"Ready?" Steven asked his friend, Connie. He wanted to have fun with Connie at Funland, and so did Connie, due to the new release of an arcade game.
Connie nodded while grabbing her five dollar bill and stuffing it in her pocket. She was definitely ready, more ready than before, as she'd been looking forward to playing this game for weeks. She admired the creators deeply, and had followed their page online for updates. She was also tired of binge watching Crying Breakfast Friends.
They headed out around sunset. Sunset was the prettiest time to be on the beach because all of the city lights sparkled and casted reflections on the ocean, and it just looked admiringly gorgeous in general. As they walked, they both chattered about how epic this was going to be.
Once they arrived, they were pushing through a large crowd of excited children. It was astonishing by how crowded it was, though Connie figured it would be somewhat worth it. She nervously pushed through the crowd as Steven followed behind, talking excitedly.
"I'm so excited. This is gonna be so much fun!" Steven went on as they made their way.
"Mhm," Connie responded distractedly. She hadn't meant to sound like a jerk or anything, but she was pretty nervous. Not to mention excited as well. She was also pretty distracted by the noise and cheers of the crowd.
They finally managed to make way near the front. Playing the console was a girl that was about one to two inches taller than Connie. She was dressed pretty androgynously, with a tight and fluffy curly afro, with neat strands slightly falling into her eyes. She also had thick, straight eyebrows. Beside her was a little girl, presumably her sister.
Connie gazed at this girl, slack-jawed and blushing. She was surprisingly pretty good at this game, even though it had just released that day. Though it confused her, she more bewildered by how beautiful this girl was.
"Woah. She's good," Steven said, stars forming in his eyes. "It just came out, too." He suddenly looked at Connie, expecting a response, but he then noticed she was distracted by the girl.
Steven mistook Connie for being sick. Her face was red, and her expression was a little odd. Though if she had been sick, why would she have wanted to go to Funland?
"Hey, Connie, what's -" he started, only to be interrupted by the game, which excitedly announced "NEW RECORD!". The arcade girl stood up taller, sweeping a stray curl behind her ear.
"Nice."
She was very proud of herself, and her sister was, too, as she was extremely hyper.
Arcade Girl moved aside to give the next player a turn, and walked away with her little sister. Connie watched as she passed her, holding her little sister's hand, smiling all the way. The bokeh lights of the arcade surrounded Arcade Girl, and it was such a beautiful sight.
"I just don't understand how good she was, especially that the game just came out!" Steven exclaimed, stars still formed in his eyes.
Connie just nodded submissively while clenching her shirt.
As the afternoon quickly went by, Connie tried to act as if nothing happened. She pretended that there had been no Arcade Girl, that she was just seeing things or day dreaming. There was no way she could just forget what had just happened, and she unfortunately knew it.
As they went to game by game, Connie and Steven gained more and more tickets, and the arcade just got less and less crowded. The sky's hue was changing, and it was beginning to spread its nightly ray of rich, dark goodness. The bokeh lights looked much more beautiful when the sky was completely dark.
During their exploration, they played basic arcade games, such as Donkey Kong and Mortal Combat. Steven was surprisingly good at the latter, and Connie hadn't realized how skilled she was at the former.
Steven suggested they stop by the ticket booth and spend their tickets on goodies. Although Connie preferred to save hers up, she went anyway to make him happy, and she was beginning to feel just a little tired, if at all.
She simply stood nearby the booth. "Go on, Steven, I kind of want to save my tickets. I'll just be waiting here." She tapped on her leg both nervously and impatiently.
"Okay," Steven said, and went over to the booth. He handed the woman at the booth a nice amount of tickets. Connie heard him say in his polite voice, "I'd like the bubble wand, please." When he approached her, he was blowing bubbles from a heart shaped bubble wand.
Of course, it has to be somewhat romantic, and it has to remind me of the Arcade Girl, Connie thought.
She was acting so strangely out of it the whole afternoon, and Steven did, unfortunately, notice what was happening. She did seem slightly upset, and when she was upset, Steven wasn't feeling the best.
He closed up the bubble wand and put it into the pocket of his jacket. "How about we go for a round or two of Pacman?" he asked, gently. It was super classic, but he knew Connie loved and was quite skilled at the game.
"Sure..." Connie replied awkwardly. She wasn't exactly in the mood for talking.
As they were on their way to the arcade, they happened to pass Arcade Girl and her little sister, whom were talking excitedly.
"Oh, Connie! It's the girl from the arcade," he said happily, and looked back at Connie, whom was frozen. Anxiety was eating up her confidence, and her face began to redden. She was honestly annoyed with the severe emotions she was feeling at that moment.
"Hey, are you okay?" Steven asked, his happy expression shifting into concern. He was worried for his best friend.
"I..." Connie had longed to tell him, straight up, that she had feelings for this girl. As much as she wanted to, she just couldn't get the words out of her mouth. She felt like she was choking on the many words she wanted to let out. She just stayed silent.
"No, it's just..I need to sit down. I'm not feeling well," she finally went with. She felt like she was going to be sick as the overwhelming ocean of anxiety washed over her. Her heart thumped in her chest as she contemplated why she decided to go to Funland that day.
Steven helped her to a nearby bench. He wanted to help out in every way possible.
For a very peculiar reason, benches were just about everywhere in Funland. However, they did come in handy, so it wasn't really much of an issue.
They sat down next to each other, but were in an awkward silence as Steven pulled out his bubble wand and blew bubbles as they people watched. More people were starting to head home, with a few new teenagers running excitedly into the arcade.
"Connie, are you sick?" Steven asked her, as his bubble solution began to run out.
Connie then gave him an exasperated look. "I..I don't know. I haven't felt this nervous in such a long time. I..." she wasn't able to sputter anything more.
She didn't understand why she couldn't explain how she felt about A.G. to Steven. Though he was sometimes yet barely often oblivious, sometimes he could easily figure things out.
She didn't know how Steven would react, even though she knew about his family. The whole overall situation was extemely nerve wracking, and she could feel herself even slightly trembling.
"Wait, I don't understand. Why are you nervous?"
Connie felt a powerful surge of pain in her chest.
"I get nervous around the arcade girl. It's just...she seems cool, you know? I really want to be friends. But the thought of it..what if she didn't want to?" Connie replied, while looking off to the side.
Steven then lit up, like he'd just gotten a genius idea.
"Oh! Making new friends is really fun, and easy!" he put the bubble wand in his pocket, and took Connie's hand. He jumped up from the bench, and started to lead her to Arcade Girl. He thought he was helping out, but in reality, he was just making things difficult.
Connie snatched her hand away as the frustration in her began to erupt, like a volcano.
"Steven! Just stop! It's not easy for me. I've only had you as a friend, outside of school. I'm socially awkward. Everything just seems...intimidating! I don't know how to talk to people my age!" she snapped angrily, tears slightly forming at the corners of her eyes.
Steven was surprised at Connie's outburst; this one was worse than the one she had when they'd just met. He could see how emotional she was getting, and he didn't want to force her to do something she didn't want to do. He felt horrible because he didn't understand what she was going through.
"Do you wanna just...get an ice cream or something?" Steven asked gently.
"Yeah," Connie replied. She kept staring at the ground, just as they made way to the snack booth, which was not too far away. She felt bad for yelling at him, but everything had already happened.
The vendor took their order, which which consisted of a vanilla ice cream sundae and an ice cream sandwich. "Coming right up," he said brightly, and then handed them the treats.
Connie handed him the five dollar bill from her pocket, and he took it. She recieved two dollars in change, which was roughly stuffed into her pocket. They began to head back to the bench they were sitting at before getting ice cream, when suddenly, Connie heard a familiar voice, and froze with curiousity.
"Hey! My little, sister, Eun Ae, would like an ice cream sandwich, please," A.G. said politely. Eun Ae was excitedly jumping up and down.
"Sorry, ma'am, but we're all sold out!" the vendor exclaimed.
A.G. smiled gently. "It's all good. We can order something else."
The disappointed Eun Ae was looking at the menu, moreso at the chocolate-y section. Chocolate with nuts, chocolate plain, chocolate caramel...
Connie, nearby, eyed her unopened ice cream sandwich and looked back at A.G. and Eun Ae. Her anxiety almost got the best of her, but she knew she could do this. All it would take would be a few steps and words, after all.
Before Connie could stop herself, she was walking up to A.G. and Eun Ae, and offering the frozen treat.
"You can have mine," she said with a slight blush. She nervously handed it to Eun Ae, who took it, and muttered a quiet thank you. Connie just gave a pleased smile.
"I'm Connie, and I bought it on a whim...I'm not really in the mood for something cold," she joked slightly.
A.G. smiled at her. "Soo Jin. It's really alright. Thank you, though."
Connie felt like her insides were shriveling up. Be Confident Connie, she thought to herself. As cheesy as the line was, it really did help her in situations when she struggled like this.
"No, keep it! It's fine. Think of it as a gift. From me."
Eun Ae quickly hugged Connie, and she could feel her confidence boost, even just slightly.
"Oh, by the way, I saw you playing the new arcade game earlier. You're really good at it! It just came out, though," she said excitedly.
Soo Jin blushed. "Well, I used to live in Korea, before we moved here. The game came out just about two months earlier, if I recall correctly. I tried to play it as much as possible! Almost every single day."
Connie's eyes formed diamonds, like they usually did when she was excited.
"Well, then! Tell me more!"
Soo Jin smiled and began to talk as they headed to the bench Steven and Connie were at moments ago. Eun Ae joined them as she ate her sandwich.
The bokeh lights twinkled as Connie and Soo Jin giggled together and blushed. Steven was standing nearby, and was just about to head to the trash to throw his cup away, when he saw Connie wave at him.
He gave her a bigger smile and a thumbs up.
Everything turns black as the star pops, ending the episode.