A dim light hung above a worn down table, illuminating the faces of Louise, Zeek, Andy, Olly, and, the latest member, Zeek's half-brother: Hunter. Beneath the serious expressions of the four teenagers was a pile of buttons acting as casino tokens to Louise's latest poker game. Despite the disastrous events of Louise's last underground casino night, she had unsurprisingly not learned her lesson. Now, she was trying to gain back the college tuition she had lost to one of her previous failed get-rich-quick schemes.
"Come on, Hunter! You feeling lucky!?", Louise screamed, staring deviously into his half lidded eyes.
"Oh, please. Louise, I know you're bluffing."
"Am I, Hunt? Am I? I guess you're just going to have to put down and find out."
In truth, Louise had a horrible hand - and absolutely no money to repay any previous debts to the many people she owed dough to. But, even with her lack of money, good cards, and, well, restraint, Louise was overflowing with pride. This was something she refused to lose in exchange for retaining a few dollars.
"Okaaaaay. Well, if you have such good card, you wouldn't mind giving up something a bit more...detrimental than just money."
"Ooh, 'detrimental'. Long word buddy. Has somebody been paying attention in school?"
"Cut the crap, Louise. Are you in or out?"
"You beat your scrawny ass I'm in!"
From behind, Louise could hear Tina, who was serving sodas to the players, anxiously whisper her name - a feeble attempt at dissuading her sister from getting into anymore trouble. But Louise didn't care. She was on a roll.
"Shake on it." He said, with a disconcertingly intense gaze. So much so, it even made Louise shudder.
"Uh, why?"
"Shake on it before I tell you."
"Um, fine."
Timidly, Louise reached her hand towards Hunter's greasy palms. But then, remembering that everyone was watching her, she audaciously thrusted her hand into his and gave it a sturdy shake.
"Good, good." Hunter said, sitting back into his chair and taking a long sip from his soda can.
"Um, isn't that can empty?"
"It's for effect, Louise."
"I, uh, what? Ugh, no. This is beside the point. What is it that you want, Hunter!? The suspense is killing me!"
He swirled his empty can with a stretched smile, before a small chuckle left him.
"I want...a night with you."
"WHAT!?" Screamed Louise, Tina, and Gene together.
"I, um, could you repeat that, s-sir. I don't think I, uh, heard you-"
"No, you heard me just fine. I want a night with you. I mean, it doesn't really have to be you in particular. But I'm tired of being a sixteen year old who has to lie about his virginity. What's even more annoying is that I can't even count the number of times I almost got some poontang, but missed out on it because the girl backed out last second. I'm tired of it. And, guess what, you're the one who's going to relieve me of this embarrassment."
Louise's gut tightened into knots, and she could feel something coming up her throat as her palms began to sweet. Above her thumping heart, she stammered,"Ew, no, Hunter. No. You're b-being gross."
"I'm being honest. And it seems like you're being chicken."
"I,uh, I…"
Louise weighed her options. For the first time, she wanted to be a yellow belly over a...a "cherry popper".
"Frankly, Hunter, I would rather be that than yours for one night."
"Well, too bad, Louise. You shook on it."
"So!? It's my body!"
"But it was also you're word."
Louise suddenly felt the weight of eyes peering down on her. In some of them, she saw pity. But in others, she saw impatience.
In a painful rush of memories, Louise was reminded of all the times she had pressured others into paying up their debts. Olly: drinking toilet water, Andy: pouring lemon juice in his eyes, Zeek: streaking through school. It all came back to her. She had to do this. For all the pain and humiliation she had caused those she called friends, she had to do this.
"Fine." She breathed out, the sound of Gene's and Tina's exhales of shock being heard in the background."I'll do it."
Hunter gave out one last smirk before cheerily saying,"Great! Put down your cards, Lou-Lou!"
With her hands shaking slightly, she brought down a straight. And, with the force of pulling the trigger of a gun, Hunter cruelly revealed a flush.
It was over. It was all over.
"So, I hope this isn't your first time, bunny girl!"
Louise remained silent, her gut churning and her heart pounding. But the glare she gave him said everything.
"O-o-oh, you haven't!? Even after dating 'Regular Sized Rudy' for, what, three years?"
In truth, Louise and Rudy really didn't do anything. And not because Louise didn't want to. In fact, she was quite desperate for something to happen. Their relationship consisted mostly of visiting the wharf's arcade and giving each other piggyback rides.
Last New Year's Eve, the two had gotten the farthest they would ever get. After drinking down Coca Cola mixed with vodka, the couple found themselves sucking face in Scott Sherman's bedroom. Their cone shaped party hats and tinsel scarves were peeled off like their clothes as they frantically kissed. In the pitch dark, they briefly paused to stare into each other's eyes, before Louise placed Rudy's hand on the cup of her pale green bra. Then everything was interrupted by the strange, gasping sound he made. He fell to the bed, hands covering his eyes. Never once actually looking at Louise, Rudy admitted that for the past year he had been madly in love with his childhood friend and, at the time, Louise's best friend: Jessica Attkins. Three weeks after that gut wrenching confession, and Louise was still completely turned off to the thought of even holding hands with someone of the inferior gender. Even baby face Boo Boo (who had more recently become "Bad Boy Boo Boo" due to some drug charges) couldn't interest Louise.
"Look, our pasts shouldn't be involved in this, Hunter! So stop dawdling and let's get this over with!"
"What? You mean right now?"
"Yeah, jackass." Louise didn't care that there were so many eyes focused on her, probably imagining her suffocating beneath Hunter's sweaty, bulging beer belly.
"Well, I don't have any protection. And I imagine your parents are coming home soon."
"Fine, we'll do it tomorrow. Let's just get this thing over with."
"No can do. I'm leaving for Florida tomorrow."
"Oh, then maybe we should just...call this whole thing off."
"I don't think so. As soon as I get back from Florida, you better empty your calendar. Because we're losing our v-cards!"
And with that, Louise vomited onto the poker table.
