It was after the third time when Andi's dad "innocently" popped his head into her bedroom, this time with a platter of Pac-Man-shaped cookies for her and her guests to share, that Andi exploded at him.
"Stop bothering us, Dad! We don't want your stupid Pac-Man cookies!"
"I might want--" one of the boys ventured before being cut off by a pointed glare from his host.
"You know what? This isn't going to work," Andi fumed, marching towards her father. "We're moving to the conference room above the arcade. Is that okay... Dad?"
The cowed patriarch timidly acquiesced. He didn't expect his daughter to share all of his interests, but her utter disdain for everything he liked was sometimes hurtful. While the conference room sometimes hosted birthday parties, it was also often rented out for professional events and so was bare of any decorations or accoutrements that connected it with the arcade below. Andi asking-- demanding to move her party there was really a request to bring it somewhere that didn't remind her of the arcade at all.
And so, after packing up sleeping bags and some necessary supplies, the six teenagers were driven down to Litwak's Arcade and shown to the conference room.
But not before walking through the arcade to the staircase at the back of the building, to the oohs and aahs of he five boys that followed behind Andi.
"Is that an original Street Fighter II cabinet?" one of them asked.
"I didn't know there was a Fast and the Furious racer!" another remarked.
"Is that one brand new?" a third joined in.
Andi could only grin and bear it as she marched everyone upstairs. Out of sight, out of mind.
She paused at that thought. Out of sight, out of mind. There was an idea there.
With the conference room door now closed behind them, Andi tapped each and every boy on the head as she crossed over to the front of the conference room. The boys looked at her with empty expressions.
"I have a few questions for everyone before we begin," she announced. "Who here can tell me where the character Blanka comes from?"
One boy scratched his head. Another squinted his eyes. A third raised his hand: "Isn't she the younger sister in Taming of the Shrew? Kate has to get married before Blanka can accept any suitors, right?"
"That's Bianca, you idiot." Another boy slapped the first across the back of his head. "Pay more attention in English class!" Then the boy turned to Andi. "So what's the answer?"
"Not important," she dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Question number two! What is the profession of Super Mario?"
"Do you mean Mario Andretti? The racecar driver? They used to call him Super Mario, I think." came the first reply.
"Or maybe Mario Lemieux! He was a hockey player." came the next.
"Mario Chalmers?"
Andi started grinning as she hopped up and down on the balls of her feet. It had worked. They didn't know anything about video games anymore. Now she was going in for the kill. "Don't worry about it, I just have one last question. What's an X-box?"
Crickets.
"Are you okay, Andi? None of us have ever heard of a whatever-box. Did you just make that up?"
"Yes," she smiled. "Yes I did, it was all just a little test to see if you'd all make something up." This was a white lie, but Andi intended to move on from the activity quickly, as she picked up the remote control for the massive conference room TV set. "Now who wants to marathon the new season of Dancing with the Stars!"
The room erupted in cheers.
