I was looking forward to game night. Well, I always look forward to game night, but more so this time. Perhaps I should explain.
Every week, we come together at my own or one of my friends' houses to play games. Sometimes we're a small group, but when everyone is there we're with 8 people. We play board games, mostly, and every once in a while we watch a movie or something.
Two weeks ago, we were playing at Tom and Jess' house. Besides Me, Tom and Jess, only Frank could come, so I expected us to be four, but we were introduced to Mary, a friend of Jess' who had heard about our game nights and thought they sounded like fun. Something about her attracted me straight away. She was rather short, and, for lack of a better word, plump. She had a pretty face, though. She seemed shy, but surprised me by the way she smiled as she stuck out her hand.
"Hi, I'm Mary," she said.
Something in that incredibly short sentence definitely hit a nerve or two. "Marc," I said, taking her hand and shaking it. "Pleasure to meet you. Do you play a lot?"
"Oh, you know," she said, "every once in a while. I'm not terribly good though."
At that point, I was distracted by Tom making a funny noise. The evening got to a good start, and I was delighted to find out that Mary was a pretty good player. Even though she didn't know the game we were playing (some zombie apocalypse themed thing) she picked up the rules pretty fast and finished second after me.
Frank was grinning, "She's giving you a run for your money, Marc!"
"She sure is," I had to admit. Her shyness had become a lot less while we were talking and playing.
She looked at me slyly, and said, "Another round?" with a twinkle in her eye. I was sure she was bent on beating me next time.
"Challenge accepted," I said in what I hoped was a graceful manner. I then looked at Tom and Jess, "If we can intrude on your hospitality a bit longer, that is?"
"No problem," said Tom, "I'll join, you need a third player. Though by the looks of it, I'll be playing for kicks..."
"I'm out," said Jess, "it's getting late, and you look like you want to get into some real competition."
"Me too," said Frank, "It's been a couple of late nights at work, I want to get to bed sometime early."
And so, with Jess reading a book on the couch, Mary, Tom and I settled in for another game. As Tom predicted, he couldn't keep up with us. As for me, I needed every bit of experience I had to keep ahead of Mary. She was really focused on the game, and kept looking at me in such a calculating manner that I was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable, and strangely aroused. It was like having a mental wrestling match. At one point, I started wondering what it would be like to really wrestle with her a bit.
"Ha!" she exclaimed. I realized I let myself be distracted too much, and given her an opportunity to get ahead of me by three points. There was not enough time to make up for the difference.
"Dozing off, Marc? You could've prevented that!" Tom said, looking at me quizzically, "or do you have something up your sleeve?"
I shook my head and smiled. "Nope, I messed up. Well done, Mary!"
She smiled too, making my heart skip a beat. "I'm glad to see you're a good loser as well as a good winner," she said. "Same time next week?" she asked, looking at Tom.
"Not at our place," he said, "Frank'll be hosting, but I'm sure he'd love to have you over as well. I'll send him a message."
After that, we all said goodnight. The week after at Frank's, things were pretty much the same. This time I managed to win by a very small margin, but at one point I got the impression that Mary was letting me win. Was she playing me? In any case, the rest of the group was hinting that they were feeling left out. I looked at the scores. Me: 102. Mary: 100. The rest: at least 40 points behind, every one of them.
"Same time next week?" she asked.
"Sure," I said. "Who's hosting?" I asked.
There was a short silence, and I was about to offer to host (I usually don't, because my place is really small and it's cramped if we're a large group) when Mary said, "How about my place? It's not that far from here."
Everyone seemed to be happy with that.
"Plus, I get to pick a game that Marc doesn't know so I can put him at a disadvantage", Mary said with a smile. For some reason, everyone was even happier with that... I guess I'm a bit more competitive than the rest of the group. They must have been delighted to see me struggle.
And so, now, one week later, I'm on my way to Mary's place for game night. I'm wondering who will be there. Frank had to work last minute and Tom and Jess are both ill, so our core group is not there. Some of the others will probably still be there. Although... I catch myself thinking that I don't mind if it's just me and Mary.
I find the address, and ring the bell. Mary opens up. I notice she's dressed in a comfortable sweater and loose fitting pants; I'm thinking it makes her look approachable. I try to put any lewd thoughts out of my head, so I ask, "So, who else is coming?"
"It's just you and me tonight it seems," she says as she leads me into the living room. "A lot of people are either ill or have last-minute appointments. But I expect we can find some two-player games. Fancy a round of cribbage?"
"Cribbage?" I ask, a bit surprised. I'm familiar with the card game, but it's not something you hear about a lot. "Where did you pick that up?"
"Yeah, do you know it?" she answers, "We used to play that with the family all the time when I was a girl".
"Yeah, I do," I say. "I'm a bit rusty on the rules though, you'll have to summarize them for me."
"No problem," she says, "sit down, and I'll get the cards." She gets up from the table, but stops next to the drinks cabinet. "Fancy a drink? If you want to share, I can open up a bottle of wine."