Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lexi
“What is this game?” Bennett asks with his brows furrowed. He looks so perplexed, and I can’t help my laugh.
“Old Maid,” I tell him as I grab one of his cards and place it with my own.
“Old Maid,” he repeats with a nod. “And the objective is?”
“To get as many matches as you can by drawing a card from the person to your right. Once you make all your matches you are done, unless you end up with the Old Maid.”
“What happens then?”
“You lose,” Adley says with a laugh.
“So how the hell do I get rid of this then?” He pulls out the Old Maid from his deck and tosses her between us all like she is a hot coal.
“First off you aren’t supposed to share that you have her,” I say, picking her back up and trying to give it back to him. He scoots back and shakes his head.
“Nope,” he states, “that bitch is yours.”
“That’s not how it works.” I have tears in my eyes and honestly I can’t remember ever laughing this hard. It’s been forever since I felt this relaxed. Adley is shoveling popcorn into her mouth and watching us with a smile.
“I don’t like this game,” Bennett says. “Is this what you two do every night? Play weird ass games and eat popcorn.”
“Neither of us knows how to play grown-up games, so we go for the ones we understand.” Adley shrugs like it’s no big deal and grabs a card from my hand.
“Match!” She does a little happy dance tossing down the Musician Joe cards.
Bennett only stares at us both shifting his gaze from Adley to me.
“No poker?”
“Nope it’s all Crazy Eights, Go Fish, and Old Maid up in this place,” Adley states proudly. “If we are feeling adventurous we break out Sorry or Life. Do you want to play Life, Bennett?”
“I’m afraid to ask.” The poor guy looks so torn. I’m biting my lip watching the exchange between them doing my best to hold back my laughter.
“So you get a car, and you spin as you move along the board reaching all the different milestones in life. College, career, getting married, buying a house, having kids, retiring, it’s the game of life.”
Again he only stares.
“Or should we stick with Old Maid?”
I watch as he grabs the card from me, turns his body and shuffles his cards around so we don’t see what position she is now in. Then fanning them out he stares at me and waits.
“My turn?” He only nods, staring at me like he’s trying to intimidate me into chasing the horrendous card he possesses. When I reach for one, he turns the cards trying to redirect my choice.
“You really suck at this game,” I tell him with a laugh and then go to the complete opposite side he was trying to get me to choose from.
His eyes don’t change, and when I place the card in my hand, I swear my heart drops. “Really?” I glare at him.
“You were saying?” His lips finally turn up into a smile and I grab a handful of popcorn tossing it in his direction.
“I play poker babe, and I’m really good at it.”
“Game on,” I say, shuffling my cards and holding them out to Adley.
This may be a childish game, but Adley and I find joy in the less stressful activities. Though with Bennett here, he has just turned the table. I am determined to crown him the Maid, if I have to play this game all night long to beat him, I will.