Page 45 of Sunflower Persona
“How the fuck is that supposed to be a toothbrush,” Karis shouts at Nathan as another round passes without our team scoring any points.
“What do you mean? That part is a tooth, and this is a brush,” he shouts back as he gestures to the unintelligible scribbles as if that would give them any sort of shape.
The game descended into chaos the second James flipped the timer and started on her first drawing. I thought Pictionary was played one team at a time, but based on the way Karis, Nathan, and James have hurled trash talk at the others and actively tried to sabotage their drawings, it’s clear they aren’t playing by the written rules. Gage was right about James being good at this, though. We never stood a chance, even with the “advantage” of having an extra member on our team. James is pretty much the Van Gogh of the game. Nathan, on the other hand, is the Picasso, and I doubt Picasso was good Pictionary.
“It looks like an ass getting spanked by a spiked paddle,” Karis snaps.
If I squint, I can see it.
“Why would ‘Spank’ be in the Pictionary deck? Or ‘Ass’? James said no when I offered to buy Pictionary After Dark,” Nathan fires back.
“I don’t fucking know, but that’s what it looks like.”
“You come draw if you think you can do better.”
“Enough, both of you. Or I’m adding Pictionary to the banned-games shelf,” Gage cuts in.
Hello, Coach Gage.
The sudden surge of emotion in his voice—the authority behind it—sends a shiver all the way to my core. He doesn’t need to yell. The sharp command carries over their bickering, rendering them both silent.
“Not Pictionary. It’s my favorite,” James whines.
“Take it up with dumb and dumber,” Gage tells her. “But it’s going in time out.”
“Fine,” she sighs. “Y’all want to play something else or call it for the night?”
I check the time and wince. It’s nottoolate, but late enough that getting up for class tomorrow is going to suck. I’m not sure what the rest of their schedules look like. Tonight has been fun—way more fun than going out to the bar was—and I don’t want to be the one who ends it.
“I’ve got an early class tomorrow, so I say we call it,” Evelyn says, unknowingly saving me from my own internal war.
A couple of the others mumble similar sentiments and begin cleaning up the area around them. I stand to help, but Gage grabs the chair he brought me and puts it away, not leaving me much to do. They all move around each other so seamlessly, like this is something they do all the time, and I don’t know what to do. I’m just sort of here, an outsider looking in. I drift over toward one of the walls to get out of their way.
“Did you have fun?” Evelyn asks as she joins me on the edge of the room.
“It was great.” They are great. Together, they have found the thing I’ve been searching for—friendship that feels like family.
“Good. You should come around again, then.”
Emotions lodge themselves in my throat, and my hopes fly higher than they have any right to. I know a vague invitation to hang out again doesn’t mean much—people hand those out all the time with the messed-up notion that it’s somehow polite. ButI don’t think she means it that way. I wouldn’t be here now if that was something she did. Although that could be my naive hope talking. I want her to mean it. I want to belong.
“I’d like that,” I tell her and turn my attention to the group. “Thank you for having me. It’s been fun.”
I give them an awkward wave and start toward the door.
“Wait, let me walk you to your car,” Gage says and starts moving.
“Oh, I didn’t drive.” I stop him before he gets more than a few steps in my direction.
“You’re walking?” He spits the question like it personally offended him.
“My dorm isn’t too far.”
“It’s dark.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes at that. Based on his tone, “it’s dark” is Gage for “there’s no way in hell you’re walking,” but I could be wrong. I’m still learning how to speak his language. I guess we’re back to this him-making-decisions-for-me bullshit again.
“So? I used to walk around Atlanta later than this. Athens is nothing compared to that,” I argue, and the muscles in his jaw tighten.
