a chained heart

19 | temporary happiness

"Oh my god...run—run," Adam whispered to himself with anticipation as his eyes darted across the television screen in front of him.

It was almost midnight, and Adam, Lawrence, and Alison were sat on the couch watching a football game Alison had recorded on the dvr. She didn't want to miss it, but she had just been so busy recently.

"Go go go," Alison spoke to the television on the edge of her seat as their quarterback neared closer to the end of the field. He'd finally made it, throwing the ball down and putting his hands in the air.

"Touchdown!" Adam and Alison both screamed in victory, high-fiving on opposite sides of Lawrence as their team scored a point.

Lawrence sat between the two of them and sipped his beer, unamused. Shaking his head at the them, he pointed at the TV, "I don't get what it is about this that gets you two so riled up."

"You think this is riled up?" Adam scoffed. "You should see me on Super Bowl Sunday."

"And since when do you like football, Ali?" Lawrence looked over at her in question.

"Since always," she retorted after taking a gulp of her beer. "I just stopped watching it after we got married because you would always complain about it."

"I don't remember this," Lawrence looked up at the ceiling and rolled his eyes.

"Hey!" Alison leaned over Lawrence and tapped Adam. "We should go to the Super Bowl someday—together!"

"Really?" Adam raised his eyebrow then took a swig from his drink. He knew she was a little tipsy—they all were—but she wasn't drunk enough to not mean what she was saying.

Woah. Alison was being nice to him.

"Yeah, why not?" Alison smiled. "It would be fun. And this big loser would stay home," she pointed to Larry. "He'd be a buzz kill."

"I can come!" Lawrence fought back like a child.

"Why? You hate football."

Lawrence went for a comeback but Alison pointed at him and shut him up, "It's not my fault that you like to watch golf. That's the alcoholic sport you know?"

Lawrence crossed his arms and everyone went back to watching the game and drinking. After everyone had thought the argument was over, Lawrence splayed his hands, "Okay but why could I not come?"

"What do you even care," Alison laughed, almost doubling over. "What?" she poked him. "You think I'm gonna steal your man or something?" she wiggled her eyebrows jokingly.

Lawrence just looked down at his lap and blushed.

Alison dropped her jaw and let out a half scoff, half laugh. "I was kidding."

After a few beats of silence she continued. "Besides," she shrugged, "it's not like I could be attracted to him anyway."

Lawrence gave Alison a look that said what the hell and she realized how bad that sounded. "I—I didn't mean it like that," she stuttered, putting her hands up.

"Adam is—very attractive," Alison paused red-faced, as her trying to fix the situation just made it worse. "Okay," she sucked in a deep breath. "Adam is good looking—but," she held her hand up, "I'm not attracted to him because," she paused, unable to finish.