Matty held up the game box. “Catan only has pieces for four players.”
As if on cue, Coop held up a smaller box. “I brought my Settlers of Catan expansion pack.”
He could practically see the smoke coming from Matty’s ears. His righteous indignation was adorable. Matty pulled him aside and backed him into the kitchen off the lounge.
“You don’t have a regular Catan group. You don’t play Catan at all.”
“I could.”
“Where did you get that expansion pack?”
“A store.”
“You wouldn’t know a development card if it bit you in the butt.”
“It depends which development card we’re talking about here.” Coop crossed his arms. “A Year of Plenty card, a Knight, or your run-of-the-mill Victory Point card? Boom!”
“How did you know I’d be here?” Matty’s eyes swirled with fury. It was kinda sexy. He was close enough for Coop to detect his deodorant and musky Matty scent.
“I looked in the archives of the student bulletin and found a listing for a weekly Catan group.” Coop rested against the fridge, cool as a cucumber. Speaking of cucumber, being this close to Matty was making his blood rush south. It must be the excitement of getting a rise out of Matty that was getting a rise out of him.
“I figured you didn’t get involved in this by striking up a conversation with somebody around campus.”
That seemed to ding Matty, and Coop felt a little bad. His nudged Matty with his shoulder. “I’m excited to play.”
Matty looked past them into the lounge. “This isn’t a game like Scrabble or Connect Four that you can pick up on the fly. Catan is intricate and involves a lot of rules and strategy, and you are playing with four guys who are really good.”
“That includes you, right?”
“I’ve won the last four games in a row.”
“Well, prepare to lose tonight.” Coop strutted back into the lounge. “Who is ready to get their Catan on?”
Coop spent this afternoon reading up on the rules and watching YouTube videos of strategy. He snickered to himself as he went from message board to message board over this game. If his friends could see him now…I’m ditching a party to play a board game.Matty and his friends reminded him of the nerds fromSixteen Candles, which obviously made him Jake Ryan. Although John Cusack was megacute in that movie, too.
Matty grabbed onto Coop’s arm, his warm touch sending some kind of electricity racing through him.
“This is your last chance,” Matty said.
Coop didn’t get the big deal, but he embraced the spirit of competition and got right in Matty’s face. “Prepare to get Catanned.”
They took their seats. A chair was pulled up for Coop on the corner opposite Matty. The guys looked on in awe as Tim flipped over each of the board tiles. You would think he was showing them porn for the first time.
Coop placed a settlement and road on one of the light green hexagons in the middle of the board.
“You place them on the edges of the hexagon, not in the middle,” Matty said.“I knew that. I just like pissing you off.” Coop fixed his pieces. “Psychological warfare.”
“I’m watching out for this one,” Akash said.
Coop’s teammates did not follow his speedy cue. They each took a good two minutes agonizing over the perfect space for their little houses and roads. They would keep their index finger on the house until they were one million percent sure that this was where they wanted to place…and then they’d switch it at the last second.
Not Matty, though. He moved with a swiftness and decisiveness that unnerved the other players, and Coop, too. He placed his settlement and road as if it were part of his master plan all along. Matty did not fuck around when it came to Catan.
“How long do your games usually last?” Coop asked casually.
“We’re pretty fast,” Tim said. “We usually finish in just under an hour and a half.”
Coop’s face sank. He checked his phone. This was going to be a long night.
