Romance

The Dice Game I Could Never Win

by Chuckle Kitty

We couldn't agree on our holiday travel plans, so my boyfriend, Julian Wade, created a three-way group chat."Let's roll the dice," he said. "Highest number wins. Fair and square."Chloe Dawson, my best friend, rolled a six. She wanted to go to Miami.I wanted to go to Aspen. But I only rolled one.I didn’t pick Aspen on a whim. It was the place my mom had always dreamed of visiting before she passed away. This year marked five years since she died, and I promised I would see the snowy peaks for her.Julian knew that. Just three months ago, he held my hands and promised he would take me there for the holidays."Fair is fair," Julian texted, dropping a head-patting emoji.It was the twenty-seventh time this year I had rolled the lowest number.I lost when we picked a restaurant last week. I lost when we chose a movie the week before.Then yesterday happened. I used Julian’s tablet to look up some travel guides and noticed his messaging app was still logged in.A chat with his friend sat right at the top.[Sent you the loaded dice plugin. You can roll whatever you want now.][Thanks. Chloe takes things too seriously, and this is the only way to handle her.]I stared at those two sentences for a long time, then quietly put the tablet back.So he knew what Aspen meant to me.And I wasn’t losing to bad luck.I was losing to his favoritism.I left the group chat, booked a one-way ticket to Aspen, and packed my bags.First day of the holiday. Seven in the morning.Flying solo.

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