IncuBUST

Strump

"That's not a word," I said peering down at the Deluxe Super Scrabble board half covered with wooden tiles.

"It is too a word," Taylor insisted. I shook my head and challenged, "It's not!"

"It is! Gimme your phone. I'll look it up," Taylor said.

"Use your own phone," I retorted, and he scoffed hopping off his stool and reaching forward to shove his hand in my pocket.

"Ah! Get off me, freak!" I exclaimed. The doorbell rang, but Taylor ignored it saying, "Strump is a word! Admit it!"

"I will not!" I declared trying to push him off me even as a smile spread across my face. The doorbell rang again. Taylor yanked my cell phone out of my pocket.

"Give it back!" I shouted. His incognito persona was several inches taller than me and holding my phone well out of reach. I hopped up and down clutching at his arm. Taylor laughed and dangled my phone above me.

"Strump! Noun!" he announced as the front door opened, "A promiscuous female!"

"That's strumpet, you moron!" I shouted grabbing onto his arm and yanking it down to my height. His right arm curled around my torso while his left held my phone straight out.

"Strump is a word until the dict-"

"What on earth are you two doing?" Sissy asked standing in the archway between the kitchen and the dining room. Taylor and I froze, and Taylor replied, "Playing Scrabble. What are you doing?"

"I just got back from hanging with the girls and I heard voices in your apartment. When no one answered the door, I used my key," Sissy replied an amused smile pulling at her mouth. She raised an eyebrow at us and asked, "Are you sure you're playing Scrabble?"

Taylor let go of me and handed me my phone saying, "Tell your brother that 'strump' is a word." I hunched over my phone and with a flourish stuck it in Taylor's face snapping, "Merriam-Webster: 'strump.' No results. Suck it!"

"Someone's been watching too much 'Psych'," Sissy muttered. Taylor sighed and removed the wooden tiles he had just put down. I glanced at Sissy and murmured, "You have a key?" She grinned and replied, "Of course, I have a key." She leaned closer and whispered, "Octavia's in the apartment working on some assignment or other on her computer." I nodded. She then pulled away and strode over to Taylor saying, "This one isn't my favorite, but there is a certain appeal." She pinched his chubby cheeks, and he went pink with embarrassment.

Her hand moved to his messy brown hair, and she continued, "Still, I think I prefer the blond." She raised up onto her toes and whispered something in his ear that made his entire face go red as a tomato.

"Uh, maybe later, Sis. We're in the middle of a game," Taylor replied and the look of confusion on Sissy's face was almost comical. She glanced at me and then at Taylor saying, "You're choosing Scrabble over me?" Taylor grimaced and replied, "No, I just hate leaving games unfinished." She squinted at him and asked, "This isn't payback for me shacking up with Birch last night, is it? Because you told me you had to work."

"Of course, it isn't payback," Taylor mumbled staring at the tiles on his stand trying to decide on a word that actually existed. She stared at him for a long moment before scoffing and whirling around, her hair flaring out dramatically behind her.

She left Taylor's apartment and a moment of silence passed before Taylor said, "Ah! Stump. That's a word." He whispered a few numbers to himself before adding, "Nine and the S is on a triple word value square. So, twenty-seven. Write it down."

I wrote the number down on the paper we were using to keep score and looked over the board while Taylor refilled his missing tiles. As I was choosing from my own letters, I asked, "You didn't really reject Sissy because she hooked up with the pizza guy last night, right?"

"No way. It's not like we're exclusive. I'm here when she needs me...except when I'm not like last night, but that's not the point. The point is we're in the middle of something," Taylor said before looking at me and continuing, "Unless you don't want to keep playing."

I smiled and added a 'Y' to the end of 'stump' saying, "Thirteen with a triple word value. Thirty-nine." I wrote it down on the score sheet and Taylor grinned.