Match Made in Quarantine

12. Game Night, Pt. 1

He chuckled before setting up the game and then turned to me with a self-satisfied grin. "So, this button here—"

"I know what the buttons do," I muttered, feeling increasingly frustrated by his all-knowing attitude. That's when realization hit me. He clearly thought I'd never played games before.

"Okay, okay. Just ask if you're not sure," he responded with amusement in his voice but this time it didn't bother me. I just gave him a sweet, innocent smile and watched his nose wrinkle in confusion to my reaction before he focused his attention back to the screen.

As soon as the game started I went in blazing. 

Even though it had been almost three years since I'd actually played a game on the console, the feeling of the controller in my hand and the mechanics of the game felt comforting — like meeting an old friend.

Maddox on the other hand was not doing so well. He'd let out several gasps and kept taking side glances at me every few seconds. The poor dear seemed to be in shock. I grinned in satisfaction as I took down one alien after another.

"Full of surprises," He muttered under his breath and then his full focus was back on the game.

After a few minutes we were completely absorbed. Laughing, yelling, and screaming when someone in our party was shot or when we managed to kill the baddies. It was surprisingly fun, and a good distraction from the last few days.

By the time we were done, I was completely relaxed and had a genuine smile on my face.

"I didn't know you were a gamer." Maddox's voice sounded surprised but also uncomfortably close.

I looked at him and noticed that in our excitement we had both moved away from the edge of the couch - him more so than me - and were now sitting so close our shoulders were almost touching.

Swallowing hard, I moved back to the edge of the couch. Maddox just smirked not even moving an inch.

I should put down a rule about personal space.

"Yeah, I used to, but I haven't really had time for that since I started college," I responded, setting the controller down on the table. Glancing at him, I saw him staring at the screen and shaking his head, probably still in disbelief.

"Is it that shocking?" I decided to flip his earlier words back at him.

At that, he looked at me and burst out laughing, "Touché." Still keeping his eyes fixed at me, he rubbed his thumb across his lips. "Hmm..." I looked away uncomfortably and cleared my throat but before I could speak he added, "So, what are we playing next? Your choice."

Shit.

I had no idea what game to suggest. The last time I'd played something with people was truth or dare at a party and there was no way I was playing that with Maddox.

"How about the Silence game?" I asked after a few moments, smiling a bit too sweetly, "First one to speak is the loser."

Maddox snorted but I could see he wasn't exactly surprised at my suggestion. "Nope, I'm vetoing games like that."

"You can't just veto games all of a sudden!" I protested in vain.

"I think I just did?" He raised his eyebrows as if daring me to argue with him on this.

Knowing I was going to lose however it turned out, I clicked my tongue and started twirling a strand of my hair. Absolutely no games were coming to mind. None that I would want to play with Maddox at least.

Sensing I was nervous, Maddox reached out and separated my hand from the strand of hair I was aggressively wrapping around my fingers. He quickly pushed the strand of hair behind my ear before I could even react to this unexpected closeness.

My mouth gaped open and he smirked, taking advantage of the situation to offer his own suggestion. "Since you seem to be stuck, how about twenty questions?"

I mulled over his idea for a moment. For starters I was sure that I absolutely did not want to know twenty different things about Maddox. Even the stuff I already knew, I wanted to bleach from my mind. But at the same time, the game did sound pretty harmless.

How much damage could a few questions do, right?

"Fine, let's do that one." I sighed in resignation and stretched.

His grin widened and he nodded his head in approval, "Now all we need is drinks!" He proclaimed, taking the last sip from the bottle in front of him.

"We need drinks?" My tone was sceptical as I called him out.

"Yup! It's the unwritten rule of the game." He said, nodding enthusiastically and I rolled my eyes.

"Somehow, I doubt that." I muttered but stood up anyway.

The truth of the matter was that I would need alcohol if I was going to play twenty questions with Maddox Carter. There was no way I could get through that completely sober.

I started walking to the kitchen when he called out after me. "Hey, by the way,"

I turned to face him, raising a brow, "What now?"

He looked me over twice before speaking, "Sexy." And then he winked at me.

I looked down at my outfit and let out a grunt. I'd almost forgotten about my mission. And clearly, that was not the reaction I had been hoping for.

I was going to need a different approach if I wanted game night canceled by the end of the day. 

Hi lovelies! 

The game night is ON, and it's becoming quite the night!

Aimee is trying to have game night cancelled, but will she succeed? What do you guys think? ;)

I split the chapter into two due to the length, so I hope to have the second part up ASAP.

I hope you're having a lovely weekend and stay safe! <3