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"No."
"Give it a chance."
"I already have, and I suck at it."
"Come on Neens, you should give it another shot."
"We've established a long time ago that I stink at video games."
"That's only because you quit when things get too hard."
"Lies."
"Neens, you literally have thrown the Wii controller at my chest when I beat you in Mario Kart four separate times."
"Your point?"
"My point is that you're a sore loser."
"Well, maybe I'm just pointing out the fact that the rules are completely unfair for unskilled gamers."
Ricky rolls his eyes. "Uh huh."
"Oh fuck off." She picked up one of the decorative pillows from her living room couch and smacked him with it.
He chuckled and threw the pillow to the side before she could do it again. "Alright fine, we won't play video games, but we have to think of something to do before boredom kills us both."
"Any suggestions?"
He taps on his chin. "Hm, wanna go biking?"
She shook her head. "Can't, I broke my wheels' axle."
"Dammit, how about we go swimming? I heard the aquatic center is still open til' 5."
"You'd be incorrect, Richard. They close early on Friday's."
Ricky groaned and plopped down onto his back on the couch. "Ugh, why can't we think of something to do? We literally never have this problem."
"Maybe it's because we did everything there is to do."
"That's impossible!"
"I mean, not really when you think about it. We've been hanging out for over a decade, so we were bound to end up in a slump."
He sighs. "I hate when you're right."
She smirks and scoots closer to his side. "Well, maybe I might not be completely right."
Ricky gasped and dramatically placed a hand on his chest as he sat up straight. "Nina, admitting she's not right about something for once? This must be some parallel universe."
She shoves his shoulder. "Shut up, and let me talk Bowen."
"Alright, what's up?"
"I was thinking that maybe we could Google some unique games to play that we've never done. You down?"
"Do you seriously have to ask if I, the person who loves spontaneity, want to try a new game we randomly find on the internet? It's like you forgot who I am."
"Your sarcasm is at an all time high tonight."
"You're the one to blame since you like to use sarcasm to tease me. I guess you rubbed off on me."
She playfully rolled her eyes. "Anyways, I'm gonna look up some games."
"Have at it."
She searches through a few websites and scrolls through a series of different games. She stops her finger when a game she has never heard of caught her eye.
She scrunched up her brows. "Hm."
"Found something?"
"I might've."
"What's the game called?"
She looks up from her phone. "Do you know about the Pocky game?"
He lifts a brow. "The hell is that?"
She shrugs. "I'm not sure. The website doesn't say."
He leans over so that he can read her screen. "Look up what the rules are."
She goes back to the search button and types her question. She reads off the first thing she sees.
"Grab one box of Pocky. Then, two people begin eating one Pocky from each end. The first person whose mouth comes off the Pocky loses. If the opposing player gets to the middle first, you lose. If the participants end up kissing, it is a tie."
They both blush when they read the last sentence. Ricky nervously tapped his leg. "Oh well uh, that's an interesting twist."
"Um yeah for sure."
A moment of silence went by, and both weren't sure where to go from here.
Nini pushed strands of hair behind her ear and fiddled with the ends of her skirt. She cleared her throat. "So uh, do you maybe wanna try it?"
He was stunned. "Really?"
She felt her body heat up along with her cheeks. "I mean, I don't see why not. It's not like we're destined to kiss by the end of the game. One of us could back out or get to the middle before the other."
He made an expression she couldn't decipher, and it was starting to make her regret even looking this silly little game up in the first place.
"Fuck it. Let's do it."
She released a breath she didn't realize she was holding in. "Cool, I'm gonna go grab some left over Pocky from the pantry."
Ricky just gave her an awkward thumbs up before she went to the kitchen. When she wasn't paying him any mind, he quickly checked his breath. He knows that there was still a chance of kissing her and didn't want it to be an unpleasant kiss, not like it should matter.
He's not sure why he cared since he didn't have feelings for her. Has he had a crush on her once in 7th grade? Sure. Did that crush randomly come back in 10th grade? Absolutely. Did he still have feelings for her as a senior? Nah, they were just buddies; however, that didn't explain why his heart was beating irregularly in his chest as he watches her approach him.
She sat back in her spot on the couch and took out one of the strawberry Pocky sticks. She exhaled rather loudly as she holds up the stick.
"Ready?"
He nods and tries to ignore the rising anticipation going through his body. "Yeah."
She places her end of the biscuit between her teeth and moved her body so that he could reach his end. He bends down to her level and puts the other end of the stick in his mouth, accidentally making diect eye contact with her. His eyes shied away when he noticed how close they were. Instead, he focused his eyes on the stick as he munched pieces off.
They slowly ate to the middle, feeling their heart go mad in their chest the closer they get to each other's lips. Nini was eating it a lot faster than he was, and a part of him felt like maybe it was because she desperately wanted this to be over. But another part of him thought maybe it was because she wanted him to meet her in the middle.
When she got to close to the center, he began speeding up so he wouldn't lose. After a couple of seconds, their noses were bumping and their lips were mere inches apart. Ricky finally looked up at her and saw she was already looking at him.
It felt like all time stood still, both trying to predict what the other's next move is. Neither knew how long they stared at each other, but Nini was beginning to get antsy. She finally breaks off the last piece and swallows it.
“I win.” She whispers, not breaking the intense gaze they were having.
He swallows the remainder of his portion. “I guess you did.”
Another moment of silence goes by, and both can hear their own heartbeat racing. Neither is sure who moved first. In a blink of an eye, their lips are smashing onto the other’s.
The kiss was not at all soft and sweet. It was passionate, almost as if they had been building this up for years. Nini moans a bit when she feels him cup her face to deepen the kiss. She grabs his shirt so that he was closer to her because holy fuck his lips felt like heaven.
They don’t break the kiss until a full three minutes later. Both of them were panting afterwards as they rested their foreheads against one another’s.
Ricky smirks. “I think this is my new favorite game.”
Nini smiles and chuckles. “I think it’s mine too.”
“I’m pretty sure we both ended up as the victors.”
“Oh most definitely.”
He reaches over and grabs another Pocky stick from the box. “Wanna go a second round?” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.
“I think we should finish the whole box.”
He smiles. “I think we can make that work.”