The table erupts in laughter. My eyes slit as I look around at the boys enjoying my failure. Milo instructs me to pick up a card. When I turn it over, more laughter occurs. I already have two of these cards in my pile, which were deemed terrible picks.
“Maybe you guys think no one can win when occupying this area,” I say as the laughter dies down, “but you’ve never seen me play.”
John rolls the dice. “Yeah, and you’ve never played, period. You can trash talk all you like. It doesn’t mean you can change the way the game works.”
Ryan quickly makes his move after John. He rearranges his army and invades one of John’s domains. “And you have a tendency to forget to cover your weak points.”
John groans. “What the heck? I hate you.”
Milo laughs. “It’s your own fault for leaving yourself wide open. You know Ryan will always swoop in when you don’t evenly disperse your warrior orcs.” Milo rearranges his cards and examines the board. He then nudges me, saying, “The good thing about your crummy hand, is I don’t think you need to worry about anyone invading.”
I grin. “That’s a good point. I can just work on moving onto other territory.”
John scowls at me. “Don’t even think about it.”
Milo makes his move, and nothing seems to change on the board. But considering the ease in Milo’s body language, I’m guessing he’s planning a low-key strategy which will pay dividends later. I pull at my shirt collar. Oh boy, his air of cool confidence is really making my blood pump harder.
As the game continues, I make some ground. However, anytime I try to conquer, I’m swiftly knocked back a peg or two. Milo tries to give me pointers, but the other two guys shoot him down, constantly repeating, “This is war.”
The seriousness about this silly tabletop game has me in stitches. Milo continues to conquer more ground, building his army. The other two boys complain, but Milo keeps his cool. Seriously boy, could you sizzle any hotter?
“Hi there, Kai. How was the movie?” Grandpa’s voice echoes from the living room.
The distinct click of the garage door closing follows. “It was good, thanks. Is Jamie around?”
“In the dining room with Milo.”
My back seizes, and my lungs constrict. I squeak, forcing oxygen in as I turn my head on a stiff neck. From the corner of my eye, Milo notices me rapidly shifting into freak out mode.
Oh my gosh, this was a huge mistake. Kai can’t catch me playing this game.
Kai enters the room and immediately holds his belly in laughter. “Oh, good lord. What do we have here? The nerd brigade and their dweeby tabletop game?”
Milo huffs at his brother. “Can’t you just move along?”
“James, what are you doing?” Kai asks, ignoring his brother as he moves closer to me. “Are you actually into this weird game?”
He gives me the look we normally share. My best friend mocking me for something this lame is cringe-inducing.
An indignant snort pours out of me as I leap off the chair. I push away from the table, grimacing as I shake out my shoulders. “As if. What do you take me for? Some kind of loser?”
Kai laughs as he hangs an arm around my shoulders, guiding me out of the dining room.
My back cramps with knots. Regret fills me with queasiness as the word loser ricochets around my head. Why did I say it? It just slipped out as if it were on autocue. I just didn’t want Kai to give me a hard time. The easiest thing to do is deflect.
Ugh. I just walked out on Milo after dropping the L-bomb. My heart breaks. I feel like crap as I march up the stairs with Kai.
“Did you hear me, Jamie?” Kai asks as we hit the upstairs landing.
“Huh?”
“I said I’m sorry,” he replies. “For like the millionth time. Are you really that grumpy with me?”
“Oh, no. I’m over it,” I say, flopping on the couch. Kai hanging out with his girlfriend is small potatoes compared to what I just did to Milo.
“Good,” Kai says, crash landing beside me. “Because we still need to hang out.”
I rub my temples. “I just wanna nap.”
