Pool, Poker and Players

Original story by Niceguy
(This is a prequel to Aces and Eights.)


In a smokey bar, two friends debated politics over the sound of pool balls being racked up and broken.

“And you wanna end up paying more in taxes?” Bill yelled before taking another sip of his scotch.

“I fail to see how the two are related. I just don’t think we’re going to get what we need with McCain…” Jake tried to reason.

“OK, first, you known I’m no McCain booster… But the Democrats WILL raise taxes – you KNOW this! And I don’t know why you even care about Global Warming or Gay Marriage… You’re NOT even gay, and your great grandchildren will be DEAD before there’s any real climate change, even assuming that Al Gore’s little minions aren’t completely full of hooey!”

“Now hang on a second! First of all…” But Jake trailed off, his eye catching something (someone, actually) on the other side of the bar, playing pool. “Hang… on… a….second…”

“Yeah, you just said that… huh?” Bill followed Jake’s glance. “Forget it my friend. She’s way out of your league. So why don’t you move over and let the big boy here give it a try.” He patted Jake’s chest as he got up an made his way over the pool table.

Jake was barely of aware of what had just happened, but Bill was now clearly in front of him in line. He watched as his friend went over to the tall redhead who was racking up another game at the pool table after (apparently) hustling the last guy there. From Jake’s vantage point at the bar, it seemed Bill was going to play a few rounds with her. Now he was laughing as she held up some money. Was he going to make a bet? “Be careful Bill,” Jake thought, “Your old fashioned, manly-man attitude is going to get you into trouble one of these days.”

After losing the first round, it looked like he said something that got the breezy pool-girl upset. Jake never did hear what it was, but for the next two games, all pretenses were gone. The red-head absolutely mopped the floor with him. He paid up and came back to the bar.

“She's all yours buddy… But she’ll eat you alive.” He tossed his last 10-spot to Jake and left. It wasn’t enough by half to cover his part of the tab, but Jake just shrugged and paid up. They were celebrating his getting a new job anyway. Before heading home, he figured he’d take a good crack at the auburn tomboy that had so captivated him.

“Sorry about my friend. He’s a little bit…”

“Of a sexist pig?” She answered sharply. “Well, at least he paid up.”

“Well, sort of…” Jake laughed. “You cleaned him out and he stiffed me on the tab.”

“And you want some money back?” She answered, with a frightening gleam in her eye as she started to rack up again.

“Oh no…” Jake took a step back waving his hands, knowing a poisonous trap when he saw one. “I’m not much of a pool player. I just wanted to come meet the woman who finally put him in his place. Bill’s a pretty good player, so… you must be pretty good then.”

“He’s alright. Above average but nothing special though. My name’s Brigid by the way.”

“Then I guess he plays pool about as well as he debates politics!” Jake laughed. “Mine’s Jake.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you.”

“Would you… uh… like me to walk you home?”

She was an inch away for declaring that she hardly needed an escort, but then realized that this guy was not the chauvinistic blowhard she just hustled out of a C-Bill. So she decided she could use the company after all. “Sure.”

As they walked home, Jake was surprised how well they’d hit it off. Jake always had an affinity for strong, independent women and Brigid liked the fact that he appreciated that aspect of her. It was far more common for men to flee from her in terror. (Of course, most of the men she talked to she ended up conning into a high-stakes pool game, which might explain a lot of it.) But she got a strong sense that this little man with the quiet demeanor and fairly unremarkable appearance had a very strong character. He seemed… solid somehow, like the kind of guy you could really depend on. In her experience this was a fairly uncommon trait in men.

When they reached her apartment building, Jake, feeling as though they were hitting it off pretty well, thought he’d press his luck just a bit further. “I… uh… don’t suppose you like to have dinner with me? Tomorrow night maybe?” Whoops. He hadn’t meant to make it so soon. Did he sound desperate?

She looked at him (more like through him, actually) with piercing green eyes for a few moments before saying. “Sure. Tomorrow would be fine. 8:00 then?”

“Eight… yeah … I’ll see you then!”

“I look forward to it.” And, almost to her surprise, she found that she really did.
__________________________________________________

The following evening she found herself standing outside of Jake’s apartment, reading a note that was taped to the door. “If he even thinks of standing me up…” She thought, feeling both angry and disappointed. She unfolded the note and read it.

“Brigid,

I’m SO SORRY, but I’m going to be late. I’m taking Bill to the hospital (his appendix.) Mrs. Lacey in 205 has a key and will let you in. Make yourself at home and I’ll be back ASAP.

SORRY!
Jake”

Although she felt a bit awkward and even considered just calling it off and going home, she knocked on the door to 205 and got Jake’s key from a kind old lady who commented on “what a pretty friend Jacob had” and went to “make herself at home” in Jake’s apartment.
________________________________________________

She had to admit he had a pretty nice place. After looking around a bit, not enough to be nosey, but just to figure out where things were, she made herself a drink and started to look though the DVD’s on the shelf, trying to find something to pass the time while she waited. As she did this, she started to notice her nose growing really itchy and starting to run a little. She sniffed strongly and turned to go look for a tissue or grab some toilet paper when she almost tripped over something. Looking down she saw that a cat had crept up behind her and started rubbing its head against her leg just as she stepped away from the shelf.

“*sniff* Well hello there! *sniff*” she said, looking at the cat through eyes that were already starting to fill with tears. “So he has a cat, huh? Well, I guess this little fling’s not gonna last long. *sniff*.” She laughed to herself as she went to look for some tissues, hoping that her date was not going to keep her waiting for long.

“hah… haaaAAAAAHHHSOOO! *sniff* Oh my god… Need tissues…” She went from room to room and even checked the closets but to no avail. The cat seemed intent to follow here everywhere which, if it were happening to anyone else, she would have found a bit amusing. Her nose was getting very runny now, and judging from her vision, now obscured by her watery eyes, she was pretty sure her makeup looked frightful at this point.

“haaaAAAAHHHTCHOO-oo! Oh… *sniff*… Ok… *sniff* toilet paper then. And YOU stay out!” she said to the cat, keeping it at bay with her foot as she closed the bathroom door.

Sitting on the toilet seat, she blew her nose, which brought on several more sneezes. Blowing her nose again, she wondered if it would be worth waiting for him after all. She was very allergic to cats, and medicine rarely helped. She contemplated a future of chronic sneezing, a constantly runny nose and itchy eyes, and just when she decided that she’d better quit before the prospect seemed liked a reasonable trade off, she heard a knock at the door.

She left the bathroom and started down the hall. She tried to yell out “Hang on, I’m coming,” but the cat, and its dander, had other ideas.

“Ha-hang… on…. I… Ha… haaaAAASSSHOOO! *sniff* huh… I’m coming!”

She sneezed again in the crook of her elbow as she opened the door. It was Jake.

“Hi. I’m sorry to make you wait like this.”

“It’s… OK… hah… aaaAAATCHH-hoo.”

“Bless you.”

“Thanks. Say, why exactly did you need… hold on, gotta sneeze… haaaah… haaaAAASSSHOOO! Sorry. Why did you need to knock on your own apartment door?”

“Bless you again! Well, I uh, kinda left you my only key.”

She laughed. “Well, it's a good thing I waited. If I’d left you’d have been locked out. Hah… Haaah… haaaAAAAHHHTCHOO-oo! Oh… *sniff*”

“Wow, bless you again. Are you, uh, feeling OK.”

“Well, *sniff* now that you mentioned no, not really. You see I’m very al… aahhh…. aaaAAATCHHOOO! VERY, allergic to cats. So, uh if you don’t mind, maybe we could get going then?”

“Uh, yeah, sure let’s go. Sorry to, uh, put you through that.”

“It’s OK, let’s just go. Oh but could you do me one favor and grab me some tissues?” She asked, rubbing her nose with her index finger.

“Sure.” Jake said with a smile, going back in to get some while she waited in the hall.
_______________________________________

She enjoyed herself at dinner, and was happy to learn that cat was not, in fact, Jake’s but that he was minding it for a friend while his apartment had some remodeling done in it. She was relieved to hear this since she was having a good time and had already decided that they would be seeing each other again. All the same, her nose was still a little runny even by the end of the meal, and she had just about depleted her supply of tissues.

After dinner, they took a walk around the downtown area for a while, stopping to get some ice cream for dessert, window shopping and just getting to know one another. After walking for an hour that seemed a lot shorter, they ran into a couple a friends of Jake’s.

“Hey guys! Brigid, these guys are a couple of friends of mine and Bill’s. This is Logan and James. Guys this is my date, Brigid”

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, darling!” James said excitedly, in an effete drawl which immediately piqued Brigid’s curiosity as to his sexual orientation.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Logan said, a sly, lopsided grin creeping across his face as he gazed at her with his deep brown eyes. If Brigid had not been thinking about Jake or Jake was more in tune to these kinds of things, it would have seemed apparent to either that Logan had become rather infatuated with the lithe redhead. As much as he was struck by how beautiful that she was his attention was drawn to some rather specific details that he almost never failed notice. He could see the tinges of redness around her nose and eyes. He could here that here voice was a little stuffy, and from her breathing that she had a runny nose. He would bet that she had allergies of some kind, and he would bet that they had been bothering her recently. He always noticed these kinds of things, because women’s sneezing was a HUGE turn on for him. ‘Lucky bastard’ he thought about Jake, not unkindly, smiling on the inside at the good fortune he knew his friend would never appreciate. After a short but polite chat, Jake and Brigid continued on there way, as James and Logan continued in the opposite direction, the way they had been headed.

“They seem nice.” Brigid offered.

“Yeah, not a bad bunch of guys. Logan’s a much better pool played than Bill, by the way.”

“Yeah, and uh… James. Is he…?”

“Nah, he doesn’t really play pool much. About as much a player as I am.”

If she’d been drinking a drink, she would have choked on it. She wasn’t sure what made her laugh more, the fact that he totally missed the point, or his answer, which was unintentionally hilarious in the context of her actual question.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. Never mind.” She laughed.

“He’s a pretty good poker player too. Logan, that is. Well, Bill too.”

“You don’t say?”

“Yeah, we had a regular game set up. Well, we still do in fact, except that our fifth player dropped out. Hey… I don’t suppose, I mean I’d hafta ask the guys but… you don’t happen to play poker do you?”

“I’ve played a little.” She answered coyly as they strolled back to his apartment. She looked forward to beating that chauvinistic blowhard Bill at something else he fancied himself an expert at, once he was out of the hospital anyway. They continued the rest of the way back to Jake’s apartment in silence. She decided not to go up with him, as much because of the cat as the fact that she planned on seeing him again.

Aces and Eights

Original story by Niceguy




“Ehh… hah… HeeeehhhhTHCHOO!” Brigid sneezed for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.

“Bless you, darlin’.” James said, offering her another tissue. His voice had the slightest hint of femininity to it. Brigid had no idea why he insisted on handing her the tissues, but she didn’t mind the attention,

“*sniff* Thanks.” She said, before deciding to match the bet. “*sniff* Call.”

“The cat’s really bothering you, huh sweetie?” Jake was concerned about his girlfriend, but he knew the feisty red-head well enough not to push the issue too much.

“*sniff* I’m f-fine. Now call.” She answered impatiently.

“Two pair.” Jake threw in. She looked at Bill.

Bill took another pull on his cigar and exhaled. “Well your allergies don’t seem to be affecting your game much. Two pair, Ace-high.” Bill had never been supportive of the idea of letting a woman join their poker group, and after she cleaned them out each of the last two games, he was even less crazy about the idea now. He was one of the better players in the group, but she clearly outclassed him.

James had already folded, so that left Logan, the only player in the group Brigid had a hard time figuring out. Bill talked too much, James was a completely non-aggressive player and her boyfriend, Jake, bless his heart, just had no clue. But Logan played everything close. She got the feeling that he was the ringer of the group, before she came along anyway.

“Nothing. Congrat’s, you caught me bluffing. Though I have no ides what these two were figuring.”

“I though you both were.” Bill said, looking at Jake.

“Two pair wouldn’t do it, huh?” Jake asked, realizing he was probably over-extended.

“You put twenty down on two pair?” Bill was stunned. “My god man, at least say you thought they were bluffing if you go that far out!”

“Well…” Jake started before Brigid brought the hand to a close.

“You were $20 out on two-pair all the same, Bill. Flush. *sniff* oh man, heh… hah... heeeATCH-oo!” James blessed her and handed her another tissue. She blew her nose and collected her chips. “Logan’s deal.”

“I’m sorry, darlin’. Maybe we should take my place out of the rotation if the cat bothers you that much.”

“*sniff* Really, I’m fine. *sniff* Logan’s deal.”

“No, way. If she can’t cope with it, she can sit out those nights!” Bill retorted.

“Wow, *sniff* you seem extra sensitive tonight, Bill. *sniff* Is it just playing with a woman, or being beaten so badly by one that bothers you so much?”

“Humph” Bill grunted before finishing his last sip of Scotch and going back to his cigar.

“Well, before Logan deals, anyone for one last round before we start the final hand?” James said as he got up and poured himself the last of the Merlot.

“Why not. One more beer, please.” Jake answered. He figured if he was losing money anyway he might as well get some free beer out of it.

“Yeah, *sniff* I’ll have one more.” Brigid was cleaning up again tonight, despite the distraction of a runny nose and having to sneeze every few moments because of James’ cat.

“I’m good.” Logan said, shooting down the last of his beer.

After everyone else had their drink refilled, Logan picked up the deck. The first thing he did was to pull out the two Jokers. Knowing that Logan had an affinity for wild cards, this surprised Brigid. She wondered what he was up to.

“OK,” Logan started coolly, “It’ll just be a simple 5-card draw, but with one twist…” He looked around; making eye contact with each player to make sure they were paying attention. They all seemed like they were on the edge of their seats. Logan always managed to come up with at least one really cool new variation each game, but so far he had been going with the old standards. “The Wild Card will start out at twos and go up by one every time Brigid sneezes.”

The reaction for the group was loud and chaotic. Bill almost choked on his Scotch.

“Interesting.” James replied

“No way! You’re giving the best player at the table control over the wild card?!” Bill roared.

“I wouldn’t say she’d have control over it. If she could suddenly stop, don’t you think she’d done so by now?” Logan asked, with a slightly amused look on his face.

“But, *sniff* w-wait, I-I… heh… heeeAHTCHOO! *sniff*.”

“Here you go darlin’.” James handed her another tissue. “Well, let’s vote, shall we? I’m fine with it.”

“As am I.” Logan followed, to no one’s surprised.

“I don’t know…” Jake started, feeling that his girlfriend’s suffering was somehow being exploited, but Brigid interrupted.

“*sniff* Fine. I’m fine with it, so it’s settled.”

“I’m out.” Bill said gruffly.

“You know the rules,” Logan reprimanded, “No one’s out until they ante up.”

Bill threw in his chip and reluctantly accepted his hand.

Logan dealt and the players picked up their cards.

Bill, sitting next to Logan, was the first to pick up: The Two and Five of Diamonds, the Six of Spades and the King and Queen of Clubs. “Shit. Three.” He threw in his cards, keeping the King and Queen.

Jake was next. He had a pair of Fours (clubs and spades), the Three of Hearts, the Jack of Clubs and the Ace of Diamonds. “Three.” He said, hoping to build on the pair.



James sighed. The Two of Spades, Four of Clubs, Six of Hearts, Seven of Diamonds and the Nine of clubs. Disgusted with his prospects he kept only his high card. “Four.”

Like Jake, Logan was also looking at a pair - of threes, Clubs and Diamonds. He took the Eight of Spades, and the Ten and Queen of Diamonds, and threw them in. “And I’ll take three.”

Before anyone had the chance to pick up, Brigid sneezed again. As James handed her another tissue, Logan made a referee’s call. “That doesn’t count. The wild card is still twos until everyone picks up. So pick ‘em up and the next one’s for real.”

Bill grumbled, still not crazy about Logan’s idea for the hand. He looked at his new hand and weighed the possibilities: His pair of twos was now joined by the Five, Queen and King of Clubs. He saw a couple potential three-of-a-kinds and, as it stood now, he had a flush. He liked that well enough, but didn’t like the pair of twos he’d constantly be just one sneeze away from. “One dollar.”

“That’s it, huh?” Jake asked, smiling as looked at his had.

“Haaah… TCHOO!” Brigid sneezed.

“Now you know why! AND THAT WAS FAKE!”

“*sniff* It was not!” Brigid answered incredulously; shocked that even Bill would make such a bold accusation.

“Now Bill, you can’t just…” James started as he handed her another tissue

“Like hell! This is what I was talking about! She…”

“Tell you what, Bill, *sniff* how about next I hit you with the spray, so you can vouch for their authenticity.”

Looking around the table and seeing that the rest of the players were against him, he backed down. “That’s all right. I’ll be good.”

"OK then…” Jake figured it would be wise to get the game going again. As bad a player as he was, he figured that Bill had just lost a decent hand. He looked at his own: His pair of fours was joined by a pair of sixes, Diamonds and clubs, and the Queen of Spades. He didn’t have a wild card yet, but seeing as he was a sneeze away from four of a kind, he saw the bet. “I’ll see your buck…”

“Hahhh… HAAATCH-ooo! *sniff*” James handed her a tissue as Jake continued his bet, now holding four of a kind.

“And raise you three.” He smiled. But he was soon regretting his bet as another sneeze knocked him back down to two pairs – the same hand he’d just lost $20 on.

“HeeeAAAHHHH-tchoo! *sniff* What are we up to Logan?”

“Fives.” Logan smiled, despite the fact that his growing erection that was making him slightly uncomfortable. He’d always been rather jealous of Jake. He’d had the worst crush on Brigid ever since they first met. It grew when he learned what a strong, outspoken woman she was and more so when he learned that she played poker, and well. He didn’t know she was allergic to cats, and no one else knew of his fetish, but he was really enjoying this hand and planned to raise, every chance he got, regardless of what he had.

Brigid looked down. Fives being wild gave her a strait. There was also a possible flush, but otherwise she had the occasional pair and a whole lot of nothing. But thinking that Bill would enjoy it way too much if she dropped out early, she stayed in. “I’ll see the three and raise wah.. one… HAAAHtchoo! Hah… HATCHOO! Damn!”

“Seven’s hmm?” James verified, looking at his hand: He’d gotten another Nine, of Hearts, and the Seven of Clubs, Ten of Hearts and King of Diamonds. He noticed Jake perk up after the first sneezed, and saw him deflate just as much after the second. He was looking a three of kind now, and while he wasn’t crazy about the hand overall, seeing only a few potential three-of-a-kinds and otherwise just a pair of nines, he thought he might get lucky, seeing as how everyone else was also capable of coming up with a bum hand. “I’ll see your four, darlin’.”

Logan did get another three (Spades) along with the Eight and Ace of Hearts. Overall he felt pretty good about things. He threw in his four, and held another four in his hand over the pot as he looked over at Brigid. He thought he saw her eyes narrow slightly.

“Wha… Wh-What is it?”

“Cat sure sheds a lot, huh?”

“*sniff* Just bet, Logan.”

“You OK?”

“*sniff* J-Just… b-bet… heh... *sniff* hah… HEEATCH-hoo!”

“Raise four!” He smiled, now sitting on four of a kind, with eights wild. “The bet’s eight Bill. You in?”

Brigid sneezed twice more as Bill mulled things over. Tens being wild left him with just a pair, but he was five sneezes away from a flush, and he figured there was still some time. Throwing caution the wind he put in. “Seven meets, raise one. Jake?”

Jake still had his two pair, but looked over at Brigid.

“*sniff* oh God… *sniff* I swear it’s getting worse… hah… haaaAAATCH-hoo! *sniff* man!”

Jacks wild didn’t help, but he’d have a Full House if she sneezed again. “Five meets, raise two. The bet’s eleven. You in sweetie?”

Brigid now had her flush, but she felt another sneeze coming. ‘Damn my nose and damn that cat!’ she thought. She put in her seven to meet and was about to raise four, but hesitated as she wondered how long she could hold this one in.

“You OK there?” Bill leaned forward, blowing his cigar smoke at her.

“Oh puh-lease, Bill! You think I could spend so much of my y-youth in a pool halls if I was bothered by a little s-smoke?”

“So what’s it going to be? Call or raise?”

“Rai.. Rai… Raise… hah… HAAAHTCHOO! DAMN!” She sneezed just as she dropped her four, raising the bet to fifteen, and turning her flush into Jack-high. Jake seemed pleased with himself now that, with Queens wild, he was sitting on a full house.

James met and raised one, hoping for another sneeze to turn his pair into three of a kind. Bigid’s nose soon obliged and he handed her another tissue. “King’s now. And the bet stands at fifteen. Logan?”

Logan looked down. One sneeze or three would give him four of a kind, with Aces or Threes wild. Mentally he crossed his fingered, threw in his eight to meet, and looked at Bill.

“I still say this is bullshit.”

“HAAAATCH-hoo!”

“Oh! Wait! Meet!” Bill said, sounding happy. Twos wild gave him back his Flush.

“Haah… haaaathc-HOO!”

“DAMN!” Bill roared, now looking at pair of two’s.

Jake wasn’t too happy with his two pairs, but he hoped for one more sneeze to give him four of a kind with fours wild. With only Brigid left to bet he’d figured he could time it right if he ended it quickly. He met the bet and looked at Brigid.

“Haah… Hutch-HOOO! Oh boy. *sniff* let’s see…” with fours wild, she had nothing. Her nose still itched, but she had to buy some time if she was going to sneeze again and make the Flush. “I don’t know…”

“Come on! This is what I was talking about!” Bill roared. She loved that this was burning him up so much

“Just take your time.” Logan said calmly. He was staring at her intently, grateful that studying someone’s face so closely was perfectly acceptable behavior in poker. He could see her nostrils twitch and her eyelids flutter. He hung on every hitched breath. He knew what she was doing but he didn’t care. The show was well worth the money.

“I th-think… I’ll… hah… “

“Give me a break.” Bill snorted under his breath.

“HAAAT-CHOO! CALL!” She yelled, slamming down her dollar to meet and as soon as Logan said, “Show em,” her allergies finally overtook her.

“Hatch-hoo! HEEATCH-hooh! Ha… HaAAHH-tchoo! *sniff* Oh man!” She sneezed several more times as James handed her tissues.

“The wild card ended up on five.” Logan called. “Show your cards gentlemen!” He looked over at James, who had just handed Brigid the last of the tissues.

“Pair of nines, I’m afraid.” He said, knowing that wouldn’t beat what ever Brigid had.

“Well, I’ve gotcha Jimmy.” Logan stated. “Three threes.”

“GODDAMNIT!” Bill yelled, slamming down the three twos he had with fives being wild.

“Two-pair,” Jake shrugged, smiling. “My lucky hand all night, I guess.”

“*sniff* Read em and weep, boys! *sniff* Strait, to the Jack.

As she reeled in her bounty, she looked up at James. “Hon, I hope you don’t mind if I don’t stay to help you clean up but, *sniff* that being the last hand and all, and *sniff* seeing as you’re out of tissues, I’m really ready to be heading home now.”

“No problem darling’. You drive safe now, Jake, ya hear?”

“Thanks, I will.”

Bill grumbled ‘G-Bye’ and Logan walked them to the door. In his mind, he was trying to figure out he could make James’ place come up more often in their little group’s rotation.