C-A-K-E, 10 Points

It was yesterday that I sat beside you
and beat you at a game of Scrabble
over shared coffee
and a piece of marble cake.
When did it come into standard
that I have to play by the rules
while I watch you steal tiles and
use the dictionary to find a word
you’ve never heard before
as if I’m not paying attention
to your every move.
It’s almost painful to let you “have
the triple word score” and record
only twelve points.
I suppose it’s okay after all
because you invited me to play.
I won and I got to eat your cake.
But as usual, you drank all but one sip
of the coffee
not because you didn’t want to share
or because you felt bad that it
started off as mine
but mostly because you knew that there
were crumbs of cake backwashed to the
bottom of the mug
like the Q you threw back
into the bag for me to use.
That’s okay because I like crumbs
and all of this
was quite delicious.
Oh yes, you left me the Q.
Q-U-I-P, triple word score, 45 Points.