Page 7 of Reel Love

I wait a few minutes, nearly succumbing to the disappointment that I’ll have to initiate a match and leave it for her to respond later. Just before I accept a challenge from an unknown competitor, SaturdayIslandGirl’s gamer tag pops up on my sidebar. A few seconds later she’s challenging me to a match.

Are you ready to rumble?She types while both of us receive our tiles.

I smile. It’s the first time I’ve genuinely smiled all day besides the amused grins Ben drew out of me over my mustache—which I’m shaving as soon as I finish playing this game.

So ready. I was born ready. As a matter of fact, I think this is my night to shine. I type my response, still smiling the whole time.

Big words. Let’s see if you can back those up.

I bark out a laugh. She’s fun.

I analyze my tiles. She may be right. But one thing I’ve learned in this game is that you can’t tell where it will lead until you play it out. Just when you think you couldn’t possibly win, you pick up a J and two Zs and you’re able to spell JAZZ, earning yourself twenty-nine points with one seemingly innocuous four-letter word.

We play while I eat, and then I place my plate in the sink and move to the couch in my living room. It turns out SaturdayIslandGirl was right. This may not be my night to shine.

She’s kept her lead the whole game and is currently ahead by six points. Normally, I’d feel a surge of competitiveness. But with her, I’m just glad to be playing—enjoying our ongoing banter and smack talk as much as the actual game itself. She lays down four letters. It’s not a word we use in America, but I know I’m going to let it pass as soon as I see what I can build with my tiles on what she’s set down. Maybe my luck is turning.

THREE

Alana

It's not so important who starts the game,

but who finishes it.

~ John Wooden

F-O-U-D.

I set the tiles down on the virtual game board on my screen, pretty proud of myself for remembering that’s an actual word in Britain. I nearly cross my fingers in hopes that Wordivore doesn’t call me on the fact that foud isn’t actually a universally used word in all of English. I lean back on my couch, tucking my legs under me on the cushion, waiting for Wordivore’s response.

I earned eight points for that word, and I’m ahead by six already, so that makes my lead fourteen.

Wordivore wastes no time adding ROYANT to the end of the tiles I just laid, creating FOUDROYANT and earning my eight plus nine. Seventeen!

Bam!The message comes through almost as quickly as the tiles show up on our shared game board.

Are you using a computer assistant to discover words?I ask.

Are you accusing me of cheating? Where would the fun be in that?

I have to agree. Half the fun, or maybe ninety percent of it, comes from knowing you won by your wits.

Well done, then. I concede.Are you sure foudroyant is an actual word?

I am.

Why do I long for more than those two words from my opponent?

What does it mean then?I ask instead of Googling the definition.

Sudden and overwhelming in effect; stunning; dazzling. It comes from the French word for lightning. As in, my opponent’s word choice was foudroyant.

I chuckle at the double entendre.

Ah. Foudre. Oui.I don’t know why I answer with the actual French word for lightning.

My response reveals something personal. Not that I am French, I’m not. I just exposed the fact that I speak the language. Maybe I shouldn’t have.

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