We’re in the corner of the basement again, except now it’s quiet instead of buzzing with people. Everyone is in the same chairs, but the game board is completely different. It’s clean, a brand-new game ready to go.
“We’re playing the same game again?” Sidney asks.
“Yeah, but it won’t be the same. All it takes is one changed decision, and the whole game is different. You can play this game over and over, and it won’t ever turn out the same.”
An hour into our game, Sidney is crushing it. We were forbidden from playing together, but her chair is pulled up close to mine anyway. She’s perched up on her chair again, her legs tucked under her. Every time I strike one of her territories she softly punches my leg. But after she does it, her hand stays there. Her palm is pressed into my thigh, and at first, it feels sort of rigid against me like she didn’t realize she did it, but soon she uses it to leverage herself up as she stretches to look across the board. Her hand relaxes, her fingers begin to tap and flutter against me. At one point, I swear she’s tracing a message against my leg. I keep trying to make it out, but all I accomplish is Trevor mocking me when I space out and don’t realize my turn has come.
“Do we need a hand check?” Trevor teases. Sid lifts her hands, and I expect they’ll go back to her lap, but her left hand returns to its spot on my leg. Knowing Sidney, it’s probably there to spite Trevor. I keep waiting for her to move it, but I think maybe she’s committed to playing tonight’s game one-handed. And that’s a challenge I am fully on board with.
Sidney
The last time I played a board game with Lindsay I was drunk. It’s different being sober, and I’m quiet. With her, at least. I don’t know what to talk about. Unlike Trevor and Hannah, Lindsay knows me. She knows Asher and me together, what we’ve been all these years. Without the alcohol to loosen me up, I’m thinking way too hard about what I can say to her that won’t be weird. Thankfully, watching Trevor and Hannah has distracted me.
“Are those two—” I wave a casual finger toward Trevor and Hannah, who are angled toward each other, talking about something that probably isn’t game-related if the look on Trevor’s face is any indication. Hannah’s thick bangs cover one eye, and she pushes them back behind her ear. “—together?” I whisper the last word like it’s dirty.
Asher is turning his head to my ear as Trevor says, “Yeah. Why, you interested?” His face is serious, and Hannah looks like she might hit him. I don’t know what to say. But then Trevor laughs, and Hannah follows. Asher warned me in the car that mellow drunk Trevor is not the norm, and I guess he’s right. Trevor seems like a total goofball.
“I think you traumatized her.” Hannah pokes him in the arm with her elbow. “Say sorry.”
“Sorry I traumatized you.” Trevor rubs the spot on his arm as if Hannah jabbed him with a hot poker, not her dainty elbow. “I would have thought Asher had done that years ago.”
At this, I laugh. Trevor is funny. And clearly he’s not clueless about my history with Asher. I’m curious just how close the two of them are, so I ask, “Did you know this is our first date?” I see the surprise register not just on Trevor’s face, but on everyone’s. “He brought me to your basement.”
The girls look personally affronted, and Trevor is just shaking his head, like maybe he’s going to get to see theSidney and Asher Showhe’s heard so much about. Hannah is muttering “Oh come on, Ash” when he throws his hands up in the air. Lindsay looks surprised, but in a different way somehow, and I’m not sure what to make of it.
“Hey now.” Asher’s voice is amused, not angry. “I didnotbring Sidney on a basement-date.” The surprise on my face seems to be mirrored on his. “You thought I brought you on a basement-date?”
I let my eyes wander around the room as if to say,Look where we are. We’re in a basement. We’re on a date. This is a basement-date.But I don’t, because I was just joking, and I have no problem with Asher bringing me here. More like I was nervous talking to his friends for the first time (sober) and picking on Asher is my go-to stress reliever.
Asher sets his hand on my knee, and it’s a lot like when a kitten jumps on your lap. You’re really excited they want to play, but also, you know they have tiny, needle-like nails ready to stab you at any moment, and you can’t fully relax. Everything inside me goes taut. Is this what it felt like when I did it to him? He tips his head toward me as he says, “This isn’t a date, Sid. When I take you on a date, you’ll know it.” He glances over at Trevor. “And this nerd definitely won’t be there.”
Not a date.I was only teasing Asher, I don’t actually want to get into the details of our situation at a table full of his friends, so I just smile at him and say, “If you say so.”
He gives me a smug smile right back. “I do say so.”
Asher and I are still looking at each other when Lindsay clears her throat. “Honestly, I can’t believe it took this long.” The words aren’t unkind, but she immediately picks up a game piece. Our little chat is over. She’s been quiet most of the night, too, but now her eyes dart to me. Lindsay insisted no partners when we started tonight. I can’t help but wonder if she has a problem with anyone being partners, or just me. With Asher. I think of the way she looked at me at the party. Even tipsy I could register the jealousy there. Or maybe it was just shock. I’m not sure which is worse. Was she irritated that he was holding my hand or just surprised that he would? We weren’t even together then. We’re not togethernow,my brain says. But my brain isn’t the one in control when I take my hand off of Asher’s leg and put it up on his shoulder, right where she can see it.
We’ve been playing for hours, and it feels weird that I might leave here soon without having said a word to Lindsay. Probablyno one else notices, but I won’t let myself be that girl. I finally work up the nerve to ask her something I’ve always wondered about. “So what’s up with the yard sculptures?” I flick a card across my fingertips, over and over, trying to rein in my nervous energy.
Lindsay shrugs. “My mom’s nuts about those things. She knows where each and every one of them is.” I think about the time Edith spent in my bedroom and wonder if Nadine really did notice her missing. “When people come over for the first time she always takes them around the yard like it’s a tour.” She rolls her eyes. “They’re like her adopted children.”
That seems like an exaggeration, and my face must say the same because Lindsay looks at me and raises her brows. “Seriously. I broke one when I was a kid, back when they were at our old house, and she lost it. I was grounded for a week. Total accident.”
“Sidney’s always been low-key obsessed with those things,” Asher says, his voice teasing.
“More like I’m fascinated with the way they’ve multiplied. They’re like a yard sculpture army. The sheer number is what fascinates me.” I poke my elbow into his ribs.
“Wasn’t there a show when we were kids, where yard gnomes came to life?” Trevor says.
Asher laughs. “Can you imagine?”
“I’d like to think that if they could leave, they would. They deserve a less grumpy owner.” I look at Lindsay apologetically. “No offense.”
Lindsay shrugs. “She’s not the easiest person.” She looks from me to Asher. “Sorry about what happened with getting kicked out and everything. I didn’t hear about it ’til you guys were gone.” She looks to Asher. “You should have called me, I would have talked her down.”
Asher shakes his head. “It all happened really fast, I didn’t even think about it.” He puts a hand on my knee and squeezes,as if he’s trying to remind me that it all worked out okay. And I guess it did. When Asher’s hand stays on my knee, I try to remind myself to breathe. It’s almost enough to distract me from thinking about the fact that Lindsay sounded so casual about Asher calling her. She didn’t give him her number, so he already has it.
Before my brain can go down a dark road, I let it run away in a different direction. “I don’t think yard sculptures are very loyal. I bet they make a break for it someday. Maybe they’ll pile on the pontoon and come to our new house.”
