Experience

“Ah crap,” Mark grumbled as he watched his failure unfold before his eyes.

“Better luck next time,” Dave said with a grin. He walked around the pool table, lined up his cue stick with the cue ball, and secured his victory.

“Uh, four out of seven?” Mark asked as he watched the eight ball fall into the pocket after Dave’s shot.

“Nah, I’ve got to go to class,” Dave said as he began packing up the pool balls into the plastic green tray to take back to the front counter of the arcade.

“Fine, but when you get back, I’m taking your ass down,” Mark declared as he took out his wallet to help pay for the game. Dave just laughed and took the tray and the money up to the counter. Mark smiled as he put up the cue sticks into the wall-mounted racks and then went over to find his other friends. It had been a little over a month since he started college, and felt lucky to have met such a good group of friends that shared his interests in such a short period of time.

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Mark figured the first day would be an adventure, and in some ways it was. He hadn’t gone to his college orientation, and he wasn’t sure what to expect. He was nervous, both because of the fact that he was starting his first year of college and because of the fact that so few of his friends from high school were going to the same college as he was.

And so the first day was a struggle. Since Mark didn’t go to orientation, he didn’t know where his classes were. He left 45 minutes early for each class and only after he had sat and studied the campus map for a good 15 minutes each time - fully aware of how much of a freshman he looked like - did he find each of his classes. He sat in the back each time, didn’t talk to anyone, and kept to himself. It was always his way to be a loner, especially in unfamiliar situations.

His brother, having gone to the same college, had told him about a campus center where he could find places to eat, lounges to study in, and TVs to watch. And so Mark fell into a routine: go to class, eat in the campus center and watch TV in between classes, and repeat. It was boring, and Mark hadn’t made any friends in any of his classes, but at first, he didn’t mind.

After a couple weeks, though, Mark was going crazy. He was bored out of his mind.

Then he discovered the campus arcade.

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Mark walked downstairs to the lower level of the campus center, saying to himself that he was looking for a bathroom, but really he was just looking for something interesting to speed up his day. He reached the bottom floor and saw something he hadn’t noticed before. The double glass doors read “University Arcade” and Mark felt curiosity building up as he walked up to the doors and opened them.

His first impression of the arcade was of how dark it was inside. As he walked further in he saw a large number of arcade machines and a number of pool tables, some of which had people playing on them. Mark didn’t recognize most of the arcades since most of them were fighting games, and though Mark played a lot of videogames, he was never much into those.

He continued walking throughout the arcade, paying no attention to the people wandering about and playing games. He noticed that the arcade had that Dance Dance Revolution game. ‘No way I’m playing that,’ Mark thought. Just as he turned away Mark heard a voice behind him call out his name. Surprised, he turned around and saw his friend Amir, who had gone to his high school and was in his same graduating class.

“Amir! What’s up, man?” Mark yelled out with a grin.

“Not much, dude. What about you? How you been?” Amir responded.

“I’ve been alright, I guess. I’ve got a break from classes right now and I thought I’d check this place out,” Mark said as he glanced around the arcade a couple more times.

Amir slapped a hand on Mark’s shoulder and grinned as he proclaimed “Dude, this place is so freakin’ awesome! It’s my second home, man.” To that, Mark laughed and began to listen as Amir told him about all the games. Then Amir walked Mark over to a group of people hanging around the DDR machine and said “Here man, let me introduce you to some people.”

Mark looked at the various people as Amir began introducing them all. First, Amir introduced a guy who had short hair and a solid build. “This is Dave,” Amir said as Mark shook his hand. Then Amir pointed out a skinny guy and introduced him as Joey. “And that’s Veronica and Drew,” Amir motioned to a couple who were nuzzling nearby.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you,” Mark said as he tried to keep track of the all the new names and faces.

“So how do you know this clown?” Joey said as he elbowed Amir in the stomach.

“We went to high school together, and if you think he’s a clown now, you should have seen him back then,” Mark laughed.

“Hey, hey, hey, I’m standing right here, guys,” Amir mumbled with a frown.

“Yeah, what’s your point?” Dave said, as Mark and Joey laughed.

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After that day, Mark found himself spending every minute that he wasn’t in class at the arcade. He found that some of the breaks in between his classes coincided with some of the breaks that Dave, Veronica, Drew, and Joey had. As the weeks passed, Mark became good friends with all four and he had found that they all shared some common interests, those being videogames, anime, and other such stereotypically nerdy things. Mark had even started to play Dance Dance Revolution, though he still wasn’t any good at it.

“Hey Mark, everything ok?” Veronica asked with a worried look on her face.

Mark smiled as he replied “No, everything’s fine. I’m just a little stressed, that’s all.” One thing that Mark had learned about Veronica was that she was a very cutesy happy type of person who always tried to make sure everybody around her was happy, too. Clearly she had gotten the wrong impression of the look on Mark’s face when he had dropped his bag and his books on the floor of their usual area. “And I think I know how I’m gonna relieve that stress,” Mark said as he walked over to the DDR machine.

A few minutes and two songs later Mark was working up a sweat and feeling much better. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and began scrolling through the menu to choose his next song when he heard an unfamiliar voice behind him say “You’re getting pretty good.”

Mark turned around and felt his brain stop working for a moment before he realized that he should respond. “Uh, yeah, I guess so. But I’m not anywhere near as good as some of the people here,” Mark said as he motioned towards Veronica and Joey who, as Mark had discovered, were better at videogame dancing than he ever dreamed he could be.

As Mark turned back to look at the screen, he felt his heart pounding in his chest. He turned his head and stole another glance at the girl who had just complimented him. She was about 5’ 3” and had black hair cut short to about her chin. The girl had a slim build, with small breasts and a trim waist that led into a relatively wide pair of hips and an absolutely gorgeous, round, firm ass. High cheekbones accented the girl’s small, dark eyes and wide smile. Her face was, simply put, beautiful.

“I’ve been playing for a while now, and I haven’t been able to pass that song yet.”

Mark turned around and realized the girl was still talking to him. His mouth was dry as he answered “Oh really? I haven’t really seen you here playing before.”

“Oh that’s because I have the PS2 version and a couple of soft pads at home, so that’s where I play,” the girl told him. “But I think maybe I’m almost brave enough now to try it here in front of all these random people,” she told Mark as she gave him a wink.

Mark nervously laughed as he said “Yeah, it’s kinda scary playing in front of people you don’t know. Especially when the arcade’s as crowded as it is today.” Mark motioned with his hand towards the 15 pool tables around the arcade, all of which were occupied with people.

The girl nodded as she replied, “Yeah, that’s why I don’t play here yet. But maybe I will sometime soon. I hope you’ll be around to watch.” She gave Mark another wink and turned around to leave.

Mark smiled as she left, then turned back to look at the screen and leaned back against the support bars on the back of the dance pads. He closed his eyes and tried to slow down his breathing and his heart rate as he thought about the beauty that had just left.

“So who was that hottie?”

Mark opened his eyes and saw Dave grinning at him. Mark smiled as he said “I don’t know. She just started talking to me about DDR out of nowhere.”

“Did you find out how she was doin’?” Dave asked. Mark just laughed and shook his head as he turned his attention back to the game he had temporarily forgotten that he was playing. One thing Mark had learned about Dave in the past few months was that Dave had an affection for wondering “How ya doin’?” about any random girl he saw walking around on campus. Mark had usually just laughed at Dave’s obsession with females and left the flirting to him, since Mark’s confidence when it came to women was close to zero.

But as for the girl who’d just had his heart pounding out of his chest, Mark was definitely wondering how she was doing.

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“Crap, crap, crap, crap!”

Mark quickly threw his bag and his books onto the floor of what had become official area of the arcade that belonged to the group of friends that included himself, Amir, Dave, Joey, Veronica, and Drew.

“Man, it must be pouring outside,” Joey said as he looked at Mark and how the entire bottom half of his pants were completely soaked.

“Yeah, my umbrella didn’t exactly do me that much good, considering how the wind is blowing so hard that the rain is literally going sideways,” Mark grumbled as he started heading to the bathroom to grab some paper towels to try and dry himself off.

“Yeesh,” both Joey and Dave said as they looked outside the arcade windows at the various students running around with their umbrellas.

Suddenly Dave stopped and said, “Dude!” He poked Joey and pointed at the entrance to the arcade.

“Oh man, she’s hot,” Joey remarked as he looked at the girl who had just walked into the arcade, clearly trying to avoid the rain.

Dave snapped his fingers together and said, “Hey I think she was the girl who was here last week checking Mark out while he was playing DDR.”

“Yeah? Mark was getting some action, eh?” Joey said with a smirk.

Dave chuckled a bit and said, “Well I don’t know about that. I don’t even think he got her name.”

“Man I am so lucky that I wore a pair of shorts underneath these pants today.” Both Dave and Joey turned around to see that Mark had returned and was now sporting a pair of shorts and holding his still drenched pants in his hands.

“Hey Mark, that hottie who was checking you out last week is here,” Dave said as Mark draped his wet pants over a chair in order to let them dry.

“Uh, what hottie?” Mark nervously said as he pictured the breath-taking girl from the week before.

“That one.” Mark followed Dave’s gaze as he looked across the arcade at the beauty who was standing at the counter of the arcade’s front desk asking to buy a drink.

Mark felt his throat go dry as he managed to squeeze out “Oh, her.” As Mark tried - and failed - to think of something else to say, Joey gave him a little nudge in the side.

“Come on, man, go talk to her.”

At Joey’s suggestion, Mark’s brain finally began functioning again as he weakly joked, “I wouldn’t come off as being very charming if I kept shivering from how cold I am thanks to the rain. I think I’ll just play a game of DDR first to get myself warm again.” Mark didn’t mention that he really wanted to get his body moving in an attempt to relieve the massive tension he suddenly felt in his whole body.

Joey laughed as he said, “Smart move. Impress her with the dancing skills first, then talk to her.”

“If I wanted to impress her with dancing skills, then I wouldn’t be playing this,” Mark laughed as he walked over to the arcade machine to play. Though he had continued to improve at DDR, he still didn’t see it as real dancing. Joey and Dave laughed at Mark’s nervous joke and moved aside to watch Mark play.

One song later and Mark felt his body - and his legs in particular - warming up and he started to feel better. He felt a pair of eyes watching him to his left, but he decided not to look, for fear of seeing the beauty he suspected was there and subsequently having to talk to her. The last thing he needed was to embarrass himself in front of her.

As Mark began playing his second song, Dave poked Joey and nodded his head in the direction of the girl who was intently watching Mark. Joey looked at her and then looked back at Dave as he said quietly, “Oh yeah, she’s definitely checking him out.”

Dave nodded his head as he said, “Yeah, but I wouldn’t mind finding out myself how she’s doin’.”

Joey looked the girl up and down before agreeing with Dave. “Yeah. If Mark doesn’t do anything, then I’m definitely making a move.”

Mark, oblivious to what was going on around him, had worked up a healthy sweat by the time he finished his second song and began to choose his third when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Wow. It’s only been a week and you’ve already gotten so much better.”

Closing his eyes for a second, Mark tried to take a deep and steady breath before he turned around to see who had spoken to him. He turned to find the same small but intense dark eyes looking at him as the girl who had talked to him last week was now giving him the same wide smile.

Taking a moment to compose himself, Mark finally responded with “Hey. Yeah, I guess I’m learning pretty fast.” He shrugged his shoulders and gave the girl a confident - he hoped - smile.

The girl’s smile widened and as a result her small eyes became even smaller. “I wish I could be picking this up as fast as you have. It’s a nice ability to have, to be able to learn something so quickly.”

“Well, I don’t pick up everything as fast as I did with this. I mean, take college, for example. It took me 18 years to finally be smart enough to make it here.” Mark almost cringed when he thought about how lame his joke sounded.

The nervous feeling in the pit of Mark’s stomach disappeared as the girl laughed heartily and responded with “My god, you’re slow! I was here when I was 7, for crying out loud!” To that, Mark laughed and shook his head as he wondered if this girl really had as messed up a sense of humor as he did.

A few minutes later, Mark had finished playing his game of DDR and he and the girl were now talking to one another and lightly joking back and forth.

“So you managed to avoid attacked by the sideways rain?” Mark asked the girl as he looked at the dry clothes on her body.

The girl’s eyes disappeared as she laughed. “Sideways rain?”

“Heck yeah. The wind was blowing so hard outside that the rain was going sideways. I ran into the Allbright building, you know, the one with the kinda open arches in the sides that you can walk through.” The girl nodded her head as she listened intently to Mark. “Well, I walked in there for cover from the rain, right. But it didn’t do me any good, because the rain came in sideways through those open arches and hit me anyway.”

Mark relished the sound of the girl laughing again and smiled as he felt the nervousness slowly leaving his body. The girl finally looked at her watch and said, “Well it’s been fun talking to you, but I’ve got to get to class.”

“Alright, but be careful and watch out for that sideways rain,” Mark said with a smile as he inwardly felt disappointed that she was leaving.

“If all else fails, I’ll just hold my umbrella out like this.” The girl whipped out her umbrella, opened it, and pointed it out horizontally away from her body so that it was parallel to the ground.

Mark laughed and shook his head as he said, “Man, I should have thought of doing that.”

The girl smiled and folded up her umbrella. “Well, like I said, it was nice talking to you. Bye.” She gave Mark a small wave as she turned around to leave.

“Uh, wait,” Mark said somewhat nervously. “I don’t think I got your name.”

“Oh right, and I didn’t catch your name either.” The girl slapped her forehead in mock disgust then extended her hand out as she said, “My name’s Bea.”

“Bea,” Mark repeated as he shook her hand. “I’m Mark. You, uh, should stop by here more often. I’ll introduce you to the people around here and maybe you can, uh, finally show off those DDR skills that you’ve built up at home.” Mark realized he was nervously babbling and quickly shut up.

Bea didn’t seem to notice Mark’s tension and laughed as she said, “I’m not brave enough to be playing here in front of strangers just yet. But maybe soon. I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, see you around.” Mark waved good-bye to Bea as she left the arcade. After she left the arcade, Mark took in a deep breath and tried to slow down his machine gun pulse. Suddenly he felt an elbow jab him sharply in the ribs. Mark opened his eyes to see Dave and Joey grinning at him.

“So, how’s she doin’?”



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So, my first attempt at a multi-chapter story. Being the worrier I am, I pray that I didn\'t miss any spelling or grammatical errors anywhere in the first chapter. Being my own beta is somewhat different from being a beta for someone else.

Please please please please please give me feedback. I already know how the meat of this story is going to play out, but any suggestions will be welcomed, whether they pertain to the story or to my writing style or whatever.