“You want to talk annoying? I’ve watched you double dip not once, not twice, but like fifteen fucking times.”
“I wasn’t double dipping.”
“News flash. When you dip a chip twice, that’s double dipping,” I challenged.
“If you must know, I took a bite, flipped it,thenre-dipped it, asshole.” Jake’s words dripped contempt.
“That’s still double dipping,” I mumbled under my breath. Jake ignored me and turned his back, shutting me out of the conversation again. My instinct was to smother him in a big, gushy hug to really piss him off, and I would have had we been alone, but since there was a rather large audience, I refrained.
“What took you so long, anyway?” Keith asked.
“Honestly, I have no good explanation. Today just sucked ass. So many damn delays. I’m surprised I even made it.”
“Like you had it so bad,” I scoffed. “You didn’t have to drive seven hours in a car with Quinn.”
“Wait,” Quinn, sitting on the other side of Keith, objected. “What did I do?”
“Seriously? The chipmunk song?”
“Oh, yeah,” he grinned.
“Do I even want to know?” Jake asked.
“Not unless you want him to sing it for you.”
“Oh no, I don’t want that. Never mind.”
“You guys just don’t appreciate good music, the way Jake and I do,” Quinn joked.
“Donotdrag me down with you!” Jake exclaimed.
We all laughed. Jake leaned back in his chair, stretching out. I could see the stress lines in his forehead slowly receding. His tight shoulders opened up and gradually relaxed, and the forced smile he had carried since arriving had disappeared completely. This was a good start. Maybe a more pleasant mood would follow.
“Anyway, I have a game for us to play later.”
“Shut up, Quinn. No one’s talking to you,” Keith kidded.
“Seriously. It’s fun.”
I glanced around. Neither Jake nor Keith looked the least bit interested in Quinn’s version of fun, so I took pity on him. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s your game?”
“Bean Boozled.”
“Oh, god no!” I blurted out, laughing.
Looking confused, Jake asked, “Bean what?”
“Bean Boozled,” I answered. “It’s that game where you spin the wheel and there are two jellybeans on each stop. One is a good flavor like peach or blueberry, and the other is like vomit or baby wipe. And you don’t know what you’ll get until you put it in your mouth.”
“You’re joking, right?” Jake asked, not seeming amused.
“No. Sadly, I’m not. And apparently, the flavors are pretty spot on, too.”
Jake had a confused look on his face as he shook his head. “And this is supposed to be fun?”
“That’s what the kid says.” I shrugged.
“It is,” Quinn tried. “It’s really funny, I promise.”
