“I wouldn’t. It’s twenty percent officially.” Personally, Sylwia knew it was more. The studies just reflected the worst of it, people too stupid to bypass the system. “Change the rules, and you’ve changed the game.” Sylwia doubted it . . . she really doubted it looking around, but that didn’t stop her from wandering into the living room, gently pulling apart drawers. “Monopoly is a perfect example. You are aware of the original game?” Sylwia said, allowing herself a small smile since her back was turned to the other as she pushed aside Carter’s poker set and dropped the accursed game on the counter. “Is it the same?”
Yeah, She knew. That’s what people said about monsters. “So I’ve been told.” Sometimes she could hide behind it, bare her teeth and drive away all the bad because she was worse. Other days it ate her alive. “Oh? Like what? I’m willing to take suggestions.” Sylwia said, hoping to move from reality into the hypothetical.
Please! That’s what everyone said! Sylwia wanted to know, had Carter ever seen her eat? Did he know? Or was he being greedy, like she said? Sylwia hummed, a wider smile coming to her face as she slapped his hand away again. “It’s too bad I’ve already licked them all. You don’t want them.” She said, waving a hand. Not bothering to stop Carter a third time.
“You know the percentage of psychopaths?” Carter wasn’t sure if it impressed or terrified him. Probably a little bit of both, if he was honest with himself. He pointed to her with an index finger to signal ‘you got it.’ Stuffing a bite of pizza into his mouth, his brow rose when she went into the living room. What was she doing? “Who isn’t aware of Monopoly?” he said, with his mouth full of a half-chewed bite of pizza. Not smooth, Carter, he scolded himself.
Carter stared down at the game. “If I say no, I lose.” And, he didn’t like to lose. He sighed. “You want to play board games? This night went from R on it’s way to X, to a fucking after-school family sitcom.” One of his nannies used to be obsessed with full house, which meant he had to watch it too. “Steal my phone and venmo yourself a shit load of money. Just label it food, booze, or some shit, and I’d never know the difference.” He tossed out. Which was probably stupid, but he couldn’t help himself.
“Hey,” Carter said, as his hand was slapped away. His nose wrinkled up in a yuck face. “Fine, keep the wings to yourself. Just know my mouth has had way worse things in it.” He grabbed the vodka taking a swing. “So, are we going to play?”
Sylwia hummed. “In business.” The actual number was too difficult to actually get a hold on. Something about, ‘Who watches the watchers?’ came into effect. Sylwia rolled her eyes, laying a hand on her hip. “The original game. Before they changed it into Monopoly.” Carter had already said no, whether or not he wanted to admit it. “You should get used to losing then. Putting it off is not going to help you.” She paused, “It was called The Landlord’s Game. There were two sets of rules, one to make money, the other to give it back.”
Was it really? That seemed like a gross exaggeration and oversimplification at the same time. “Funny how neither of us are laughing. It’s time to swing it back around again.” Sylwia said, gesturing in a big circle in front of her . . . She never really watched sitcoms. Her parents weren’t the most sociable people, so sitting in an empty living room to watch families on the tv hadn’t appealed to her. “Does it really matter if you know or not? What could you do? I think opening accounts in your name would be more fun. Taking out a dozen lines of credit. Within a week I could rack up tens of thousands of dollars of debt, with high interest. All your responsibility.”
Oh! See! See?! Now that she’d turned him down, now that they were drinking from the same bottle, Carter decided to become a fucking stiff over sharing some wings she didn’t actually lick! Sylwia partially covered her face with a hand, holding back a laugh. “Yes. I’m aware, I’ve heard you talk.”
If she said she changed her mind now and had sex with Carter, she’d limit her suffering. Sex didn’t last that long, unlike Monopoly! She would have happily played Twister, or poker, but as Carter asked, all she could do was throw up a hand and say, “Sure. Set it up if you want to play.”
