Goddess Ch. 08

Sydney was just getting out of class for the day, exhausted from the difficulty of her last final before the break. Her hair was all in a mess from all the nervous fumbling she'd done with it during the exam, and her eyes were weary from the all-nighter of studying she'd done the night before. Amanda slouched out behind her, about as burnt out, in contrast to her usual fabulous self.

"Holy shit, I didn't think any exam was gonna do that to me" Amanda groaned.

"Yeah, that was hell. But at least it's over now and we can focus on relaxing for the summer." Sydney said, hazily grasping an energy drink out of her bag.

"Energy drinks are shit for ya." came the familiar voice of Cliff, standing there with Casey, who was as usual engrossed in a book. He handed her a water bottle with small slices of cucumbers in it.

"Have this, it'll do ya better than that artificial crap."

Amanda looked over to Casey.

"Hey, aren't you that weirdo from my philosophy course?"

Casey lowered their book to look at Amanda, raised it back up, then stuck their hand out.

"Casey. They/Them. Left communist. Yourself?" Amanda shook their hand.

"Uh...Amanda. She/her... Feminist." Casey reached into their hoodie and pulled out a book.

"Engels. Try reading it." Amanda took the book in confusion.

"OK... Hey, I'm gonna take off Sydney," The girls hugged, and Amanda gave Sydney a kiss on the cheek.

"See you later OK?" Sydney nodded and Amanda took off.

Sydney took a drink out of the cucumber water Cliff gave her.

"Oh. Oh wow, that works well." she said.

"Nature's full of surprises." said Cliff.

"So what are you two doing around this neck of the woods? I thought you had classes on the other end of campus." Sydney asked. Casey lowered their book.

"We got out early and decided to hit the gym. Our finals were blow offs anyway."

Casey and Cliff fist bumped.

"So, we figured since both of us had gotten off kinda awkwardly with you, and because Tom is our comrade at the end of the day, not to mention you're probably a closeted Marxist, we'd try being friendly."

"I'm not a closeted Mar-" Sydney started.

"Yeeeah, bullshit. Tom tells me the stuff you watch. You've seen way too much Godard for that to be true," Cliff said bluntly "So that being said, we were gonna hit the arcade. You wanna come with?"

"Oh, I couldn't. I wouldn't wanna be a third wheel." Sydney said nervously.

"Third wheel to what?" asked Cliff, screwing his face a bit in confusion. Casey lowered their book.

"We're not dating. People can be friends and screw, you cishet fuck."

"I'm bi." Sydney said blunty.

"You cis-bi fuck." Casey swiftly said in response. Cliff knudged Casey's arm and leaned in.

"We're trying to be nice, remember?" he whispered.

"She's making it difficult." Casey whispered back.

"Look, if you wanna go ahead to arcade without me, that's fine. I don't want you to feel like you have to be nice to me just because Tom and I are dating." she said "Besides, I just got through with a hell of a final" Sydney walked past the pair, proceeding towards the parking lot before hearing Cliff call out and run to her.

"Hold up!"

She stopped and turned around.

"Look, I'm sorry. Neither me nor this doofus here are exactly social creatures. They're a bookworm, I'm autistic, neither of us exactly have all that much in the way of people skills here. Please, we wanna try to be cool with you here. Could you give us a chance?" Sydney sighed.

"Alright, you two are clearly trying. Let's head to the arcade. I'll text my ride and tell them I've got transportation."

Casey and Cliff high-fived, and the trio proceeded down to the parking lot to Cliff's car. It was an older Buick, not unlike the old Caddie Tom drove. Main difference was that unlike Tom's car, Cliff's had a paint job that seemed new and an interior that looked absolutely pristine.

"Holy shit." she said.

"Yeah, despite how this guy drives, his car's in immaculate shape." Casey said, closing their book and getting in shotgun. Sydney got in the back and Cliff started the car.

"Wait, what did you mean by how he dri-" In about two seconds she had her answer. Tom's driving was fast, but the worst he did was ignore the speed limit. Cliff on the other hand, drove like a man possessed. In the ten minutes it took them to reach the arcade (on the other side of town), Cliff hadn't stayed in the same lane for anything longer than thirty seconds, keeping a constant speed of around 50 at the lowest until they reached the parking lot.

"H-how do I keep meeting socialists who drive recklessly?" she thought to herself. The trio exited the car, and Sydney wobbled a bit before regaining her balance, her legs trembling from how Cliff drove. Casey headed in first.

"I'll be in my usual haunt." they said, proceeding ahead. Cliff and Sydney went in next. The arcade was tremendous, with cabinets as far as the eye could see, and across seemingly every known decade. It was like a Louvre of video games.

"You like lightgun games?" Cliff asked.

"Oh, I dabble." Sydney answered. Cliff grinned and they made their way to the nearest Time Crisis machine.

"Here, I'll cover you on payment." Cliff said, popping a couple singles into the machine.

"Now I know you're a liberal and don't like guns but try not to suck."

About two minutes into the game, Cliff was eating his words. Sydney was a wicked shot. Not one round wasted. At one point she turned away from the machine and kept going, and nailed nearly every hit. Cliff's jaw hanged open.

"Holy shit," went Cliff "You're an evil shot, you know that?"

"My brother had a cabinet of House of the Dead 2. One year just to get back at him for bullying me I filled the high scores on it so bad he couldn't match any of them. You get a lot of practice that way. That and playing a shit ton of Halo," Sydney said.

"Well shit, didn't figure you for a gamer either. Guess Tom picked a real winner."

Over the course of the next half hour, running through Time Crisises 1 and 2, the pair discussed games in-depth, intersecting occasionally with Cliff's knowledge of firearms.

"-and that is why, no matter how many people praise the series, I will always always hate Tekken!" Cliff declared, putting the light gun back into the cabinet's holster.

"Dang. That's a hell of a laundry list." Sydney said, holstering her own faux weapon.

"Yeah well, Tekken sucks and no one wants to admit it."

"You said that about Final Fantasy VII as well."

"Ugh, don't even get me started about that again. The swords in that game are such bullshit."

"I know, I heard you go on for like ten minutes about it."

"Well, I just have very passionate feelings about my major. Game designers need to learn about weaponry."

"Noted. Say, where's Casey at?"

"Oh, they'll be in the corner playing DDR. Let's go, they always attract a crowd."

Sydney followed Cliff towards the front of the arcade, where a huge crowd was gathered around a DDR machine, cheering. The pair made their way through towards the machine. Sydney's eyes widened in awe. Casey had thrown their hoodie to the side, wearing a tight-fitting black shirt that conformed to what were some surprisingly toned arms. They were double-teaming the pads, contorting their arms and legs rapidly across the whole of the machine, bouncing from one-angle to the next, seemingly without effort. Even more impressive given that Sydney's eyes could barely track the arrows on the screen. After a couple of minutes, Casey completed their game, took their hoodie, and leaped on to the handlebars, taking a single bow and getting massive rounds of applause.

Cliff waved his hand out in the crowd and called out, "Hey! Casey!" Casey made another leap, this one over the crowd, landing their tips of their toes to meet their fellow travelers.

"Howdy Cliff!" they said, their voice brimming with a contrasting energy to their usual demeanor. "Man, I haven't that rush in ages! I don't know why we don't hit the arcade more often!" They turned to Sydney. "Oh, right, Tom's gal pal! I'm so sorry, I forgot you came with! Usually it's just my bro here with me!" Cliff and Casey fist bumped, while Sydney looked on absolutely puzzled. Casey was brimming with energy and joy, not to mention their face looked like it actually had some color in it.

"I am... so very lost right now. Who are you and what have you done with Casey?" Sydney asked. Casey smiled widely.

"Ha ha, Sydney, that's a good one! Boy, Tom picked a winner! No no I get it, I'm a bit different when I've got a runner's high going!" they said with great speed. "You see outside of some physical activity I'm a real Debbie Downer. Of course I'm always at the gym at night so hardly anyone gets to see me! It's enough to make someone real bummy, y'know?" they continued, lurching upward to meet Sydney's eyes.

"Y-yeah... sounds like misery." she said nervously. Casey gave Sydney a big hug. "I am so sorry for how I initially came across, you and I unfortunately didn't have the best context for meeting. Not to mention the whole thing with my body wash." Cliff handed Casey a water bottle, which they proceeded to guzzle.

"Thanks buddy. Always a comrade across lines, I tell ya" Casey turned back to Sydney, grinned, then leaned in and whispered, "Hey. Hey. Hey. Watch this, it'll be hilarious," They turned back to Cliff "Hey Cliff! The keyblade is a practical weapon!"

Cliff rolled his eyes to the back of his head. "This here? This shit is why we don't come here all the time." he said in annoyance. Sydney chortled.

Then in the midst of the merriment, her cell phone rang. "Hello? Oh, hey Tom. Yeah, I'm out here with Cliff and Casey, they wanted to try being a little more friendly. Why don't you come out?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be a minute on that. Something's come up." Tom said on the other end of the line.