Page 22 of Out for the Night

Tom teetered back and forth, a rope in a tug of war. Coop and Matty weren’t looking at him, though. They locked eyes in a staring contest for the universe. Coop gulped back a lump in his throat. Matty didn’t flinch.

“Fifteen more seconds,” Tim said.

“Tom,” Coop said. “I’ll give you the next two resource cards I earn.”

“But will it be too late?” Matty didn’t mince words.

“It’s never too late.”

“Tom, I’ll give you two wheat cards right now for your brick card.” Matty held up the two cards in question.

“Don’t listen to him, Tom.”

“Tom can make up his own mind.”

“I’ll give you the next three resource cards I collect. You can’t pass that up.”

“Or can he?”

“It’ll be better than wheat.”

“Do you really want to take that chance, Tom?”

Jesus, I want to leap across this table, throw you down on the ground, and kiss the everloving fuck out of you.Coop gulped back hard.

Tom shut his eyes, lifted the brick card from his hand, and slid it over to Coop.

Coop leapt out of his seat. He slammed each resource card down on the table. “One road. One settlement.Res ipsa loquitur, motherfucker.” He did a crotch thrust for good measure.

Matty remained poker-faced. Coop pulled his road and settlement piece out of his baggie. He did a semi-victory dance and beatboxed as he put the pieces down. “I needed that brick. I needed that hit./I got to build. How you like dat shit?/Here are the facts./I stopped you in your tracks./I thwarted your attacks. / I left you feelin’ wack.”

Coop high-fived every non-Matty player.

He flopped back down in his chair and reverted to his calm self. “Your turn, Matty.”

Matty rolled the dice as if Coop’s theatrics never happened. He rolled a six and collected his resources.

“Try building a settlement,” Coop said. “Oh, wait. You can’t.” He pointed across the table at Akash, who was holding back a smile. “Akash found that funny.”

“I’m going to build two cities.” Matty displayed the iron and wheat resources cards in his hand. “And that means I win the game.”

Matty replaced two of his settlements with cities. The world turned black-and-white, then static.

“Wait. That’s it?” Coop was wired, every synapse in his brain was on fire. How could the game end just like that, cold turkey?

“That’s it.” Matty took a picture of his winning board, then the guys set about breaking down the game.

“But…” Coop couldn’t just stop. He had to come down off his Catan high.

“You lost, Coop, but a valiant effort,” Matty said.

Tim checked his watch. “That was a long one!”

“What time is it?” Coop asked.

“Ten-thirty.”

They played a three-hour game? It passed in the blink of an eye. Maybe Coop really was on drugs.