I'm Sure He Loved You

Game Night

Mostly fluffyish chapters now for a bit, as a treat

Tw: mention of alcohol

It was game night for the West.

California had been home for a few days, and they had decided somewhat anxiously, that tonight would be the night to start them up again.

See, they hadn't done a game night since the accident. Of course they had tried, hoping to just carry on like normal, but it just felt so wrong. Plus there was no scapegoat for all their annoyances with eachother. Any attempted game had ended before it had started with yelling and slammed doors abd even tears, not that anyone would admit it.. They barely talked to eachother outside of meetings.

In fact they started falling apart at those meetings for the very same reason.

After learning Cali might be coming back they quickly decided to get their act together. They couldn't make him the scapegoat again, or anyone else. It just wasn't fair and made them all unstable. If that one left, then they all fall apart.

So they try to work out their grievances and annoyances with eachother. Try to fix some of those bad habits.
It was hard.
Most of them were all loners, maybe had one friend or siblings in the group, whether by choice or by circumstance. Being with people for so long wore them down. Relationships weren't exactly their strong suit.
Looking like they were doing fine was one thing, but actually being fine was a whols other ballpark.

Still, they tried their best. And they actually did quite good!
The volume of their get togethers was lower, they argued far less, and misscommunication got cut down to almost zero. They tried to compromise when being stubborn before it spun out of control, and the insults have been nearly eradicated. Hell, even Nevada's raging superiority complex that shows up whenever their doing slightly better then anyone has gotten less irritating.

They're still sore losers but hey, you can't win em all.

They day to put all that hard work to the test was finally upon them, and they were all very nervous.

Nevada was the one made to actually get Cali after they realized that 'oh yeah he doesn't remember game night'.

They approached the door slowly, taking in a deep breath. Alright Nevada, you can do this, it's easy, just put on that dazzling smile and knock. Simple as that.
Anxiety was wrenching their gut, making their heart pound so loud they could barely hear themselves knock. Three times, in rapid succession.

Inside he could hear a distant 'Just a minute!', followed by crashing and California trying  so very hard not to curse. They almost chuckle to themselves. Cali was still Cali, whether he remembered most of his life or not. They were rather grateful that he did indeed reveal over the past few days that they still remembered being a state and all that comes with. That would have been weird to explain. I mean mot remembering the personal life will also be weird to explain, but still. It's more believable then the state stuff.

The door opens abruptly, cutting off their thoughts.

"Hey," California gave them a confused smile. "Nevada...right? One of the uh...Weesternnn states?"

"Hi! Yep! I'm Nevada!" Nevada internally cringed at themself. Wow, great first impression. Totally not fucking dumb.

"The west is having a game night tonight and we were wondering if you'd like to come?"

"Really? Ye-Yeah I'd love-"

"Great ok, it starts in 15 minutes bye-" And with that, Nev zooms off.

Game night was surprisingly not bad. It was a little awkward, and Cali was nervous the whole time, but it actually seemed like he was having fun with it. Cali looked happier then they had in a long time.

Also Nev could have sworn he and Oregan had been flirting through whole thing.

California stands up, a huge smile still on his face. It looked like it would not fade for a while. That was good, they were successful in this game night then.

"Thank you all for this, really." Their gaze scanned the table, landing on Oregan, who instantly smiled back. It was slightly different then Cali's, it held something..more.

"No problem, it was nice hanging out with you." He responded, rather quickly.

California could have left it at that, they should have, but once again, Cali was still Cali. Mind wipe or not.

"You all are such great people, your friend must've been lucky to have you."

The mood changed was instant, the wave of guilt crashing down on them hard. It was like a murky fog that just surrounded them in a matter of seconds.

California, of course, left as though they didn't know what they just caused, having wrenched the horrible feelings they were all repressing right out of them so easily and so quickly it felt hard to breathe.
But that was just it, they didn't know. It was so fucking genuine and it hurt.

Nevada could hear a sniff from one of the other states and Montana got up quickly, headed to his room, probably.

"I'm uh- I'll just put the game away." Colorado grabbed the game and ran off. No one even mentioned he was going in the wrong direction.

Nevada themself stood up and walked away from the table. They needed a drink. Any way not to think about this sober.