Chapter Four

“Well, I don’t have enough spoons,” AJ said, rummaging through a kitchen drawer.

Everyone else was settled down at the table. Megan was sitting with one leg up on her chair, shuffling a deck of cards.

“We could play with forks, but that’s a little dangerous,” she said. “Someone could get hurt.” She directed a look at Kevin, who regarded her cooly from his seat.

“Haha, no, no forks. And no knives either.” AJ shut that drawer and moved to another. “Aha! We’ve got sporks!”

Megan burst out laughing. “I love that word!”

AJ grabbed six sporks and set them in the center of the table.

“All right,” Megan said. “You all know how this game works, right?”

Howie shook his head. “It’s been awhile.”

“Okay. Well, everyone gets four cards and the deck stays with me. Since I’m the dealer, I have to take one card from the deck. Now, I can either keep that card or pass it. If I keep it, I have to pass one from my hand. When you get a card, you have to decide if you want to keep it. If you do, then you have to pass one of the cards from your hand. The first person to get four cards with the same number on them grabs a spoon, or in our case, a spork. That’s our cue for the rest of us to grab sporks. The person who doesn’t get a spork is out, and then one gets taken away. It keeps going till there’s only one left. Get it?”

Everyone nodded and the game began. Cards were being passed quickly around the table, until suddenly Brian reached towards the center of the table and grabbed a spork. Screams erupted as several hands fought for the others.

In the end, Dana was left without a spork.

“Crap, I suck at this game,” she pouted.

Kevin patted her hand.

“All right! Everybody put your spork back in the middle. I’ll leave mine out,” Megan said. Then she passed the deck to AJ. “Your turn.”

They played another round, this time with Howie as the loser. They kept going until it was down to Kevin and Megan. Kevin had the deck and the tension in the air was stifling. They were actually glaring at each other as they passed their cards back and forth.

Megan passed a card to him and picked up the one he passed to her. It was a five, and she had the other three. She couldn’t help but smile and Kevin saw.

They practically dove for the last spork on the table. In their scuffle, it ended up in Megan’s hands, but snapped in two and Kevin’s wrist got knicked. He let out a yelp and pulled his hand back.

“Megan!” Dana cried. “You cut him!”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” she said meekly, setting down the plastic utensil and beginning to gather the cards that were scattered around.

“Yeah right,” Kevin snarled at her.

Megan’s eyes blazed and she slammed the deck on the table, causing everyone to jump. She picked up the broken handle of the spork and aimed its jagged edge at him.

“If I’d meant to cut you,” she hissed, “I would have aimed lower than your damn arm!”

AJ nearly fell out of his chair, hooting with laughter. Kevin gave him a look of death and he quieted down.

“Come on, let’s go get a band-aid or something,” Dana said, pulling him away from the table. He allowed himself to be led away.

“What a baby,” Megan muttered.

Kevin heard her and threw her one last glare before disappearing.

“Girl, do you have a death wish?” Nick asked in disbelief.

“No kidding. I almost think you’re enjoying pissing him off,” Brian said.