Read Our Song for Free Online

is constantly giving me crap for watching that show…but maybe I can make him a Whovian convert.
    Asher wrinkles up his nose a little, but doesn’t comment on my choice. “Are you sure you’re going to be able to stay awake for all that?”
    I laugh. “Don’t you worry about me. What are you playing for this time around?”
    “If I win, you have to cook whatever I want for supper on Monday while everyone else is gone.”
    “That seems fair to me.” I had already been thinking about doing that anyway. “Since it’s your game choice, you can deal.”
    “Rules. Four cards, face down, in a square in front of you, only look at the two cards closest to you. When it’s your turn, you can either draw a card from the draw pile, or take the top card on the discard pile to exchange with one of your own cards. If you take the top card from the discard pile, you must use it. Once you think you have a good set of four cards, you knock on the table. The other person takes one more turn. Ace through 10 is worth its face value, jacks and queens are worth 10 points, and kings are worth 0. Person with the lowest score wins. How many hands are we playing? Nine or eighteen?”
    “It’s your game. How many hands do you want to play?”
    “Let’s just play nine. Otherwise we might be in the middle of a hand when supper’s ready.”
    “Sounds good. Shuffle ‘em up and deal, my friend.”
    Asher shuffles the deck three times, then deals out four cards to each of us. I look at my bottom two cards: an 8 and a queen. Now to decide on my strategy…
     
    -----
     
    Asher
     
    I watch Becca as she looks at her bottom two cards, but her face gives nothing away about whether they’re good or bad. I take a deep breath, then look at my own bottom two cards: a 6 and a 7. Not too bad, but I can’t help but wonder what my top two cards are. It’s so hard to know whether or not to change them out. I guess we’ll see what I draw for cards. I flip the top card from the draw pile over to start the discard pile. It’s the 2 of hearts. I wonder if Becca will take that, or draw a new one? “Ladies first.”
    Becca shakes her head, as if to clear it. She must have been strategizing over there. When she’s thinking really hard, she sticks her tongue out, just a little, in between her lips, and she just slid it back into her mouth. I wonder what it would feel like to have those lips on mine…
    Where on earth did THAT thought come from?! I mean, I guess I’ve thought about what kissing Becca might be like before, but she was in a relationship with that douche bag, Trip, for what seemed like forever. And although she finally broke up with him three or four months ago, she still doesn’t quite seem like she’s back to being the girl she was before she dated him. He was kind of controlling, and treated her like crap, as far as I’m concerned. I should know, because I was one of the first people he said he didn’t like her hanging out with. And although I saw her practically every day (that’s what happens when you have four classes together, and go to the same church) I didn’t actually get to spend any real time with her anymore. She even left our study group for humanities to study with a group of all girls. And she eventually stopped coming to Pizza Study with our youth group while she was dating him.
    “Umm, Asher? It’s your turn.”
    Oh great. See what happens when I let my mind wander into Becca territory?
    “Sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment.”
    “Thinking about what?”
    Oh, hell no. Not going there. Oh yeah, Becca, I was just thinking about you, and your d-bag ex-boyfriend. “Nothing important.” I look down at the discard pile. Becca must have taken the 2 that was laying there before, because there is only one card there now, a queen. I’m definitely not taking that. Before Becca could argue that it was definitely something important, I change the subject. “I forgot to ask before. How was All-State? I still wish I