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.
"Shut up," she said. He could tell she wanted to continue the thought, that there was something she wasn't telling him, but she wasn't ready. He knew her well enough that if he just waited, he'd learn what it was.
"Well," he said after she collected her ten dollar prize, "since you won the beauty contest, you should do your little runway twirl."
"But I only won second place." She stood up and giggled while she said it, though.
God, she was beautiful. He'd thought so since they were nine years old. By the time they'd been of dating age, he hadn't had the self-confidence to change their relationship. She stood before him now with a shy smile she never wore around him. Before he worried about that, though, he drank her in. She stood 5'3" and couldn't weigh more than 110 pounds. He guessed her breasts were B-cups, since that's what Brenda had been, and Sam's were about the same size. Her wavy brown hair, usually done up in a pony tail, hung loose and down past her shoulders. Tonight she had on a tight blue sweater (his favorite color) and a long, pale-blue skirt, which was a bit unusual. He couldn't remember when she hadn't dressed in jeans or jeans-shorts and a loose, comfortable t-shirt when it was just the two of them. He wasn't going to complain, though. He loved when women wore long, flowing skirts. Had he ever told her that? If he didn't know better, he'd think she was dressed to seduce him. He hoped it didn't mean Chet was coming over later.
"So," she said, "did I deserve the second place finish?"
He shook his head. "The judges were nuts. You should have taken home that $20 prize for first place." They laughed, and then he added, "I hope Chet realizes how lucky he is."
"I broke up with him earlier today," she blurted out, and then her face flashed bright red.
"What? Why? I didn't like him, but I thought you did."
She chuckled. "You don't like any of my boyfriends. It's just . . . I'm in love with someone else."