Chapter Five — Alex
I take a deep breath and look down under my cup.
Three, three, three, four.
“Two threes,” Callum says, looking at me.
He’s probably hoping that I have one. Well, I have more than one.
“Four threes,” I say, looking straight at him.
“Liar,” he blurts out.
We raise our cups and I smile triumphantly. Three threes.
He looks at me, eyes wide. I shrug. “It’s math, baby.”
He chuckles. I grab another one of his dice. He’s at just two now, and I still have four.
We roll again.
Two, four, five, six.
“Two sixes,” he says.
He only has two dice, so the odds that he rolled at least one six is about 30%. He’s hoping I have one too. I might as well challenge him.
“Liar,” I say.
We raise our cups. I was right. He had one six. He smiles and removes one of my dice. I’m at three now, while he’s at two.
We roll again.
One, three, one.
“Two ones,” I say.
“Three ones,” he says.
“Liar,” I say.
It’s more likely than not that he doesn’t have any ones, seeing as he only has two dice. We raise our cups.
Damn.
He has a one and a six.
He smiles and takes one of my dice.
“Looks like we’re even again,” he says. “Just trying to hurry up your punishment. If you just concede now, I’ll go easy on you.”
I smile. “Not a chance.”
My stomach flip-flops. What does he have planned? I start thinking, imagining things, and then try to jolt myself back to reality.
Remember, you’re trying to win, I tell myself. But I feel inner resistance to the thought. I try to shake the feeling off as I roll my dice.
Six, four.
This is a tough one. I stare at him, and he just stares at me. It feels like he’s staring into my soul with those green eyes of his. I shift in my seat. My entire body feels like it’s heating up.
“One six,” I say.
“Liar,” he says.
We raise our cups. He has a two and a five. He removes his own die. Now I have two, and he has one.
We roll again.
Three, one.
“One three,” he says.
I stare at him. Is he lying? He either has a three or he doesn’t, because he has just one die. If I were him, I wouldn’t be lying with one die left.
He probably has one, and since I have one too, I raise him. “Two threes,” I say.
“Liar,” he says.
We raise our cups.
He has a five.
My jaw drops.
He laughs. “Wow. Still playing risky with one die left.”
“Now we both have one,” he says as he plucks mine away.
“I guess so,” I say.
“I didn’t think this would happen,” he says.
“Wait,” I say. “What happens now? Because we both just have one die.”
He nods. “Yeah, I didn’t expect this either. When both players have one die each, we bid on the total. The sum of both dice.”
“Got it.”
We both roll. I peek under my cup.
Five.
I look up at him.
“Two,” he says.
“What?” I ask.
“Two,” he repeats.
“No, I mean — wait, are you joking?”
He shakes his head. His face remains stoic, as if he hadn’t just made the worst bid of all time.
It’s obvious that he’s trying to lose. Trying to throw the game. Because even on the off chance he has a one, the minimum possible total between us is two. He can’t lose that bid. The only way I lose is if I raise higher than what the actual total is.
“Why are you doing this?” I hiss.
“Doing what?” he asks.
“Trying to throw the game.”
“I’m not,” he says.
“Oh, really? You think the total is at least two? That’s literally impossible to be wrong about.”
He shrugs. “I’ll take my chances. So, are you going to call my bluff or raise me?”
A million thoughts swirl through my head. This is not what I expected.
I came in today planning to win, but as the game has gotten closer and closer to ending, the doubt that’s been creeping up in me has only grown stronger. Now that Callum’s throwing the game, my gut is screaming at me to do something.
But what?
Throw the game?
I don’t want this to end between us. And that’s what’ll happen if I win, right? Callum’s throwing this because he wants this to be over. He wants us to be over. He’s had enough. He just wants to move on.
I don’t want to, though. I’m not ready to move on. I feel like I must be going insane, but in this moment, everything feels clear, for once.
I know what I want, and it’s not a million dollars.
It’s him.