Just for a Moment

93 | Egyptian Rat Slap

Olivia went back into Matt's apartment (because that's the room Siri chose for them). She felt stunned after what Tim just told her.

Everyone was yelling at each other over yet another game of Spicy Uno. "Hey!" Dara called. "What was that about?"

Olivia was absolutely stunned as she came back to the living room and sat down with everyone. "You look like you've seen a ghost," Sofia joked.

"Ok, I definitely feel like I'm in a dream right now," she said. "But... Tim just offered me the chance to write my own song for the show."

"No way! That's incredible!" Julia cheered. Everyone else nodded too and congratulated her.

"What's it about?" Joe asked.

"Um, I'm not entirely sure. He just told me that it was after Nini broke up with EJ."

"So... a breakup song?" Frankie asked.

"I guess," she shrugged. "Come on, let's keep playing." At the moment, she didn't want to stress too much over the song; that was for later.

After many rounds of Uno, Joshua quickly ran to his apartment to grab a regular deck of cards. "Ok, what about a new game?" he asked.

"Sure. What's it called?" Matt asked.

"Egyptian Rat Slap."

"I'm sorry; what now?" Olivia said.

"It's simple. A lot of people don't recognize the name yet still have a little experience with the game."

"Explain the rules then because I'm pretty sure I've never seen this in my life," Larry said.

After a few minutes of talking and answering multiple questions, it was time to start. "We'll just play with doubles since that's the easiest one to remember," Joshua said. "Remember, the goal is to gain all the cards."

They divided up the deck between all of them, which was uneven since there were nine of them. Joshua went first, and they continued around the circle. It was rather calm up until Joe placed a queen, the first face card after four people had already gone. "Ok, remind me what this means," he said.

"Julia has two chances to place a face card, an ace, or two of the same and slap it," Joshua explained.

They all watched with anticipation as she placed the first card; it was a four. "Oh no!" she yelled. "Why am I actually sweating?" she laughed. Her next card was an eight. "Crap."

"Joe, you get the cards now," Joshua said, pushing the pile in the blond's direction.

This game continued and along with it came screaming, accusing, and more shouting. After about 30 minutes of playing, it was down to Joshua and Matt, which didn't surprise anyone as they had the fastest reflexes.

"Technically, none of you are out quite yet," Matt said.

"Yeah, you can slap back in," Joshua added.

"Yeah... I don't know if it's worth losing a finger to someone," Dara said.

"Suit yourself."

The two were going at it, placing cards much faster now that there were only two of them. After about ten cards of just plain numbers, Matt put an ace down. "No!" Joshua yelled. "I am not losing this."

The first card was a three. Everyone watched in case the next one was another three. The second was a seven. "You've got to be kidding me!" Joshua shouted.

"One step closer to winning," Matt said, watching carefully.

The third was a five. "Please be a face," Joshua mumbled.