𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 ━ five hargreeves

13│GAME TIME

The girl stared at him with wide, blue eyes, admittedly shocked at his sudden openness. "What about Luther, Vanya and Diego?" she asked tentatively, not wanting him to shut her down immediately.

He shrugged, "Luther never played and usually ratted us out to dad. Vanya wasn't really included but liked to watch. Diego was pretty good but he got bored easily," he explained, "it was one of the only forms of entertainment that could be easily hidden from our father— you know how quickly you can hide cards in your pocket."

"Did you guys bet on anything?" Lola asked, curiosity getting the better of her. Five was usually so closed off that any shred of information about him— besides his powers— was almost as rare as a nugget of gold.

"We didn't have much to bet on," the boy admitted, "but there were little things— and Klaus was always trying to get us to play strip poker," there was a hint of amusement in his voice when he said that, "but usually we just had lost pennies or played for nothing."

"I've never played poker," the girl said. "My mom would never let me though I'm sure my uncle would've if I'd asked." She hesitated. "Do you want to play now? You'd have to teach me but I'm pretty good at learning since cards have to do with numbers."

Five stood from his seat on the piece of fallen building and moved closer to the girl to sit down about an arm's length away from her. The fire illuminated the empty space in front of them as Lola transferred her deck over to the boy. A few hours later after several rounds of instruction and game play, Five threw the cards down in frustration.

"I can't believe you've won again!"

Lola grinned at him. "I told you I'm a counter."

"It's got to be beginner's luck," he grumbled as he folded the cards together.

She laughed slightly. "I thought you wouldn't believe in luck seeing as how it's very unscientific. Unless, of course, you're just a sore loser like your sister."

"I'm the one who usually wins," he huffed. "There's no other explanation for why you haven't lost a round."

The girl rolled her eyes despite him not being able to see it. "I literally just said why. I've never lost a game of Go Fish with my uncle— a game that's mostly luck unless you can count and estimate how many cards are in the deck or have been played."

"But that's probability!" the boy protested. "Surely you should be better at math than you are if you've got those types of skills."

She shrugged. "It's just like how some people are good at geometry but terrible at algebra and some are the other way around. Most people can't be good at everything," she added, knowing that Five would immediately shoot back that he was.

✧✧✧
[2012]

The car was silent except for the '60s-'80s radio station that was currently playing a Beetles hit. Edmund sat in the driver's seat with his fingers wrapped around the steering wheel as he tapped them to the beat of the music. Lola sat in the back on the same side with her feet tucked up onto the seat as she looked out the window. The two were driving to meet the girl's parents at a lake house they'd rented for Thanksgiving break. While it would be too cold to swim they were planning several hikes and sightseeing outings.

"You bored yet, Sequins?" her uncle asked.

"Nope."

He sighed dramatically. "I am. I don't understand how you can't be. We've been driving for hours!"

"We've been driving for 187 minutes."

"Hours, see?"

She rolled her eyes. "You've got zero patience."

"You stole all of mine when you were born," he teased her. "Now I've got none left."

"That's not how genes work Uncle Ed."

"'Course not, I'm still wearing mine," the older man looked up into the mirror to flash the girl a smile. In response, she gave a long-suffering sigh.

"You wanna play a car game?"

"What kind?" she asked, immediately perking up.

"A word game. I know you love those."

"Okay," Lola agreed enthusiastically. Her uncle came up with the best forms of entertainment (not that she'd been bored, but still.) "What is it?"

"It's called what's the most complicated word you know?"

"That's a terribly long title," she commented.

"Hence the name of the game. Now, the point is obviously already stated but you've also got to know how to use the word since just knowing it exists isn't enough. Also, when you're done with your turn, you have to ask 'what's the most complicated word you know?'"

"Okay. Since it's your idea do you want to go first?"

He flashed her another smile in the mirror. "Alright, let's see. Since you wanna be a writer, you've got an unfair advantage. It'll also help when we play Scrabble with your mom and dad."

"You haven't said a word yet," the girl helpfully pointed out.

"I'm still thinking and I'm trying to distract my opponent since you probably know more words than I do," he joked. "Fine, here's one: forelsket."

"Is that even English?"

"No one said you were restricted to one language. I could do the longest German word I know if I wanted to. It's a noun, by the way. It means the euphoria one feels when first falling in love. What's the most complicated word you know?"

The girl frowned thoughtfully; she didn't want to make her uncle feel bad in knowing longer words than he did. "Hope."

"That's only a four-letter word, Sequins. You can do better than that. Besides, it's hardly complicated."

She huffed slightly, "fine, how about supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?"

Her uncle burst out laughing at that and the sound died away into chuckles. "You got me there, Sequins. Made-up words can work too. How many letters does that one have?" he asked, knowing his niece.

She grinned, "fifteen."

"Only fifteen?" he asked in mock-disappointment, "I know longer ones than that."

"You never said they had to be long, just complicated."

"Alright, alright. Ask me, now."

"What's the most complicated word you know?"

"Antidisestablishmentarianism. It's one of the longest words in the English language."

"How many letters does it have?" Lola asked curiously.

"Heck if I know. Don't even try to make me spell it."

She giggled slightly and pulled her new notebook towards her. On the first page in the wide, white space before the first line, she carefully spelled out the word, then counted the letters. "It's got twenty-eight if I spelled it right."

"Told you I knew ones with more than fifteen. Hey— I let you off easy with that Mary Poppins word. You didn't even have to define it."

"Oh, I know what it means. It's an adjective meaning extraordinarily good or wonderful," she said with a grin. "What about antidisestablishmentarianism?"

"It's a noun. I read it in the paper once— something to do with the church and state. Remind me to look up the full definition when we get to the lake."