Young Royals: What...now?

Game Night.

Wilhelm

With Simon and August out of his life, Wilhelm found his evenings surprisingly empty. More empty than they'd been in his entire life. At first, the silence was refreshing. But by now he'd come in and out of more Youtube rabbit holes than he could count. He needed a life.

He looked down at his phone as it vibrated. Felice. The only person who still contacted him regularly. He opened his phone to read the message.

Felice: Hey, what are you up to?

Wilhelm: Nothing much. Homework.

Felice: Loser. Madison, Henry, and I are playing Codenames, and we need a fourth person. Can you forgo the books for an hour, Young Savant?

Wilhelm thought. It was Saturday after all.

Wilhelm: Sure, where are you guys? I'll be there in 3 minutes.

Felice: Commons. And bring snacks!

Wilhelm smiled as he gathered up what was left of his last care package. He knew that the staff put them together and just signed his parents' names, but at least he got his favorite toffee and liquorice sticks out of the deal.

As he sauntered into the common area of the girl's dorm, he saw the three of them stretched out on the floor with the game already set up.

"The snacks are here!!!!" cried Madison, grinning slyly.

"Hey!" exclaimed Wilhelm with a playful scowl.

"Oh, and Wille, too. Get OVER here! We've been waiting like 4 minutes!" she ordered. 

Henry put on some chill music and tossed Wilhelm a pillow.

"Ok, Wilhelm. You've played before, yes?" Felice asked expectantly.

Wilhelm went quiet. He had heard of the game...maybe? He had loved games as a kid, Dominoes, Shoots and Ladders, Operation, but he'd never really gotten into the more complex games. 

"Wille, yes?!" she asked again. 

"Um, no." 

Madison groaned. "Felice, I thought you said he'd know!"

Madison continued. "Whatever. Look, you and I are partners. You're going to give me clues to only guess the red pictures, not the blue pictures or the black picture, at all costs. They're the blue team, and if I choose the black picture, we lose. This is how it works..."

She continued explaining the rules one by one until he got it.

"Okkk, great. Let's go."

Wilhelm laughed, "Um, okay astronaut, 3."

Madison giggled, "So, I'm guessing the planets, the man on the moon, hmmm NOT the scuba diver..., and this one with stars?"

Wilhelm's face flushed a bright red.

"Wilhelm! You thought the scuba diver was in space, didn't you?" sighed Madison.

"Yeah..." Maybe big-kid games were not his strong point.

Madison rolled her eyes and laughed. "Ok, I'll give you a pass, since it's your first time, you idiot."

From there, it went to Felice and Henry, who surprise, surprise, were aces.

"Um, so how often do you guys play this game?" asked Wilhelm after getting trounced by the other team.

"Well, enough times that this is our 3rd card expansion pack. Maybe, what? Once a week," answered Henry, counting on his fingers.

"And this time we even got snacks!" continued Madison, coyly. 

"Ok, so basically, what I'm hearing you say is that I was just used for my care package."

"Basically!" Madison laughed as she pulled out a licourice stick. 

Wilhelm laughed as he stood up. "Fuck you guys. I'm going back to the dorms. I'm done being used."

Felice grabbed his hand, "Wait, no, stay!" she whined. "We're starved for contact with anyone outside of our hall."

Wilhelm looked at Henry and grinned.

"Henry doesn't count. His and my parents country houses are beside each other, so I've had to deal with him every summer of my life."

Henry glared at her jokingly. "You loved it, you know it."

Wilhelm hugged the pillow that he had been resting on. "Ok, so what do you want to talk about then?" he grinned.

"Anything but fashion," whined Henry, who had obviously been subjected to many mani-pedi conversations in his life.

"I dunno. What do guys like to talk about?" replied Felice, jokingly. "Did you see the football match?"

Wilhelm grinned. "Which match, Felice?"

Felice and Madison giggled. "Oh, you know, that one. The big one," she answered.

Henry rolled his eyes. "Now you see what I'm dealing with."

Wilhelm looked back and winked at the others while Felice was hunting down her favorite color M&M. "Ah, you mean the one where the guy had a seizure on the field and they had to call an ambulance and he went into a coma?"

"WHAT?!" Felice exclaimed. 

Henry and Madison hooted laughter. Wilhelm grinned, trying to keep a straight face. 

Felice threw a pillow at Henry, then another at Wilhelm. She protested through giggles, "Not funny, guys!

Henry and Wilhelm threw them back, hard. Felice screeched and scrambled out of the room with Madison right behind her. 

Wilhelm and Henry looked at each other with a glimmer in their eyes. Girls were ridiculous.

Henry  stood up and offered Wilhelm a hand. Wilhelm took it and pulled himself to a stand. 

"Hey, thanks for coming out, dude," said Henry, picking up the pieces of the game that had been strewn across the floor. 

Wilhelm lifted up the box and started rearranging the cards. "Thanks, you know, for the invite."

Henry nodded. "Anytime. They can be a little much. Then add Fredericka and it just goes to another level. I appreciated the extra testosterone. At least I didn't have to hear another debate about which is better, permanent nail polish or reusable stick-ons."

Wilhelm grinned. "Which one is better?"

"Reusable. Definitely," Henry answered with conviction. "Did you know that with the permanent stuff you have to pay someone at a salon to take it off after a few weeks?! That's absurd!"

Laughter escaped Wilhelm's lips, as he tried to mask it as a cough. "Wow. Um, you have a lot of opinions on nails."

"I have three older sisters. Plus Felice. Plus a girlfriend. I never had a chance." A smile eased on Henry's face.

"Yeah, well if I ever need any opinion on eyelashes..."

"Get them professionally tinted. Way better than mascara," replied Henry quickly, giving Wilhelm a wan smile

"Ok, then, duly noted," Wilhelm said with a chuckle. "Anyway, see you around."

"You live right next to me. So, yep. Guessing so," answered Henry.

Wilhelm rolled his eyes at him. "Whatever, dude. I'm gonna go back." He saw Henry pull out a book. "I'll leave you to your reading. Night."

"Night," replied Henry, as he opened his book and tucked his nose between the pages.