David rolled the dice and snake-eyes came up. He moved his race car token to St. James Place and put $180 into the bank for the deed. He and his best friend, Samantha, hadn't had a game night with just the two of them in over a year. In high school, it had been a weekly tradition, either on Friday or Saturday night. Ever since college started, though they saw each other quite often, they'd been too busy for game night, either with school, work, or dates. Now, here they were, having their first game night in her new apartment, which her parents paid for because of her excellent grades and for being on the Dean's list.
David reached for the dice. "Doubles," he said with a smile.
Sam rolled her eyes. "Oh, just roll again."
This time David turned up double twos. He put his car on Free Parking. Since they were Monopoly purists, he gained no money for the spot from any specialty rules. They grudgingly put up with other people insisting on putting money in the middle of the board for Free Parking stops, but when they played, it didn't happen.
"Roll again," Sam said. "And remember, one more double and you go to jail."
David chuckled. "Like Chet." Chet was Sam's current boyfriend, and David didn't think much of him. Not that he was a hoodlum or anything, but he'd told a few stories of how he and his buddies had been trouble makers in high school, so David liked to tease Sam about Chet being a bad-boy. He actually was a pretty nice guy, and he treated Sam very well. There was just something about him that David didn't like. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it lingered. He felt that about all the guys Sam had dated.
She smacked him on the shoulder. "Shut up. Chet's not a criminal. He's a nice guy." She paused and smiled. "At least he has a personality."
David groaned. "Cheap shot." Sam had always called his last girlfriend, Brenda, boring. Though he hadn't admitted it to anyone, including Sam, he'd thought so, too. He had continued to date her because, though she hadn't let him have sex with her, he did get free reign of her breasts when they made out. She'd dumped him about a month ago, presumably for another guy, though he never did get the full story. He'd yet to jump back on the dating horse.
"Oh, just go," Sam said.
David rolled for this third time on this turn, and though he didn't get doubles, he did roll a ten--a six and a four. "Crap," he said. A ten meant he had landed on the Go to Jail square. That was sometimes a good move late in the game when there were too many unfriendly pieces of property out there, but this early he wanted to buy as many as he could. He picked up his token and moved it directly to jail.
"You're not going to give me the satisfaction of watching you move to jail square by square?" Sam said in a mock pout.
"No satisfaction for you," he said, sticking his tongue out at her.
Samantha giggled and picked up the dice. Her dog marker sat on Vermont Avenue. "Maybe I'll get snake eyes and come visit you."
David smirked. "I wouldn't say no to a conjugal visit."
Sam blushed and rolled the dice. David wondered what that was about. They'd been friends since Kindergarten, and they often made sexual jokes. She usually gave as good as he got, and he'd never seen her blush when they were alone.
Her roll was a nine, and she landed on Community Chest. She drew the card and won second place in a beauty contest. "Here you are, going to jail, while I'm winning second place in beauty pageants." She gave a big mock sigh. "Where did we go wrong?"
"Sounds like your future life with Chet," he said with a smile.