Monopoly

It’s not really about the game.

“That’ll be $100.” I don’t even like this game. It takes way too much time. There are dozens of things I’d rather be doing right now, but she said she wanted to play, and suddenly I couldn’t think of any of them.

“You just had to buy Park Place, didn’t you?” I sigh, forking over the cash. I’d Park in her Place.

“My turn,” she says with a smile, picking up the dice. She rolls a seven, landing on Marvin Gardens. I’d Marv in her Gardens. She opts to do nothing, having landed on her own property. I don’t care about the game at hand, yet I find myself paying all my attention to her as she does this. I roll the dice, pass go, collect $200. I’d Vermont her Avenue. Okay, that one doesn’t even make sense. Get it together.

It feels like it’s been three weeks since I’ve had a thought that didn’t involve her. As she rolls, I reminisce about a dream I had the other night. There I was, sitting next to her in chemistry. She’s not even in my chemistry class, but this all made sense in the dream. Everything makes sense in dreams. She couldn’t have been more than two feet from me, on my left. I tried to scoot my chair over some, but it wouldn’t budge. Even in my dreams I’m not as close to her as I—
“How much do I owe you?” She jolts me from my thoughts. While I wasn’t looking, she landed on North Carolina Avenue. We figure out the money situation and get back to the game.

I roll a two, and land on the jail space. At least she doesn’t own that; she owns pretty much everything else. Everywhere I go, she’s there. New York Avenue, Reading Railroad, the Water Works, English, chemistry. How do you tell someone that you’re obsessed with them?

“When do you have to go?” she asks.
“Let’s at least finish this game,” I answer. “I still might win this.”

Tags: fiction, Short Stories

Category: featured, Romance