Before college, Matty had only played Settlers of Catan online. He tried explaining it to Aditi one time as Monopoly set in the Middle Ages. You wanted to build settlements and cities, which were like houses and hotels. The more you built, the more points you received until a player hit ten points. In high school, after studying and homework, he would find the time to play for a good hour. He liked to think that he had friends on every continent, even though he didn’t know much about his opponents except their building strategies.
He didn’t know much about Tim, Tom, or Akash either, when he thought about it. Akash was the comedian, although Matty saw right through his jokes as a way to distract players. Tim was freakishly tall with a hemp necklace forever hanging from his long neck, and he had freakishly long hair he wrapped up in a bun. Tom was the most clean-cut of the trio, and he only drank Caffeine-free Coke. That was enough for Matty.
He liked that when they played, they all got into the game. This wasn’t like when his dad played poker with his friends, where most of the game was them chatting. Each guy in this lounge was in it to win it, as it should be.
“When does the new guy get here?” Akash asked.
“New guy?” Matty looked up from setting up the game.
Tom came out of the kitchen with a six-pack of Caffeine-free Coke. “I hope you don’t mind, but we invited a fifth member to play with us. He said he’s a huge Catan fan.”
Matty’s stomach sunk to his shoes. “He did?”
“Am I late?” Coop waltzed into the lounge.
Chapter 7
Coop
The lookon Matty’s face was a beautiful sight. Coop whistled a happy tune and flipped one of the board game tile thingies in his hand.
“What are you doing here?” Matty asked.
“Playing Catan.”
Tom cracked open a can of soda. “Coop emailed me and said that his Catan group was on hiatus this week.”
Matty stepped forward, frustration creasing his forehead. “Coop doesn’thavea Catan group.”
“I told you how much I enjoy playing.” Coop laid on his smile thick, sending Matty’s eyebrows into a deep V. “I love games.”
Even though he had to play a nerdy board game, at least Coop would be able to find some entertainment this evening. Matty crossed his arms and shook his head. He didn’t realize just how cute he was when he did that. Coop couldn’t deny that he’d been thinking about Matty ever since their meeting in the library. He was unlike any other student he’d met at Browerton.
“Hey, Tom,” Coop asked politely. “Do you assemble the number tokens atop the board tiles in the traditional, Catan-recommended clockwise pattern, or do you have your own methodology for distributing them?”
“We just do it the standard way.” Tom took a sip from his soda.
“I think that’s best,” Coop said. “Having numbered tokens in the same place makes for a more balanced board.” Coop stifled a laugh. He had to hold onto the back of the chair to continue. “I once played in a game where we randomized both board tiles and tokens, and we had one cluster of just iron ore with sixes and eights. We could all build cities,but none of us could build settlements!”
He doubled-over into a raucous chuckle, as did the other players. Matty rolled his eyes and remained planted in his party pooper power pose.
“Same thing happened to me,” Akash said. “We were rolling in the wheat and nothing else. Lots of four-for-one trading going on.”
Coop pretended to wipe tears from his eyes.
“I asked Coop this afternoon what two resources you needed to build a road, and he didn’t know,” Matty said.
“I can help you arrange the board.” Coop reached for the tiles, but Matty snatched them away.
“You will do no such thing!” He whisper-yelled.
“Hey Tim,” Coop placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. “You have got to tell me the secret to growing your hair so long. My hair just grows out into shrubbery.” He took off his hat and ran a hand over his buzzed head.
“A lot depends on genetics, I think,” Tim said.
“I guess that makes sense.” Coop stared at Matty with a sore winner’s grin as he plucked a can of Tom’s soda from the six-pack. He cracked it open in an exaggerated motion, as if he were on a commercial.
“I appreciate you fellas letting me play tonight,” Coop said.
