When the Stars Align

Monopoly

"How did it go with Angie?" Josh asked as we sat down to eat dinner in the noisy cafeteria.

"Nothing changed, we still don't have any answers," I replied.

"What did you two do today?" Avery asked Jase and Carrie who were throwing their straw wrappers at each other.

"We mostly just stayed in the rec room today," Carrie replied.

"No one asked me what I did today," Josh pointed out.

"What did you do today, Josh?" Will asked.

As he was about to reply, we heard a high-pitched scream from across the cafeteria. Everyone immediately went silent and went to see where the scream had come from. A tall girl that looked Asian had screamed.

"Noah's dead!" she yelled before running out of the cafeteria.

Everyone broke into chatter. We stood up to go see what she meant. A crowd of people were already swarming out of the cafeteria so it took awhile to get out of there. We came to a stopping point in the hallway a few doors down from the cafeteria. Will pushed his way through the crowd and I followed. I gasped as I saw what everyone was staring at. Noah laid in the middle of the floor in a pool of blood. He was dead.

A sticky note was stuck to his jacket. I stepped my way over and lifted the sticky note to read it. The room started spinning as I read the words carefully written on the small, yellow piece of paper.

Snitches get stitches. I'm coming.
Xoxo,
Brendan

Will peered over my shoulder to read the note. I started shaking as he reached out to steady me.

"Come on," he whispered, grabbing my hand and guiding me back through the crowd.

We took the stairs to floor 5 and Will led me into his room. I sat on the edge of the bed and tried to calm down. He sat down beside me and wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you, okay?" he asked.

I nodded and leaned into his chest as he stroked my hair.

"Do you want to stay here for tonight?" he asked.

I nodded again, the words sticking to my throat.

"That's fine, but it's only 7 o'clock," he said.

"What do you want to do, then?" I asked quietly.

Before I knew it, we were sitting cross-legged on the ground with a Monopoly board between us. He was the skateboard and I was the French fries. He was the banker and I was the property keeper.

"Now I'll go ahead and warn you now," I said shaking the dice. "I'm incredibly good at this game."

"No ones good at this game, it's all luck, there's no strategy in it whatsoever," he replied.

I rolled the dice. Double 6's.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Well then I must have a lot of luck."

I landed on Oriental Avenue to which I rolled again because of doubles and landed on Electric Company. I bought both. He got snake's eyes so he drew a Community Chest.

"Go directly to jail, do not pass go, and do not collect $200," he said reading the card. "I don't like this game," he said putting his skateboard in jail.

Soon enough, it was two in the morning and there were hotels on literally every property. It went on for another half hour before I landed on his boardwalk and finally went bankrupt.

"I told you it's all luck," he said. "There's no possible way you can be good at this game. No one is good at this game."

I smiled and leaned over to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer. I kicked the Monopoly board out of the way. He gripped my waist as I laced my hands around his neck. He kissed from my collarbone back to my mouth as he gently pushed me down into the carpet. His hands slipped under my blouse. He kept his hands on my waist but his touch tingled on my skin.

"I feel so alive, but at the same time, in exhausted," I said breathlessly.

He nodded. "Me too."

I crawled under the covers as he flicked off the light.

"You know, I've never been in a serious relationship before," I said.

He crawled into bed. "Are we in a relationship now?"

"I think we are, don't you? I mean I know we haven't told anyone yet but what else do you call two people who are repeatedly kissing?" I asked.

"I was teasing. Yes, I would call this a relationship, but I want to take you on a real date," he replied.

I nodded. "I would like that."

"How about tomorrow?" he asked.

I nodded again.

It was dark but he managed to bring his lips down to mine one last time. "I have never been in a serious relationship either."