Love Is Just A Game (BoyxBoy)

Bound To Break

"You are a mystery to me, yet so familiar. Like a song I've never heard before and a tune I've known my entire life." - Pavana

~~~

Chapter 1
Friday-September 5th, 2014

"Come on, Riley. It'll be fun. I even hear they're having a poker tournament in the basement", spoke my best friend since middle school, Charlie Bugger. He wiggled his bushy, caterpillar eyebrows at me as if the thought of poker would entice me to join the stupid party.

I typically enjoyed parties; hot girls, an endless supply of flowing liquor, the happy, energetic vibe that floats through the room creating a temporary head buzz. Tonight was not the night for it though.

An aching pain in my chest was a constant reminder of why I didn't want to be there.

Two weeks ago, I had been sitting in my girlfriend, Natalie's dorm room, waiting for her to get out of the shower when a ding buzzed through the room.

I glanced at her dresser to see a text flashed upon the screen of her cell phone. I hadn't meant to snoop but the curiosity and boredom got the best of me.

It read:
Text from Jonathan Cook with a fucking heart eyes emoji next to his name, that in itself was alarming enough.

I clicked on the text to see,
J: Your place or mine later? I can't wait to see your pretty face, baby.

Everything in me had shattered into a broken heap on the floor. I tortured myself further by scrolling upward, reading through all their flirty texts. I had even stumbled upon quite a few nude pictures from the both of them.

I couldn't believe it. The girl I had been in love with since the 10th grade was cheating on me. How could she do this to me?

When she returned from her shower, I held up her phone and shouted, "What is this?!"

Her eyes grew wide with fear and she automatically tried to make me look like the bad guy by saying, "Why were you looking through my phone?"

Through yelling and screaming, crying (on my part) and a broken picture frame of us (caused by me), she finally confessed to cheating on me for the past two months. To say I was hurt was an understatement, I felt like I had been run over by a semi-truck. We had inevitably broken up, four years down the drain in an instant.

So as I stood in front of the two-story, modern, white house that was booming with loud music and drunken college kids, I could honestly say this was the last place I wanted to be. I'd much rather be weeping in my sorrows and watching Supernatural on Netflix on this fine, Friday night but Charlie had forcefully dragged me out here.

I grumbled, knowing I had no other option but to comply to Charlie's demands, "Fine. I'll stay for an hour maximum but then I'm leaving."

Charlie's shaggy, dirt brown hair blew in the wind as he put his hands up in surrender, "That's all I ask."

I slowly stalked up the sidewalk to the house and a push from Charlie caused me to sigh and walk faster. Might as well get this hell over with. Who knows, maybe a few drinks was exactly what I needed tonight. I hoped for the best but expected the worse.

I clattered up the front porch steps and swung open the door. We were faced with two staircases, one going upstairs and one going down to presumably the basement.

Although, I knew I shouldn't, I knew I would eventually make my way to the basement to check out that poker tournament Charlie mentioned. Poker was a gift of mine; I could clean out wallets like a bill collector but gambling was a bad hobby to get into, I knew that first hand from my father.

On both sides of the staircases appeared to be living rooms, filled to the ceiling with people, literally to the ceiling. For some reason, a bunch of guys had girls sitting upon their shoulders and they were all dancing wildly. Someone was bound to get hurt there but it was none of my business if they wanted to be idiotic drunks.

Charlie and I squeezed through the crowd in the living room, to find a kitchen in the back of the house. It was slightly less crowded luckily and Charlie pulled a bottle of Bacardi 151 rum out of his inner jacket pocket.

I grabbed two, red solo cups and Charlie filled them up. We raised our cups in the air and Charlie cheered, "To our first drink ever with you being single!"

I thought for a moment, realizing Charlie was right. This was the first time I had ever drank without being in a relationship. How odd.

We dipped our cups back and took large gulps, ready to get this buzz started.

We stood back, watching the party unfold. A girl with fiery red hair came through the kitchen, swaying her hips to the beat of the music.

Charlie murmured, "She's cute."

I took another drink, "Hmph."

Charlie and I weren't typically the types of guys to chat up a bunch of girls at a party. I, of course couldn't for the past four years but I had been a wingman for Charlie a few times and I was decent at talking to girls.

When Charlie and I did attend parties, it was usually with our best friend, Karmika and she would drag us on the dance floor and we'd dance all night. But unfortunately, Karmika was out of town visiting family for the weekend, so it was just Charlie and I, awkwardly standing around, unsure of what to do.

After a few more minutes, I muttered, "I think I'm going to go check out the basement."

Charlie chuckled, "I knew you would."

I shrugged, half heartedly, "Yeah, well..." I trailed my sentence off and started walking back through the living room.

I reached the stairs and rushed down them, feeling a bit of excitement surge through me at the thought of playing my favorite game.

A lot of people were crowded around something, what I couldn't see but I assumed it was a poker table.

I stood up on my toes, trying to see but it was hopeless. Fuck, how was I going to get in there?

A guy standing next to me, suddenly turned to me, talking obnoxiously loud, "Holy shit, you're that Riley Justice guy, right?"

Several people turned around at the sound of my name and I squinted my eyes in confusion, "Uh, yeah."

The guy bellowed, "You're like a poker legend around here! You have to play!"

A poker legend? I mean, I had played a few successful games at parties but I wasn't aware I had a reputation.

A British voice I couldn't match a face with suddenly spoke and everyone went quiet, "Yeah. Come join us, Riley."

It was as if I had suddenly been reincarnated into Moses and was separating the Red Sea because the crowd dispersed to create a pathway for me to walk.

I looked up in confusion, to meet the most sinister, turquoise eyes I had ever seen. A sly smirk grew across the tattooed man's face and I suddenly had a very bad feeling about tonight.