The Babysitter, Part 25

Chapter 19
The Babysitter, Part Nineteen

Part Nineteen

It took a beat for Paige’s words to really hit me, and then a little longer for me to realize that she wasn’t kidding. 

One of my bras?? That was like betting $50 at minimum; more, if she was talking about a nicer one. I would have preferred to just bet the money, as I didn’t enjoy the thought of not being able to replace the handful of my undergarments that might not be sold any more. Not to mention that if I lost, I’d have to suffer the indignity of being present while Paige destroyed something of mine right in front of my face. At least, that’s how I was assuming she would do it. 

I knew why she wanted to. Even before this whole Miley thing, it’s not as if I was particularly blessed in the curve department. And now that she had set me up to be wearing a training bra, of course Paige wanted to add insult to injury. As if pilfering through my underwear drawer wasn’t enough. 

Asking for an explanation would open the door for her to subtly or not so subtly comment on my body. Instead, I kept things simple. “Something else,” I said. What was comparable to a pricy and somewhat offensive ante? I had no idea, or I would have made an offer. 

“Okay,” Paige shrugged. It wouldn’t be that easy; we both knew it. Going on, she said, “I guess we can just play for fun, then. Less exciting, but whatever.”

I didn’t know what I had expected. She held all the cards at the moment, so of course she could be casually stubborn against my rebuttal. Although I wasn’t stupid enough to flat out agree to the bet without seeing whether or not I had a chance first. Instead, I pressed for more information. “What’s the game?” I asked. 

“Hmm, let’s see. Annika? Do you mind?”

“Not at all!” The blonde girl that had been partnered with my sister hopped up from the sofa and went to grab a few games from the shelves in a nearby closet. It didn’t take her long to collect a few boxes. Walking back over with the stack, she said, “How about one of these? We didn’t play any of them last time.”

“Yeah, because the games you bring over are better,” Paige said.

“Of course they are,” Annika replied, with a confident smile, “Mainstream board games are so blah.”

“Well, what do you think?” Paige asked, “Should we let Miley choose?”

I was familiar with all of the games she had set down on the coffee table. Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, and Risk. The last one was absolutely out of the question; I didn’t want to spend my whole night down here with Paige and her friends, plus I could assume that the other two teams would simply make an alliance to ensure that I didn’t have a chance of winning. Although now that I was thinking along those lines . . . “No alliances. On anything,” I insisted. It could happen on pretty much any of the options currently on the table. One of the teams could throw the game in favor of cutting off my trains. All the others could target me and me alone as the robber. It was like that obnoxious thing that couples sometimes did, where one of them would be ‘nice’ to their SO and not go after them. I wasn’t even that into board games, but I still got a little annoyed at moments like that; it was turning what was supposed to be a competitive game into a co-op variation that gave one player an unfair advantage. This could potentially be worse than that, if it was literally everyone vs. one player when that’s not how the game was supposed to be played. 

Annika laughed. Like, actually laughed. “Seriously? You think I need help to beat you, Miley? Show of hands. Who thinks I’m the best at board games in the room?”

Her arrogance was validated a bit by the fact that every single girl including herself raised a hand. It made sense. I didn’t really know Paige’s friends that well, but Annika had literally just bashed mainstream games. If she was skilled at the ones she played, then it stood to reason that she would be just fine when it came to family games that were on the simpler side. Of course, that just brought on a completely different kind of hesitation. If Annika was as good as she claimed, maybe I would be screwed even if the other teams didn’t collaborate and work against me. 

Continuing on with her smug confidence, Annika said, “If you want, we could play something one on one. How about it, Miley? Just the two of us? Some wager?”

Definitely not. A third team would be a good buffer. Maybe. Now I was overthinking things, as neither option sounded good. A two player game usually ended up being more strategy based without other people mucking things up, and I wasn’t willing to take the risk that Annika was bluffing about her strengths. But if the others ended up working together, then how was I supposed to win? 

“What’s it going to be, Miley?” Paige asked, “A fun little duel with Annika, or do you want to include all of us?”

I hadn’t finished working through everything in my head yet, and I ended up caught in the either/or that my sister sprung on me. Not even thinking about the fact that not playing at all was still an option when pressured by the choice, I muttered, “We can all play.” 

“So thoughtful, little sis. Alright, winning earns your ID. Otherwise, say ‘goodbye’ to one of your bras.”

Wait, but I hadn’t actually agreed to that yet! “But-”

“Which game, Miley?” she asked.

“Wait, I-”

“Come on, sis. Choose now, or we’re sending you back upstairs.”

A bit flustered as every girl was looking at me and waiting for a response, as well as how Paige kept cutting me off, I lightly blushed and muttered, “Ticket to Ride.” Alliances or not, Risk was too daunting, and I had never been the best at Catan. Hopefully I would stand a chance when it came to my choice, if only due to the fact that the game was rather simple and straightforward. There couldn’t be that many ways to manipulate things with strategy, right?

“Why don’t you set it up for us?” Paige suggested, “You can even have first choice for color. Girls your age care about stuff like that, right?” 

Moving right past the little jab about my false age, Annika piped back up, “Umm, what about me? I’m picky about colors.”

“Yeah, but you actually have the body of an eighteen year old. Miley, on the other hand,” Paige gestured towards me, “Let’s be real, she’s always been a bit of a brat. It’s probably because she never grew up.” 

“I still can’t believe Noelle didn’t realize,” Violet said. She spoke in a more hushed tone, just in case, “Although now I can kind of see it. The training bra was a nice touch.”

“I’ll have to send the real Miley something to say ‘thank you,’” Paige smirked, “But for now, let’s give our Miley a chance to show us that she’s a big girl. How about it, little sis? Think you can beat me and Annika?”

I didn’t say a word. Instead, I merely opened the box and began setting up the game.