11 Board Games

Jade appeared through the door, "Paul I brought some wine..." she said but froze a little noticing Emma was in the room.

'OHHHH FK...….' As panic raced through my brain. "..... Jade meet Emma, Emma meet Jade." I said hoping to clear the situation.

"Hi, I'm Emma Mr Patel's assistant, I came over to drop of Paul's car, when he left it at the company car park the other day. Nice to meet you Jade" she smiled.

"Ohhh nice to meet you.... I'm Jade, me and Paul were friends back in college." Jade smiled.

"Ohhh ....." Emma gasped realizing the situation..... "You guys are on date..... Ummm.... I should.... Get going." She said hastily began to stand up.

"Ohhh... no.... it's okay, you don't have to go....." Jade politely offered.

"Really??.... Her face lit up with a smile, "I normally spend my evenings alone.... most my family are back in India." She replied.

"Yeah I'm sure it will be okay.... right Paul?" Jade said looking at me.

"Ummm urrrr.... yeah sure.... I don't have enough ingredients buy I'll order from my fav Japanese restaurant sound good??...." I said not really understanding the situation...

"Sounds Great!" Jade responded with a giant smile going into the closet to hang her coat.

"Are you vegetarian Emma?" I asked as I began making the order.

"Nope... I was when I was young but then I started to eat meat." She replied.

"Joined the dark side you have....." I joked finishing the order. "Right so I ordered abit of everything" I said with a smile putting down my phone.

"I get that reference." Jade laughed.

"So movie???" I suggested leading the way to the living room.

"Sure" Emma agreed sitting on the sofa.

"Ohhh have you got any new movies?" Jade asked.

"Yeah I should have a few." I answered passing her the remote.

"I'll get some snacks ...." I said going back to the kitchen to get some drinks and sweets placing them in bowls and took them into the living room.

"Ohhh let's watch this one...." Jade suggested.

'Ohhh I liked the trailer for that one." Emma replied.

"Sure it's kinda embarrassing but I like romcoms" I agreed laughing taking the empty spot between them.

Funnily enough, it looked as if I was the only one who got deeply invested into the movie, while the other two was kinda half watching half making conversation quietly.

Half way through the movie the feast of Japanese food arrived. "Smells so good!" Jade said sounding extremely excited. "I'll dish out the food", I began plating the food for everyone, and making sure there was a little bit of everything on each plate. Passing them their places and cutlery, and resumed the movie while eating.

"What are these???..." Emma said holding up a squid ball.

"That's Takoyaki....its fried squid balls." I answered her.

She cautiously took a tiny nibble from it, "how do you expect it taste it with a tiny nibble?" Jade giggled, Emma then closed her eyes taking a larger bite. We both looked in anticipation of her verdict.

"It's alright...." she said finishing it off.

"So you guys enjoying the movie???..." I asked.

"Not really... too cliché..." Jade responded.

"Yeah....." Emma added.

"Hmmmm how about we play some board games or Magic the Gathering." I asked super excited to have some people to play with.

"Like monopoly...???..." Emma replied.

"Where have I heard magic the gathering from???...." Jade pondered.

"These board games are farrrrrrr better then monopoly." I said excitedly screaming off to my games room to collect them. Grabbing the novice board games of different genres I came racing back with six stacked up in my arms. "So… I have Co-op RPG, Dungeon Cruel RPG, Card Game, Territory control, Miniature War game and Kaiju Battle." I said to them placing my stack on the table.

They both looked at each other with shock and a little hit of worry. "Urrrrrrr... you decide?" they both replied.

"Don't be so scared…. Trust me you'll have fun!" I said with a giant smile.

Taking out Kings of Tokyo, I began explaining to them the rules and how to win, advising them during the game the best course of action if I was in their shoes. We stayed up gaming together well into the night, till we decided it was time for bed.

"You was right Paul these games were hundreds times better then monopoly!" Emma said still excited.

"Yup I know! And you two were a bit worried at the start." I said feeling proud.

"I can't believe it's already 1am… it's gonna be so late by the time I get home. Jade said standing up checking the time.

"Yell if u guys want…. you can sleep here I don't mind." I offered them.

"Hmmmmm would it be too much trouble?" Emma asked.

"Nah it will be alright, I'll sleep here you two can sleep in the other rooms." I smiled.

"Yeah… it's a bit late to get the bus back…" they both said.

"Yeah… I'm defiantly not letting you girls go home alone in a bus at this time." I said.

"Okay….. Guess we're staying over the night then…" Emma said.

"Follow me I'll show you guys how the shower and stuff works. I proceeded to lead them to my room, "So Jade you can sleep here…." I said then went to my wardrobe pulling out two shorts and two t-shirts. "Okay, so you both can wear these to sleep." I said handing it to them. Leading them to the en suite, "Both rooms have a en suite, both showers work the same, and the towels are located here." Informing them how to operate the shower and where they can find towels. "Ohh and tooth brushes." I remembered taking out my spare tooth brushes form a cupboard and handing it to them. "Feel free to use any of the products." I added.

"Alright…. Thanks Paul." They said.

"No worries." I smiled, as I went outside to get some blankets, taking them downstairs one folded up into a makeshift pilliow. Then walking back upstairs, "So you girls get ready for bed, if there's anything you need just shout I'll be downstairs." I smiled.

"Okay… goodnight Paul." Emma said entering the guest room.

"Thanks Paul….. Goodnight." Jade said before entering my room.

"Good night" I replied to the both of them, and went back downstairs.

Cleaning up the takeout rubbish, I began clearing up the board games. A part of me began wishing that I played these games with Emilia, but we were only truly together for a month, and this board game addiction manifested way after our break up... but it still didn't stop me thinking of all the fun we could have had together...

Feeling down I packed away the board games leaving them on the side and began to lie down on the sofa to try and sleep.