Chapter 83 | The date: chapter 01: paintballing

Isabella:

"Paintballing?"

Mia captures both mine and Lucas' horrified expressions on camera.

Grace grins as Mia pulls the disposable camera away from her face and chucks it back into the picnic basket situated in the passenger seat of Lucas' car before shutting the door closed behind her.

"Yep!" Grace clasps her hands together proudly. "Your booking is for an hour and a half and then Mia and I will instruct you with what's the plan next."

"Paintballing?" Lucas repeats like a broken record as he stares pointedly up at the huge warehouse like building we're all currently standing outside.

My gaze draws away from the massive sign plastered on the front of the building and towards the group of people currently walking by the side of the warehouse, wearing jumpsuits and completely smeared in paint from head to toe. I press my lips together and flit my gaze back onto my two friends.

"Why did I ever think you guys were sending Lucas and I somewhere classy?"

Mia waves her hand dismissively. "Trust me guys, this sort of activity is so your thing."

"Yeah, but not for a date." Lucas argues back, eyebrows narrowing in both confusion and warniess.

Grace makes a face. "And why not?"

"Because a bunch of pre teens are literally gonna be shooting paint at us whilst we cower in pain," I point out.

"Actually it'll be you two shooting paint at each other alongside the pre teens," Mia adds. "We requested that you're put in seperate teams."

Lucas stares at Mia blankly before letting out a defeated breath. "Great. That makes it so much better. On my first date with my girlfriend I'm not even going to be hanging out with her." He then shoots both Mia and Grace a pointed look. "You guys sold this date off for more than it actually is."

Grace smacks him around the head and crosses her arms across her chest defensively. "Hey!" She exclaims. "This is one out of the trillion other activities we have planned for you guys. We just thought you'd enjoy this because it seems like your type of activity!"

"Yeah, stop being fussy and just give it a go." Mia adds, frowning. "Just trust the goddamn binder for once. Grace and I have planned this to every minute detail."

A wash of slight guilt washes through me at this and I bite the inside of my cheek, suddenly feeling ungrateful. The two did spend almost 4 months planning and this isn't some impromptu day out they've just thrown together, Mia and Grace have thought carefully what Lucas and I would both enjoy...even if that is paintballing.

I stare up at Lucas and find him staring down at me with a similar look plastered across his face - he feels bad too.

He presses his lips into a flat line and after a moment of silent conversation between the two of us I let out a silent breath and face my girls again. "Alright," I give in, albeit a little hesitantly, "we'll give it a shot."

"Yeah," Lucas adds, sounding somewhat unsure still. "I guess it could be enjoyable."

Both Grace and Mia's spirits rise at our agreement.

"Yay!" Grace squeals, her smile reaching her eyes as excitement fills her again. "I promise you guys will have fun! Now quick go inside, we'll text you the details of the next bit of the plan!"

Mia nods her head and stands tall, wrapping her arms around Grace's shoulders. "Yes, now go!"

She shoos us a way and Lucas and I turn around and reluctantly begin walking towards the entrance of the warehouse.

Our feet trudge against the gravel which I'm sure showcases our pure excitement for the activity ahead of us (note the sarcasm) and I shove my hands inside my sleeves as I turn to look at Lucas.

"It'll be fun," I say out loud, not really sure if I'm reassuring Lucas or reassuring myself.

"Mhm," Lucas hums, his lips still pressed into a thin line. "There's...there's a competitive streak inside the both of us, it'll probably be fun once we start."

"Right." I nod my head in agreement. "Have you ever done paintballing before?"

Lucas shakes his head and winces, a pained expression crossing his features. "No, but Aidan and his cousins did once and he came back with like a trillion bruises on his body and had to ice pack his dick for 3 days and that was enough to put me off ever wanting to try."

"Yeah but we've met Aidan's cousins, they're brutal...I'm sure it won't be that bad for us."

Lucas shrugs his shoulders before patting his crotch. "Well pray for little, but not so little, Lucas just in case."

I stare down at his dick. "Okay."

***

The moment we step inside the building, Lucas and I are greeted by a very enthusiastic man named Rob who ushers us towards our respective teams after registering. We reluctantly separate and I make small talk with the rest of my group (a group of 11 year old boys and a 19 year old girl and her 20 year old boyfriend who don't stop sucking face long enough for me to tell them my name) as I pull on my army print protective suit.

The suit is thick in material letting me know I'm going to be a sweaty mess by the time we finish and has a number of weird, flappy pockets situated across the entire body which I'm not sure will be of any particular use for me. The jumpsuit also smells a little funky and there seems to be something oddly squishy in one of the pockets which I feel from the outside which causes me to shiver in disgust as I discover the squishy thing.

I then pull my hair into a stragly ponytail and shove my shoes back on to my feet. One of the 11 year old boys also shows me how to adjust the helmet to make it fit better on my head and I pull the bulky plastic over my face once it's tightened properly.

I look like an absolute idiot once I'm done.

I'm turning away from the glass door in which I'm checking out my reflection when I'm suddenly met with someone's chest. The 'ow' they let out informs me that the person is Lucas and he holds me by my shoulders before I go crashing into him again. I pull my helmet up so I can meet his gaze and Lucas smirks down at me in return.

"Izzy," he says in greeting and I take the quick opportunity to run my eyes down his frame and grumble as I do so.

His outfit is similar to mine except he has a blue band on his arm indicating that he belongs to the other team and the fact he looks like a bloody model in his jumpsuit whilst I'm swimming in material. The crotch area of mine is so baggy it looks like I have a dick and the bottom of the pants bunch up weirdly whereas on Lucas everything fits perfectly and when he turns around to briefly speak to a teammate who asks why he's come to my teams side, I gawk at how nicely the jumpsuit molds against his taut ass.

I place my hands on my hips after pushing my helmet back to the top of my head when it begins to slide down and glare at Lucas as he turns back around to face me. "I hate you," I tell him pointedly in reply to his hello. "How do you still look good in this outfit?"

My comment elicits a deep rumble of a laugh to erupt from Lucas and he cocks an eyebrow before throwing an egotistical: "Baby, I always look good." He then proceeds to flash me a grin that I swear fucking twinkles. Twinkles!

"Sure," I return sarcastically although he knows that I think he's right. I'm also rolling my eyes at his big head when Lucas suddenly sends a long flick of his gaze down my body.

I pause on my grumbling and raise a finger menacingly. "Don't say a word, this outfit is ew."

Lucas ignores me and tugs at the excess material at my crotch before meeting my gaze and pulling his lips into his mouth to stifle another laugh. "Yeah, you look adorable but this isn't your best outfit."

I cross my arms across my chest.

Before we get the chance to discuss further the failure of my outfit, Mr enthusiastic Rob suddenly claps his hands together to gain all of our attention and begins speaking.

"Alright everyone!" He begins. "Please go back to your consecutive groups. Group A with the blue band, you will be following me to your camps and group B with the green band, you will be following Emma here to your camp," he points to a blonde woman who waves merrily in my teams direction. "The aim and rules of the game will be briefly recapped once each teams reach their camp. Remember to play fair everybody!"

The room that had fallen silent erupts back into murmurs as people begin heading back to their teams on the opposite sides of the room.

Lucas and I converse for a little longer as everyone goes back to their respective teams, trying to drag out from being separated for a short while. He continues teasing me about my outfit whilst I huff and just allow him to do so. We go on like this for a couple of seconds but when we both begin to scan our heads across the wide expanse of the room and notice how everyone is back in their own teams except the two of us, we both let out a wary exhale of breath.

Lucas turns back to me and raises his fingers to his head in salut. "Well best of luck soldier," he says, transforming his slight frown into a grin.

I, on the other hand, pretend to load a gun and point my fingers at his chest. "I'm gonna obliterate your ass."

Lucas' eyes narrow and he suddenly drops his salut. "Okay two can play at that game," he crosses his arms across his chest and leans down so that he's eye level with me. "I'm gonna obliterate your ass."

Before I can edge in another word he pushes his helmet back down on his face and storms away in what I think is a dramatic exit, however, he barely walks two steps before he pauses and spins around, stalking back over to me again, lifting his helmet slightly just to press a haste kiss onto my lips before I can even blink.

***

Behind the warehouse leads into a forest. From where I'm standing all that I can see are trees and various bushes. The area however has been strategically forced to look like an abandoned army camp base or something along those lines. Green and brown tents are strewn haphazardly in a number of places as we stalk through the forest to get to our camps as well as random shoes and sleeping bags and a number of other items.

My team is on the left side of the forest, our 'camp' being an unstable looking wooden shelter whilst Lucas' team are all the way opposite, on the right side.

Emma goes through the motions and rules of the game, what we're supposed to do and what we're not before going on to teach us how to safely use the paint ball guns. One of the 11 year old boys gets too excited and manages to already waste one of his paint balls by splattering it randomly onto a tree and all his friends begin shouting at him for doing so. Emma spends a good 15 minutes trying to calm down their rowdy behaviour and then we're back stalking amongst the trees and trying to find a good starting spot where the other teams will struggle to find us.

Halfway through walking to our starting point, we lose the couple in our team. This wastes another precious 5 minutes on just trying to find the two of them again. After looking around in the general area which were currently located, Emma finds them in a tent, sucking each other's faces off.

The 11 year old boys grimace as do I when Emma begins screaming at the two of them and the couple walk out the tent in shame.

Eventually, another 15 minutes go by until we're in our starting positions and I've barely ducked behind my bush when the rustling and approaching footsteps suddenly gains the attention of our team.

"Hush," one of the 11 year old boys I'm stuck in a hiding spot with hisses at me and my eyebrows knit together seeing as I hadn't said a word.

"I didn't say anything..." I hiss back.

"Shutup lady!"

"Hey, don't be mean!"

"You two be quiet!" Emma's whisper travels to the two of us from where she's hiding behind a tree.

We both quiet down immediately, not wanting to face the wrath of Emma after seeing the brutal telling off she had given the face sucking couple.

30 seconds pass and my legs begin to cramp from the odd position I'm currently sitting in. However, I grow frozen when I suddenly spot a pair of black boots rounding the corner of the bush ik currently sitting behind.

The other team had probably planned a strategy during the time it had taken our team to find hiding spots so it's no surprise they've already made it to our side of the forest, ready to attack us.

The rude 11 year old boy beside me sucks in a breath when his gaze draws onto the shoes as well and in the 3 seconds that pass after that breath is inhaled, the person from the other team swoops down and spots the two of us. I don't even know what I do but I manage to escape being pummelled to death by their paintballs by rolling away and rushing over to the tree Emma had been behind before (she's miraculously disappeared). The 11 year old boy however, unfortunately doesn't go by unscathed. He groans as a large blue paintball splatters across his chest, the impact of it opening the ball and painting his suit blue signifying that he is out of the game.

The person from the opposing team who hit the boy raises their gun up in victory and the 11 year old boy swears loudly once he comes to this realisation that he's lost.

His voice cracks as he continues swearing and with hunched shoulders he begins retreating back to the team camp, kicking each tree and tent and bush he comes across out of frustration.

I almost feel bad at him but then I hear the boy curse me out and any feeling of sorrow evaporates into the air immediately.

Idiot. He just called me a bitch!

I'm close to jumping out of my hiding place and yelling at the boy when from my peripheral vision I suddenly spot the person from the opposing team beginning to scan their head around probably in search of me. He had spotted the two of us when he had ambushed the boy and I and has probabaly pieced together the fact that I couldn't have gotten far.

Dammit. I guess I'll save the yelling for when we get back to camp.

I quickly duck so I'm out of view and conceal myself against some odd branches and leaves and listen intently for the sound of their footsteps. They seem to be louder, indicating that they're coming closer to me and my breath hitches in anticipation of being caught, however, a moment later I hear the footsteps retreating again.

Still, I wait a beat before peeking my head out again just as a precaution. Thankfully, they're gone by the time I look and I quickly scan the area before moving slyly over to my next location.

I'm by myself now, having the boy who had been with me already out of the game and Emma sporadically dissapeared so I'm extra careful not to treck over any twigs or anything that will make noise.

I crouch low as I make my way through the forest, mentally reminding myself to stay on our territory so I possibly have a greater chance of reuniting with the others on my team.

As I move deeper into the woods and I've yet to spot any person with the green team band, I decide to stop risking my chance of getting attacked whilst finding my team members and decide on just staying where I am and hiding again. I quickly scour the perimeter and swiftly sit behind some sort of broken log surrounded by a bush that I think would serve as a good hiding spot.

It's location means I'm also hidden behind a large tree and unless someone was to look over the log/bush, they'd be unable to spot me from a distance away.

This place also provides me a good view of the direction of the blue team territory so I can easily take note of any opposing team member that walks out in that direction.

I sit so my knees are tucked into my chest, just to eliviate some uncomfortablness that would occur if I simply remained crouched down. I lift my head ever so slightly from time to time every time I think I hear some movement coming from the other side of the log/bush.

It's one of those times where I'm peering slightly over the edge of the bush when something or someone catches my attention from the corner of my eye. A flash of blue on their sleeve causes my eyebrows to raise and the corner of my lips to rip into a smirk. This is my chance to get someone out.

Although I'm pumped with anticipation, I wait until they're closer to make my move. They've yet to spot me because of my awesome hiding spot and whilst they're peering in the opposite direction, I briskly stand up and point the gun at their chest. A moment later, colours of yellow and purples splatter on the side of their body and they're crouching over and groaning in pain.

I barely get any time to celebrate my win when from my left I spot the rustling of trees. I curse when I realise that it is probabaly the person I shot's teammates. The person on the ground's loud moans aren't exactly quiet and it's probably drawing the attention of his team members.

I quickly make the haste decision to not to return to my amazing hiding spot and frown when I'm forced to run away before I get caught by the opposing team.

"Sorry," I whisper in apology as I run past the person I hit, leaving them to cower in pain on the forest floor and just about escaping being seen from the opposing team as a few emerge from around the trees.

***

The game continues to go like this; I delve closer towards the blue teams territory and find several great hiding spots in the process, which I squeeze myself into and then proceed to ambush the opposing team members as they move past me.

I then run off onto my next location, sometimes running past my own team mates but never stopping to rejoin them. I find that I work best alone.

I do come across with some close calls where my hiding spots haven't been so discreet but I manage to escape being attacked all the same. The one time I did manage to get hit, the paint hadn't exploded on my chest so I was able to remain my place in the game.

After almost 50 minutes passes and I find myself still in the game, I come to the conclusion that I do actually have a knack for paintballing. The discovery raises my enthusiasm for this activity by a ton and I remind myself to thank Mia and Grace for planning this activity into our date - they're quite right with the fact I'm very much enjoying myself. I'm great at finding hiding places and am great at surprise ambushing the opposing team.

I reunite with Emma around the one hour mark of the game and she informs me that our team is currently in the lead with 5 players remaining whilst the other team only have 3.

We end up separating our two ways a moment later, after we're ambushed by two members of the other team and I end up spending several minutes hiding behind a bush once I've run off into territory I'm not entirely sure is part of our team.

My suspicions are only proved correct the moment I hear enthusiastic Rob's voice carry towards me.

"Shit," I curse under my breath as I also spot two of the opposing team members trail behind him as they readily begin to approach me. I briskly crouch down again and try to conceal myself behind the bush as much as possible although it's hard seeing as this bush has mainly twigs protruding out of it and getting near it means I'm getting poked everywhere uncomfortably.

Despite the pain, I stay low and close to the little confine of my hiding spot, my breath catching in my throat as a pair of dirty