"Can you tell me now where we're going?" Lauren asked Tom. She was sitting in the passenger seat in his car. "Hell, I guess so if it'll make you shut up," he said laughing. Lauren had been asking where they were going since he came to pick her up. "Well?" "An arcade. They have this bowling alley in the middle of it," he explained. "Like, a real bowling alley?" "Yes, a real bowling alley." "That rocks. This doesn't sound like any regular arcade. You hiding something still?" Lauren asked. "No. I mean, it's a nice arcade and all, but it's still just an arcade." Lauren let what he had said sink in to see if she could find any discrepancies. There were none. "Okay, I believe you." Tom just laughed and kept driving.

At the arcade, Lauren had went straight to the shooting game. It had a bank situation set up with small bullseyes everywhere. Everytime you hit something, it fell over so no one else would be able to hit it. After a while, however, it did raise up. Tom easily beat Lauren. "I didn't know you were so good with a gun," Lauren said as they walked away from the game. "I didn't know you were so damn bad, either," Tom said, avoiding explaining himself. "You want to be mysterious about it, huh? Okay, whatever," Lauren said, but it was actually anything but okay. She was dying to find out what he was keeping from her. After a few minutes, Lauren was prodding for the answer again. "Do you have a gun or something?" she asked. He shook his head no. "But you used to?" Tom shrugged and led her over to a small half circle. He sat in it and patted his lap, "Sit down, Lauren." She did and turned around to look at him. "I'm a criminal on the run," he said as seriously as he could. Lauren looked like she believed him and Tom burst out laughing. "I'm kidding, Lauren! Damn, you believed me." Lauren hit him in the arm, "You're an asshole, you know that? I so did not believe you." "You know you love me," Tom said. He put his hands around her waist and pulled her towards him. "I'm sorry, baby. I just couldn't resist," he whispered. Tom started to kiss her. His mouth felt soft against hers. He pushed his tongue into her mouth. Lauren let out an appreciative groan. "You really don't have any morals, do you?" Tom asked, laughing as he pulled away. "We better play something before someone comes over here," Tom told her. He selected an army game. "You just press this shit to shoot. I'll move around; you shoot." They started playing. Lauren literally shot at everything and the game lasted at least 10 minutes before their vehicle had too much damage. "You're not so bad with a gun either," he joked. "All you had to do was press a button." "That's all you had to do at the other game," Tom reminded her. "You had to hold an actual gun, though, and aim for certain places. They were little places, too," Lauren said. "Alright, you want to know why I'm so good with guns?" Tom asked. "Yes, I do." "When my parents divorced-" "Your parents are divorced?" "Not anymore. They got back together," Tom explained. "Anyway, my mom married this man. He was an absolute dick. He'd always hit my mom and stuff. He never did that shit when I was around, but I knew he did it. She'd have bruises and crap and she couldn't explain them. Plus, I knew my mom." Lauren just listened as he told the story. She got the feeling it wasn't easy for him. "I told my best friend about it one day and he gave me a gun. He taught me how to use it, you know. He made me shoot a bottle and that good shit and told me to use it if he ever hit my mom in front of me." Lauren thought she had a feeling of what was going to happen next. She was wrong. "Well, dick that he was, he went through my room and he found the gun. He got all pissed off at me for having it. He thought I was in some kind of gang or some shit like that. I don't really know what he thought." Tom rubbed a hand through Lauren's hair. "My mom heard him yelling and she came into my room. She was just defending me, but he wouldn't hear it. I saw him getting madder and madder and I just knew he was going to shoot her and kill her. I saw his finger tighten on the trigger. He was aiming at her fucking heart. He was going to kill my mom. I pushed my mom out of the way just as he shot. He got my shoulder instead." Tom lifted up his shirt sleeve and showed her the small circle scar and then a small straight one next to it. "That's from surgery," he explained. "I had to have surgey and then do rehab for a few months before it got better. It still hurts sometime if I strain it a lot. I can't really play basketball a lot or anything, but at least my mom's alive." "Tom, I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell me any of this?" Lauren asked. "Why would I have? It's not something most people come right out and say." "Yeah, I guess so. What's your real dad like?" "He's alright. He wants me to do something more stable. He wanted me to go to college. When he found out I quit, he was so disappointed. He's the most sarcastic guy in the world. I love him, but he doesn't want anything to do with me," Tom said. "I don't think that's right. I'm sure he wants something to do with you. He might not support what you're doing, but I'm pretty sure he supports you." Tom said nothing. He just shrugged. "Tell me about your mom," Lauren said. "She's the most flaky woman in the entire world," Tom said laughing. "She's always wanting some kind of adventure. After my stepdad, though, she finds her adventure in books. I guess she realized that sometimes danger and adventure isn't as fun as they make it out in books. I don't really know." "I want to meet 'em, Tom," Lauren said. "Lauren, I haven't even seen my parents in four months." "Why don't you talk to them?" she asked. "I don't want to talk to them! All they fucking do is tell me how they wish I'd done this, stayed with some girl, not dropped out, blah, blah, fucking blah. I can't stand it. That's why I never talk to them. They don't give a damn about what I want. It's supposed to be all about them, but this isn't their goddamn life, you know?" Lauren rubbed the side of his face and kissed him. Tom pulled out his cell phone. It was already 1:49. The arcade closed in 11 minutes. "Shit! We have to get out of here, Lauren. They're about to close up." He helped out of the half circle. "Anyway, I don't think about that shit. It just makes me mad." Lauren nodded, "Okay."

Soon, they were entering his house. He pulled out a bottle of Absolut 100 from the refridgerator.

He got out a rocks glass and put a huge piece of ice into it, then he poured it full with the vodka. He also fixed one for Lauren. "It's strong," he told her. "I didn't think you drank," she said. He ignored her comment. "It's 100 proof, so I'd prepare myself if I were you." Lauren's eyes widened, "That means it's 50 percent alcohol?" "Something like that," Tom said smiling. "Holy shit, that's a lot." Tom drank down about half the glass and cringed. "It's that bad?" she asked. "No, it's that good." Lauren laughed and drank down about a fourth before she couldn't take it anymore. Tom finished his glass and slammed it onto the counter. "You're right in saying that I don't drink. I really don't most of the time, but sometimes I just have to." Lauren smiled and finished the glass herself. "That stuff'll make you pretty tipsy, huh?" "Already feeling it?" he asked laughing. "Well, the room is a little bit spinny," she said. Tom laughed as she held onto the counter. "Let's go to the bedroom," he said. Lauren let him lead her into the room and then drop her onto the bed. He laid beside her and, unlike most other guys, never tried anything just because she was drunk.