Humanity of the Broken [ Band of Brothers ] 2

TWENTY-FIVE

"Let's make this more interesting."

As soon as Alice heard Lewis Nixon utter those five simple words, she bit her cheek. Nixon sat across from her, Harry to her left and Ron to her right. The small wooden table they were using for card games sat in the middle of Nixon's room in the Camp de Châlons. No one knew where Dick had gone off to; since being officially given the Battalion Commander position, he'd been thoroughly occupied. But he was getting paid as a Major, so Nixon never let him complain.

"What'd you have in mind, Lewis?" Harry drawled. He rearranged the cards in his hand, leaned back against his chair.

It made Alice smirk every time Harry used Lewis instead of Nixon. The sass practically dripped from his voice each time. With her only cheeky grin, she leaned forward. Putting her elbows on the table, Alice took the cigarette out of her mouth and blew a cloud of smoke. "Yeah, Lewis. What'd you have in mind?"

He smirked. "Up the stakes. For every fold, you have to take a shot. And add one each consecutive time," he added. Turning to his left, he gestured to Ron. "You in?"

Ron scoffed. "Well, since you're about to lose, Nixon, I'm definitely in." After placing another ten dollars in the center of the poker table, he put his cards down. "Call."

The almost imperceptible groan from Harry made Alice chuckle. She'd already folded for that round. She'd won three out of the last ten rounds, her winnings coming to a total of 132 dollars thus far. But that round, she'd had zero luck.

"Jesus Christ, how'd you get a straight flush," Nixon muttered. He slammed his own cards onto the table with a grunt. He poured what was left of the communal bottle of Vat 69 into his glass. "Alice, you're dealing."

"Pass them over."

While Nixon pushed his chair out to get another bottle of whiskey, Ron and Harry passed over their cards. For a moment Alice just shuffled. The cards snapped into place as she did a bridge. Twice more, and then she began to pass them out.

"Deuces are wild," Alice decided. "Let's make it even more interesting."

After their initial ante, Harry started the betting at five dollars. Alice almost dropped out right there, as all she had to her name was an ace as her high card. But when the bets got around to her and she stared down her competition, she decided to hold on. Alice took a long breath of her cigarette before adding the fifteen that she owed and raising it three.

She turned to her left. "Right, Harry?"

"Gimme two," he decided. The cards he handed her started a discard pile. When he took the two new ones, a tiny bit of a smile crept into his expression. "Thank you."

"Nix?"

"Three."

She almost caught the three he tossed over. After placing them in the discards, she handed three more back to him. He grinned as well. Alice scoffed. "Tu as l'air heureux." He did, in fact, look quite pleased with himself.

He shrugged and lit a cigarette. At the flick of his lighter closing, he smirked her way. "Tu m'as donné de bonnes cartes."

With half a snort, half a laugh, Alice shook her head. Good cards? She'd have to wait and see. Part of her bet he was bluffing. With a quick glance to either side of her, she started chuckling. "Parlent-ils français?"

"Non, je ne le pense pas," he said, suppressing his own laugh.

"If you two could stick to English," Harry muttered.

Ron scoffed. "Let 'em cheat if they want, Welsh. Just means more alcohol for us."

Cracking up, Alice shook her head and took the two cards that he handed her. She shook her head. Quick as a flash, she handed him two more. Then she looked her own over. "Dealer takes four."