Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

10

I heard their footsteps coming down the stairs. I stared down at my drink as they approached the kitchen.

                "Hey, Nessa," said Sam. I forced myself to look up.

                "Hey," I said quietly. "You get lost up there?"

                "You know me. Directionally challenged," Sam said.

                "Yeah right," I said. I'd trust Sam with my life in a situation where we needed to get somewhere as fast as possible. "Hi, Colby."

                "Hi," he said, almost too quiet to hear.

                "You guys want to play a game? I found a new one the other day and I really want to try it out," said Sam.

                "Yeah, sure," I said.

                "Okay, we need three bowls and some paper and pens," said Sam. I grabbed some bowls while Sam grabbed some sticky notes and pens from one of the kitchen drawers. "Alright, let's go in there."

                The three of us walked into the living room and Sam yelled for everyone to be quiet.

                "Okay, we're playing a game. It's like a scavenger hunt, I'm not sure what it's called," he said. He walked around the room, handing everyone two sticky notes and a pen. Colby walked over and sat down next to Jake at the end of the couch, no room for me to sit next to him. I walked over and sat next to Reggie.

                "Okay, so the five of you on this couch, write down a room in the house on one of the sticky notes. The other five of us will write down a color. Then all of us write our names," said Sam. "This is the color bowl, this is the room bowl, and this is the name bowl," he continued, pointing at each of the bowls.

                I was responsible for writing down a room. I decided to go with the gym room in the basement, then wrote my name on the other sticky note and put them in their corresponding bowls with everyone else's.

                "Okay, so now we draw for teams of two. The five of you guys can draw a name and that's who your partner will be. If you draw someone's name that already has a partner or you draw your own name, you draw again," Sam said, pointing at the people that had written down colors. Jake drew Corey's name and Kat drew Kevin's. Tara was next.

                She stuck her hand into the bowl and pulled out one of the folded sticky notes.

                "Aw, man. I got Reggie. Can I switch?" she asked.

                "No, you can get over it," said Kevin.

                "Fine," she sighed. Devyn drew Sam's name, leaving one possibility left. Me and Colby.

                Colby sighed and stuck his hand in the bowl, drawing out three names that he had to leave out.

                "Oh, for fuck's sake. Colby, you're with Nessa," said Reggie.

                Colby sighed.

                "Okay, now one partner draws a color and the other draws a room," said Sam. I went to the color bowl and Colby went to the room one. "Okay, now hold on for a second. Show your partner what you got and I'll be right back," Sam said, handing his sticky note to Devyn for her to read.

                Colby and I awkwardly walked over to each other.

                "I got black," I said, holding up the sticky note I'd drawn.