Kiss Me. [GOLDRIC]

C1 - The Bet

       "NOO!" My sister wailed. "That's not fair! You had to have cheated you—you cheater!" She pointed at me dramatically, pretending to faint.

   I rolled my eyes playfully and shuffled the Hex n' Holdem cards. "Sorry, Emira. I can't help that you're just bad at card games," I taunted, giving my voice an amused edge to it.

   Emira sat up and huffed. "Yea, yea," she said. "What did you win?"

   I smirked at the question. "Hm, I dunno," I admitted. I gave myself a bit of time to think. "After winning so many games, it becomes hard to think of what I want my reward to be."

   I heard Emira scoff at my remark as I circled my mind for things I might want from her.  I clicked my tongue a couple of times to pretend like I was deep in thought. After a bit, I finally decided what I wanted. I snapped my fingers to create an illusion of a ticket to the yearly "Boiling Aisles Festival."

   Emira raised an eyebrow. "You only want one ticket? Why?" She paused and then smirked. "Oh, yea. That's right. How's the single life again? I can't remember."

   "Ha-ha, very funny," I said."Can't a man just want to have a day to himself? I don't need a date to have fun."

   Emira sighed. "Whatever. You're right. Besides, the Festival is in a week. You couldn't get a date by then anyway."

   I opened my mouth to protest but shut it quickly. "My love life is no concern to Emira," I thought. "Don't let her get to you."

   Just as I thought I was finally calmed down, Emira added with a fake cough, "Hopeless romantic."

   As if on instinct, I forgot my short pep-talk to defend myself. "Em! That's so not true!"

   "Oh, please. Y'know, Ed, maybe if you stopped trying to trick yourself into believing you could pull anyone, you might finally find peace," Emira fake-lectured.

   I straightened up my posture. "Yeah, right. If I wanted to, I could get a date for the festival. I have an entire week after all."

   "Wanna bet?" She asked with a smirk.

   "Depends. Wanna lose?"

   Emira's smirk was soon replaced by a serious face. "Alright, how about this. When you lose, I want to hear you admit that you are a hopeless romantic. I also want 40 snails to bring Viney on a date."

   "Fine," I agreed, "But when you lose, I want 40 snails to take my date out."

   "Deal."

   "Deal."

   We bound the oath by magic and went our separate ways. Man, I couldn't wait for that 40 snails.

*****

       I held the two carnival tickets in my palm and bent them in between my fingers nervously. Getting a date in a week? Easy. I mean, who wouldn't want to date a handsome man such as myself? I sat up on my bed and thought for a moment. Where should I even begin to look? I flashed back to what Emira had said a while earlier.

"Honestly, Edric, this wager is kind of in your favor," She had said, "Like, the Boiling Isles is full of opportunity. I think I'd be more disappointed if you couldn't get a date by the end of the week."