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“Just changing what’s at stake. Fuck the chips.” He flicked one of his piles and scattered the pieces across the table.
“What do you want to play for?” Anthony asked.
Jay chewed on his lower lip like he was thinking. I wasn’t in the know when it came to this stage of his plan, so my confusion was genuine, alongside my nervousness.
“Let’s play for our clothes,” Jay finally said. “If you lose a round, you take something off. The first to lose everything plays one final round against the winner. If the loser wins that round, he gets his clothes back, but if he loses again, the winner gets to tell him what to do for… let’s say, two hours.”
Anthony frowned. “Tell him what to do?”
“Yep. No questions, no whining.”
Chris laughed. “That’s dumb, man. Like, seriously dumb.”
“You’re embarrassed by your tits?”
“My tits are fine, I’m just too old for this shit. We’realltoo old for this shit.”
“Playing for money against people who barely have any isn’t better than playing for clothes,” Jay said in a flat voice.
Silence followed that statement. My blood warmed with anger. My financial problems were not Jay’s or anyone else’s concern, and Chris was the one who had offered to lend me money when I needed it the most.
“I didn’t say we should play for money again,” Chris said slowly, “I suggested that we go watch Netflix, which shouldn’t be a financial burden on anyone.”
Jay nodded. “You're right. That was uncalled for. But my offer still stands. The same game we all enjoy, but with a twist to keep things interesting.”
“I really rather we do something else,” Chris said. “It feels juvenile, man.”
“I like it,” Anthony said. “I mean, could be fun to change the stakes.”
Chris watched him in confusion, then something changed, and for a quick moment, I saw lust in his eyes.
Jay must have caught that as well. He told Anthony, “Yeah, man? You’ll sit here butt naked if you lose?”
Anthony exchanged a look with him before nodding. He got up and raised his shirt, revealing a flat stomach with faint abs. I could see the beginning of his hairy chest, but his stomach was mostly smooth except for his treasure trail. I noticed that my mouth was slowly opening and hurried to close it.
Anthony patted his stomach before lowering his shirt and sitting down. “I have nothing to hide.”
All eyes were on me now, the one who could tip the scale. I squirmed in my seat, feeling the weight of my decision. I could sense Jay’s eyes boring into me. Betraying him felt like the right thing to do, yet I worried about what he might do instead. Would he give up on his plan, or come up with something else that might end up being worse? With a sigh, I said, “Yeah, I’m game.”
“Fantastic,” Jay said, looking relieved. He turned to Chris. “That’s three votes yes, and we all know that Ant is the likely loser.”
“Hey!”
Jay continued to look at Chris. “So, what you gonna do?”
Chris gave a quick glance at Anthony, then nodded. “Fine. If that’s what you guys want, let’s roll.”
11
Something about having our clothes at stake made our mouths looser than before. I was shocked when Chris and Jay started talking about a double date they went on years earlier. They both thought they were going to score with two hot chicks, but it turned out their dates were lesbians who wanted to post photos of themselves dating guys so that their parents wouldn’t suspect.
“I should’ve guessed something was off when a Tori Amos song started playing and they lost it,” Jay said.
“Hey, watch it,” Anthony laughed. He was the biggest Tori Amos fan, and we used to tease him about it for years.
“Wait, where was I when you two went double dating?” I asked.
Jay narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, where were you?”
