The Unfortunate Bet

“Lukas, wake up. You need to hurry up for breakfast so we can get to the beach before it gets packed,” said Laura Walton.

“I’m coming mom, just give me a minute,” replied Lukas.

It was the start to a gorgeous summer, the summer right before Lukas senior year. He loved the beach and had looked forward to this trip, the first beach trip of the year, for weeks. Sure it may have already been July, but it was their family tradition to wait until the end of July for their first beach trip. But now that it was here…. He was scared.

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You see, Lukas had a very close friend, Jack Perry for most of his life in High School. Lukas and Jack were very close. Lukas also had a twin brother Zach. The three of them were always inseparable, though they may have gotten into some trouble from time to time.

Lukas was valedictorian of his class. He had his whole life together, he was a great basketball player, of course. He was 6’8” after all which gave him an amazing advantage. Lukas was not your typical athlete. Sure he was incredible, and good looking. He had black hair and baby blue eyes and all the girls were all over him. But, Lukas wasn’t a “jock” by any means. For that matter, none of his teammates hardly saw him lacking a shirt, definitely nothing more. He was modest, Lukas didn’t strut around the locker room naked and barefoot and hooting and hollering like his teammates, but they still accepted him. He wanted to be an attorney when he finished school, and he had the whole route planned. He was a planner, when his brother and best friend didn’t get in the way.

Zach always felt like he lived in his brothers shadow. Sure Zach was the younger brother, but only by 24 minutes. I mean, they were twins after all. But Zach wasn’t quite the same as his brother. Naturally, he played basketball too. Everybody called the pair the “twin towers” and they were some of the best. Of course, don’t be fooled as Lukas was always the best player. Zach however, was not on the same track. He didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life, he wasn’t quite as modest as his “older brother” and he lived life a little more daringly.

Jack Perry had been Lukas and Zach’s best friend since birth. Well, maybe not since exactly birth as the twins had been, but you get the point. Jack lived more like Zach, he was a daredevil and loved to live on the wild side. He was the point guard of the basketball team and was working his way towards the NBA. Both Jack and the “twin towers” were all ready for the upcoming season, their freshman year at UCLA. They had all received full ride basketball scholarships, and they couldn’t wait for the season to be here.

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Lukas came down the stairs, modestly dressed in his swimming Tshirt, board shorts, and sandals. How he hated for others to see his feet, but at least it should just be his family at the beach. No reason to worry, his feet were gorgeous and well maintained, he was just too modest for his own good.

“About time. Hurry and eat so we can get on the road,” said Lukas’ mom.

Lukas sat down to take a bit of his breakfast burrito and just then, the front door opened and in walked Jack.

“Who’s ready to hit the beach?” Said Zach, “and maybe we will see some hot women.”

Lukas shook his head, always embarrassed by how outgoing his brother was. Especially around his best friend Jack.

The boys all loaded up in the car, with Laura as their driver. She was up front, listening to her podcast as the boys were in the back seat scheming their summer before college. Just then, the podcast cut out for breaking news.

“Breaking news, congress just approved the new nudity policy we have been discussing. This policy will allow people to go register with city hall to go fully nude all across the state. Registrants will have the option to sign up for 3 months, 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, or life. Also, they will have the option to choose between strict nudity which means to clothing or shoes at all and moderate nudity which allows for a clear jacket and/or tennis shoes.”

“Woah, what the hell,” said Jack. “I’m not scared or nothing, but why would anybody want to do that?”

“Nobody is doing that,” said Laura. “Congress passed it just to show equality towards all people, but it’s not expected that anybody will participate. They did talk about making it mandatory in prisons though, to save money.”

“That’s crazy, good thing I’ll never have to find out,” said Lukas.

Little did he know, his life might just change forever.

Once on the beach, Jack brought up the thing they had all been so interested in, the Olympic Games. Olympic basketball, to be exact. Lukas had been rooting for team USA, who was in the lead so far with the most wins. Zach and Jack however, were rooting for France.

“You guys are rooting for the wrong team. USA is going to win the whole thing,” said Lukas.

“Don’t be so sure, France has this year in the bag,” boasted Zach.

“Yeah, you’ll be the one with the losing team for sure,” said Jack.

“Do you even hear yourselves? I’d bet anything USA wins. They only have the game for gold against France left, and they blew everybody else out of the water,” said Lukas.

“Alright smart-ass, what do you want to bet?” asked Zach.

Jack grinned mischievously. He knew they had just backed the big and mighty Lukas Walton into a corner.