January Weekend 1: Sunday Dinner

Sunday had mostly been a general “Sunday Reset,” filled with errands like getting groceries, cleaning the house, cooking dinner, and preparing to face the coming week. It was over dinner that evening when Jonathan brought up a fun idea he had been mulling over and wanted to ask Leah about it. “Hey babe,” he said after swallowing some of the piping hot baked potato Leah had expertly made (after watching a reel from TikTok). “I was thinking it might be fun to have a game night each week.”

“Like what kind of game? Board games?” Leah asked, her expression reflecting an “oh God, nerd talk time” sentiment. She loved him, but boy, was he nerdy at times. That was perhaps why she loved him; she wasn’t huge into games, but she appreciated his creativity and fun spirit.

“Well, kind of—I was thinking we’d do some roleplaying games,” he paused to gauge her reaction. “Roleplaying games?” Leah sought clarification. “As in Dungeons and Dragons stuff like from Stranger Things?”

“Yeah!” he exclaimed, his excitement growing. “My friend Matt said he would be the DM—I mean Dungeon Master.”

“Ummm, where is this going to be? And when is this?” Leah asked, wanting more details.

“Well it seems like Wednesday night would be the best night for everyone. If that works for you? I figured we could host it here?” His voice had taken on the inflection of a child asking for permission from a parent. He understood that having a few friends over weekly was a bit of a commitment from a hosting perspective. Even if Leah didn’t want to partake in the games, it could still feel burdensome.

“Oh, I see,” Leah said, pausing to chew on this information rather than her own potato. “And how long is the game?”

“Well, they normally took a few hours,” Jonathan replied, hesitating as if he wanted to say more.

“And…?” Leah encouraged him to continue.

“And… well, it’s a bit of a commitment. So it would be like once a week for a few months,” he said, holding his breath.

“A few months!?” Leah had been shocked.

“Well, yeah, it’s like a campaign thing. A series of game ‘sessions.’” he elaborated.

“I see. Well, if I couldn’t ever make one, I guess it wouldn’t be a big deal, right?” Leah asked, not entirely sure of all the nerd etiquette.

“Well, it’s kind of something that is a commitment. Not quite drop-in and drop-out,” he said, moving his asparagus around on his plate. “But it might be fun to do something like that together. I’ve never played it before very seriously, only like once or tice, and it’s supposed to be really fun, so you won’t be the only one that’s new to the game. Most of the other players are new.”

“Who all would be playing?” Leah asked, wanting to know the particulars before committing.

“Well, there’s Matt, you know—he would be the DM. Then there’s Ethan, and Kevin, and his girlfriend Halie.”

“So I wouldn’t be the only girl, at least. Ha ha,” Leah laughed. It wouldn’t be a complete boys’ night in as she expected.

“Exactly! Yeah, see, it could be fun! Have some friends over and play games. You like hosting too.” Jonathan was encouraged by her questions.

“And even if you don’t want to play games with us, do you mind if we host it here? Matt’s apartment is a tiny one-bedroom. You could always make it a girl’s night or something if you'd rather. I would love it if you would join us, but I know may not exactly be your thing.”

Leah thought about it. It might be great to play games with Jonathan, understand his passions, and grow closer to him and his friends as they continued to make their house a real home. But she knew it would be a commitment from the way Jonathan was talking. Maybe it would be better if she had a girl’s night or just relaxed on her own while Jonathan and his friends were playing. Leah pondered this for a bit before answering.