Page 84 of Game Over

“It’s nice to meet you both.” She shook Carson’s hand and then turned to shake Jacob’s. “Well. Spidey, it looks like we unintentionally matched, doesn't it?” Jacob stared at her for a few seconds. I cleared my throat to get his attention.

“Oh. Oh yes, we did! I, uh, look really nice. I mean you! You look really nice! You make a great MJ. Very nice hair. Do you want a drink?” Carson and I gave each other a knowing look. Little Jacob had himself a crush. Allie clapped her hands to get everyone's attention.

“I’m so glad we could have all of our friends here to celebrate. There’s plenty of snacks and drinks, and I have some games to play if everyone would like to as well!” We all gave hoots and hollers of excitement. I pulled my phone out and turned the music on, and we let the party begin.

We all took turns getting pictures of our costumes. Dolly was loving all the people and attention. The windows were cracked, letting in the breeze. A little into our party, Olivia and her friends stopped by, and everyone loved their costumes. They also said that me and Allie were “goals,” and most of them couldn’t stop ogling Jacob and Carson.

Hours went by of all of us dancing to music, stuffing all the snacks we could into our mouths, and drinking one too many mixed drinks. Mental note: never trust Allie when she says she made the drink light. That woman is heavy-handed. We played middle school games like truth or dare, and then we turned to drunk Mario Kart, which was the best thing. The girls were piled on each other, laughing at us boys as we failed miserably and all lost.

At one point, I think I saw Carson and Emma try to sneak away, so hopefully no one bit the others' heads off, seeing as I was too tipsy to chase after them. Allie’s shoes were long gone in the corner of the living room, and everyone was starting to get tired.

“Everyone, I have two guest rooms if the girls wanna sleep together and then the boys. Sound good?” Her words were slightly slurred. Everyone let out some noise of agreement, but no one made a move yet.

“Come on, let's go to bed.” Holding her up against me, we headed back to the bedroom, where I helped her get undressed and took her makeup off the best I could. She didn’t even make it to getting pajamas on before she passed out in the middle of the bed. We still smelled faintly of alcohol and sweat, but I knew showering wasn't happening tonight. I stripped, cleaned the remnants of the fake mustache off, and climbed into bed with her. She wrapped herself around me, and I held her close. Dolly jumped up and did circles before lying at our feet.

The next morning, we slept in till almost noon. I could tell I was going to have a bit of a hangover based on the pounding behind my eyes. Reaching out to pull Allie into me, except I was met by cold sheets.

“Ugghh, I do not wanna exist today.” I rubbed my eyes and begrudgingly got out of bed and made my way to the living room in search of her. The floor was cold against my feet as I padded down the hall.

She was at the stove in a tank top and shorts with her hair clipped back, the smell of coffee filling the sunny space. Again, she managed to take my breath away.

“Is that what I think it is?” I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her, leaving a kiss on her cheek. “Good morning, sweetheart.”

“Good morning, lover boy, and yes, it’s your favorite. Cinnamon rolls. I figured everyone could use one after last night. How’re you feeling?”

“Head hurts, need coffee, and you in bed. How are you awake and doing this?” She shrugged as she popped the pan in the oven.

“I just am. I don’t think I’ve ever really gotten hangovers.” Her tone was bright and chipper as she wiped crumbs off the counter and into her hand.

“Well, consider yourself lucky.” I grabbed a coffee cup and made my first big cup, and not long after, the others shuffled in, all in pieces of last night's clothes or wrapped in blankets. Allie set two pans of cinnamon rolls on the bar with some plates. The group dug in and then made their way to the couch, where we all sprawled out, eating and watching cartoons in silence.

After everyone had finished eating and was fully awake, we all cleaned up the mess we had left last night. Thankfully, it wasn’t too bad, and with all of us helping, it didn’t take long either. Once we finished up, everyone said their goodbyes and headed out to go home. We both decided to shower and then lie around for the rest of the day, being lazy. I showed Allie a few more games we could play together, and that night we ordered pizza. Yesterday was the perfect end to the month, and today was the best start to a new month too.

CHAPTER 38

Broken

Halloween was a night for the books. There was nothing better than parties with just your close group. As I’ve gotten older, going out appeals less and less to me. But staying home alone or staying in with friends? Sold. It made me so happy that everyone was on board with dressing up, too, because it made it all the more fun.

After work on Monday, I deep-cleaned the whole house with the help of Spencer. I washed the bedding, dusted, mopped, did laundry, the whole nine yards. The house smelled like cleaner and fresh laundry, and it was heavenly. I went ahead and lit the candles as well to add in a crisp, pumpkin-and-vanilla fall scent. I was getting dinner started when my phone started going off. I peeked at my watch and saw it was my mom calling, so I ran to the living room where it was sitting and answered before it went to voicemail.

“Hey, Mom, everything ok?” I asked as I put the phone to my ear.

“Does something have to be wrong in order for me to call you?” She laughed, but I could hear a slight hesitation in her voice.

“Well, no, but you usually text me first, that’s all. We’re a strictly text-first unless something is wrong family.”

“That’s true.” She paused, and I could sense she was trying to find the right words before she continued. “I know it’s not your normal situation, but I wanted to tell you. I just got a call from the ER. Turns out your father had me down as an emergency contact in the system still. He was rushed in due to a heart attack and possible stroke, but he crashed. They weren’t able to save him.” I took in the words she said, waiting for me to feel something akin to sadness, but nothing came. If anything, I felt a stab of guilt, because my first instinct was to feel relief.

Relief that I would never have to block another account from him. That I wouldn’t continuously get messages gaslighting me that what he did never happened, and that I should be a good daughter and forgive him. The only thing I was worried about was Olivia and whether she knew.

“Sweetie, are you okay? Hello?” My mom’s voice brought me back into focus.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry, I just—is it bad that I don’t feel sad about this? I feel like I should, but I dunno, I don’t. My first reaction was relief.”

“Any feelings you have are valid, sweet pea. Like I said, this situation is different, given what he did. If it helps any, I almost jumped for joy when they told me. Maybe that makes me a bad person too.” I laughed because I could see her now.

“What about Olivia? Does she know?”