Unexpected Encounters [B.H.M.]

14

"I'll show you how it's done," he announced in grand style before he started to place his tiles. And believe it or not, he added 107 points to his lead just with one fucking word. Well placed on the board and using up all his points he extended his lead to the point where I was ready to give up. How would I ever catch up on him? The score was now Brian's 321 points compared to my 112. I was just sitting there, shaking my head. "God, I'm awful at this."

Brian chuckled, seeming surprisingly upbeat again suddenly. His concerned face from before when I had played all my tiles had completely disappeared and even though he tried, he couldn't keep a bit of smugness off his face. And I was learning that I could be a terrible loser, especially because my tiles were now completely awful.

I was just sitting there, shaking my head. "Who ever thought that this is a good idea? Can I put down Polish words?"

Brian looked at me confused. "Polish words? You know Polish?"

"No, I don't know anything as it seems... but words in Poland don't need vowels, do they?"

Brian chuckled a little. "That bad, huh?"

"Yeah, thanks for the sympathy," I said sarcastically, shaking my head. "I'm just going to have to do this," I said and placed an N down so it formed the word 'on' twice. Smart, I know.

"Spectacular," he said amused. I hated a little that he was so happy about winning. It was good to see him happy, especially because the words he was playing weren't exactly what you would call positive - remember divorce and death as examples if you need any - but I still wished that I was the one who'd be winning.

"Just be quiet, okay?" I ordered him. "Be quiet and play your next 100 points word..."

Brian chuckled and shook his head. "I don't think that's going to be 100 points... let me see." He placed his tiles and counted the score. "Only 38, don't worry."

"Only," I scoffed. "What is that even?" I questioned, looking at his word a bit closer. "Quarks? Come on that's not even a word, you just made that up."

Brian looked at me, seeming surprised that I questioned him. "I didn't, it is a word."

"Look, you're winning anyway, at least play fair. You can't make up words if I can't use real words just because they need a capital letter." I was maybe a little annoyed.

"I am not making up words, Frida. A quark is a real thing and quarks is the plural of that."

"Oh yeah? And what exactly is a quark? That sounds like a bad illness more than anything."

Brian sighed. "But it's not, it's something from physics, it's one of the particles that everything else is made up of to put it simply. Murray Gell-Mann got the Nobel prize for that, it is anything but made up."

"Oh come on, as if... you're just using the fact that you have a physics degree to make me seem stupid and to increase your lead even more. A little pathetic, don't you think?"

"I'm not trying to make you seem stupid, I'm simply winning the game. Get me a dictionary and I'll prove it to you," he said, holding out his hand.

I sighed. "Fine... fine, I'll get you a dictionary." I got up and walked over to my bookshelf to look for my extensive dictionary of English. That should show him. However, I couldn't spot the dictionary anywhere which confused me a little.

"So? Can you 'not find' the dictionary?" He asked and got up as well. "You're just worried you might be wrong and I might be right," he teased.

"No, I'm not, I really can't find it. Hang on, I'll check in my office," I told him. Maybe I had forgotten to put it back after the last time I had needed it correcting homework.