forget me not [severe hiatus]

chapter seven - sweet potato ice cream

elliot

One of the most beautiful qualities in friendship is to understand and be understood. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Sometimes, it can be a good thing to sit and think. It's best when it's raining, when I can draw the curtain in my room, listen to the soft pitter-patter on the windows, drink some hot cocoa with marshmallow and think. Or even to just sit on the couch for a few minutes, uninterrupted. Alone. And it's spectacular - you can think about anything for hours, forever. School. Family. Friends.

This was not one of those times.

But that may have to do with the fact that I was sitting in a basement in a house I've never been in before, with people I've interacted with only a few times, accompanied by a bawling girl curled up in the corner of the room.  

 "It's okay, Mags," Camille comforts Maggie, wrapping her arms around the blonde ball. "She was just being a jerk."

 "She meant every word," Maggie hissed angrily, before breaking into another hysterical cry, "She meant - every - word!"

 "Wait - who are they talking about?" I nudge Duck with my elbow casually. While the girls have a moment on the other half of the basement, Duck, Aiden and I have found a deck of cards and some poker chips and are playing for pennies.

 Duck finishes shuffling the deck and hands it to Aiden to cut it. "Oh, Milla and Mags? Just an old friend who turned into a major bitch. Maggie went to see if the friendship could be rekindled somehow. I guess not."

 Aiden hands the deck back to Duck, who calls for "Blind Man's Bluff." He explains the rules quickly as he spreads the cards around on the table. "We are each going to take a card and place it on our forehead, but none of us are going to see it before. Then you will look at the cards on the other player's head. If you think the card on your head is the highest, then bet appropriately. Same goes for if your card is the lowest."

 "Pretty sure we all know how to play Blind Man's Bluff," Aiden chuckles.

 "Hey, hey, just making sure we're clear on the rules," Duck throws his hands in the air, amused. "Anyways, pull your cards."

 I take a card and flip it on the top of my forehead. Aiden holds a four and Duck a seven. I decide to take a risk and shove ten pennies into the center.

 "Ooh, feeling cocky there, eh, Elliot?" Aiden smirks, shoving fifteen cents into the center.

 Duck folds.

 "Feelin' lucky," I throw on my poker face and push five more cents into the middle.

 Aiden hesitates, before also folding. "God damn!" He pinches himself a second after looking at his card. "My card was better!"

 I shrug, and turn my card over to find a three. "Guess I'm just good at cards."

 Aiden starts to shuffle the deck. "So, what's this girl's name?" I ask Duck.

 "Doesn't matter," he scowls. "She's irrelevant."

 I don't push the matter any further.

 *****

 “And then, bam! Karina hit me with the dodgeball,” Camille frowns. “I guess it did look a little funny. I mean, I fell to the floor - and it had hit me in the stomach, but… It really did hurt. Everybody didn’t need to laugh at me like that!”