* * *
Matty didn’t goto the library after class. He needed to lie down and take a nap and forget that one unanswered question. Both of them. Not even the hockey game happening on his floor bothered him. He welcomed the distraction from his distractions.
He got up and went to his computer. He opened up a new email for Coop. The cursor blinked at him.Your move.Matty’s hands were on the keys, but his mind went blank. No, his mind ran for cover.Coop said he wanted to be friends, but that’s just a line.Matty wasn’t as versed in social situations as him, but he could take a hint. He wanted to focus on his studies, but Matty had never had social drama like this, and it was a tractor beam to his attention.
He needed a new distraction from his distractions. Matty emailed his Catan group and asked if they wanted to play tonight.
* * *
That night, they gathered around the board and set their sights on playing, not chitchatting, just as they’d always done. Tom drank his soda, and Matty couldn’t stop thinking about what he learned about him. Tim adjusted him ropey-looking bracelets, and Matty wondered if he’d gotten them at some environmental protest. Akash made his usual jokes about someone going for longest road whenever they built.
“I emailed Coop to see if he wanted to join us,” Akash said.
Matty’s ears perked up. “What’d he say?”
“He said he couldn’t make it.”
“Too bad,” Tim said. He hunched over the board and spun one of his game pieces like a top. “He was fun. We should make him a regular member.”
“He said he had his own Catan group,” Tom said.
“He could double dip.” Tim munched on a handful of potato chips.
“I don’t think he’d want to,” Matty said. “He made it very clear that he, uh, had another group. I think we have our answer.”
But did they? The cards in his hand went out of focus. He didn’t have his game face on, and he didn’t care to find it.
“You never know. He could be open to it,” Akash said. “Does anyone have any wheat that they could trade? I’d give you a brick or a sheep.”
“Do you think so, though?” Matty put down his cards and looked Akash hard in the face. “I mean, if he was open to it, he wouldn’t have used such definitive language. But if he wasn’t open to it, then he wouldn’t have kissed...kissed onto our schedule. It’s an Indian expression.”
“No, it’s not.” Akash pointed at himself, like he was saying “Fellow Indian here.”
His co-players averted their eyes, and a quiet unlike any he’d ever felt descended over the Catan table. It was worse than the time Akash claimed he won but only had nine points.
Tim nudged him with his elbow. “It’s cool.”
“It is?” Matty asked, so hopeful. He found only smiles and encouraging nods surrounding him. He was still terrified that he had just come outto more people, but their reaction was the greatest gift.
“Is Coop your…boyfriend?” Tom asked.
“Were you guys pulling a con on us the other night in order to win?” Akash asked jokingly.
“We’re friends. Or we were. I don’t know.” Matty pushed back from the table and hung his head back. “We were hanging out this weekend, and we kissed, and then he said that he just wanted to be friends.”
“Then what happened?” Tim asked. They waited eagerly for Matty to continue.
“Then I left. Do you think he actually wants to be friends? I mean, that’s just something people say, right? You can be honest.”
Akash pursed his lips, and Tim and Tom had similar reactions. “That’s not good.”
“But what if we had a really good night together?”
“Has he reached out to you?” Akash asked.
Matty shook his head no. “It’s only been two days. Maybe I should email him?”
“Nope,” Tim said firmly. “The ball is firmly in his court. He said he wants to be friends. It’s up to him to make that happen. My ex-girlfriend said the same thing to me after we broke up. ‘Hey, let’s stay friends.’ I was like ‘Okay.’ Never heard from her again. I even tried texting her to see if she was going to the Iron and Wine concert on campus. Nada.”
