“Just blow it out.” Elliot mimes something that looks like using a harmonica.

  “Huh?” I look down at the game in my hand. Surely he doesn’t want me to put my mouth on it. I may not be technically inclined but spit on electronics sounds like a dumb idea.

  “Le sigh, monami.” He plucks the cartridge from my hand and blows air into it.

  “Hey, I’m not the one who insisted on this game night.” I roll my eyes and sit cross-legged as I examine the controller. It’s a simple gray bit of plastic, only a few buttons. It didn’t look too complicated…

  “Yeah, well, I didn’t think you were serious about never playing a game.” He pushes the cartridge into the old system, turning it off then on before Nintendo lights up the old TV screen. “I figured being swapped from house to house, somebody had a con– Ow!”

  Elliot instinctively grips the back of his head, covering the black curls like he’s bleeding, while he turns to glare at Lucy on the couch. “What was that for?”

  “You know what.” Lucy’s blue eyes are icebergs, shimmering and cold behind her glasses. She has another Oreo at the ready.

  “It’s alright, Luc.” I give her a weak smile. “It’s not like it’s a secret.”

  “Still…” She shoves the cookie in her mouth, like she was trying to push the thought down.

  “It's fine.” I swallow and look away. We’re both bummed about how things turned out. Still, the guilt isn’t good for her. Then again, neither are those stupid cookies.

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  Elliot looks between, like he’s watching a tennis match. “Did I step into something?”

  “Just show me the game.” I nudge him with an elbow. “You dragged us over here, we might as well play.”

  “Okay…” Elliot turns back to the TV and points to the menu. “You want Mario or Luigi?”

  “What’s the difference?” I looked at the tiny pixels on the huge screen. The game looked like Legos came to life.

  “One’s green and the other is red,” Lucy licks the cream from another cookie before plopping the disc into her mouth.

  I wait for Elliot to correct her but he just sits, watching me expectantly.

  “Seriously, that’s it?”

  He nods.

  “Then I don’t care, you pick.”

  “Oh, hell no!” He shakes his head emphatically. “This is your first time play–”

  “ELLIOTT!”

  The whole room shifts with the bellow. We all flinch as footsteps pound down the steps.

  “I thought they weren’t going to be home,” Lucy hisses, standing and hastily brushing crumbs from the couch.

  “They aren’t supposed to be.” Elliot crosses his legs and puts his face in his hands.

  I put the controller down and grab Lucy’s hand. “We’ll sneak out through the bathroom.”

  “No!” Elliot snags my sleeve.

  “It’s okay.” I pat his pale hand and smile. “We can do this some other time.”

  Elliot gulps, still clutching the edge of my sleeve. There’s this weird desperation in his eyes I don’t understand. The steps grow closer. At their current stumbling pace, we have a minute, tops.

  “You know it’ll be way worse if they find us here,” I plead.

  Last time, his parents screamed for an hour about how Elliot was going to hell and had to mend his ways with God. Little do they know, we were the last reason Elliot might be a sinner in their eyes.

  That would require they actually pay some attention to their son.

  Elliot opens his mouth like he might argue. Then he clamps it shut and nods, but he won’t meet my eyes again.

  Lucy and I barely shut the bathroom door when his mom stumbles in, loudly asking where the hell dinner is.