Brett took one last look in the mirror, checking his silk shirt for wrinkles. He smelled the shirt, satisfied with the cologne he had picked.

As he walked out the bathroom door, he glanced back. Still spotless. A gleaming white toilet, fresh soap in the shower, and no toothpaste stains.

He paced around the apartment, waiting for her to ring the doorbell. It was 5:05. She should be here any minute. He uncorked the expensive bottle of red he had bought for this, and set it between the two wine glasses on the counter.

He walked back to his room again to check his bed for stains, even though he knew he had put clean sheets on this morning. He smelled his pillow. It still smelled like the peony laundry detergent he used. Everything was in order, there was nothing to stress about. He had done this countless times.

——————

Melanie rifled through her closet, frantically reaching around for the 3rd time. She huffed in frustration. It wasn’t there.

She checked the time on her phone. 5:05. Shit. She hated being late. She sighed and closed the closet door.

She looked at herself in the mirror. She wore her favorite black sweatpants and sweatshirt. She pulled out her ponytail and redid it, taming the flyaways. Even though this was just a sleepover, she still wanted to look good. First impressions were everything.

She put on her sneakers and gathered up the other board games she had pulled out of her closet, stuffing them into empty grocery bags she had lying around. Life was her favorite game. She was bummed that she couldn’t find it, but she’d settle for Monopoly. She was really excited to play with Brett. They had talked at work about how they both loved board games. They had a lot in common.

She had had trouble making friends lately. When he invited her over this weekend, she was giddy. Finally, she had hope that things would change.

She walked by the kitchen on her way out and added the boxed wine she had left on the counter into one of the bags. He had asked her what kind of wine she liked and she had joked around and said boxed. He had texted back with a laughing emoji and said sure, and that he’d get some other options too. She was sure this was gonna be a fun inside joke later on.

She drove over to Brett’s apartment and put in the code to the building he had given her. She walked up, one grocery bag in each hand, and knocked on the door with her foot.

Brett opened the door. He was wearing a black silk shirt, unbuttoned halfway, and well-fitted dark jeans. She dropped the bags in shock. He never dressed up like this at work.

“I-uh, I like your pants.” She said awkwardly. His eyebrows were raised in surprise too as he glanced down at her. He scratched the back of his head and laughed just as awkwardly.

“Uhh, thanks.” He replied. They stood there silently for a few seconds.

“I brought Monopoly.” Melanie said cautiously, as she picked up one of the grocery bags.

“Sounds fun!” Brett said, trying to hide his disappointment with forced enthusiasm. Melanie noticed, but tried to talk over her embarrassment.

“Come on, it’ll be fun. Let’s break out the boxed wine and we can just chill and, you know, uh, have some fun,” She repeated. Realizing what she said, she quickly added, “You know, because Monopoly is fun, ‘cause of the properties and stuff. Can’t wait to bankrupt you!” She said, forcing a laugh.

“Yeah, totally.” Brett said. “Come on in.“ He gestured inside. She picked up the other bag and followed, keeping her head down, not wanting him to see her cheeks flush with embarrassment.