I was already half way to the arcade before I realized my mind had made a decision. Maybe this body was a gamer? Whatever the case, I was coming upon the entrance to the building before I really considered it too deeply. I entered the darkened building, and was immediately inundated by the neon-bright lights and techno-beep-blops of gaming music and noises. There were crowds of people roving around the decently large space, and was quite easy for me to get lost in the commotion. I exchanged some bills in my wallet for tokens, and went to the task of playing games.
In truth, I wasn't a gamer in my real body. I tried some when I visited family that had younger members, but I wasn't very adept at them. But this body seemed to acclimate quickly to the required inputs and combos of the games. I was chaining together hits in a fighting game, listening to a deep and enthusiastic voice yelling "C-c-c-c-COMBOOOOO!" when someone approached from my right and spoke to me.
"Woah, nice combo dude!" I turned, nearly breaking my combo in the game to see a kid approximately the same age as my current body. He had dark brown hair, a bit longer than mine, that was brushed neatly in a part. His eyes, hard to distinguish in the light of the arcade, were green but also set behind a decently thick pair of glasses. His skin is paler than mine, and he also seems a bit thinner, gangling even.
"Thanks, man!" I replied. I kept the combo up. "I'm Ed- er- Dustin!"
"Sick, Dustin. I'm Nick." He said. "Mind if I challenge you when you finish this up?"
"Sure, why not?!" I answered excitedly. I felt like I was really fulfilling this role of a teen boy. I might even have a friend after this.
Soon, I was thwarted by a computer opponent. We quickly began dueling in the game, and it turned out that Nick was no chump at the game. He was perhaps quite good. Even with my bodies natural affinity for the game, I was no match. Perhaps if the actual "Dustin" was playing, but not I. We wrapped up the game with me losing several times.
"Hey man, nice showing. I could teach you some tricks if you'd like. Are you from around here?" Nick asked.
"I'm new here, actually. Not sure how long I'll be in the area." I answered. I wanted to be vague about my background. I hadn't really figured out how to handle this part of the charade.
"Are you free tonight? Maybe we can hang out?" Nick wondered. I couldn't be sure, but it almost looked like his face went flush when he said that. But the lighting was off in the arcade due to the game cabinets and all that.
"You know what, I am! What did you have in mind?" I responded.
"My place is a no-go, sadly. My parents don't really like people visiting. But I could come over to yours?" Nick inquired.
I paused for a moment. How could I make this work. Then a thought occurred to me. "Yeah, that works. I'm staying with my uncle for a while, but he's actually out for the weekend."
"Oh sweet!" Nick exclaimed. His face was definitely a different shade. I wasn't certain about what was going on but this was an interesting turn of events so far. I felt like I was really being someone else.
"Let's swing by my place so I can pick up some stuff. I'll bring my console. Think I could sleepover?" Nick asked, almost fervently.
"I don't see why not!" I said without thinking. "Let's go, Nick!"