O Fortuna [alt]

Note: Same disclaimer as last chapter applies. This chapter might not be for everyone, but i hope you enjoy.

Three of a kind.

Justin had Three of a fucking kind. That beat my two pairs. I lost. I lost Emma.

Justin said something, but the only thing I heard was the blood rushing in my ears.

I lost.

“What?“

“I said good game and good luck. You are going to need it. The others won't be suckered like this.“ Justin replied.

“What?“

“You won. Your full house beat my hand“

“What?“

“Emma i think we broke you boyfriend.“ Ryan butted in.

And then i saw it - on the river — another nine to make my two pairs a full house.

“I won?“

Sarah leaned over to Emma and whispered in her ear, loud enough for all of us to hear: “I see you choose Isaac for his stunning skills as a conversationalist.“

This broke my trance and i started to grin from ear to ear. “Of course I won. There was never any doubt in my mind“ I said with a straight face, that lasted all of two seconds. This led to another round of good-natured jokes, about how i didn't even knew if I won, and the others loosing anyway.

Now the Game was between Cameron, Colin, Trent, Zach, Grant and me. The pace and the intensity of the game both ramped up quickly. Ever increasing blinds led to Cameron and Trent being bled dry, while I played conservatively, only loosing small amounts here and there.

Grant won Zach's chips and I managed to gain the majority of Colins's

In the Final it was Grant and me neck at neck, both playing to win. Emma sat and watched with an exited grin, that sometimes seem to be a little agitated, but that could have been my nerves seeing things, that weren't there.

The Stalemate continued.

Emma was chewing on her lip, seemingly deep in thought, suddenly she leaned close to Grant and whispered something in his ear, to quiet for me to hear. Her hand on his shoulder sent a jolt of excitement and jealousy thru my body. I had to wonder about myself. All the things I had seen her do in Pictures and videos and it was her Hand on another mans shoulder that made me jealous.

We continued playing.

A few hands later Grant leaned over to me and muttered in my ear “How about you let me win and I choose someone else, so you can pick Emma, that way we both are happy and have enough time to enjoy ourselves … I mean it is getting late...“ He trailed off.

I looked from him to Emma. Her eyes captured my gaze as easy as ever. What i saw in them however was something I could not remember seeing before. Was that nervousness? And guilt? And a hint of shame? Then i spotted Grants eyes flicker over to Emma as well.

“Nah man, lets play it out.“ I said, more forceful, than i intended. The sound of my voice made Emma jump in her seat, and she averted her eyes.

Sarah grabbed her arm and asked her something to quiet for me to hear. Soon the two of them where deep in a whispered conversation, with Sarah being kind of ...mad?

With an anger in my stomach, that I did not want to fully explain to myself we continued playing.

The end of the game was anticlimactic. We both had about the same amount of chips and went all in. I won. The Anger made me numb to the stakes and all nervousness was pushed away. I Said Emmas name without any hesitation. Grant choose Sarah, who took him aside and grilled him about something. It ended in her giving him a slap on the back of his head and walking out of the room.

Grant went over to me and stuttered an apology. Everyone felt kind of awkward until Ryan saved the situation with one of his jokes.

The Group slowly split up. I felt a weird mix of elation and anger as Emma and I got into my Car and drove off.

Towards home.

My home.