Two can play this game...
The waterfall turned out to be worth the ride. It tumbled some sixty feet from the rocks above and ended in a perfect pool of clear blue water. Jack slid off his horse and tied it to a near-by tree. He helped Sam down and then tied her horse next to his.
"What do you think?" he smiled at her.
"It's beautiful, I wish I'd brought my camera."
Jack opened the flap of his denim shirt and handed her his digital camera. Sam just laughed and accepted it. She took several shots of the waterfall from various angles.
"Now I want one of you in it," she said.
"Nah, you know I'm not wild about cameras."
"I know, but c'mon, it'll be fun." she echoed his phrase back to him.
Jack laughed openly, something he seldom did.
"Ok, where do you want me?" he asked.
She was peering through the view finder.
"Go sit on that boulder, draw your knees up and put your arms around them."
"I like it when you're bossy." he said, complying with her directions. "Like this?" he asked.
"Perfect," she said, snapping three or four shots, "ok, I'm content now. You can come back."
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. I want one of us together. Set that thing on delay and get out here."
"But Jack,"
"It'll be fun, c'mon."
"Fair enough. Give me a second." She fiddled around with the camera until Jack interrupted her.
"You are an astrophysicist, you can navigate the stars, you manage hundreds of soldiers, but you can't set my camera to delay?" he teased.
She ignored him and finished the adjustments to the camera. A second later she was on the rock beside him, her head on his shoulder, and a second after that the camera went off. Jack glanced at her, then kissed her gently.
"Ready to head back?"
"Sure, I'm dying to know what the rest of those tiles mean."
"You'll see."
He remained cryptic and downright gleeful at keeping Sam in the dark as they rode back down to the stable and turned in their two horses.
In the truck Jack dug out the three remaining tiles. M.A.P. and held them out to Sam. She studied them for a second before choosing the A.
She couldn't have been more surprised when he pulled up in front of the mall sometime later.
"A doesn't stand for mall, Jack," she chided.
"Just come on already,"
He took her hand and lead her inside the two story complex. After a few twists and turns the came to a video arcade.
"A is for arcade," he said, leaning in to kiss her forehead.
"Jack, I'm not too good at games..."
"At least try, I'll show you how to play a couple."
Those turned out to be his famous last words. Every game he tried to teach her how to play, she mastered and soon had his high score topped. He finally decided it was time to level the playing field.
"Ok, one more game for you, it's a two player game called Resident Evil."
"Sounds scary," she grinned.
"Got to have good reflexes and a good eye. Since I always beat you at the firing range, I think that gives me the advantage."
Sam just laughed.
The game before them had two plastic guns, one red, one blue and a large split screen.
"So I get to shot things now?" she asked excitedly
"Yep, and it gets harder level by level," Jack said.
"Let's do this," she said, taking the red gun from its holster.
Jack inserted tokens and hit the start button. Level by level they kept pace, working as a team, neither taking much damage but creating a lot of carnage. By level forty they had drawn a crowd, mostly of teenagers who marveled over the fact that neither one had died yet.
"Getting tired?" Jack asked.
"You wish," Sam retorted.
Ten minutes later Jack died and Sam followed suit within minutes.
"More?" he asked, watching their replay time count down.
"You better believe it," Sam said, her eyes on the game.
They picked up where they left off, Sam holding high score and Jack's just below hers. They made it another ten minutes and Sam died first this time.
"Ok,"she said "I'm done."
"Me too," Jack said, "Anyone else wanna play at this level?" he asked the group of kids around them. They all offered to take the gun from him.
"That was great," Sam smiled.
"You're good," he said, "too good."
"So what's next?" She asked, getting into this little adventure.
"You have two tiles left, but it's past noon we should probably break for lunch, don't you think?" Jack asked, rubbing his belly.
"Sounds good, where too?"
"Want to just grab something here? Maybe Ruby Tuesdays, or Applebees?"
"Sounds great,"