Alix took a sip of her coffee. By now, it was cool, and she could actually appreciate the sweet taste of caramel and white chocolate. She didn't, however, allow herself to look up at Taivon; for she knew that she got distracted, he'd kick her ass in another game.
Taking a deep breath, Alix leaned back in the cushioned seat and assessed where to pull out her next block. The middle ones were always a good bet, but when she'd done that in her other game, the entire tower had collapsed. It had only tallied another loss for her and another win for Taivon.
“Ha,” she said and slid a block from the tower. It came out smoothly, and Alix placed it next to her slowly accumulating pile.
“Nice,” Taivon told her, soft voice sending a shudder down her spine.
As his brown eyes looked all around their half-dismembered tower, Alix couldn't help but watch. He'd known he was smart, but the way he played board games told her that he was really smart. He had a strategy about everything, even this, and was cool and decisive with every action he took.
It was strange, watching this man playing a child's game. There was no longer a blush on his face or that uncertain look in his eyes, but rather, a calm and rather intimidating man. His fingers tapped a pattern on the tiled table, and his brows furrowed. Then, he made his move, removing another wooden block effortlessly.
“How are you so good?” she asked, knowing that he would probably win another game.
Taivon just took a sip of his strawberry smoothie and shrugged. “I like board games. They're fun.”
“I like 'em, too,” she said. “Well, most times. But I'm still losing.”
“You're pretty good.” He took another sip from the straw and ran his hand through those thick locks.
Outside, it was raining a light drizzle that tinged the sky a dull gray-blue. The sun wasn't out, making the light harsh as it struck his face. They sat kitty corner with her back to a window and his side to one. He truly did look beautiful in this moment, t-shirt stretching across his chest and looking a little shy, humble, and timid all at the same time.
“Can we play a different game after this?” she asked, looking at the intimidating gaps in their tower. “I play a mean game of Monopoly.”
“I thought you hated that game.”
She pulled out a block of wood. On a prayer, the tower stayed upright, but just barely. “I do, but I have a hunch that it'll be more fun with you. Ya know?”
“We really don't have to play, if you don't want.”
Alix looked up, instantly meeting those brown eyes and that puppy dog face. With his bottom lip pushed out and his head downcast, he was definitely begging. How anybody could resist that face, she had no idea.
“Taivon.” She reached out and cupped that bristly chin in her palm. “I want to play.”
He grinned. “Only because you want to.”
They went through a few blocks after that, and she ended up losing. Again. She'd been a pro with her family, but she was beginning to realize that they'd been mere amateurs compared to Taivon. When he brought back Monopoly, Alix forced back the groan and just sat back to enjoy her coffee.
“Here you go.” He placed the metal dog piece in front of her. “And I'll be the battleship.”
“Awe... You remembered.”
His eyes didn't even leave the setup of the game as he said, “Alix, we literally just talked about this, like, an hour ago.”
“You want me to deal out the money?”
“Yes, please.”
After handing out the colorful bills, she rolled the dice. Taivon followed shortly after. He got the higher number, so he went first. Soon, they were going all around the board, with him as the banker and her as the property manager.
When he went to jail, she laughed; and when she had to donate money to charity, he did the same. She drank her coffee. He sipped at his fat-free smoothie. The contrasts between them were something that had her smiling from time to time, even when he got Boardwalk.
“Damn it,” she muttered. If he got Park Place, then she was royally screwed.
“Isn't this fun?”
Sticking her tongue out at him, Alix rolled for her turn and prayed that she'd get the green places. Of course, that didn't happen. The only properties she had to her name were the railroads and the orange ones.
“Do you have a strategy for this, too?”
He grinned. “What do ya mean? It's Monopoly. You go for Boardwalk and Park Place, and that's about all there is to it. Houses and hotels don't hurt, either.”
“I know that.”
“Then what do ya mean?”
“I don't know,” she mumbled and watched as he rolled, large hands cupping and then dropping the cubes. “I think I'm just waiting to play a game where I can actually win.”
“We can do Battleship. Or checkers.”
The way he said it made him once again sound like a young child. She could barely even remember the last time she'd done Battleship. Her brothers, Leona and Collin, had absolutely loved the game and had forced her and Mabel to pick sides. Alix had been okay at it. Not the best, but maybe able to stand a chance against the formidable Taivon.
“After this.”
They played for a good hour, and he did, just as she'd feared, obtain Park Place. He had the hotels on there, and when she landed, Alix didn't even bothering asking if she could go into debt. He had the greens and the yellow properties, as well, which made defeat inevitable.
When the game was all packed away, she wove in and out of the other occupied tables and placed the box back in the large stand. Most of the other games were all meant for more than two player, or they were three-dimensional puzzles. Although she had a sinking suspicion that Taivon had picked Battleship on purpose, she still took the box and set it back down on their table. She went back for a Rubik's cube and then was back in a second.
“Good choice,” he told her.
“The Rubik's cube or battleship?”
“Both.”
She took the Battleship boards from the box and set them out. “Pretty sure I'm gonna regret this.”
“I'll make it worth your while.”
Alix didn't know if he meant the words in that innuendo way that she took a lot of things, but she looked up at him all the same. His eyes didn't meet hers, instead, just looking at his battleship platform that was shielded from her view. He was more interested in the game than the thoughts that could spiral from those words. She wanted to crush him in a giant hug.
“You can go first,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“This'll come back to bite me in the ass, won't it?” she asked.
He raised an eyebrow. “Depends on how you play.”
Rolling her eyes playfully, she looked down at her arrangement of ships. It was a L-shaped arrangment in the corners, something that she hoped he wouldn't be expecting. There was no way he would get her this time. No way. If he did, then he could read minds, and she'd just have a boyfriend who could read minds.
“Alright,” she began. “B-2.”
“Miss.” Taivon grinned, clearly enjoying himself. Instead of guessing anything, he looked at her and just waited. It was almost scary, the way those eyes all but calculated where she'd placed her ship. He was smart, no doubt about it. He had intelligence over people, and Alix felt as if he could probably read them like one would a book.
“What're you thinking about?” she asked, quietly.
“Tryin' to figure out if you're one o' those people who puts all their boats in a pattern or not.” Taivon cocked his head. “Would I be right in saying that you are?”
“I'm not telling you.”
“You're lying.”
“Am not,” she said. Too late, Alix realized. Her response was all the indication he'd need.
“Just gonna put it out there that the whole pattern thing is a terrible choice. Trust me. When I was little, my brothers never really let me play, because I was always won, ya see? All of 'em – especially Titus – liked to think that arranging them in a pattern would trick me, but it never worked. I won all the time.”
“I'm gonna guess they didn't like that?”
He shook his head, smiling. “Not at all. Tobias, the youngest, would tell on me and say that I cheated, but I never did. He just always put them in one corner or the other, and it was so easy. Thrane slammed my head against a dresser once 'cause he was so mad.”
“That sounds...intense.”
“He loves me, though.” Taivon shrugged it off and then looked back at her. “F-8.”
“Miss.” Alix laughed what she hoped sounded like an evil laugh. “A-1.”
“Hit.”
She put a red peg on the board and then waited. For the first couple of turns, it looked like she would actually pull out strong in this one. But then it all went down hill when he took out her aircraft carrier and submarine, a smile on his lips as he finished up another glass of water.
“I'll be right back,” he said, an sheepish smile on his face.
As soon as she saw him disappear into the bathrooms, she turned around his platform. Hopefully, all that water would take a long time. He had all his ships in a random pattern, or at least, to her, it looked random. It'd probably be in some confusing and intricate pattern that only he knew about. Either way, she now had all of them marked on her own board.
He came back a few minutes later, shirt tucked in and pants secured on his hips with a shiny belt. She tried not to laugh at the naïve innocence in his face as he guessed her ships and somehow managed to hit them, and she nailed his with perfect accuracy, but she couldn't keep it in.
“You're really good at this,” he said, a secretive smile on his face.
She couldn't help but laugh. “It's just luck.”
“Is there something you wanna tell me?”
“What?” Alix shook her head. “No. I'm just really...lucky.”
“You so cheated.”
“Did not.”
“I saw you.” He grabbed her battleship platform and turned it around, eyes widening as he grinned one of those heart-stopping grins. “Ha!”
“Oh, come on. It was just one little peak. I was gonna win anyway.”
“No,” he said. “You weren't.”
“How do you know?”
Taivon pointed to something behind her, his hand just barely brushing against your cheek. “The window.”
“What about it?” Alix grabbed his hand and brought it down onto the table to hold it in both of hers. The roughness of his skin felt good, the fine hairs sending tingly sensations up and down her arms as she rubbed her thumbs over his knuckles.
“There's a reflection.”
The words sank in, but all she felt was amusement at his need to win. “And you looked at it, and saw all my ships.”
“I got a few wrong at first, but glass isn't always perfect, ya know? It gets warped at times, but then I got the hang of it.”
“We sat down here on purpose.”
“Only for battleship, but yes, we did. It's a nice view, though.” He raised her hands before placing a light kiss on her fingers. “Don't ya think?”
“You do look pretty nice.”
“So do you. Better than nice, actually.”
They were silent for awhile after that, holding each other's hands as they stared out at the dreary outside. Cars went past on the streets, tires making that sound as they ran through a few puddles of water. Even a few people with umbrellas walked about.
It was completely opposite to the inside of the cafe where warm lights made the place feel more alive, and the constant but quiet chatter filled up the empty silence. Alix inhaled, reveling in the scent of coffee, fresh fruit, and slices of homemade desserts.
“I hope you're having a good time,” Taivon said, softly, looking outside. “I know that I'm not the best conversationalist, but...The games made up for it, right?”
“Of course.” She smiled. “I like how different this is. Nobody's ever just wanted to take me out for coffee and play Monopoly for hours. It's...nice. Like, really nice.”
“Good, 'cause I debated about taking you here for a long time.”
“You picked a good place.”
“Where do you wanna go next?”
And wasn't that just the question of the hour because where she really wanted to go was to some place far away – maybe Fiji, if she even knew what Fiji was like – and just relax with him. It shocked her how quickly he made her want things that she'd never wanted before, but she really didn't care.
She wanted to walk on a beach, with her toes in the sand, and his hand in hers. She wanted to lay down in bed with him, just to lay down and relax. Just the elemental feel of skin on skin would be enough to satisfy her.
Where she wanted to go next was where he was going to be.
Instead of answering, she picked up the Rubik's cube and slid it over to him. “Can you do one of these?”
“Yeah. Wanna see?” He picked it up, twiddling the cube with his nimble fingers. “I used to play with these all the time.”
“I could never do 'em.”
“It isn't too bad. I can teach ya, if ya want.”
Alix didn't know if she was just reading too much into things, but these games sort of opened him up. She hadn't noticed it right away, but now that she thought about it, with every winning move in Monopoly, Tumbling Towers, and Battleship, he'd sort of revealed more of himself. Almost like a therapeutic sort of revealing.
“Sure. Go ahead.”
He didn't say anything as the colors mixed and blended, and neither did she. Alix was content to watch his fingers move at a lightning speed. Within minutes, all of the colors were in their proper positions on the faces of the cube.
And bestill her heart, Taivon was grinning again. He looked proud – so, so proud of himself. So timid, shy, and humble before he looked like he wanted to jump onto the table and beat his chest so people would see this feat.
Alix couldn't stop staring.
“See?” He held up the completed Rubik's cube.
“Take me home,” she said.
He frowned. “Did I do something wr-”
“No. Not at all.”
“Then why-”
“Because I can't kiss you when we're in public. At least, not how I want to.”