’s kind of the point.” She flashed Erin her most charming smile. “Come on. What else is there to do?”
Erin rolled her eyes again. “Fine. But only because we really don’t have any other choice.”
“Yes!” Blair held her hand out toward Nolan and he jumped in the air to give her a high five.
After getting more tokens, Nolan grabbed a handful and ran toward a racing game. “I’m going to win!” he said as he sat in a seat too tall for him to reach the pedal.
“I have an idea.” Blair picked him up and sat him on her lap. “How about you and I race your mommy? You can steer and I’ll push the pedal.”
Nolan threw a fist in the air. “Yeah! And we’ll win!”
Erin laughed as she sat down beside them and held out her hand for tokens. “I don’t doubt you will.”
Even though it was touch-and-go for a bit due to Nolan’s questionable steering skills, Blair and Nolan did end up beating Erin in the end.
Blair threw both hands in the air. “Yes! Sweet victory!”
“I want to play basketball next!” Nolan jumped off of Blair’s lap and ran toward the big electronic basketball hoops.
“Wait for me, and I’ll put you on my shoulders,” Blair shouted after him, feeling like a little kid herself after spending all afternoon in the arcade.
“You really love this, don’t you?” Erin asked with a laugh. Her tone wasn’t judgmental, just amused.
“Hell yeah. Arcades are the best.”
“Arcades and deejays. Got it.”
“Taking notes?” Blair teased, although it was kind of sweet because it seemed like Erin was actually doing just that.
Erin shrugged. “I figured if we’re going to be friends, I should know what you like to do for fun.”
It turned out, Blair was the one who should have been taking notes. “In that case, what doyoulike to do for fun?”
