| "Okay, I'm in." Catelyn grabbed a handful of poker chips from the small pile in front of her, and dropped them in the middle of the table. "Me, too." Dani put another handful in. "Uh. . ." Michelle studied her cards for a minute. "I'm out." She finally annouced reluctantly. Allie nodded, and lay her cards face down on the table. "Alright then." Nick looked down at his hand, and smiled up at the group of girls sitting around the table. "How many do you want, Catelyn?" Catelyn examined her cards. "One." Nick swapped one of her cards for one from the deck, and turned to Dani. She shook her head. "I'll stay." She said. Nick raised his eyebrows. "Ooh, big talker." He chided. Then he narrowed his eyes at her. "I'll stay, too." Catelyn sighed. "Okay, you two. I'll fold. Have your little 'friendly' competition." "Don't want to get in the way of the little sexual poker game, do ya Cate?" Michelle asked. Dani narrowed her eyes at her. "If looks could kill. . ." Dani looked away. "Okay, Carter." She said, fingering her pile of chips. "I'll bet three bucks." Nick grabbed a pile of chips. "I'll see your three. And rase you. . . twenty." "Twenty?" Dani's eyes widened. Her plucked eyebrows raised. She bit her lip, and dumped twenty of her own chips in the middle of the table. "Wow. Big spender today. Okay, if you're going to be like that, I'll raise you thirty." "Jesus, you guys." Catelyn moaned. "Why do you two turn everything into a one-on-one competition? And why can't you ever play for pennies?" Dani looked over at her friend. "Caty, dearest, incase you haven't noticed, everyone in this room is kind of loaded now. It's not like I'm wasting any money. Besides," she added with a giggle, "even if I do lose, Nick's paying for the pizza tonight, so atleast I'll be getting some of my money back." "Hey, since when am I paying?" Nick asked. Dani shrugged. "Since I said so." She told him, flipping her dark brown hair. "Oh, that reminds me, Michelle, will you call Dominos?" Michelle nodded, and grabbed her cell phone from her pocket. "Whatever happened to 'he who calls, pays'?" Nick asked. "That only works on males." Dani said, then quickly switched the conversation back to the poker game before Nick had a chance to argue. "So are you folding?" "Me?" Nick threw thirty chips into the middle. "Hell, no." He grinned, and wiped a pretend layer of swet off his forehead. "Are you ready for this, girl? It's time to lay all the cards on the table." Dani grinned, and waved her cards above her head with a flourish. "Alrighty, then. Get out your wallet." With a flourish, she threw her hand down on the table. "Read 'em and weep. Four kings." Nick's mouth dropped open. "You cheated!" He whined. Dani's smiled widened. "Oh, I win! You lose! Let me see your hand!" He reluctantly lay his cards down. "Four sixes!" Dani announced. "Okay, so I guess that means you owe me. . . fifty three plus that anti, that makes it. . . fifty nine dollars." She held out one hand. "Let me see the money." Nick stood up, and started backing away. "What money? I don't owe you any money." "Oh, you don't, don't you?" Dani stood up, and stepped around the table towards him. "Because I seem to remember some little bet going on here." Nick maintained the puzzled look on his face while she advanced on him. All of a sudden, Dani lunged towards his him, grabbing for his back pocket. "Give up the wallet." "I told you they were turning it all sexual." Michelle announced. She and Catelyn were gathering the cards back into a deck. Nick fell back onto his hotel room bed. Dani landed on top of him. "Gimme the money, or I'll tickle you." She threatened. "Wait, Nick's tickish?" A tanting smile spread over Catelyn's face. "No! He's not!" Nick snapped, trying to pry Dani off of him. "Oh yes he is!" She cried, moving her hand softly along the side of his stomach. Nick burst into laughter. "The money!" Dani insisted. Michelle looked over at Allie. "Do they really expect us to beleive they're just friends?" Allie examined the pair. Nick was lying on his back on a hotel bed, with Dani sprawled on top of him, running her hands over his stomach. He was pushing her off of him, laughing and accidently touching her all over her body. But neither of them noticed, since this was such a usual occurance. Allie looked back to Michelle, and they both shook their heads. |
 |
 |
| later that night |