one changed decision, and the whole game is different. You can play this game over and over, and it won’t ever turn out the same.”
An hour into our game, Sidney is crushing it. We were forbidden from playing together, but her chair is pulled up close to mine anyway. She’s perched up on her chair again, her legs tucked under her. Every time I strike one of her territories she softly punches my leg. But after she does it, her hand stays there. Her palm is pressed into my thigh, and at first, it feels sort of rigid against me like she didn’t realize she did it, but soon she uses it to leverage herself up as she stretches to look across the board. Her hand relaxes, her fingers begin to tap and flutter against me. At one point, I swear she’s tracing a message against my leg. I keep trying to make it out, but all I accomplish is Trevor mocking me when I space out and don’t realize my turn has come.
“Do we need a hand check?” Trevor teases. Sid lifts her hands, and I expect they’ll go back to her lap, but her left hand returns to its spot on my leg. Knowing Sidney, it’s probably there to spite Trevor. I keep waiting for her to move it, but I think maybe she’s committed to playing tonight’s game one-handed. And that’s a challenge I am fully on board with.
Sidney
The last time I played a board game with Lindsay I was drunk. It’s different being sober, and I’m quiet. With her, at least. I don’t know what to talk about. Unlike Trevor and Hannah, Lindsay knows me. She knows Asher and me together, what we’ve been all these years. Without the alcohol to loosen me up, I’m thinking way too hard about what I can say to her that won’t be weird. Thankfully, watching Trevor and Hannah has distracted me.
“Are those two—” I wave a casual finger toward Trevor and Hannah, who are angled toward each other, talking about something that probably isn’t game-related if the look on Trevor’s face is any indication. Hannah’s thick bangs cover one eye, and she pushes them back behind her ear. “—together?” I whisper the last word like it’s dirty.
Asher is turning his head to my ear as Trevor says, “Yeah. Why, you interested?” His face is serious, and Hannah looks like she might hit him. I don’t know what to say. But then Trevor laughs, and Hannah follows. Asher warned me in the car that mellow drunk Trevor is not the norm, and I guess he’s right. Trevor seems like a total goofball.
“I think you traumatized her.” Hannah pokes him in the arm with her elbow. “Say sorry.”
“Sorry I traumatized you.” Trevor rubs the spot on his arm as if Hannah jabbed him with a hot poker, not her dainty elbow. “I would have thought Asher had done that years ago.”
At this, I laugh. Trevor is funny. And clearly he’s not clueless about my history with Asher. I’m curious just how close the two of them are, so I ask, “Did you know this is our first date?” I see the surprise register not just on Trevor’s face, but on everyone’s. “He brought me to your basement.”
The girls look personally affronted, and Trevor is just shaking his head, like maybe he’s going to get to see the Sidney and Asher Show he’s heard so much about. Hannah is muttering “Oh come on, Ash” when he throws his hands up in the air. Lindsay looks surprised, but in a different way somehow, and I’m not sure what to make of it.
“Hey now.” Asher’s voice is amused, not angry. “I did not bring Sidney on a basement-date.” The surprise on my face seems to be mirrored on his. “You thought I brought you on a basement-date?”
I let my eyes wander around the room as if to say, Look where we are. We’re in a basement. We’re on a date. This is a basement-date. But I don’t, because I was just joking, and I have no problem with Asher bringing me here. More like I was nervous talking to his friends for the first time (sober) and picking on Asher is my go-to stress reliever.
Asher sets his hand on my knee, and it’s a lot like when a kitten jumps on your lap. You’re really excited they want to play, but also, you know they have tiny, needle-like nails ready to stab you at