Page 30 of The Backup Plan

He nudged her to the counter where a bored employee waited. “Seems like a good time to pick up guns, then.”

“Saturday was not the first time I met Cameron. I mean, it was, but I didn’t even know his name. We see each other every day in this lounge we always go to at the same time, but we never talked.”

Isaac held up two fingers to the counter worker and nodded. “So now you know him, and from your face, I’m guessing that’s a problem.”

“Don’t laugh.”

He handed her a bright green laser pistol. “I dare not.”

“I had a weird little crush on him even though he was kind of a jerk and ignored me, and today when I saw him, he was super apologetic and friendly.”

“Weird little crush notwithstanding, that seems good.”

She pulled him into the laser tag maze and checked their weapons. “Except…”

“Except?”

“Except he said he was being nice because I’m his friend’s girlfriend, and I kind of didn’t correct him about that.”

She ran.

“Avery!”

She ducked through a low entrance into a room with narrow windows.

“Wait, he thought we were together just because we were talking?” he asked.

“I guess we looked kind of cozy,” she said, firing through a window. “I don’t know. I’m a cozy person.”

He fired back. “I’m a cozy person, too. Why didn’t you tell him?”

Once he passed the entrance to the room, she scooted back into the hallway. “Because he seemed happy for once,” she said, and caught him on the shoulder. “I’ve never seen him happy. And he said—hey!”

“Boom,” he said, striking a hero pose as she inspected the glowing dot on her side.

“He said if I was with you, I was one of the good guys.” She darted up a short flight of steps.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means he talks to me now since he thinks I’m in his safe space when the rest of his life is stress.” Firing over her shoulder, she looked for the entrance to a catwalk strung overhead.

“Being Justin’s sister wasn’t enough?”

“He didn’t know.”

She jumped a fake creek and her footsteps caught his attention.

“I’ve never had a girlfriend, and this is how I land one?”

She stopped. “You’ve never had a girlfriend? Ever?”

Her vest lit up on her other side, and she followed the burst of his laughter.

“I haven’t,” he said, his voice taunting her from higher ground. “I have three brothers and they all had or have girlfriends, and I can see it’s not worth the trouble at this age.”

Avery scanned the room and ducked behind a rock. “Well, do you want a girlfriend, anyway?”

“Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”