Sally gave her brother an odd look when he pulled the old box from his hallway closet. "I didn't think anyone actually owned that still...what decade are you from again?"
He shook his head and spilled the blocks onto the table, quickly showing the pictures to Aurora. "C'mon, it'll be fun."
"It'll be easy.", she replied. Almost on cue, Aurora let out a low hissing sound that hinted at a scoff. "See?", Sally said, "Even she knows it and all she has is pictures."
As she spoke, Aurora began to stack the tower. When she finished, the siblings gaped momentarily. She'd built it in a twisting structure, that ended with a single precariously placed block standing vertically atop the whole thing. She looked rather pleased with their reactions.
They moved to sit near her, and she stopped them. She gestured to the tower, and mimed it falling down before pointing at them both. Sally looked confused, but James let her finish. She then pointed at the trash and blinked several blue spots.
Sally looked at her brother, who had already flashed a blue card. "James...what's that all mean?"
"If I'm right, she wants a bet. If she beats us, she gets the chocolate back."
"Aaaand blue means?"
"I'm still working that out, but I know it's positive. I think I'm agreeing?"
"James!"
"Relax, Sal. She's not gonna win. I can make a bet too, and a genuinely helpful one."
"Like what, exactly?"
James hummed for a moment, looking her up and down. He pointed at the tower, copied Aurora's previous motion of it falling, and then found a picture of a little cartoon character studying the alphabet before pointing at her and then it before showing his blue card again.
Sally's eyebrows furled down in confusion. "All this miming stuff has got to change...what are you betting?"
Aurora flashed blue spots at him and sat down looking confident. "If I did that right," he said, "she just agreed to learn English seriously if she loses."
"We better not lose, 'cause there's no way I'm letting you two date **** each other again.", Sally stated before nodding at Aurora.
When they both sat down, Aurora pointed at Sally and watched while she took her turn first. Even touching it made it wobble. The same went with James's turn, and Aurora's, though she had more confidence. This went on until all three could see that any brick would collapse the tower, and it was James's turn. Aurora stared at him, arms crossed under her breasts with a proud look on her face. After staring for a moment, he returned the look and plucked the vertical piece from the top.
Aurora's chest and shoulders fell, and Sally let out a short giggle before pursing her lips.
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