Games People Play

The group of seven wandered around in search of a game they could all play at the same time. The closest one they found was the water gun game. There were eight seats with pivoting water guns mounted on the counter. Brightly colored stuffed animals were displayed all around the front of the game as potential prizes for any winner.

"This is the one, guys." Quinn declared as she strode up to a backless bar stool type of seat. She swung a leg over and plopped down with a happy grin on her face as her hand reached for the trigger.

"I can practically taste victory." Claire said cheerily as she sat down beside Quinn.

"In your dreams. "Fitz scoffed. "Why don't you ladies sit there and be pretty while the gentlemen shoot it out."

Olivia sat on an empty seat next to Fitz and shot him a confused look. "When exactly are the gentlemen arriving?"

The ladies clapped enthusiastically, laughing at the look on Fitz's face. "Good one, Liv." Abby praised.

"She got you there." Leo agreed with a chuckle.

"That was aimed at all three of us, dumbass." Fitz grumbled.

Leo shrugged and reached for Abby's hand. "Yea, I don't care, man."

"Hey, Liv. Weren't you in JROTC in high school?" Abby asked, knowing full well that she had been.

Olivia crinkled her face and nodded. "I was."

"So?" Harrison asked. "Was your fourth block JROTC class shipped overseas to fight the war on terror?"

That earned him a chuckle from the other two men.

"No" Olivia said politely, shaking her head back and forth. "It wasn't."

She pulled three tickets from her pocket and slapped them on the counter. The teenaged attendant collected everyone's tickets with a bored expression and went to a corner of the game, away from the action to come. "But I was on the rifle team. I was the best in the state, and I have the medals to prove it. Now, I've got to teach you so called gentlemen some manners."

"Ohhhhh, I think you boys are going down." Claire sang joyfully.

With an outdated but functional microphone in his hand, the kid transformed into a happy person, encouraging the competitive group. "Alright, guys! I see that everyone is ready to play. I'm loving the smack talk going on here. If you wanna win, you gotta focus. There's some tough competition in this game so you'd better bring it!"

While the kid continued with his shpiel, Fitz watched Olivia as she lined up the end of the mounted gun in front of her with the target on the other side of the counter. Her self confidence came across as sexy instead of arrogant. She was probably about to school his ass on this water gun game, and look cute as hell doing it too. She was funny without being fake. The way she had tossed back her beer earlier, made him think she'd have no problem keeping up with the rest of their group. Maybe he'd suggest they all go back to the Blue Panda across the street later on so he could get to know her some more?

Not wanting to make it seem like he thought for a second that she had a chance in hell to win, Fitz leaned in her direction and said in a cocky tone, "you don't have to be a sniper expert to win this game."

She tilted her head from side to side and replied, "you don't, but it sure does help."

"Alright! 3, 2, 1...Gooooooo!" The teenager said excitedly.

Olivia snapped her head to the action in front of her. Shutting out all of the noise around her, she focused on squirting water very precisely onto the small black x at the center of the target. In the end, it was close, but she won the game.

"Holy shit, Liv!" Abby giggled.

"Wow. Shortie's got skills." Leo said with shock in his voice.

"I guess that JROTC sniper training served you well, huh?" Harrison asked. He was happy to know she could take care of herself if she needed to.

Olivia shrugged. "I guess so."

"I apologize for mocking you. You're a talented woman and I am impressed." Fitz tried.

"Apology accepted." She said, smiling at him.

"That. Was amazing!" Quinn said in awe. "You need to take me to the shooting range sometime. I could really use more practice."

"Yea? We could make a day of it. Get lunch afterwards too."

"Really?"

"Definitely. Pick a day and text me. My schedule is pretty open until I start my job next week."

"Thanks, Liv."

"I almost had you!" Fitz exclaimed.

"Sure ya did." Olivia said with a wink as she slid off her round seat. She pointed to a decent sized neon pink zebra and tucked it under one arm as the group started walking with no particular destination in mind.

Fitz stopped walking. "Best two out of three!"

Grinning, she stepped closer to him. Olivia found it odd that despite her victory, her nerves were making themselves known. It couldn't be Fitz making her nervous, could it? Keeping her armor in place and showing no hint of anything other than self confidence, she took one more step, putting herself directly in front of his chest. Her heartbeat sped up a bit faster.

It was absolutely Fitz making her nervous.

"Just accept the loss like a man, Grant. It'll still hurt, but you'll look less like a bitch in front of your friends." She patted his chest twice, telling herself it was a way to show sympathy to him in public. In reality, it was so she could feel his chest. It felt like a rock.

Damn it.

Fitz gave her a lopsided grin and casually draped his arm around her shoulder. She had a great sense of humor, and she was fun to be around. "I like you, Pope. You tell it like it is without pulling any punches."

"Thanks?" She replied in a confused tone.

God, he smelled good.

"Tell me something." He said, leaning down.

Focus, focus, focus, she chanted internally. She avoided eye contact with him, but replied, "what's that?"

His grin doubled in size. She had just kicked his ass at a stupid carnival game, won a huge, ugly, pink zebra, and all he could think about was kissing her. He was having a hard time keeping himself under control, especially after putting his arm around her neck. She was so short. The simple gesture had him bent at an odd angle. He was grasping at straws to make sure the night out wasn't going to end any time soon. Fitz wanted nothing more than to spend some more time with Olivia. Licking his lips, he said the first thing that popped into his head. "Do you like to drink?"

She liked the way he looked at her. Like he was nervous or anxious. Maybe both? Whatever it was, it made him smile a lot, and he had a great smile. He also had a rich deep voice. It was a voice that Olivia felt like she could listen to nonstop and never get bored with hearing it. He was very sarcastic, always quick with a funny one liner after someone spoke, and it always made her laugh. Wondering if he was a standup comedian, Olivia made a mental note to ask him what he did for a living later on.

But all of that was on the back burner of her mind at the moment, because she was focused on his arm around her shoulder. Granted, it was in a casual friendly fashion, but it made her stubborn not-sticking-with-the-plan mind wonder what it would be like for it to not be casual. For it to be romantic. He was ticking a lot of boxes for her.

Not wanting to be a deep thinker tonight, and trying to stick with the fun easy going mood, she sarcastically said, "okay. I see what you're up to."

"You do?" He was glad one of them knew what was going on.

"You want to get me drunk and steal my zebra."

Fitz dropped his arm from her shoulder, threw his head back and laughed loudly until his belly hurt. She had the best sense of humor and it made him want to hear more of it. "Well, damn. You figured out my master plan."

His laugh was a fantastic sound that was extremely contagious, and she found herself laughing along with him. He was easy to be around, very funny, and a very handsome man. Best of all, she had already met his friends, and they were great too. The two of them seemed to click as if they had known each other for far longer than an hour. It felt natural. Effortless. She had never experienced anything like this before. Trying not to overthink it, she slid back into their humorous banter. "I'm on to you, Fitz."

Fitz continued walking at the sluggish pace he and Olivia had been keeping behind the rest of their group. Looking down at her, he forced the image of her being on him from his mind. "I might have to go to the gun range with you too. After that loss I think I need to brush up on my skills."

"You can tag along with me and Quinn if you want? I'll let you know when we nail down a day to go."

"Thank you for the invitation, but I'm not tagging along with my sister anywhere."

"Oh? Is there a rift I don't know about?"

He smiled at her. She was good at trying to fish for information. "No rift. I'm just not a fan of hanging out with my sister in my spare time."

"But you're both here tonight." She said with a confused smile.

"That's different." He had no intentions of talking about Leo and Abby right now.

"Different how?"

"Maybe I'll tell you another day?"

"Okay."

"I was thinking about you and I going somewhere alone. Together."

"Ohhhh!" Realization of what he intended hit her. "You mean a date."

His open mouth grin made an appearance. "That's exactly what I mean. What do you say?"

Thunder clapped loudly overhead, followed by a sudden downpour of rain, breaking up their conversation. All at once, people squealed and began running in every direction, trying to get out of the rain. Instinctively, Fitz grabbed Olivia's hand and shouted to the rest of their group, "Go to the Blue Panda!"

In no time at all, the parking lot was covered with water while more continued to pelt downward. People with drenched clothing sticking to their skin darted in every direction trying to find a dry place to hang out until the storm passed. Most went inside the mall.

"Fitz! We're getting wet!" Olivia shouted as she followed his lead towards the street.

"Rain tends to have that effect on things in it's path. Come on. We're almost there."

"We could have ridden in Abby's car and stayed dry." She grumbled, trying to keep up with his long strides.

Turning to look at her, Fitz's eyes went wide. "Oh my god!"

Olivia jerked her head back and eyed him. "What is it?"

"You're melting" he teased.

"Shut up." She shoved his arm playfully and shot him a grin. "Let's go!"

They crossed the street and dashed inside the bar. When they were standing just inside the door a wave of air conditioning hit them in the face. "I'm going to the bathroom to try to dry off some. Maybe I'll get lucky and they will have the hot air blowers for drying hands off and I'll get a little warmer in the process. Will you order me a red wine?"

"Sure." Fitz replied.

By the time the rest of their group stepped inside the bar Fitz and Olivia already had a large table. In no time at all, drenched carnival goers started filling the bar, seeking a place to dry out. Everyone slid into a seat with the exception of Abby and Leo. "Look," Leo began as he and Abby stood at the head of the table. "Abby and I are gonna take off."

"What?!" Clare whined.

"Come on you guys!" Quinn protested.

The happy couple shared seductive grins. "We have some catching up to do."

"Lame asses." Harrison chimed in.

"You have to stay for at least one drink." Fitz suggested.

"After everything we did for Labby."

"What the hell is a labby?" Leo asked with a confused expression.

"I think it's a combination of your name with Abby's." Claire explained. "Like Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck is Bennifer."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Fitz said laughing way too loudly.

Harrison shook his head back and forth. "We are not calling them Labby."

"Awwww. They are giving us a cutesie couple name." Abby whispered to Leo.

"We'll have to make sure we last much longer together than last time." He replied, kissing her temple.

"What is your suggestion, Harrison?" Olivia asked. She couldn't wait to hear it.

Harrison displayed a wide grin and simply said. "Whelberg."

Laughter erupted from the table, much to Harrison's annoyance.

"We'll come up with our own name." Abby stated.

"That's ten times worse, Harrison." Quinn laughed, throwing a peanut at him.

"Bennifer sounds a lot less stupid right about now" Fitz admitted.

"That really was terrible." Claire chimed in.

"How about..." Olivia began.

"Wait. You said staying for a drink was the least we could do after everything you did for us. What exactly did you do?" Abby snorted. She had no clue what their little group had been up to.

Everyone else besides Olivia began to squirm in their seats, wondering how they would explain the two groups accidentally bumping into each other when Olivia spoke up with a genuine concern. "Wait. How am I going to get home? You're my ride since we live together now. Remember?"

Abby sighed loudly. "Fine! One drink. But then we're out of here."

"But..." Olivia began.

"Who will let Liv hang out with them tonight?" Leo asked.

"All night? No! Why?" Olivia demanded. She couldn't be mad at Abby. Not really. She had been moping around over losing Leo for a while now. Listening to it over the phone was one thing. Seeing it in person was something totally different. The fact that they were back together was great. They were very cute together and Abby seemed genuinely happy around him. Still, she wasn't a fan of being booted out of her own bed so the two of them could spend some time together in Abby's. "Really? You two are gonna lock me out so you can have naked time?"

"Damn straight." Leo said with a grin.

"Sounds about right." Abby said nodding.

"You can hang out at our place, Liv." Fitz suggested. He hoped his words came across as casually as he wished he felt.

"Are you forgetting about my one rule big brother?" Quinn asked sweetly.

"There are rules?" Olivia asked curiously. She had momentarily forgotten about not having a place to sleep tonight. "Interesting."

"If I do anything inappropriate with Olivia, you can squeeze Harrison's balls again."

Three sets of female eyes turned towards Quinn and widened before all four of them erupted into wild laughter.

"Here are your drinks." The waitress announced, as she set each one down in front of the person who had ordered it.

Abby and Leo tipped their glasses back and quickly downed the contents. Their glasses were set on the table with a loud noise as the two of them held hands, waved bye, and left the bar.

"I guess they were in a hurry." Harrison commented. "I'm glad they're back together. He was really starting to annoy the shit out of me."

"Leo's a good guy. He and Abs are perfect for each other. I'm glad they got back together too."

"As much as I'd love to stay here and talk for a while, the AC in here is freezing after getting rained on." Olivia said.

"Where would you like to go?" Fitz asked.

"Someplace comfortable where I can dry off."

"Let's go to my place." Quinn suggested.

"And lay on the floor? No!" Harrison declared.

"As much as I'd love to tag along, I have an early morning meeting." Clare told them.

"On a Sunday?"

"Your boss is an ass."

"Agreed. I'm just gonna uber home, but I had a great time tonight."

"We should do it again." Quinn agreed.

"Come on. I'll wait with you near the door until your ride gets here." Harrison suggested.

When Harrison rejoined the much smaller group at the table once again, Olivia said, "well, since Quinn's place is out for the group..."

"The four of us can go to our place." Fitz interrupted. He was not about to let this night end so easily. "We have plenty of room, a couple of couches, and Leo's room is going to be empty for the night now. We can get into some dry clothes and find something to watch."

"No chick flicks." Harrison warned.

"That sounds perfect." Olivia agreed.