"SAMANTHA! You're friend's waiting!" my mom shouted from downstairs.
"One second!" I called back as I pulled on my other boot.
I ran down the stairs and out the front door to meet my friend Alexa so we could go to her little brother's birthday party at Incredible Pizza.
We jumped into the car, and sang as loud as we could to "Moves Like Jagger" with the windows open. That's always fun.
We pulled up in the parking lot and pretended we didn't know the horde of screaming nine year olds that were the guests, getting our game cards from our parents and running off.
"So whaddya wanna do?" Alexa asked.
"Pizza?" I offered.
"Naw." She held up her card and we both grinned.
Five failed claw machine tries, nine guitar hero hits, six rounds of Dance Dance Revolution, three games of laser tag, two games of bowling, eight games of skee ball, six bumper car rides, and two games of mini golf later, we were broke.
"I'm starving!" I moaned.
"Me too!" she said. We both ran to the buffet and got some pizza and extra large slushies.
"How much longer 'til the party's over?" she asked.
"No idea." I said.
"Hey look, there's Cruella DeVil!" she said, pointing to someone in a costume.
"There's Spock!" I said, pointing to a guy in a green suit.
"Let's keep track and see who can find more people in costumes!" she challenged.
"Sure." I said.
This is what our list ended up looking like.
Peeps in costumes
Cruella DeVil
Spock
Little Red Riding Hood
Prom Queen/Princess
Superman
Batman
The Green Lantern
Captain America
A Hippie
Some chick from the 90's
Some chick from the 8o's
Superwoman
Batwoman
Cleopatra
Tinker Bell
Robin Hood (girl version)
A Witch
A gansta
Then she pointed over by the register and laughed, "Somebody's dressed as Justin Bieber!" I cracked up too.
He had perfect JB hair, baggy jeans, purple Vans shoes, a crooked baseball cap, and a sweatshirt with the hood up.
Alexa laughed so hard she knocked over my slushie when she saw the lipstick smudges on his face.
Alexa suddenly grew serious and stared while I wiped up the spill.
"The cuff of his sweatshirt is torn off; it looks like he's been mauled by fangirls!" I said.
She nudged my arm.
"Sammie!" she hissed.
"What!" I hissed back.
"That's not a costume."
"Oh. My. God." I said, staring.
I realized he wasn't the cashier; he was arguing with the princess in charge of the cash register. I saw him slip her a fat wad of bills, and her eyes widen, and then she ran told Little Red Riding Hood to do something.
Little Red Riding Hood, the hippie, Superman, and Spock went outside out across the parking lot.
"What do we do?" I hissed.
"I don't know!" she said.
I stood up and walked right up to him as he headed who knows where to hide, walking with him.
"Hi." I said.
"Hi." He turned his face away, rubbing at a lipstick smear on his cheek.
"Didja lose Kenny?" I asked.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
"What." It wasn't a question; he just couldn't believe it.
"Well, did you lose him? Looks like you got mauled."
"Well, yeah…"
"Isn't it awkward having girls throw themselves at you?"
"Yeah, but I don't care if they're hot."
I laughed.
"So how long are you gonna be in Iowa?" I asked.
"Don't know, actually. Depends on a lot of stuff, like the fangirls, who buys the tickets, what there is to do here, who pays for what…"
"Ah. " I said.
"Uh, I don't want to be rude or anything, but, uh, why aren't you, um, throwing yourself at me or something? Don't start, I'm just wondering, 'cause, you know-"
"Honestly, I don't know either. 'Cause I dream about you a lot, and they normally happen like this, and then I wake up, and omigod, did I just say that out loud?" I felt my face turn hot.
He grinned.
"Well, it's a nice change. " He looked me straight in the eye, and I blushed even more.
"You got a little somethin' here." I said, pointing to a lipstick mark on his face. "And here. And here. And here, and here-"
He cracked up. "Like I didn't notice. Where's the bathroom?"
"Over there. And I don't want to sound totally desperate or anything, but can you promise not to ditch me?"
"'Course not."
He left, and Alexa ran up to me.
"Sorry, but Kyle O' Malley's here with his little sister, so while you're busy scaring Justin Bieber off can I go hang out with him? Please? I don't want to make you feel bad or-"
"Sure." I said, and Alexa ran out.
A few minutes later, Justin came back, lispstick-free.
"Um, do you think people here would, like, recognize me or something?"
"Probably not, especially since it's mainly little kids."
He took his hoodie and baseball cap off, flicking his hair out of his eyes.
"So what's your name, anyways?" he asked.
"Sammie. Sammie Rushton." I said.
"So, Sammie, what is there to do here?"
"It's basically an arcade with mini golf, mini bowling, laser tag, and bumper cars. Oh yeah, it's a buffet, too."
"Sounds fun. "
He started walking towards another register.
"Uh… two unlimited buffets with unlimited attractions and two hundred dollars each on two game cards, please." He said.
"Very funny. Now get out."
"No, I'm dead serious."
He took a credit card out of his pocket, and the witch scanned his card.
"Holy crap, kid you been robbin' a bank or somethin'?"
"No. "
She handed us the cards, shaking her green wig.
"Here ya go. Have fun."
"Pizza or games?" he asked as he handed me a card.
"I don't know."
He got pizza, and I got an extra large Coca Cola flavored slushie like I always do.
"This place is actually pretty cool, once you get past the fact that it's swarming with evil midgets." He said, watching a six year old in a pink party dress throw a cake across the V.I.P party room, screaming it was the wrong flavor.
"Yeah…"
He started the last slice of his pizza as I lazily sipped my slushie resting my elbow on the table, propping my head up with my hand and pretending not to stare at him.
He finally finished, and held up his game card.
"Game time."
"You didn't have to get me one."
"Aw, come on, it's not that much."
"It's two hundred bucks!"
"Well use it, because I can't return it."
So we played everything at least forty times, and we even won the huge stuffed animal claw machines.
It was pretty fun to watch him play Guitar Hero to his own song.
We also pretty much bought out all the good stuff in the prize room, and spent every cent of our cards.
Then we headed for laser tag, and crashed into Kyle and Alexa holding hands.
"Oh, hi Alexa." I said.
"You haven't made him run screaming yet!"
"Oh, shut up."
"He'll run when he sees your room."
"Shut UP!" I hissed, blushing.
"Wait…" Kyle said slowly. "You're not… Justin Bieber?"
"No. I'm just some kid who looks like him."
"Oh…" he said, but didn't look convinced.
Alexa and Kyle walked off, and Justin and I went to a booth and sat down when we saw that the line for laser tag was at least twenty nine year old girls.
"So now what?"
"I don't know, we've done pretty much everything here…"
"Well, yeah... Um, I really want you to stay, but, uh, where are the security guards, managers, paparazzi and stuff?"
"Well, yeah, I'm not exactly here for a concert. I'm here to try to be normal. But it wasn't working out the greatest."
"Oh."
"And I don't know exactly where they are, anyways. Possibly hospitalized."
"Who knows?" I said with a grin.
He was right across the both from me, close enough to touch. This had to be a dream. It had to be. I had so many dreams like this…
"Hey, you're not like any girls I've ever met…" he said, and I blushed. His face was inches away from mine…
And then we kissed.