Jenga turned out to be an interesting choice. Samuel had a slight edge over Lena in terms of strategy as he had played the game far more recently than she had and remembered how best to remove the blocks to kept it standing.
It was becoming more clear to Samuel as they did things together that the Princess was more than little competitive. However, she was also persistent, patient, and determined not to visibly show her frustration when she lost or made a bad move.
As there were only two players, the games were rather short as neither took long to consider what move they wanted to do next. Thus in the span on thirty minutes, they had already played six games. The only one Lena thus far had been the last one.
It was enough for her however as it let her know she was starting to get the hang of how to win the game. She had to admit that Samuel made a good choice in picking this game. If he had chosen a more monotonous turn based game for the first one, she would've probably not been interested in playing another once they had finished with.
This somehow was slightly more addictive to her despite being turn based as well. It wasn't like there was anything special about Jenga that made it more enjoyable than other games. The only real thing that it had going for it was the slight thrill that came from not knowing when the tower of blocks was going to tumble and whose fault it would end up being.
If the princess's wasn't so good at hiding her expressions, Samuel might've been able to see that she had been slightly startled during the first game when the tower had tumbled on her. Not because it was her fault, but because it was unexpected. The sudden quick fall of the blocks and the 'thud' sound when they had made when landing on the table and scattering wasn't something she had been expecting.
After that though, she figured out when she would need to brace herself for the sudden unexpected sound by the way the blocks would sway when she began to pull one out. Even when she knew this however, it wasn't like she could stop pull the block out and grab another one instead. Rules made it so that even if she knew the block was going to cause the tower to tumble, she still had to pull it out anyways.
What was more amusing to her than the game however was how invested Samuel would get in each match. Even though he did try his best to hide his thrill each time he ended up winning due to Lena's lack of experience, it was still evident by the way that his eyes light up and his boy stiffened ever so slightly that he got excited over winning the game.
She wasn't sure however if his muted excitement was for her sake and not wanting to offend or annoy her because of how often she was losing, or if it was something that he did while around his family as well. Perhaps a developed consideration for his younger siblings who she could imagine would pout if he seemed too excited over beating them. Younger siblings could be quite tedious at times. Lena knew this all too well.
Pulling a block out from the right side of a lower part of the tower, she was careful to do it slowly as not to upset the rest of the bricks and make the entire tower fall. It was a bit risky she knew, but part of it was in hopes of setting up Samuel to lose by making the rest of the tower unstable and the other part was because she was distracted watching his concentrated expressions. Most likely he was trying to assess what the next best move would be after she had pulled that block out. It wasn't going to be easy for him if he wanted to win.
Lena took notice of the fact that Samuel unlike her preferred to sit normally and at most lean over the table ever so slightly so that he could focuses more closely on what was going on, but not so much that he would be in the way or risk messing anything up. His arms would be folded against his stomach and he would lean forward in such a way that they would be trapped there between his stomach and legs as he leaned further forward to try and determine what his best move would be.
Lena somehow felt rather smug when he ended up grabbing one of the blocks that she had hoped he would. By the time that Samuel realized he had made the wrong decision, he was already in the process of pulling the block out so all he could do was brace himself for the tumble that followed.
"How are you so good at figuring things like this out so quickly?" He asked Lena as he picked up a few of the blocks that had scattered off the table and onto the floor by his feet.
"What do you mean?" She asked as she began to set the tower back up. Since they had already played seven games, she was certain he was going to be about ready to change to something else.
"I mean, you've hardly been playing the game and yet you're already learning how best to pull out the blocks to increase the likeliness that the other player will be the one to end up causing the tower to fall." He explained as he put the last few blocks on the top of the lower.
"Is someone getting frustrated because your victory streak was cut too short for your liking?" She teased as she put the box over the block to get ready to put it away. She didn't wait for his response before continuing to talk as she was certain what he was going to say anyways.
"I say it probably has something to do with the fact that most of my life I have spent learning to how to be more patient and observant before I move unlike you. Patience and observation can give you a completely different view to what is going on around you." She managed to slid the box off the table and keep all the blocks place before flipping it over so nothing fell out while she closed the box.
"So you're saying I begin to lose so quickly because I don't spend as much time as you do watching and considering what my next best move would be before I do it?" He clarified not really seeing how such a theory could be applied to something as simply as a game.
"Something along those lines though I am pretty sure you probably don't exactly understand what I mean." She shrugged her shoulders as she spoke.
"Well it is your turn to pick what game we are supposed to be playing next now." Samuel told her as he changed the subject and moved the box so that it was sitting on the floor next to him.
"I'm allowed to chose anything that I want without you objecting?" She asked while beginning to look over the piles of games that were nearby. She didn't quite have any idea of what she wanted to play, but she was certain that there would have to be something else within the number of board and other games that she would enjoy.
"I won't object to anything as long as you're being reasonable about it." Samuel affirmed as he texted his parents while waiting to see what she was going to decide should be there next game.
The two had been so engrossed in what they were doing that they hadn't noticed Zane standing near the doorway watching them.
His original intent hadn't been to come and spy on them, but it had ended up that way because he hadn't been expecting them to be in there. It was well into the afternoon and since it was such a bright day, he thought it would be a good idea to finish up reading through some reports and other work he had to do before dinner.
He had changed him mind however once he began to open the door and saw that Lena and Samuel were inside. It now made sense to him why his daughter had been so quiet after he had given her the day off. He had been expecting her to give him more hell about the matter, but it now made sense why she had been so quiet even though she had left him in a less than thrilled mood after being told that she needed to spend more quality-time with her fiancé.
Watching them play and seeming likely they were actually getting along very well made it hard for him to want to remove himself from the situation. It gave him a touch of hope that perhaps the two would work out after all if he gave it enough time.
The only reason why he ended up leaving the two alone was due to the fact that he really couldn't put off the work he needed to do after giving the princess the day off and two he was certain that her mood would change if she realized that he had been spying on them while they had been playing. She could be oddly prickly about such moments even when it was just her father who noticed them.
There was always later he could follow up on the matter after all. He would need to soon anyways since the end of the week was getting nearer by the hour and a decision would have to be made as to what as going to happen.