Another long chapter...what's up with this?
I've gotten way far ahead of you guys...I might post 1 or 2 additional chapters this weekend if I can get them edited!
After their date at the zoo (which went splendidly, in Yang's somewhat biased opinion), she spent the next morning anxiously waiting for a text from Blake telling her when and where to meet for their next date.
She had been beyond excited that Blake had agreed to see her again - ecstatic might be a better way to describe it, or thrilled, elated, etc...Yang was pretty sure that even Pyrrha would say that hanging out with her three days in a row was seriously pushing a normal person's limit.
That had actually been what Pyrrha had alluded to when Yang told her they would be seeing each other again today. It had been something along the lines of, "Are you sure you shouldn't give her a break for a day or two?"
Maybe Yang should give it a day before planning something, but there didn't seem to be much of a point when she wanted to see the author again - as soon as possible. The second they said their goodbyes to each other, Yang found herself counting down the minutes until she would see Blake next. What would be the point in prolonging that countdown any longer than necessary?
And with her sometimes crazy schedule, she never knew when she would get called out of town for work. It would be crushing if they 'took their time' and then were separated for a week by work commitments.
Plus, Blake had happily agreed to spend time with her again, so maybe the author felt somewhat the same way.
Yang could only hope that was true.
In her eager anticipation of Blake's text, she had refused to venture too far from her home. She cooked herself breakfast (checked her phone), went to the gym (checked her phone several times), caught up on her emails (on her phone), and watched some mid-morning talk shows (with her phone by her side)…and then, finally, her heart jumped in excitement when she heard her phone buzz when a new text message arrived.
"Good morning! 3 p.m. – I'll meet you in front of your building. Casual/comfortable clothing."
Her mind began racing at the non-descriptive message - wondering what possible activity Blake could have planned for them today.
But at least now she had an exact time to look forward to. Looking at the clock, she let out a groan when she realized that she still had several hours until Blake would be there. Several long, painfully slow hours…
Since she had some time to kill, she decided to sit down at the computer and check out some of the books Blake had written. She had already pulled up the complete list the other day and memorized it. - she hadn't wanted to look uneducated in case Blake happened to mention any of them while they were at the zoo!
She had also read through the short descriptions, but that had only made her want to read everything that much more.
Opening up the internet, she found a good website and splurged - buying all of the books and sending them to her tablet. Once done, she went to retrieve the device from under several pillows on the sofa before flopping down and turning it on.
From what Yang had seen, Blake had written across multiple genres - romance, mystery, crime/thriller, and action adventure. The action adventure novels in particular were very popular. Even Yang was familiar with several of them.
After only a few seconds of deliberation, Yang decided to begin her journey with Sunflower, the story featuring Saranna. She really wanted to see why Blake's fans had almost unanimously agreed that Yang should play that part if that book was made into a movie.
She hadn't sat down to enjoy a book in a long time, finding that too many disruptions often presented themselves to her, but she was determined to get through as much of this as possible before getting ready for her date. Something about the fact that these words came from Blake's mind made Yang feel giddy with excitement as she began reading.
Sunflower was narrated by the protagonist, a young girl by the name of Corrie. Self-described as quiet and shy, Yang amusedly determined that she was a true wallflower. Of course, no one was around to laugh at that pun but herself…
Corrie went to school with a girl named Saranna, who was, in Corrie's words, "as popular as sunshine after a month of rain." Saranna was loved by everyone and she seemed to love everyone in return. While she might have become popular due to her extraordinary beauty, she remained popular by her unflinchingly kind demeanor. She didn't act superior to anyone and was happy to be friends with everyone. She was the sunflower standing above a bed of weeds.
Saranna always greeted Corrie when they passed each other in the halls at school. She knew Corrie's name and used it frequently. She would always ask how Corrie's day was, if she had the time. She would even make small talk about the classes they shared together.
Corrie would respond as best she could, but was sure that her replies seemed curt and vaguely rude at best. She would usually end the interaction abruptly, rushing away with a blush on her cheeks.
She was far too shy to become close to such a magnetic person, but something about Saranna always drew her eye. Initially, Corrie wrote it off as a mild crush and refused to believe it was anything deeper. It wouldn't be that unheard of anyway since nearly half of the school had a crush on the girl.
But then, one day, Saranna began to change. It was so subtle, so imperceptible, no one else even seemed to notice. Saranna herself was acting the same, but there was definitely something different, something wrong. Corrie was the only one who could see it, but couldn't figure out what could possibly be wrong.
Just as she was getting to the best part of the story, Yang's eyes slipped over the top of the screen to the clock hanging on the wall above the television. She yelped in shock as she jumped off the sofa, throwing the tablet down before running to her room.
She was going to be late!
She pulled out the first pieces of clothing that looked like they even slightly went together and threw them on. Checking her reflection, she gave herself a 'B' before rushing back into the living room to try to locate her wallet and keys.
Finding them underneath a random stack of papers on the island in the kitchen, she grabbed the items and flew out the door, nearly forgetting to lock it on her way out. An unusually long elevator ride later, she was racing through the lobby, sparing a glance at her phone to check the time as she shoved open the front doors.
As her momentum carried her outside, she let out a small cry of surprise when she narrowly avoided colliding into Blake, who had been just about to enter the building.
She could feel her cheeks heating up as she straightened up, attempting to collect herself and appear somewhat poised and presentable.
"Uh…hello! Sorry, I didn't see you there," she said, trying to brush over her obvious lateness. Well, technically she had been right on time...but just barely.
The adorable smirk Blake gave her said that she knew exactly why Yang had exploded out of the building in such a hurry. Thankfully, the author didn't comment on the incident.
"Hello," she responded instead. "How has your day been so far?"
As she asked the question, Blake gestured towards the sidewalk and began walking, intending for Yang to follow. Right when she began to follow, Yang heard her phone start ringing in her pocket. Pulling it out of her pocket, she glanced at the name and instantly silenced it.
"Just my agent." Yang said as she fell in step with her date, not even bothering to ask where they were going or why they were walking there.
"My day has been great so far. I did some errands, caught up on my emails, and…"
She abruptly cut off the end of her sentence as panic began to set in. She had been about to say that she had been reading, which of course would make Blake ask what it was Yang had been reading. Could she think of another plausible title? Did she even have to?
She wasn't sure how Blake would feel knowing that Yang was reading her book! She didn't think she would have any problem with Blake watching her movies…actually, she had never even asked if Blake had seen them. Actually, she had just kind of…assumed that Blake had seen them…which now made her feel like a horribly arrogant person. Blake could have seen all of them, or…none of them.
She couldn't decide which one of those made her feel worse.
"And you…?" Blake pressed, jarring Yang from her internal turmoil.
Well, the truth was almost always better than a lie…
"And I started reading one of your books…" she finally admitted, ducking her head in shame.
"Oh really? Which one?" Blake asked without breaking a stride.
Yang looked towards her in an effort to gauge her reaction, shocked that her admission hadn't triggered a bigger reaction than that.
"Is that ok? I realize that I should have asked first -" she began until Blake cut her off with a wave of her hand.
"Of course it's ok," Blake replied casually. "I've seen your movies, after all. Why would it be ok for me to watch those and not for you to read my books?"
"Uh…I don't know…invasion of privacy?" she suggested lamely, realizing that her concerns may have been over exaggerated when Blake laughed.
"I wrote them with the intent of other people reading them, actually," the girl replied, shooting Yang a sly grin.
She grinned in return, which slowly faded when the words Blake had just said finally sank in.
"W-wait…you've watched my movies?"
Just seconds earlier, Yang had thought she wouldn't blink twice at Blake watching her films. But now…knowing definitively that Blake had watched them, Yang felt her stomach begin to churn with nerves while her mind buzzed with questions.
What had Blake thought of them? Had she liked them? What did Blake think of her in the films? Of her roles?
"I doubt I've seen all of them - I imagine that list would be pretty long. But I have seen the Dust Chronicles," Blake helpfully elaborated for her.
Yang could feel her questions beginning to burn on her tongue, desperately trying to escape. But she was also quite nervous about what her date's potential answers could be.
"What did you think of them?" she finally asked, not able to hold it in any longer.
Blake turned to her with a smile.
"They were very…entertaining."
Yang initially grinned at the response. Entertaining was good…right? But did she mean 'entertaining' like something bad you turn on to laugh at with your friends?
"So…which book did you start?" Blake continued while Yang's mind reeled with more questions than she had had thirty seconds ago.
Accepting that she was not going to get the answers to all of her questions right now, she decided that she could at least answer some of Blake's.
"I started Sunflower."
Yang took Blake's nod of appreciation as permission to give her thoughts on the book so far.
"I think that Corrie is super cute! She's all timid, but she's actually looking out for Saranna in a way that no one else is."
"That's an interesting way to look at it…most people just think she's a little obsessive."
Yang laughed.
"Yeah…well she is a little bit. But her heart is in the right place."
"Speaking of being in the right place," Blake said as she suddenly stopped walking. "So are we."
Blinking, Yang looked around her in confusion. She hadn't been paying very close attention to where they had been going, trusting that Blake would lead them the right way. Now, they were standing outside a giant, ugly square building that she must have passed a thousand times when she drove to the set for work. She glanced up at the giant sign that was placed above the front doors, craning her neck to get a better view.
"Laser X?" she cried out in surprise.
"Yup," Blake replied with a grin, pulling open the front door and holding it for Yang.
"I hope you've got good aim."
"Psh…if you've seen my movies, you know I have impeccable aim," Yang boasted jokingly as she walking into the building, immediately cringing at how conceited her comment came out.
She paused directly inside the doors while allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. The inside of the building was massive, with the ceiling seeming to be exceptionally far away at two-three stories tall. There were various arcade games filling the floor around them, each lit up with neon lights and emitting all kinds of loud noises. On the opposite side of the room directly in front of them stood a counter that was set up to look like the command station on a spaceship. Several employees were standing there helping customers. To their right, a dark brown staircase was leading up to a grey hatch door with the word 'briefing' placed directly above in fluorescent orange letters. A line of people were standing on the stairs as they waited for an employee to scan their tickets and allow them to enter the room beyond.
"This…is…so…cool!" Yang finally exclaimed as she took in all of the sights and sounds around her, feeling her brain bursting with sensory overload.
She hadn't played laser tag in years.
"So, this is acceptable?" Blake asked from her side.
"Are you kidding me? This is awesome!" she replied happily, gesturing towards the arcade games as if those alone should clue Blake in as to how awesome the place was.
Turning back to Blake, she found that the girl had a smile on her face, clearly pleased that her idea was being well received. Yang couldn't help but to smile dumbly back for several seconds, lost in appreciation for the thought Blake had actually put behind their day. She honestly couldn't remember the last time someone had put any amount of effort into something like this for her.
"Uh…if you're ready, let's go sign up for some games so we can see who's actually the better shot here," Blake replied with a smirk, breaking their smiling contest in favor of heading across the floor towards the counter.
Oh, how she loved a good competition.
The two of them signed up for the next game and were told that they would have to wait about fifteen minutes before they would be called to the briefing room. They decided that the best way to pass their time would be to play some arcade games. Several failed attempts at downhill skiing later, they finally heard their call sign come out of the loudspeakers.
"Green team, please report to the briefing room to collect your mission. Green team, to the briefing room."
Blake's ears immediately perked up.
"That's us," she said as Yang abandoned her skier, letting him coast aimlessly down the slopes.
"Yes! Ready to eat your words, Belladonna?" she teased while they walked towards the staircase in the corner of the building.
The author merely scoffed at the comment.
"Who's going to make me eat them? Myself?"
"N-no! I am, of course!" Yang replied as they climbed to the top of the staircase, pulling out their receipts to be scanned by the employee standing by the door.
"And how do you plan on doing that?"
Yang's mind instantly drifted to the thought of feeding Blake with her hands, effectively chasing away any hope of a good comeback on her part.
"Uh…by…"
Mercifully, Blake started laughing, freeing her from her miserable attempt at having a witty conversation.
"If your aim is anywhere near as good as your ability to make a comeback, I've got this in the bag," the author teased happily.
Reaching the top of the staircase, the employee's eyes opened wide when he saw Yang, jaw dropping open as she handed over her ticket. The young boy scanned it without even looking down, not uttering a single word. She shrugged her shoulders at Blake and headed inside - that certainly wasn't the first time she had been gawked at, and definitely wouldn't be the last.
The briefing room was actually just a small square room with two raised rows to sit on. It was darker in here than the main building, with UV lights casting a purple glow over everything. She picked a spot in the back corner of the room on the top row to sit, where Blake joined her several seconds later.
The room steadily filled with more and more players in a variety of different ages, ranging from little kids to grown ups. The ones who noticed Yang did a double take when they saw her, but were polite enough to turn away and whisper excitedly to their friends instead of staring. Once the last call for players had sounded, the boy at the door pulled the 'hatch' closed, plunging the room into silence as the ambient noise from outside was cut out.
"Ok, welcome to Laser X," he said, taking his place in the front of the room, eyes flitting to Yang every other second. "I'm sure some of you have played before, but there are a few ground rules that need to be followed. No running…no hiding your sensors…and no contact."
"In just a few minutes, we'll divide into two teams and go get your equipment. You will each have a vest with an attached gun."
The boy held up a sample vest and gun and strapped it onto himself in demonstration.
"Strap yourself in at the waist with the buckle. Pull the strap to tighten. The lighted areas are your sensors – where other players will shoot to score points. Once you're hit, your gun will make this noise…"
A rather sad electronic noise sounded from the gun as he held it up.
"When you hear that, you won't be able to shoot for three seconds. Find cover and then your gun will turn back on. Any questions?"
Everyone in the room shook their heads after the boy's whirlwind of instructions.
"Good! Let's divide the group into two teams right…here," he said pointing to a spot in the middle of the room that would determine which team they were on.
"The group on the left will be red – the right will be green. Now follow me and let's get suited up."
Everyone began talking again as they stood to follow the boy through another door, this time into a room with rows and rows of vests hanging upon rods sticking out of the walls. The guns were stuck into holsters attached to the walls underneath each vest.
"I guess that we'll have to prove our skills while playing on the same team," Yang commented as she picked up the first green vest she came across – number 17.
"I don't see that being a problem at all," Blake replied while picking up the vest next to Yang's and pulled it over her head. Grabbing the giant plastic gun from the hostler on the wall, she held it up in front of her chest.
"How do I look?"
She jumped on the chance to check out her date, staring at the girl for probably a few seconds too long.
But seriously, how was it even possible to make a laser tag outfit look that good?
"You look really, really great," she finally answered honestly. Blake obviously hadn't been expecting that answer from the way she turned her eyes away in modesty, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks.
"Alright! Form two lines in front of these doors – we'll be starting in a minute!"
Blake and Yang walked up to the line of fellow green players standing behind the green door, located directly beside the red door. A flashing red light located on the ceiling began to go off as a silent countdown began.
"Hey…so…want to stick together?" she whispered to Blake while they prepared themselves for the doors to open.
"Absolutely…if only so you can see what real skill looks like."
Yang turned all the way around to find the girl smirking back at her. As she opened her mouth to retort, a loud alarm sounded while the two doors hissed open simultaneously. She decided to save it for later, turning back around to follow the rush of players out the doors.
Inside the arena was dark and full of randomly placed walls and barrels. The entire structure was actually two stories tall and they were entering on the second level. Two long ramps were located on opposite sides of the building granting access to the floor below - which was covered in a thick layer of fog that created an even more spooky atmosphere.
She could hear the sound of the red team running off to their left, separated by a solid wall that forced the teams to move in opposite directions. The entire place was eerily quiet, with only the sounds of running feet filling the air.
"I thought we weren't supposed to run?" Yang asked in confusion when Blake appeared by her side, watching their own teammates tear off towards the ramp leading downstairs.
"Oh Yang…" Blake replied, shaking her head in mock wonder at Yang's laser tag innocence. "They always say not to run."
With a grin, the author set off at a quick jog after their team - and Yang didn't think twice before setting off after her partner.
Just then, noises erupted everywhere as the game officially began and their weapons came to life. Loud music filled the arena while beams of red light flew in every direction - the players shooting towards anything that moved.
Blake ducked down behind a short wall when several red lights flashed her way. Yang slid to a stop beside her.
"What's the plan, Belladonna?" she asked in a yell as more members of their team raced past.
"Survive," Blake replied plainly before standing and firing towards a group of red players across the room.
She laughed Blake's serious demeanor, standing and firing in the same direction.
"Don't worry, partner, I've got your back," she replied just as seriously.
Her vest vibrated as soon as the words left her mouth, with Blake's flashing an instant later. Turning around, they saw two red vests disappear around a corner.
Blake raised an eyebrow at her.
"Uh…sorry…"
She gave Blake a sheepish smile, praying for forgiveness.
Blake just giggled as she stood up and gestured for Yang to follow her, before tearing off in another direction. Crouching down behind another low wall, the two were now in a good location to pop out and surprise unsuspecting players.
"Peek out and see if anyone's around," Blake whispered to her as the two of them hunkered down behind their cover.
"Me?" Yang's voice squeaked in protest. "Why me?"
"Because last time you let us get shot in the back!" Blake pointed out to her.
Yang sighed and nodded her head apologetically. Yes, that had happened…twenty seconds ago.
She slowly straightened from her crouch, poking her head just above the wall to see if she could spot anything. Her vest immediately began flashing while the death noise playing through her gun.
Groaning, she collapsed onto the floor, clutching her shoulder sensor in pain.
"They…got me…Blake," she wheezed painfully.
Concern filled Blake's eyes, causing her to set down her own gun in order to kneel forward towards Yang's shoulder.
"Let me take a look," she said firmly.
Yang lifted her hand for a few seconds, feeling her heart start pounding when Blake leaned close to take a look at her 'injury.' From this distance, she could smell the girl's shampoo wafting through the air. She dropped her hand back down onto the wound when Blake leaned back, eyes filled with sorrow.
"It…doesn't look good…" the girl replied remorsefully. "I…I don't think you're going to make it…"
Yang almost burst into laughter at Blake's blunt, anti-encouraging comment, but somehow managed to keep a straight face.
"Will you…stay with me…?" she asked, throwing a few raspy coughs in at the end of her question for good measure.
"Of course I'll stay," Blake responded, smiling at her sadly.
Then, Blake did something Yang hadn't expected – she reached down and gently grabbed ahold of her free hand, while gazing tenderly into her eyes.
Her heart rate doubled at the contact, savoring the feeling the girl's soft fingers intertwined with her own. For a few short seconds, she became lost in those amber eyes, finding everything she ever needed within them.
It took Blake's vest buzzing to bring them both out of their moment, a red player sprinting off behind them after tagging the girl. Yang flushed, grateful that it was dark, when Blake released her hand and picked up her gun from the ground.
"We should probably head out," the girl said with a smile, pushing herself to her feet.
Yang nodded her head as she followed suit, grateful for a distraction from what had just transpired.
The two of them ran around together for the next fifteen minutes, rolling and diving behind cover just like little kids. They yelled out complicated strategic orders to each other, as if they were in an actual battle.
Blake was actually surprisingly good at the game, able to blend into the shadows easily. Yang's more…heads on approach…got her shot an awful lot, but she usually managed to tag a few players in the process. By the end of the game, when their guns automatically shut off while echoing 'game over' loudly, Yang had completely forgotten that she had been trying to prove she was a better player than Blake.
"Remember your vest number," Blake reminded her as they returned their vests to the racks and trudged back into the main lobby. Yang nodded her head, remembering the number 17 as they walked into the main room. Placed directly in front of them was a gigantic television screen depicting the scores from the prior game.
"There I am!" Yang pointed when she found "Green 17" listed on the board near the middle of the list. "Hey, I actually didn't do as badly as I thought."
A second later, she picked out Blake's score, three places higher than hers. She laughed while Blake smirked at her.
"Ok, ok, you might have been better than me, but it looks like both of us kind of suck," she replied jokingly.
Blake laughed at Yang's honest assessment of their laser tag skills.
"Do you want to play again?"
"Absolutely."
The building was a lot busier than it had been when they had entered their game moments earlier. From the influx of small children, it looked like several birthday parties were just beginning. This time, they actually had to wait in line for a few minutes before they could purchase their passes into the next available game.
"So…more arcade games?" Yang asked when they turned away from the desk, receiving Blake's nod of approval.
"Any in particular you want to play?"
Blake pointed towards a big screen nearby, complete with two large machine guns mounted to the front of it.
"Alien's Revenge?" Yang read the title from the top of the machine, raising one eyebrow in surprise.
"Yes…unless you're too scared I'll beat you," Blake replied with a smirk.
Yang immediately pulled some quarters out of her pocket and strode over to the machine.
"Bring it on."
They played Alien's Revenge for the next few minutes, drawing quite the crowd to watch them play.
"Blue team, please report to the briefing room. Blue team, to the briefing room."
"Thank god," Yang said in relief as she happily released her gun. "I swear, Blake. We've been playing this for like fifteen minutes now and are still awful at it."
"Well, maybe one of us is still awful…" Blake began, but Yang cut her off with a laugh while pointing to the screen as proof.
"Yeah, ok, we're both pretty bad," Blake agreed with a smile.
Just then, a stampede of tiny feet could be heard racing by them towards the staircase leading towards the briefing room. Blake and Yang both stared as they watched over a dozen children race up the steps towards the employee at the top.
"Uh…how do you feel about kids, Blake?" she asked while staring at the crowd of small children.
"How do I feel about having them, or about playing against them?"
The tips of Yang's ears instantly caught on fire when she realized how her question could be construed.
"Playing them!" she blurted out abruptly while her cheeks attempted their best tomato impression. "Not that I wouldn't want to know how you felt about having them…but way in the future! I mean…not that far in the future – not that I'm assuming there will be a future or anything!"
She sighed and buried her face in her hands, only lifting her eyes when she heard giggling beside her.
"Well, to answer both of your questions - I don't mind playing them, and I would probably love to have them."
"…in the future," the girl added playfully.
It probably wasn't physically possible to grin any larger than Yang did right then.
"Well, let's go then!" she said, motioning for Blake to follow her towards the stairs.
Once they walked into the briefing room, they found that it was already packed with the children. They sat down in the only available space for two, dead center in the front row, as the employee closed the hatch behind them.
"Ok, now we're going to divide into two teams…" he said after retelling his instructions nearly word for word. Carefully counting the people in the room, he put his hand to his chin thoughtfully.
"Uh…we're going to have to have one of you move over to the other team," he directed towards the group of young boys on the right side of the room, who immediately began squabbling over who should be separated from the party.
"We'll split up, if you need."
Yang looked over in dismay when she heard Blake's offer, just in time to catch the girl's wink.
"It might be kind of fun to shoot at you this time."
Yang could only chuckle in response.
"Yeah, ok, split us up!" she told the employee.
"Alright…you can go on the red team," he said as he pointed towards Yang. "And you can be on green," he finished with a gesture towards Blake.
Yang beamed as she turned towards her teammates, finding many little eyes trained upon her - most growing wide in recognition.
"Alright Team Yangarang!" she called out to them happily as they stood to head into the equipment room. "We're going to destroy the green team, right?"
Her new little minions cheered in response, rushing forward to grab their vests and guns.
She grinned at Blake while she pulled on her own vest and strapped herself in.
"Ready to lose?" she joked, making Blake scoff.
"Please…have you seen my team? They're pros, all of them."
Yang glanced at all of their teammates, most of them only reaching up to their hips in height. Still, she was confident that she had the better team.
"Care to make it interesting?"
She loved the way Blake's eyebrow arched in intrigue.
"I'm listening."
"Loser buys dinner?" Yang suggested, the first thing that came to mind.
Blake nodded as she held her gun up to her chest in both hands, once again looking like an ultra attractive laser tag player.
"Deal."
Yang grinned and turned back to the red team. Honestly, she could care less who won or lost. The best part about the wager was that she had now secured dinner with Blake, which was a win in her mind regardless of who was paying.
"Ok team," she said, kneeling down in front of all the children wearing red, "our strategy is to win and…win…by any means necessary!"
The kids all cheered at her less than inspiring speech. Turning around, Yang found Blake having a similar powwow with her own team. Although…it seemed to be much more serious and in depth than the one Yang had just had…
The red light began flashing – calling them all to line up in front of their doors. Yang glanced over just in time to catch Blake staring at her. She smirked.
"I think I'd like some Mexican food tonight," she teased.
"In your dreams," Blake replied playfully as the doors hissed open and everyone rushed into the arena.
Yang wasted no time by the door this time, racing away as quickly as she could, watching her teammates fan out in all directions. She glanced towards the members of the green team, but couldn't spot Blake anywhere. Less than a minute later, the game went live as their vests and guns became active.
This game was very different from the last one since the kids ran around like crazy, screaming and shouting when they were hit. Yang quickly found that she needed to be more careful when running in order to avoid colliding with one of the small children. Still, she hurried around the arena at a frenzied pace, keeping her eyes peeled for a certain beautiful girl with black hair and amber eyes.
But after several minutes, she still couldn't catch a glimpse of Blake anywhere. Where had the ninja disappeared to?
While racing around the maze downstairs, Yang's attention fell upon a little girl on the opposite team crouching behind a tall wall in fear. Immediately suspending the search for her date, she went over to check on the poor child.
"Hey," she whispered as she knelt down on the ground beside her. "Are you ok?"
The girl looked at her, wide eyes brimming with tears as she nodded her head rapidly in what was clearly a lie.
"Are you scared?" Yang asked, trying to prod a tiny bit.
The little girl thought for a few seconds before slowly shaking her head 'no.'
"I'm really b-bad," the girl finally wailed, voice wavering on the edge of tears.
"Oh, that's ok though," Yang quickly replied, patting the girl gently on the shoulder as she sat her gun down on the floor. "You're not bad! Hey, I even heard that you shot Yang Xiao Long several times!"
Yang leaned backwards and pointed towards the circle of red lights glowing on her chest. After a few seconds, the confused expression lifted from the little girl's face when she finally grasped what Yang was telling her to do. She raised her gun, which seemed comically large in her tiny hands, and squeezed the trigger when it was pointed directly at Yang's chest.
An electrical noise sounded while Yang's vest flashed rapidly, indicating that she had been hit.
She laughed when the girl smiled happily.
"See? You're not bad at all. Want to shoot me again?"
Yang allowed the younger girl to shoot her as soon as her vest came back to life, chuckling at the joyful expression on the girl's face. That was, until she heard the buzzer indicating that there was only a few minutes remaining in the game – and she had yet to even spot Blake.
"Hey, want to help me with something?" she suddenly asked, earning a quick nod from her new compatriot.
"Great. I'm going to boost you up to look over this wall. Can you try to find the girl that I was with earlier? The only one above four feet tall?"
Receiving an enthusiastic nod in return, she allowed the small girl to clamber on her back as she held her steady to look over the wall. Several seconds later, she heard a squeal of success.
"She just ducked into that corner over there!"
Yang sat the child carefully on the ground before peeking around the corner in the direction the girl pointed. She gave her new friend a quick salute before racing off towards the new maze of walls, slowing down as she passed through them.
If Blake had just come through here, she had to be nearby…
A hand suddenly wrapped around her mouth, stifling her scream as she was pushed into the nearest wall face first.
"Are you ready to surrender?" a silky voice whispered in her ear.
Yes, I am 100%, positively, absolutely ready to surrender to that voice, Yang thought.
Thankfully, she had just a tiny bit more pride than to try to say that aloud. Although...she was currently the one shoved into a wall with a hand covering her mouth...so...she did the only thing she could think of in order to get out of this position with her pride still somewhat intact…
She stuck her tongue out and licked.
The hand instantly disappeared, allowing Yang to turn around and find Blake wiping her palm on her jeans.
"You licked me?" the girl asked in shock.
"Hey, girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do," she answered, somewhat smugly, even though she now had a gun pointed directly at her chest.
Shaking her head, Blake still couldn't resist smiling.
"Any last words then?" she asked, trying to force a scowl onto her beautiful features and failing miserably.
A million words popped into Yang's mind – some horribly inappropriate to say at that moment…or ever. Eventually, she smiled.
"What do you want for dinner?"
A few minutes later, they were exiting the equipment room back into the main section of the building, looking up at the scoreboard to find their ranks.
"What was your number again?" Blake asked, eyes scanning the list of players.
"Red seven," Yang confidently replied as she searched.
Blake immediately began giggling.
"Yang, you're dead last!"
She couldn't help but grin at her own miserable showing, especially when Blake was finding so much joy in it.
"Well…I was looking for you basically the entire time and not bothering to shoot anyone else," she tried to explain, hoping to at least save a little bit of face.
"And you got hit a ton," Blake added helpfully.
Yang smiled, glancing towards the little girl who had been responsible for most of those hits, now chattering happily with what appeared to be a group of her older brother's friends.
"I sure did," she admitted. "I'm not going to pretend I did well – and I will gladly treat you to any dinner of your choosing."
Blake followed her eyes in the same direction as the little girl before turning back to Yang with a much more affectionate expression.
"Did you want to get dinner now then? I know a great sushi place nearby."
"Lead the way, Milady," she responded with a small bow, grinning while she followed Blake out of the building.
They both paused to blink when they stepped outside. It was much brighter than it had been inside, even though it was now evening and the sun was beginning to disappear from the sky.
It wasn't until they were walking down the sidewalk that Yang remembered Glynda's call from earlier. She pulled out her phone, figuring she should check and see if Glynda had left a message.
"Do you mind if I check my messages real quick?" she asked politely, waving her phone for Blake to see. "I should just check and see if my agent needed anything important."
Blake nodded her approval and turned her attention back forwards.
Yang grinned as she tapped the device on, but immediately froze in her tracks when she saw her screen.
"Uh oh…"
Glynda had called her six times, leaving her six messages, and sent her several emails. Her agent was normally somewhat overzealous, but never this much. Not unless something really important had happened.
Checking the emails first, she instantly saw what all of the fuss was about, making her to let out a loud groan.
"What is it?" Blake asked in concern, having turned around to walk back to the frozen actress.
"Uh…well…"
She really couldn't predict how Blake would react to this. But, better to find out sooner rather than later, right? She just hadn't thought that she would be finding out this soon…
She turned the phone around and handed it to Blake, who glanced at her in confusion before hesitantly accepting the device. Yang held her breath while she watched intently for Blake's reaction. From the girl's current expression, she really couldn't tell how this was going over.
That was, until Blake started laughing.
"Well…" Blake replied through her chuckles, handing the phone back to Yang. "It's not very often that an author makes headline news like that."
She smiled at the end of her statement, seemingly unperturbed by what she had just seen. Yang breathed a huge sigh of relief, looking back down at the article posted on an online celebrity gossip website.
'Yang steps out with new beau – Cinder heartbroken,' the caption read, complete with a picture of the two of them at the zoo yesterday.
She gave a small laugh herself at the article, but still felt uneasy about how quickly this problem had appeared.
"A-are you sure this is ok?" she asked, almost afraid to hear an honest answer. This was something she had very little control over, after all. Being spied on and talked about kind of came with the territory of dating her, and if Blake decided she couldn't handle the attention…well…even if Yang quit acting, the media would still follow her around for a long, long time.
"Yes! I mean…it's a little strange; definitely not the level of attention I'm used to…but I would have been a fool to believe that this wouldn't happen, eventually…" Blake replied, the sincerity in her reply putting Yang back at ease.
"I just wish the article was…I don't know…more concrete," Yang lamented as she finally put her phone away.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh…I don't know…something that really said 'Bam! We're an item!' But this….this could easily just be two friends out having a good time together..."
Blake nodded her head thoughtfully.
"I see what you mean, but…are we an item?"
"Yes, of course!" she responded without hesitation, before the look of surprise in Blake's eyes made her realize that she actually couldn't speak for both of them.
"Um…I mean…are we? Because…uh…I would really like to be..."
Lamest way to ask a girl out...ever.
But Blake smiled, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Without a word, the raven haired girl pulled Yang forward by the front of her shirt, lightly pressing their lips together in a gentle kiss. Before Yang was even able to kiss the girl back, Blake had already pulled away.
"S-so…do you think that makes it clear enough to everyone?" the author asked purposefully, even though Yang could see the faint blush on her cheeks and slight tremble of her hands.
Of course, Yang could only gape at the author like a goldfish out of its bowl, her heart beating at a million miles per hour while she struggled to surface for air.
"Uh…wow…yes…I mean…y-yeah I think so!"
Blake smirked, confidence fully restored by Yang's stutters. Turning away, she gestured for them to continue walking.
Yang bit her lip and followed, trying to save the feeling of Blake's lips on her own for as long as possible. After they had walked a short distance in comfortable silence, she decided that it was time for her to attempt a bold step forward.
Her palms instantly began sweating when she thought about what she wanted to do. Wiping them both off repeatedly on her jeans, she glanced quickly towards her date before taking a deep breath. Nervously, she reached her hand across the distance separating them, grasping the girl's hand while they continued walking.
The soft hum of appreciation she earned from the author made her feel a thousand feet tall.
"You know…uh…I think that I could probably use some more clarity on that…" she remarked playfully, making Blake laugh again.
"Maybe later. Right now I'm starving."
Nodding her head, Yang couldn't remove the megawatt smile from her face.
She would buy Blake all the fish in the sea if it gave her even a slight chance of earning another kiss.
