Page 80 of Game Over

I watched as they cooked, dedicated to avoiding another burnt pancake disaster like the one we’d had on our six-month anniversary. They were just barely bubbling and browning on the edges when my phone, forgotten on the counter, buzzed to life.

Charlie - Hey, want to hang out today? Was thinking we could go to Board City?

I was still annoyed at him. Absolutely I was… But I couldn’t help smiling either. We barely ever fought, honestly in living memory I could only recall one time when I’d gone this long without talking to him.

Back in our junior year of high school, he’d spent the entire semester dicking around not doing his term paper for history and I’d been busting my ass on it for weeks. But once the deadline arrived Charlie crammed and wrote the entire thing the night before. He got an A minus, I got a B.

It was catastrophic.

At the time, he drove a beat-up Jeep that made more noise than a fucking elephant, so whenever he pulled onto my street the entire neighborhood knew. He showed up in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday after we hadn’t spoken all weekend, making a goddamn racket for the whole culdesac, and insisted I get into his car.

I tried to tell him to get lost, but the stubborn dick wouldn’t take no for an answer. Eventually, I was corralled into the vehicle and brought to Board City. It’d just opened back then, and we hadn’t had a chance to go.

Sort of the perfect bribe. I never could resist a game store and a board game cafe was evenbetter. All the selection and none of the commitment.

He brought us in, paid, and grabbed a cozy cooperation game off of the shelf. I thought it was silly. We were meant to build a town together and gather as many resources as possible. I’d always loved competition and playing a game where no one won seemed ridiculous.

What was the point of playing without a winner and a loser?

But, strategizing together, being on the same team, and in the end, getting the second-highest score possible in the game had us in good spirits. Not to mention—it gave us time to talk about why I was so upset.

More than anything, I was just sick of trying harder than every alphahole in a five-mile radius of me for a third of the result.

We’d gone a bunch since, especially in school it’d become a bit of a routine for us, but we rarely played co-op games. Mostly, we enjoyed the friendly competition of it all… I had a feeling though, knowing Charlie, that I was about to see a familiar box for a town-building game.

Sentimental dick.

I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that, not yet. It felt like I’d just figured…somethingout, and while it didn’t fix everything, it felt like it fixed something, but it all still felt fragile as hell and didn’t need Charlie coming in to bulldoze around it.

I needed time to think. Time to figure out what the hell my feelings were here.

The bubbling on the pancakes had begun to slow and I used a heart-shaped purple spatula to flip it, the perfect golden brown color telling me I fucking nailed it.

Top boyfriend status was so back on.

A teetering stack of pancakes later—with only two casualties—and I still hadn’t messaged Charlie back.

I dished up Tara’s with two pancakes, a pat of butter, and powdered sugar on top.

The bottle of syrup waited for her on the counter—I never, in good conscious could add syrup to the top of something already covered in powdered sugar—and like she intrinsically knew breakfast was ready, Tara came around the corner her still wet hair hanging around her shoulders in her OVWatch tank top and sweatpants.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice much clearer and more awake as she leaned up for a quick kiss.

She grabbed forks and the syrup as I collected our plates, sitting at the little breakfast bar. We ate together in comfortable,we’re both way too tired to yap,silence. Tara leaned into my side with a happy hum as she demolished her plate.

My phone buzzed again on the other side of the counter and I leaned across the surface to pull it towards me, sighing at the sight of Charlie’s message.

Charlie - I’ll drag you there if I have to. You know I will.

I couldn’t help the smile the threat brought to my face, but I let it fade quickly. Gaze distant as I chewed at my nail bed, indecision making anxiety fill my chest.

Tara’s hand cradled mine, pulling it away from my gnawing teeth, her concerned eyes searching my face. “What happened?”

I set my phone down, still not answering. Mostly because I had no idea what to say.

“Charlie texted.”

I could tell she was trying to keep her face neutral, her head tilted to the side curiously so that her damp hair slid over her shoulder. I’d told her about our…spat.

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