“So who starts?” Keith asked. “I think it should be youngest to oldest.”
“Oh, of courseyoudo, grandpa!” I blasted.
“I don’t know,” Jake teased. “Casey loves this game sooo much. I think it should be ladies first.”
Casey grinned. “All right. You’re on!”
She spun the wheel, and it landed on two brownish-orange jellybeans. Quinn read the flavors.
“You are either going to eat tutti-fruitti or sweaty sock.”
The rest of us burst out laughing.
“Sweaty sock?” Jake questioned. “How would the creators of the game even know what that tastes like?”
“Please, Jake,” Casey interrupted. “I need absolute silence. It’s incredibly important to be in the zone.”
Amusement danced on Jake’s face. He was really digging this girl. We all were. Silence ensued as Casey took a deep breath and gamely popped one of the two beans in her mouth. It was clear from the first bite which one she got.
“Tutti-fruitti, bitches!” she declared happily as she high-fived the rest of us. “Now I get to pick.”
“Wait, who made you boss?” Jake asked.
“It’s the rules.”
“According to who?”
“Me,” she laughed.
“Does anyone else have a problem with this?”
“No,” the rest of us yelled out, knowing that by allowing Casey to choose, Jake would be the next to go.
“Awesome. Okay, so I’m going to choose… oh gosh, who should it be?” Casey asked, with a wicked smile on her face. “I just can’t decide…”
“Just give me the damn spinner,” Jake replied, as he grabbed the game.
His spin landed on two dark green ones.
“Oh, shit!” Quinn exclaimed, looking sufficiently nervous. Because Jake hadn't been around much when he was growing up, Quinn didn’t have the close relationship with him that Keith and I had. As a result, he always seemed to be looking for validation of some sort.
“What? What did I get?”
“Well, yours are juicy pear…”
“Gross, I hate pears,” Jake complained.
“Actually, Jake, that’s the good flavor.” Quinn winced.
“What’s the bad flavor?”
“Booger.”
“Booger?” Jake asked in astonishment.
“Yeah,” Quinn said, apologetically.
“So let me just clarify here. I won’t know until I put it in my mouth if I am eating pear or booger?”
