The Single Game

by Amanda Black

  “Ooh, what kind of a sound?” Amy piped in, peeking at me in her rearview mirror.

  “Yeah, was he like, grunting and moaning?” Zoe laughed, raising her eyebrows at me suggestively.

  “No, you pervs, it was nothing like that.” I stared off into space as I relived the moment again in my head. “It was like this adorable little whimper or something. It sounded almost…desperate.” When I looked back at them, I realized we’d already arrived and they were both staring at me like I’d grown a second head. “What?” I snapped. “It was just sexy, okay?”

  “You are so totally sprung on him!” Amy shouted, bouncing up and down in her seat.

  “I am not!” I looked back and forth between them. “Am I?”

  “Jesus, Eden!” Zoe barked. “How the hell did you ever date anyone if it takes you this long to figure out whether you like somebody?”

  “That was different; Riley was way more aggressive. He told me right after we met that he thought I was cute and that we should go out sometime. And then we did; that’s all there was to it. There weren’t any of these guessing games or feelings of doubt. Well, until I found out he was screwing around, that is,” I added sarcastically.

  “You can’t base all of your future experiences off of that one asshole,” Amy advised. “Logan sounds like the exact opposite, and maybe that’s a good thing. He might not broadcast how he feels about you, but I can bet you a million dollars he would never screw you over like that.”

  “I knew he was perfect for her list,” Zoe said to Amy as if I wasn’t even there. “I mean really, does anybody else here fit the bill like he does?”

  “Oh my God, Zoe! Logan is the guy you were talking about last night?” My voice had risen so loud, it was bouncing around inside the car.

  “Fucking duh!” She rolled her eyes at me. “He’s only been crazy about you since you came here. Are you really that blind?”

  “No, I’m not blind, I’m just not used to guys who supposedly like me avoiding me like the plague.”

  “Eden, the last thing he does is avoid you. Where does he always sit for lunch?”

  “Well, across from me, but that’s just because the guys all sit on that side of the table. Isn’t it?”

  “Hell no,” she laughed. “He always used to sit next to me so that he could talk across the table to Devon. From the first day we asked you to sit with us, he parked himself right across from you so that he could watch you when you weren’t paying attention.”

  “You’re right!” Amy gasped. “Now that you mention it, he’s been so much quieter at lunch lately. I never noticed how much he clams up whenever she comes around.”

  “Dude, I’m telling you, it’s Brandi Taylor all over again,” Zoe said, causing her and Amy to burst into a fit of cackles so loud that I thought I might have to plug my ears.

  “Um, guys? Hello? Focus!” I yelled, waving my hands in front of their faces. “Who the hell is Brandi Taylor, and what is so funny?”

  “Brandi Taylor was this little girl we used to go to grade school with, before her family moved out of town,” Amy explained to me excitedly, as if her life revolved around this little tidbit of grade school gossip. “Well anyway, Logan must have had a little crush on her, because whenever she came near him, he wouldn’t say a damn word. Seriously, he would be in the middle of a sentence, and if he saw her come into the room, he just stopped talking and turned bright red.”

  “He was so damn nervous and shy around her,” Zoe added. “He could be totally comfortable with anyone else in the room, and then he would just get all flustered and embarrassed out of nowhere.”

  “Aw, that’s…kind of cute,” I said, thinking of a little sloppy-haired, four-eyed boy getting nervous over his crush.

  “You haven’t heard the worst of it yet,” Amy continued. “When we were in third grade, Logan won the spelling bee. I mean, it was like a statewide competition, and there was a huge championship in Springfield that the whole class made a trip to go see so they could support him. You should have seen him, up there on the stage in the little suit and tie his mother made him wear, holding up his trophy with the biggest smile I’d ever seen on his face.”

  “That sounds so adorable,” I giggled, picturing him way too easily.

  “Yeah, that was until Brandi happened,” Zoe said, interrupting my musings. “She walked up to him after the awards ceremony and told him that she was proud of him, then reached out and gave him a hug.”

  “What’s so bad about that? That was actually really sweet of her,” I said, feeling odd for defending the manners of a nine-year-old girl I’d never met.

  “Well, she didn’t know about Logan’s little nervous problem. As soon as she let go, he got this scared look on his face and threw up all over her.”

  “Oh no!” I couldn’t imagine how humiliating that had to be for both of them.

  “Yep. All over her, all over his little suit. Even on his trophy. It was really gross,” Amy nodded. “I thought he was over his nerves, but now I see that there just hasn’t been another girl who made him so nervous until you.”

  “Great,” I grumbled, dropping my head into my hands. “I’ll try to kiss him, and he’ll puke on me.”

  “Don’t be stupid,” Zoe said. “I think it’s safe to assume he’s gotten at least a small hold on it now, or he would have puked on you already. What I want to know is how the hell we get him to open up for you. We need to get him in a situation where he absolutely must put himself out there so you can snag him up.”

  “Didn’t he sort of do that already today?” I asked, thinking of the look on his face when he touched me.

  “No.” She shook her head. “It was a step in the right direction, but we need to make him see that he either needs to approach you…or become approachable.”

  “How are we supposed to do that?” I groaned. “You know damn well that I’m going to go into that party and he’ll be holed up in the corner playing a video game all night long, pretending like I’m not even there.

  “I know!” Amy practically screamed, bouncing in her seat again. Once she had our undivided attention, she simply looked at us and said, “The Single Game,” like it was the answer to some great riddle.

  “Oh, that’s perfect,” Zoe laughed excitedly, rubbing her hands together like the evil villain in a Bond film.

  “Care to fill me in?” I huffed, tired of not knowing what was going on. “What is the Single Game, anyway? Amy never really explained it.”

  “It’s kinda like this awesome mixture of Truth or Dare and Spin the Bottle. There are two rounds: the Ice Breaker round, where everybody loosens up a bit, and then the Lip Lock round.”

  “Wait—so you all just kiss random people all night?” It sounded a little disgusting, to be honest.

  “Sometimes. It all depends on what the instructions are for your turn.”

  “Instructions? God, this sounds cryptic.”

  “It’s actually really fun, and a great way to get to know people better,” Amy explained.

  “Why do you think this game is going to help me?”

  “Because it’s never a bad idea to remind a guy that he has competition. We want to force his hand, make him get off his ass for a change.”

  “Exactly,” Zoe jumped in. “I’d be willing to bet that seeing you kiss someone else, even just a tiny little peck, would drive him nuts.”

  “I don’t know,” I hedged. “I don’t like the idea of playing head games with him. Why can’t I just walk up to him and tell him that I know he likes me and I like him?”

  “I said I think it’s safe to assume he won’t puke on you, but do you really want to push it?” Zoe said sarcastically. “We need him to man up on his own. If he isn’t ready, it just won’t work.”

  “And what happens if I go through all of this and he doesn’t do a damn thing? What if seeing me kiss another guy just scares him off?”

  They both stared blankly at me for a moment, as if the notion had never occurred to them. It was
finally Amy who broke the silence. “Stop talking like that, Eden. You just have to keep a positive attitude.”

  Sure.

  Positive attitude.

  Easy for her to say.

  * * *

  An hour later, I was actually having a good time—or at least managing to act like I was.

  Devon’s basement rec room was truly impressive and packed with kids from school. They were all split up into various groups, entertaining themselves with the many games he had set up. There was one group shooting darts and another playing pinball, and half the football team fought over the pool table while the other half fought over the video games.

  Logan, as I’d predicted, was camped out in front of the computer with a role-playing game.

  To the untrained eye, he looked completely oblivious of me and everything else around him, but since I was armed with so much new information about him, I was able to spot a few tells that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. For starters, every single time I glanced in his direction, his eyes would shoot back to the computer screen as if he’d just been watching me out of his peripheral vision. The first few times, I thought I was just seeing what I wanted to see, but then I noted a slight pinking of his cheeks whenever it happened.

  That’s right. Caught you staring at me, Pukey.

  Once I realized what was going on, I felt my confidence growing. Maybe the girls were right; if he already couldn’t keep his eyes off me, perhaps it would only take a nudge in the right direction to make him actually do something. That started me thinking that maybe I wouldn’t have to kiss some other random dude later—maybe I could encourage him another way.

  From that point on I did my best to be the life of the party. If he was just going to sit there and watch me, then I would give him a show.

  I made my way around the room, joining in on each group’s discussions. I didn’t really try to flirt with any of the other guys there, although some of them certainly flirted with me, but I did try to make sure that everyone knew I was obviously the most fun girl in the room…so Logan would realize that he was an idiot to sit by and let a great catch like me go. I laughed louder than everyone there, I leaned seductively against every inanimate object I could get near, and I made sure to drop things as much as possible so that I would have to lean all the way over and pick them up in front of him.

  Because I’m subtle like that.

  When none of those things seemed to push him to action, I moved on to my next plan: Operation “Just One of the Guys.” I figured maybe Logan would feel more comfortable if we had more in common than he realized. I wanted to prove that I could be someone he could relax with, someone he could be himself with.

  I started by beating Devon’s ass at air hockey, which caused him to pout like a baby until Zoe told him to grow up. Then I got into a rather loud and heated debate with Owen over who would survive in a zombie apocalypse: Captain Kirk or Darth Vader.

  Yeah, word to the wise—don’t ever argue with a stoner about that shit.

  Amy finally had to break it up before things got bloody, dragging me into the bathroom and signaling Zoe to join us. Once they had shut the door behind us Amy spun around and glared at me.

  “What the hell are you doing out there, Eden? What’s with the desperate act?”

  “What do you mean? I’m just trying to have a good time.”

  “Bullshit,” Zoe piped up. “I’m getting whiplash trying to keep up with you out there. What are you trying to prove?”

  “I don’t know,” I frowned. “I guess I was just—”

  “Trying to make Logan notice how great you are?” Amy finished, quirking her eyebrow at me.

  “Maybe,” I whispered.

  “Eden,” Zoe sighed, placing her hand on my shoulder. “We already know he’s into you. He’s been watching you all night.”

  “So what’s so bad about trying to entice him?”

  “Do you really want to intimidate him even more? Prancing around and showing him how amazing you are could just backfire in your face.”

  “How?”

  “Think about it,” Amy explained. “He could start getting it in his head that you’re out of his league. For all we know, that’s what’s been stopping him so far. If he gets too worried about it he might never open up.”

  “This is getting ridiculous!” I huffed. “Why the hell can’t I just ask him out on a date already?”

  “Listen to me, Eden,” Zoe said, grabbing my shoulders and practically shaking me. “I have known Logan my whole life, and he’s my boyfriend’s best friend in the entire world. I know this seems like a lot of work, but I also know for a fact that he’s worth it. I wouldn’t be telling you to do all this if I didn’t think you two are perfect for each other. I know he has the potential to treat the right girl like a fucking queen if she lets him, and from what you’ve told us about your past, it sounds like you could use the royal treatment right about now. Am I right?”

  “Yes,” I whispered, feeling the truth of her words in my bones.

  “Then listen to us. You need to calm down out there. Talk to people and have a good time, but don’t try so hard to be noticed—he’s already watching. Just be patient until you play the game, and use that as a way to coax him out slowly. He’ll probably just sit there and keep an eye on you while you play, but I know he won’t be able to stand the idea of other guys getting that close to you.”

  “Exactly,” Amy said. “I bet he’ll find a way to talk to you pretty damn quickly after tonight. Just be patient with him and keep an eye out for any signals that he might be ready to move a little further.”

  “Okay,” I sighed. “I’ll back off for now, but when the hell are we playing this damn game? I want to get this over with already.” I looked between them both, blushing profusely. “I’d honestly rather just spend this time with Logan, getting to know him.”

  Zoe looked at the clock on her cellphone. “Well, Devon’s mom usually goes to bed around eleven, so you guys will probably start playing sometime soon.”

  “Wait a minute, what do you mean ‘you guys’?” I blurted out, feeling an increasing sense of dread. “Don’t you mean we’ll be playing soon?”

  “No, only single people are allowed to play. That’s why they call it the Single Game. I thought you knew that.”

  “No!” I squeaked. “I most certainly did not! You mean I have to be out there all alone?”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll do fine,” Amy soothed. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before, it didn’t even occur to me. I’m so used to everybody just knowing about the game already.”

  “Why doesn’t everyone play?”

  “Well, they all used to in the beginning. Everyone played, even the couples. But then a few years ago, the wrong girlfriend kissed the wrong guy too enthusiastically in front of the wrong jealous boyfriend, and a huge fight broke out. From that point on, Devon insisted that if we were going to continue playing in his house, then no couples were allowed.”

  “Yeah, it also didn’t help that it was the year we started dating,” Zoe laughed. “He became one of those jealous boyfriends, himself. And in all honesty, I didn’t want to let him kiss anybody else, either.”

  “That makes sense, I guess. I just thought I would have some support out there.”

  “You will,” Amy said. “We’ll be there watching. We never miss a game, actually.” She smiled wickedly. “It makes for the best gossip on Monday.”

  “All right, enough of this,” Zoe said after checking her makeup in the mirror. Walking over and opening the door, she looked back at us and smiled. “Let’s get out there and give that boy something to think about.”

  Oh, God.

  I suddenly felt like I was the one who was gonna puke.

  Not even ten minutes later, it all played out the way Zoe described to me on our way back from the bathroom. Devon’s mother brought down the last tray of snacks for the night, spent a few minutes saying hello to everyone, then reminded Devon that she trusted him to
be responsible…while also reminding him that she could come back down at any moment, just in case he got any bright ideas.

  As soon as she turned around to go back upstairs, Devon rolled his eyes dramatically. We were all quiet while he listened to her footsteps climbing upstairs through the house, waiting until they finally settled in his parents’ bedroom. “She’ll be asleep in five minutes, tops,” he laughed. “I love it when my dad is out of town.”

  As we all watched him walk over to a cabinet in the corner, I realized that a hush had fallen over the room. He opened a door and slowly pulled out four small gift bags, one after the other: a pink one, a blue one, a green one and a bright red one. When he turned back around to face the room, an enormous smile broke out across his face.

  “Single Game!” he announced loudly, and I swear to God everyone broke out into applause. “If you came here unattached and have any interest in changing that before you leave here tonight, I highly advise that you sit your ass down here by me.” He lowered himself until he was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor. “Girls on my right, boys on my left. Make two rows.”

  There was a flurry of activity after that. Many of the people stopped whatever they were doing to sit down on the floor, leaving the pool table and everything else open to those who either weren’t eligible to play because they were dating someone, or weren’t interested in playing or watching. However, from the swarm of onlookers forming around us, there didn’t seem to be many who fit that description.

  Besides Logan, that is.

  He just sat there in front of that damn computer like he wasn’t even listening.

  Those of us who were playing divided into two rows facing each other, with Devon at the end to oversee the game, while everyone else sat around us in an outer circle to watch.

  “Shit,” Devon cursed to himself. “I forgot extra paper.” He looked around until he saw Logan playing away at his game. “Hey, Lo? Lo!”

  “Huh?” Logan finally broke his attention away from his game long enough to look over at Devon.

  “Toss me those Post-it notes over there on the desk next to you. I need them for the game.”