The Party (S,A,F)

Stella heard her doorbell ring and opened the door, seeing her friends Felicia and Ava. The two were roommates with the bond of sisters, despite looking nothing alike. Both were wearing their clothes from work, Felicia in her scrubs and Ava in her workout gear from the gym. They both used to have black hair, but Felicia had dyed her hair blonde a few years ago after Ava told her it might make her look more approachable to strangers. Ava was a full foot taller and while they both held identical cases for their decks, Felicia was struggling with the weight. Stella invited them inside and the two of them followed her into her house.

Felicia went to the dining table to set up the game, while Ava followed Stella back into the kitchen, where the aproned woman had been preparing dinner earlier in the afternoon. “What’d you come up with for tonight?” Ava asked, ducking under the chandelier. It was an older house, one that Stella had remodeled when she bought it. Ava was a tad jealous, the kitchen by itself cost far more than her car. She looked around the room and saw a large pot filled with water on the stove and a glow from the double ovens built into the wall. Ava always looked forward to Stella cooking for their game nights, she'd always take the afternoon off from her restaurant to prepare something nice for everyone

Stella grabbed a pair of oven mitts and pulled a deep dish out of the oven. “I thought I’d make some lasagna and garlic bread, with peas for the main veggies.” Saying this, she moved to the stove. She picked up the pot and began carefully draining the water into the sink.

“Will Felicia be able to handle that? It’d suck for her to have to be stuck in the bathroom all night for girl’s night.”

Stella brightened as she brought down the plates from the cupboard. “I actually found a lactose free cheese I’ve been wanting to experiment with. If it goes well, I’ve got some left over that we can use for nachos later. There’s also some red wine in the fridge for dinner and tequila for if we get bored later. I think she’ll be excited to try cheese without her usual issues for the first time. I remembered you’ve been trying to get more protein and so I diced some sausage into the lasagna that I think you’ll like. Do you think that the cheese and sauce will be alright for the cards? I-”

She stopped, out of breath. Ava put her hand on Stella’s shoulder to help steady her. She loved her friend, but she had a bad habit of forgetting to breathe when she was emotional. The change of plans that had been Dick and Luna's cancellation text had already been more than she was comfortable with. After Ava brought her over to the dining room for Felicia to check out, she took over in the kitchen, plating dinner and pouring the wine.

Forty-five minutes and two bottles of wine later… “I win again” Felicia said with a smug look. Her board was littered with dice and cards, while the other two had been **** to empty their boards for the fourth time.

“Darn it. Why did we agree to this again? She always wins this game when the others aren’t here.” Stella complained, still reshuffling for the next round.

“Even with the others here, I’m the best Wonders: the Collection player in the group” Felicia crowed. She was swaying in her seat, the wine clearly getting to her.

“I built your deck, y’know.” Ava protested.

“Yeah, but you built your deck too. I’m the one that’s won four Wonders: the Collection games in a row.”

“Why do you always call it that anyways?” Stella asked. Not as drunk as Felicia, her mind was still wandering away from the game.

“That’s the name. If Rangers of the Valley wanted a shorter name, they would’ve given it one.”

"What if we all switched decks, just so you could prove that it's you winning and not your deck." Ava suggested. It was starting to get embarrassing to lose so many times against someone she'd recently taught to play, especially when that new player was drunk.

"No. If you won't let me play my combo deck, I'll just lock myself in the bathroom until we can have another normal match"

Stella and Ava looked at each other from across the table. Stella was tipsy but even she could still sense where this was going. “It feels like things are getting out of hand with her. Maybe I should try again to get a hold of Luna and Dick.” Ava asked Stella. With her stature, she was still mostly sober and getting worried about how much Felicia had drunk.

“You can’t! I’m winning!” Said drunk woman whined. “Richard would ruin things again! He never listens to me.” Breaking from her tantrum, the drunken doctor started to reach for her glass for another drink. Ava cringed at the thump as Felicia fell out of her chair.

“That’s what I was worried about. I’ll take her up to the spare bedroom to sleep it off." Ava grumbled. She hoisted her roommate over her shoulder and started turning towards the stairs. As she turned, she saw a mauve wave creeping and gurgling from under the door. Ava cried out and Stella barely had time to turn before being swallowed up. The wave washed over the room, taking the girls and their game away.