I'm Game if You Are
It was something of a chicken-or-the-egg scenario. Who corrupted whom first? Who was rubbing off on the other? Which was the bad influence and which was being influenced?
The answer changed depending on which person you asked.
Stan would swear up and down it was Carla. When they met he was an acne-ridden teenager that hung around his twin brother most of the time reading comic books and learning magic tricks by mail. Then she started asking him to parties and teaching him to dance, and before he knew it she's seducing him with the jitterbug and rock-and-roll.
At this point Carla would punch him in the arm and insist he got it backwards. When they met she was a naïve little girl that made her own dresses and studied ballet and was never, ever out past curfew. Then he showed her how to uppercut and took her on adrenaline-fueled monster hunts through the woods at all hours and shared dirty jokes and an aggressive distrust of authority. Really, she should've just kissed her innocence good-bye the day he punched out that mugger for her.
If they'd ever been honest, the truth of it had less to do with one corrupting the other and more to do with a phrase.
When they started going steady they were both fifteen and nervous. Everything was new territory and the absolute last thing either of them wanted was to appear uncertain, or worse, dull. And so whenever someone suggested something to the other that was new or pushed a boundary, the other usually responded with "I'm game if you are."
"Dance with me?"
"I'm game if you are."
"We're riding out to follow those weird tracks if you wanna come?"
"Sure, I'm game."
Neither of them remembered who or what started it. It didn't matter much at the time. They had no idea what they would unleash with five words and the desire to impress.
"Alice, don't think you've met Alice yet, anyway, she's having everybody over for a bonfire on the beach if you wanted to go with me?"
"I'm game if you are."
"I'm okay with staying another hour if you are."
"I ain't going anywhere. I'm game if you are."
"I'm game if you are," was their magic words. It put everything on the table. They both had imaginations broad enough and varied enough to constantly out do the other person. And somewhere along the line they learned how to be confident about it. Or perhaps it was merely recklessness, but really, who could tell the difference?
"I wonder if it would hurt if you jumped into the water this high up?"
"After you, baby. I'm game."
"I don't know… we'd have to sneak out of the house for that…"
"Well, Daddy-O, I'm game if you are."
"You wanna blow off homework and see a movie, honey?"
"Yeah, I'm game. Consider it blown."
"Between the two of us, I think we can walk out of here with at least five-six tangerines."
"Why sell yourself short, McCorkle, we could manage ten."
"You think this apple juice smells expired?"
"I'll drink it if you will."
"I'm game if you are," got them into swing dancing and horror movies. It got Stan to try out for football and Carla to apply to the dance conservatory. Once it got them so lost they walked nearly all night just to find a highway. The phrase got them into detention and later into the back of police cars. It got them into at least one car accident and more than one black eye and too many awkward dinner conversations to count. Eventually the phrase got them all the way around the bases.
It got them engaged one night in October when Carla yelled, "I'm game if you are," down from her bedroom window. And in July, when their son was born, it gave them a little extra reassurance that this was a challenge they weren't gonna back away from.
The phrase sometimes worked on domestic things, on remodeling and housework and cooking. It got them to drive out to their parents for the holidays even after they both secretly knew they'd really rather not. And it got them to hide out in New York one year even though they technically couldn't afford it.
It let them take risks. And the downside to taking risks is they aren't always going to pay off.
For after every spectacular failure, after Columbia, after the fights, even after the boyfriend, it never fully sunk in for Stanley that this era of their lives was truly over. Not until he faced her in the police station after being charged with grand theft auto and destruction of property, among other things, and pleaded with her, "We can still work this out. I'm game if you are."
And Carla silently shook her head.