“Heh. Well, wanna go see if there’s any old person games to play? Pretty sure there’s some dominoes or Cribbage. There’s at least gotta be a deck of cards,” Mitch offered so that they didn’t dwell on the subject any further.

“You think that old Nintendo is still around?” Jodie perked up.

“Don’t see why it wouldn’t be. I’ll go check the TV upstairs, it’d be in there I think.” He released her and went upstairs to where his old room was. It had been converted into a den with a daybed and a loveseat, but the decor remained mostly the same. His old skis were mounted to the wall in an X shape, since surely they did not fit anymore. On a large bookcase along the back wall was a variety of paperback novels, DVDs, and knick knacks, so he searched there. A clear plastic container took up most of the bottom shelf, and in it was the NES and two controllers; numerous grey cartridges covered in dust were lined up next to it. Gathering everything up, he returned downstairs and announced “Good news!” to Jodie while dropping it all onto the coffee table.

“Why did you even have any of this?” Jodie crossed over into the living room and glanced over everything. She picked up the copy of River City Ransom and stared at the artwork. “I never asked, but I always thought that it was kind of funny that you did. Even I had a Playstation, and we were dirt poor.”

“Roland picked it up at an antique shop after I moved here. He was worried that we wouldn’t bond or that I would get bored when we were down here, but saw this and remembered one of his roommates at grad school had one.” Mitch took the console out of the bin and put it in front of the TV. “So he knew the games and we could play together. I think it ended up being like $20 for everything.”

“Deal of the century,” Jodie remarked. “You and I got a ton of use out of it.”

“Hey! We can try to beat level 57 of Bubble Bobble.” Cables and controllers were untangled, and unsurprisingly it appeared as though nothing had been touched in the last decade. He paused, then craned his neck backwards to look at Jodie and asked, “How has it almost been 20 years since we met?”

“Oh god, don’t say that!” gasped Jodie. “Our friendship is almost old enough to buy smokes now.”

“Speaking of which-” Reaching into the breast pocket of his flannel, he grabbed and presented a pre-rolled joint. “Get this going.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice!” It was plucked from his fingers, and Jodie plopped onto the leather sofa. As Mitch worked on getting everything set up, a lighter clicked twice before there was a familiar crackling and the stench of burnt paper and weed wafted over. “Is it alright if we do this in the house?” she inquired.

“Maybe crack that first,” Mitch tilted his head towards the window behind her, and she hurried to comply. “Pretty sure Roland and Marie used to get high in here, though. One of the neighbors they’re friendly with grows pot. So as long as we’re courteous and air the place out before we leave, it should be fine.”

The joint was held in front of his face, and he took it. “Nice hat, by the way,” Jodie commented in between coughs.

“Thanks. A real sweet babe made it for me,” he snickered and took a hit.

“She sounds hot.” Sliding off of the couch, Jodie took a seat next to Mitch and toyed with one of the controllers, pressing the buttons although the console wasn’t on. “On the topic of sweet babes, when’s Avi supposed to get here?”

Mitch resisted the immediate urge to check his phone and see if there were any texts. “Flight was supposed to get in around 2, so…dunno, between 4 and 5, if they don’t stop anywhere? I’m sure we’ll get an update if they get lost.”

“Do we know the girlfriend’s name?”

“Nope.” Mitch popped the ‘p’.

“You gonna be cool?” she asked incredulously.

“Cooler than a cucumber,” he assured her. “I would have called this off if I wasn’t otherwise.”

“That’s bullshit,” she shook her head, and he softly chuckled.

“No really, I got this. Having a crush doesn’t even mean anything.” He paused, then exhaled. “I’m kind of an expert in having them by now. No big deal.”

Jodie tutted. “World’s saddest boy, this one.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Mitch shoved her, then hit the power button. “Let’s get our asses whooped in Bubble Bobble.”