Trailer parks," Adam said, placing his card down on the table.
"The Middle Ages," K.C. called, laying his down with flourish.
Clare studied her cards carefully, watching Eli's eyebrows waggle dramatically over her hand before she had to look away. It really wasn't doing much for her poker face.
"OJ," she said finally, putting her card in the middle of the table.
Eli looked delighted. "That's my girl," he said proudly.
"Oh, barf," Adam replied.
"Hey, come on," K.C. protested. "That's not fair. Favoritism. She's his girlfriend. Besides," he pointed out, "they're talking about the juice, not the guy. Look at the definition on the card."
"Splitting hairs, my friend," Eli said, waving his hand dismissively.
"He's got a point," Alli mused, coming down the stairs with a bathrobe and bare feet, a sweet, fresh-from-the-shower smell lingering from her skin like rose petals and her wet hair pulled back. She pulled up a chair in between Clare and K.C., studying the game intently. "I'd give it to K.C.. The Middle Ages is definitely the most risky."
"No way! Trailer parks," Adam argued.
"You're more likely to get the plague or killed by your own fleas in the Middle Ages," Alli reminded him.
"Hello? Have you ever been to a trailer park?"
"Adam," K.C. cut in. "Give it a rest. You lost."
"I say we evict Eli as judge," Alli announced. "We get a fair trial from someone else."
"Agreed," Adam said immediately. "Sorry, dude. I'm judge now."
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…" Eli groaned.
"Deal me in," Jenna called as she made their way down the stairs.
Even in the dim kitchen lights, Clare could see the swollen bags under Jenna's eyes and the redness of her face.
"Everything alright?" she asked.
K.C. shot her a worried look, but Jenna just nodded.
"Fine," she sniffed. "I'm just…missing the baby."
"Aww," Alli joked. "Baby Mama."
"Yeah," Jenna muttered, curling into the seat next to K.C.
"So…" K.C. said in an awkward, forcibly cheerful voice, "What's the name of the game?"
Adam grabbed a green card out of the pile and laid it down in the middle of the kitchen table.
"Absurd," he declared.
After some deliberation, they put their cards down on the table.
Clare studied her hand thoughtfully. "A fool and his money," she decided.
Jenna let out a small laugh as she let her own card down.
"Parenting," she said with a wry smile.
K.C. grinned slyly.
"Feminists," he joked, earning a smack from Alli and glares from Clare and Jenna.
Eli snickered. "Adam and Eve," he finished, his lips twitching as Clare rolled her eyes.
Adam considered all of them, then looked at Alli expectantly.
Alli considered her cards before setting one down. "Taxes," she stated.
Adam looked at each card carefully. "Tough choice," he admitted.
"I'm liking Jenna's," Alli said with a smile.
Jenna and K.C. exchanged knowing glances.
"Parenting," K.C. sighed. "A theatre of the absurd."
"Well, if you pick Jenna's," Eli put in, "then you have to pick Alli's, too. They're similar."
"How are they in any way similar?" Jenna argued.
"Gone With The Wind," Clare answered.
Everyone (save Eli) stared at her in confusion.
"Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them," she clarified.
At their still-blank looks, she sighed. "It's in the book."
"I thought that was Ben Franklin who said that," Adam questioned.
"No," K.C. corrected. "Franklin said, 'nothing is certain except death and taxes'."
He suddenly trailed off when he caught Alli's eye.
"Oh, god," he stammered. "Shit, Alli. I am…so, so sorry."
"No," Alli broke in quietly. "Don't worry. Don't be."
A pregnant silence fell over the table as Alli stared off into space, absorbed in her own thoughts.
"It's alright," she continued after a beat. "Really. It's alright. It's a good memory of him. This day."
Everyone else around the table visibly tensed. A year ago had been Sav's graduation day.
His last day alive.
"He was so happy," Alli went on, as if the tenseness didn't hang like a spider web woven between them. "Standing up there, giving that goofy speech. And I was so proud of him."
Her voice became quiet, pensive, as if she had forgotten there were people listening in.
"Because I wanted him to be like that," she explained. "I wanted him to be the best big brother ever- even if he was a total dork."
She smiled- small and sad, tears in her eyes, but a smile nonetheless.
"Because that's what he was," she finished, blinking back tears with her impossibly long lashes.
For a moment, everyone was still and silent. Jenna sniffled as quietly as she could, leaning against K.C. as he brushed his lips to the crown of her head and squeezed her shoulder, batting away tears of his own. Clare could feel tears beginning to rain their kamikaze flight down her skin as they dripped along her neck. Beside her, Eli was wholly absorbed in his own world of thought, staring into his drink with a blazing look that could sear through steel.
Finally, K.C. cleared his throat.
When everyone turned to look at him, he raised his can of beer in the air.
"To Sav," he declared.
After a brief instant, Eli raised his own can.
"To Sav," he answered
His shadowy gaze slid to Clare, who was wiping away the tears from the end of her nose.
"To Sav," she replied hoarsely.
Alli raised hers, with that same sad, dreamy smile on her face.
"To my brother."
Jenna finally put her drink forward.
"To Sav," she said, fighting back another sob as the tears flowed freely.
With a sad note of finality, their drinks clinked together in unison.