Always

Chapter 119

He had stripped down to his boxer briefs, and crawled under the covers, bringing it up to his waist. I climbed in beside him. "No, I'm okay. I don't feel any different and nothing has happened to make me think that something is wrong. I'm fine. We're fine." I replied, kissing his shoulder before laying my head down on it. The next few days were filled with board games and card games with my Mom. She drug all of the old games out that we used to play when I was younger, and insisted that we play Monopoly. "Uugghh, Mom, you know that I hate that game." I groaned, sitting on the couch next to Colby, while Momma was in the chair next to me. "Oh shut it, you haven't played in forever. You can play one game with your Momma, who you didn't visit in over 2 years." Oh, a guilt trip...nice move Mom. Colby put his hand on my knee and rubbed. "Come on y/n, it'll be fun." He clapped his hands together and rubbed. "I'm good at Monopoly." I shook my head while my mom giggled. "Not here, you won't be." I motioned to my mom. "Not against her. She's ruthless. There's no chance." My Mom was the Monopoly Queen. I still hadn't met anyone who had ever managed to beat her. I thought that Serena was going to one time, but Mom came back at the last minute and wiped her out. All of her properties, her money, everything. I don't know how she does it. I just hate the game. It's boring to me, and it lasts way too long...maybe I'm salty because I can never win. Either way, it wasn't my idea of fun...but I gave in. Between her guilt trip and Colby's optimism, what was I supposed to do? "Fine." I replied, defeated. "I'll play but I'm not going to enjoy it." My mom laughed at me, giving me the little miniature dog to place on the board. I smiled. She remembered what my favorite piece was. We played for a little while and I actually got into it, thinking that I was making progress, until I landed on one of Colby's properties that he had maxed out with hotels. He started laughing when I made a face, and gave him half of my money. I had rolled doubles so I went again. Of course, I land on Mom's hotel properties. "Why should I expect anything different?" I laughed sarcastically. I should have known. This game hates me. I shelled out most of what was left of my money to my Mom and sat back. Colby was holding his on and doing pretty well. It wouldn't last. I could the strategy in behind my Mom's eyes. She was scheming. Colby was going down. I had two more turns before I got wiped out, Colby and Mom owning most of the board. I sold my properties off to them and just watched, while I scrolled Instagram. The game literally lasted for 3 more hours before Colby concluded that the $5 he had left wasn't going to help him get back in the game. Mom had already cleaned him out, Colby had sold his hotels, trying to climb back up, sold a couple of his properties to my Mom, which really defeated the purpose if he was trying to win. "I give up. You're too good. This is over. You win." He told her, sitting back on the couch. She shook her head. "Nope, we play until you're broke. That's the game. Roll the dice pretty boy." "Really Mom?" She could get so competitive, even if she was winning. Just let him quit, for God's sake. Colby just laughed and sat up, rolling the dice again. Luckily, he landed on a spot where she really was able to completely wipe him out. "Okay," Mom said, smiling at him. "Now we're done. That was a great game. You are some real competition!" I scoffed. "You knew that you were going to win. Stop playing." She rolled her eyes. "It's still polite to be nice honey." The proud smile that Colby had on his face faltered when he realized we were serious. I shrugged. "Told you. She's ruthless." He chuckled. "It was fun though." The days until we went to Kristie's bonfire were full of things like this and I have to admit, it was fun. We didn't touch Monopoly again, thank God, but the other games were great. Especially Charades. Seeing Colby and my Mom act out words, making themselves look crazy...priceless. I know that I did the same, but it was so much fun. Who needs the internet when you can have so much fun just like this? We stayed out of town, to avoid running into Randy. We didn't want, or need, to start more trouble before we figured things out. Colby was quiet on the way to Kristie's, his rings tapping against the steering wheel. "Why are you nervous?" I asked, my voice hesitant. I was nervous too. He sighed heavily, letting his hand rest. "I don't know exactly. I feel like Kristie has to have some really good info or we have to come up with a really good plan to figure this out." He looked at me, his blue eyes concerned. "You don't worry about it though. I promised you that I would figure this out and I will." He took my hand in his and brought it to his lips, pressing them lightly against my knuckles. Butterflies, every damn time. He smiled at me, like he knew, and put my hand back in my lap, so that he could turn the car into Kristie's driveway. "Damn, She got her a nice place now." I replied, impressed. It was set off, back in the woods some, surrounded by large trees, except for the front. It was open so that you could see the elaborate log cabin, illuminated by the hanging torch lights. There were multiple flower trees, and bushes decorating the front lawn, all different colors and types. I had no idea what they were but they were beautiful: blue, green, red, pink, yellow, white, purple...it was amazing.