After Happily Ever Afte- Astrid Ohletz Page 0,62

“And anyway, after Henry’s pie, it’s anyone’s game.”

Soo-Mi made a sound of agreement. “I’ll leave you guys to it. Let me know if I was right.”

Another kiss for Nic, and she disappeared into her little office, taking her haul of paperwork with her.

She got that this was a Nic and Ava thing. She was good like that. Also, Ava really liked Soo-Mi, which was cool. Then again, Ava liked almost everybody. She was like the golden retriever of people.

“Padma is definitely leaving now.” Nic clucked her tongue in disappointment. “That extra layer of ganache was a terrible choice.”

“Speaking of terrible choices.” Ava turned to Nic with a sunny smile. “I wanna have a game night for my birthday.”

The words echoed in her head. Nic went through all the stages of grief before finally landing on begrudging acceptance. She fixed Ava with a hard stare. “It’s your 30th birthday. You’re the world’s most beloved superhero. You’re engaged to one of the most famous women on the planet, and instead of a Kanye-level party on a boat, you want to do game night?”

“Yes?”

Nic pointed to the window behind her. “You know the curtains have barely recovered.”

Ava laughed. “Look, we’ll have it at our place. Just you, me, Gwen, and Soo-Mi. It’ll be fun. I promise.”

Nic took a long sip of her beer. “I love you, girl. But do not make promises you can’t keep. Last time—”

“It won’t be like last time.”

“Last time,” Nic continued, trying very hard to sound casual about this whole thing, “your girlfriend called me a quixotic millennial, so…”

Ava cringed. “She went too far. I know. To be fair, that was after you called her walking white privilege.”

Nic shrugged without apology.

“I just… I want you guys to get along. You’re both my favorite people, and it sucks that you don’t like each other.”

“I don’t not like her, I…” Nic struggled to find the most diplomatic way of putting it. “I think we’re from different worlds, and—”

“Ha!” Ava pointed a finger at her. “You and I are literally from two different worlds, and we get along.”

Nic rolled her eyes, barely repressing her smile. Ava was a dork. “You know what I mean, Eisenberg. Your girl and me… We have nothing in common. But,” Nic continued as Ava’s face fell. “I will come to your dumb game night, even if I wish it was an 80’s themed pool party on Beyoncé’s boat.”

Ava fell onto Nic with a squeal of excitement, enveloping her in a hug until she gave in and succumbed to the inevitable. “Yeah, yeah,” Nic mumbled, smooshed against her favorite superhero. “There better be fancy champagne.”

Gwen watched Ava flit about the apartment like a hyperactive bee.

They had spent a very lazy morning in bed, during which Gwen had wished Ava happy birthday in so many delicious ways until around noon, when Ava realised they hadn’t acquired anything in the way of snacks for that evening’s game night.

Gwen’s assistant, Cari, came by around three that afternoon, having ticked everything off Ava’s shopping list, with at least twenty paper bags filled with everything from crackers to sangria.

“I see you bought out Whole Foods,” Gwen quipped at Ava in amusement.

“I couldn’t decide between a cheese board or a charcuterie board, so I told Cari to get enough for both.” Ava looked panicked. “Too much?”

Gwen bit down on her lip to keep herself from smiling. Ava was adorably flustered. “No.” She kissed her softly. “It’s fine. This is your day.”

Ava smiled, nerves calmed by the simple kiss. “Okay. I just want it to be perfect.”

“It will be.” Gwen leaned in for another kiss, hoping it would soften the lie.

“Hold on! Is that legal? Can she just take my sword?” Nicole looked as if she was about to stand up and punch something, so Gwen tightened her grip on her item card.

“The rules say that I can pilfer anything that you haven’t already added to your vault, and as of your last turn, your sword was still in the common area.”

“She’s right.” Ava shot Nicole an apologetic look that annoyed Gwen for some unfathomable reason. “You should have put your weapons in the vault.”

“Well, that’s just stupid.” Nicole huffed and slumped back in her seat. “How am I supposed to do that and attack Gwen’s pillar?”

“Um, you’re not. This is supposed to be cooperative, babe.” Soo-Mi, whom Gwen liked immensely, put her hand over Nicole’s.

“But she took my sword,” Nicole grumbled and directed a scathing glance at Gwen who took a sip of her