37. Zeke
EARLY HOURS OF THE MORNING, DAY SIX OF THE 2024 OLYMPICS
Valentina gave him an amused look and whispered, “Sorry for walking in on your make-out session,” before leaving the kitchen. She definitely knew there was something going on between him and Olivia. And from the look she exchanged with Aditi as the three of them walked back into the living room, Olivia’s flatmate was in on it too. But, if Haruki suspected anything, he didn’t say a word. Still, Zeke felt guilty about going into the kitchen to kiss a girl his best friend fancied. If he’d known Haruki had been talking about Olivia all along, he wouldn’t have gone as far with things without talking to his best friend first. But now that they were all sitting together in one room, Zeke knew it was only a matter of time before the whole situation imploded.
“You have so many games, it’s unreal,” said Haruki, who was sitting on the sofa going through the board game collection Olivia and Aditi’s Airbnb hosts had left in the living room. A game! That was exactly the kind of distraction Zeke needed to prevent the night from dissolving into chaos.
“Did you say game?” said Zeke, sounding way too eager.
“Immediately, no,” said Valentina. “I’m never playing a board game with you again.”
“Zeke is crazy competitive,” said Haruki, looking over at Olivia and Aditi. Zeke couldn’t tell if Haruki sounded more pointed than normal. But he did notice the way that Haruki held Aditi’s eyes for a moment longer than he needed to. Interesting.
“He will play until everyone wants to go home and then win by his sheer ability to still care about winning after five hours of competition,” said Valentina, teasing him.
“One time he convinced people to play Monopoly at a house party, and it lasted four whole hours,” said Haruki.
“Everyone enjoyed it,” protested Zeke, remembering the party he’d thrown for his twenty-second.
“Everyone played along because it was your birthday,” said Valentina.
“And let you win because it was your birthday,” said Haruki, looking him in the eye. Either Zeke’s paranoia was distorting Haruki’s words or that was definitely a dig.
“I would’ve won anyway,” said Zeke, and Haruki laughed. Zeke felt a moment of relief. Haruki wasn’t mad at him, he was just making a joke—everything was going to be okay. He took a swig of the iced coffee Olivia had given him. But he was so alert to everything going on around him that he didn’t need the caffeine to stay awake anymore.
Then Valentina made a terrible suggestion.
“Shall we play Truth or Dare?” she said, with the smile of a troublemaker. Zeke opened his mouth to object, but he was immediately outnumbered.
Playing a game of Truth or Dare with his ex-girlfriend, his best friend, the girl they both liked, and her best friend. What could possibly go wrong?