Chapter 19

Rachel parked her Miata, grabbing her car keys as the engine's hum died with them. Teenagers and retired elderly couples walked the sidewalks as Rachel and Emily navigated around the vehicles. Nail Salons and clothing stores dominated the plaza, coated and sanitized in corporate, minimalistic architecture. Neon signs buzzed faintly, their letters stuttering like dying fireflies against the gray afternoon sky. A THREADS & THRIFTS sign hung crookedly above a small clothing store wedged between a Blockbuster and a hair salon.

Her head turned as she noticed a black SUV pulling into a nearby burger joint across the road. A tall Latina woman wearing a sharp designer business suit exits the vehicle. Several armed Latino men surrounded the woman. 

"Who's that?" Rachel asked as she watched the woman enter the restaurant. 

Emily sipped on her lemonade, glaring at the Latino woman as she sat in a booth. "Death," she jested as she walked with Rachel. 

Rachel chuckled. "She does have the whole movie villain aura about her. Wouldn't it be funny if she liked some philanthropist?"

"Yeah, she is just having a bad case of the Tuesdays, and she is trying out for a drug cartel leader role in the next hot action movie."

Rachel laughed as they walked towards the thrift store. "Maybe she made Gloom."

"You got an imagination on you, Rache," Emily chuckled and then frowned. 

Rachel opened the thrift store door, releasing a wave of stale air laced with fabric softener, Pine-Sol, and cheap perfume. Rachel and Emily browsed the antique bobbles, propaganda posters, and recently owned clothing on display. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Mike's reflection in an antique mirror, talking to a group of girls at the back of the store.

"Of course, he is here," Rachel muttered, gesturing for Emily to look in the mirror.

"Here we go again," Emily frowned as she sipped her lemonade. Rachel and Mike's eyes locked briefly. 

"Rache! What are you doing here?" Mike asked as he rubbed his neck as Rachel approached. 

"What am I doing! What are you doing?" Rachel retorted as she gazed at the three girls around Mike. 

Mike held his hands up, and a nervous laugh escaped his lips. "They just wanted to talk about midterm exams?" He replied as he nodded his head at the ladies. Mike forced a smile on his face. "Yeah, exams, they wanted to study and shit."

"Mike, you don't even fucking do your homework, and you have the worst grades in the class," Rachel said flatly. 

Mike scoffed. "Don't listen to her, ladies; she just butthurt because I broke up with her."

Rachel blinked hard, and her mouth dropped. "Butthurt, wow, not only your a whore but delusional as well."

Emily sipped her lemonade quietly as she glanced around the store. 

"Oh, there you go again, playing the victim again. You avoided me for weeks. You didn't want to go to prom with me."

"Because you fucking cheated on me, you self-absorbed, delusional idiot!"

Mike's eyes blinked as he spaced out, gazing down at the ground with furrowed eyebrows. 

Rachel's eyes widened. "Oh, you didn't think I found out you were cheating? Yeah, I just played like I didn't know because I fucking cared. You were never fucking sorry; that whole boombox stunt you did was all an act because you didn't think I already knew!"

"Rache," Emily interjected as she grabbed her shoulder. 

"Fuck off me," Rachel snapped as she shrugged Emily off her shoulder and slapped Mike in the face. 

"Rachel, Enough! Let's go!" Emily shouted. 

"You lucky I don't hit women."

Rachel gazed at Mike and the girls who recoiled from her. "Have fun being played with; you can have his ass," Rachel said as she reluctantly followed Emily out of the thrift store. 

"That slap was well-earned, but you're a firecracker right now," Emily laughed as she gazed over at the burger joint.

"I don't know what came over me. Sorry," Rachel replied as she took a deep breath. 

"You did nothing wrong, but I think I got an idea to help you blow off some steam."

Rachel's heart fluttered as she saw Emily wink at her. "Ohhhh, you do?" 

"Yeah, this arcade. They have this next-generation fighting game I've been dying for us to play!" Emily cackled as she kissed Rachel and escorted her into the arcade. 

Synthwave music hummed in Rachel's ears as they entered. Coins clanked off arcade machinery while the smell of new carpet, musk, and funnel cake filled the air. Kids and Adults sat at gambling and fighting game machines. A leaderboard hung proudly above the ticket redemption office. Prime glowed an electric blue at number one. 

"I hate you, Em!" Rachel flatly said as she shook her head. 

"Wait till I beat your ass in this game."

"Oh, are you some pro or something?"

Emily shrugged. "Never been beaten."

Rachel snorted. "Ain't impressive if they are all amateurs."

"I actually won the national championship last year."

Rachel chuckled as Emily winked at her as she put some quarters into the machine. Her eyebrows raised as Emily insta-locked a character that looked eerily similar, wearing a futuristic outfit. 

"So you're one of those people," Rachel jabbed as she looked at Emily Fighter. 

Emily shrugged. "She just feels right when I play her. I vibe with her fighting style." 

"Which is?" Rachel asked as she clicked a muscular woman with a mixed martial arts fighting style. "This one. Yeah, I feel good about her, "she said as she confirmed her fighter. 

Emily and Rachel's fighter digitized into an octagon fighting ring. Their life bars glowed, and a time limit flickered between them. Rachel released a flurry of high kicks and mid jabs to break Emily's defense. Each one was blocked with no retaliation. Once, Rachel whiffed a punch that Emily's character threw at Rachel's character. 

"The hell, why can't I hit you?" Rachel growled as she rushed at Emily's character again. She spends her special bar for it only to be parried. Her character life bar reaches zero, and a perfect K.O. fills the screen. 

"Okay, no, you're cheating." 

"No, it's just prediction and muscle memory."

"Yeah, I will predict this," Rachel said as she picked a different character. 

The ending was the same. Her eyes narrowed with each consecutive loss to Emily. The arcade machine glitches. Static distorted the screen, the graphics became more realistic, and the life bars vanished. Rachel's character stood in a creek filled with blood. Her static-like skin crackled in the air as she breathed deeply. Emily's fighter eyes glowed mulberry as she wiped the blood from her lips. 

Rachel's fighter swung with force; her lungs burned as she breathed out her mouth. Emily's fighter side-stepped, then grasped Rachel's arm and slung her to the ground with her own momentum. A blood-curdling scream bellowed from Emily as Rachel bit her as she mounted her to drive her head underwater. Emily kicked Rachel off balance when she grabbed a rock and swung it at her. 

K.O!

Rachel's eyes blinked as she felt Emily nudge her. "Damn, you actually put up a fight there. Not bad for an amateur," Emily jested as her fighter announced the victor as she put on a crown. 

Rachel shook her head and rubbed her face. "I was just clicking buttons, but you're unbeatable. Like you know, every move I wanted to do before I did it."

Emily bit her lip and shrugged. "If only you knew," she muttered as she forced a smile and grabbed her drink. 

Rachel stopped mid-stride as she followed Emily towards the entrance. She glanced back at the arcade machine and then back at Emily, who sipped her lemonade with a stoic expression. Her mind wandered, clinging back to the fight. She rubbed her face and looked at her fingers, half expecting to see blood. Her body felt weak and tired like she had pulled an all-nighter practicing shooting hoops. 

"What's the matter?" Emily asked. "You look deep in thought."

"No, I just feel exhausted. Let's get something from that burger joint."

Emily coughed. "Actually, I am not in the mood for burgers. Let's get something else."

"They got other things besides Burgers, Em. Plus, it's just a quick shot to my house after," Rachel insisted as she started to walk towards her Miata. 

Her eyes narrowed as she noticed a black Mustang pulling up into the plaza. 

"Hey, ain't that the same Mustang from earlier?" Rachel asked as Emily approached her car. 

Emily sighed as she watched the Mustang park near the Blockbuster. She glanced at the burger joint, then back at the Mustang, mumbling under her breath. 

"Hey, Rachel, let's make a deal. Let me pick where we want to eat and I will Mike life a living hell at school."

Rachel's eyes widened as she stroked her chin. "Deal. I will enjoy watching him squirm for the rest of the semester."

Emily smirked as she entered Rachel's Miata's passenger side. The car hummed to life as Rachel turned the ignition and pulled out. The black Mustang remained parked as they left the plaza. 

"So where are we eating at Em?" Rachel asked as she drove down the road, past the plaza and burger joint, which had been replaced by tall oak trees and a gray sky. 

"Turn here," Emily said as she gazed at the rearview mirror. 

Rachel turned and noticed a black SUV and Mustang behind her.