The Attainment of Evangeline

Chapter 14

Evangeline sat on the bed across from Jack who was shuffling his worn, old deck of cards so that they could play Piquet. Geline had a winning streak so far, and she could tell that Jack was determined to end it. Jack sat crosse legged, propped up with many pillows, to allow Evangeline more room as he dealt out twelve cards for each of them, and laid the rest face down. She looked at her cards and smiled as she turned them so Jack could see them; calling out "Carte Blanche." Jack just rolled his eyes and shook his head as he scribbled out a 10 for her on the scoring page.

"I don't know how you keep gettin' that, luv! It's bloody rare, and there's only been one time ya haven't declared it. I've never had it!" he said, shaking his head.

They both examined their cards, and Evangeline was about to declare when Jack stopped her.

"How about we make this game a bit more interesting, eh? What say you to that?"

"Alright," she said skeptically. "What are the terms?"

Jack set his cards face down and brought his hands in front of his face for emphasis on what he was about to say.

"If ya win, I'll give ya the ring I see ya admirin' all the time," he said, holding up the finger that the emerald green ring was located on.

"And if you win?" she asked.

"Well if I win...If I win, I get to kiss ya," he said, a smirk present on his lips.

"...Pardon?" she asked, not quite sure if she had heard him right.

"If you lose, I get to kiss ya," he said again.

Her stomach lurched, making her feel as if she were going to puke. Her heart rate rose and she began to feel the temperature climb just as it had a few hours ago.

"Why...why is that..?" she started.

"It'll give ya some practice for tomorrow," he said, jokingly. "C'mon luv, what are the chances yu'll lose? Ye've been kicking me arse for the past week."

He was right, he hadn't won a single round, but she wondered why the hell he'd chosen a kiss as his prize. She didn't trust this.

"Look luv, it won't be anything serious, just a few pointers for tomorrow night so ya know what to do and expect. Do we have an accord?" he asked, hand outstretched.

She, against her better judgment, took his hand and shook it.

"Accord," she mumbled.

"Alright, let's play."

They began the declaration phase of the game which went by quickly due to the fact that Jack withheld all and any tactics. The Point Phase came next with Jack calling out "Point of six" and Evangeline responding with a "Good" indicating she had a larger number of the same suit. This went on for a good ten minutes, and after the point phase, Evangeline had thirty-four points (including the 10), and Jack had twenty-two.

The sequence phase proved to be a cutthroat phase as each player continued to have an equal amount of each sequence, the score turning out to be Evangeline fifty and Jack forty-five. In the set phase, Evangeline had a lucky set of four, giving her an advantage of fourteen points added to her score and Jack only adding three. The last round, Piquet, Jack gained an advantage of sixty points for his trump cards and Evangeline was given the lesser score of thirty.

Evangeline watched as Jack added up the scores, hoping she has kept to her streak. After a few seconds, Jack smiled and handed the paper to Evangeline. She had gotten ninty-four points and Jack had 108.

"That can't be right," she said, frantically adding up the numbers.

"I know how to count, luv," he said, chuckling.