Baby on Board

GOTCHA

Have you ever felt like you've been royally shafted? Tonight is boys night and for once, Martha and Charlotte weren't here. Seeing as I had an empty house, I invited the guys over, pulling out the cards so that we could play poker. Once the game started, however, I regretted inviting Dan, Adam and Lucas. You could tell that they were associated with the Delaney family from their playing style; Dan was aggressive, just like Sophie, Adam was cautious, just like Emma, while Lucas had the same straight face that the whole Delaney family had, where you just never knew if he was telling you the truth. Lucas was a fierce opponent when it came to cards. 

"I fold," Dan said, throwing his cards into the centre of the table. 

Once Dan had folded, Adam, Mick and Sam weren't too far behind. The only ones left were Elias, Lucas and me, not that my cards were decent. I'd bluffed my way this far, making it look like I had a better hand than I did, but even I knew when to give up. I folded.

"Just us left," Elias taunted Lucas. When Lucas nodded without looking up from his cards, coming across as being bored of all this, Elias narrowed his eyes on his opponent. "I'm going to put all my chips in. All or nothing, baby."

Lucas quirked an eyebrow. "Baby?" He asked, mildly amused although his face never changed. He pulled his cards into a neat pile in his hands and gave Elias a hard glare. "Are you sure you want to big that much, Elias?"

The question threw Elias. He looked down at the hand he held and frowned. Now that the question had been posed to him, he was doubting whether or not he could take on Lucas Delaney. He shook his head and threw his cards down, saying, "I fold."

"Thought so," Lucas said, beaming from ear to ear. When the boys challenged him to show us his cards, Lucas turned them over and showed us a three of clubs, a two of hearts, a five of diamonds and a nine of clubs. Those cards were worthless. We all sighed, knowing that once again, Lucas had duped us all. "Not my fault you can't beat the King. Are we playing another round?"

After the way we'd been screwed over by Lucas, the others and I decided to call it a night on the poker front. Instead, we opened some more bottles of beer and chilled on the deck, talking about everything as we caught up with one another. I've known Dan, Elias and Mick for years, and I know Sam pretty well, too, but Lucas and Adam were new members of the Boys' Club and some of us were curious about them. 

And by 'some', I mean Elias and Mick. I already know them well enough thanks to my relationship with Lottie, so the revelation that Lucas had had a lung transplant last year and that Adam was second-generation Indian-American was nothing new to me. I listened as Adam recounted how he and Emma had met at an airport when they were both on family holidays almost ten years ago and it was love at first sight, and I laughed along with everyone when Lucas told us all about his first kiss that ended up with him rushed to hospital because he couldn't breathe after. It wasn't a laughing matter, almost dying from being kissed, but the way Lucas shared his story made us all hold our bellies as we cried with hysterics.