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Authors: Carey Heywood

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Nate
looked from Becka to Dave and shrugged.

"
We could watch a movie
or play cards or just talk
.
What do you think?"

"Cards?
L
ike poker?"
Nate
asked.

"Whatever
.
"
Becka
laughed "Poker, rummy, blackjack
.
"

"Go fish?" Dave offered.

"I'm down with poker
.
Do
you
play for money?"
Nate
asked.

"I'm poor
.
W
e usua
lly only play penny poker
.
That
good?"
Becka asked.

Penny
p
oker it was
.
Becka
grabbed a water cooler jug full of change from the corner of her room.

After
Nate
eyeballed it
,
she explained
,
"My retirement plan."

Laughing
,
he carried it for her
,
asking if it was safe for her to gamble her life savings
.
Dave cleared off the coffee table
,
and
Becka
went to grab everyone a beer
.
They each started with three
dollars in pennies, nickels
,
and dimes
.
Becka
had
no
poker face
but
made up for it by playing
very conservatively.

Getting bored
with cards
and curious as to what might happen if they were alone
,
Becka began trying to mot
ion for Dave to leave every time
Nate
wasn’t looking
.
Dave was either flat out ignoring her or just oblivious
.
So the
rounds
continued.

At one point
,
when
Nate
got up to grab them more beers
,
Becka hissed
,
"Go to your room or fear the
w
rath of my almighty cockblock.
"

"But I have a really good hand
,
" Dave pouted and ended up staying.

Whenever
Nate
wasn’t looking
,
Becka continued to motion for him to leave. One time
,
Nate
must have seen her because he asked if her neck was bothering her. Becka played it off
,
pretending to stretch it
,
saying it had gotten a little stiff. Dave, mind perpetually in the gutter
,
laughed when she said st
i
ff. Becka glared at him and shrugged.
Dave and
Nate
were
pretty competitive,
basically going head to head until Dave got a text message.

Finally e
xcusing himself
,
he explained
that
the bartender from the Irish
pub
wanted to meet up
.
He gave her directions to their place then went to take a shower
.
Becka
had to laugh at his certainty that she was going to sleep with him but h
ad to agree with his logic
since it was almost two
in the morning.

Nate
stood
,
saying th
at he should probably get going
.
What?
No!
Becka thought to herself.

"Are you okay to drive?
You could always crash here if you wanted to
,
"
Becka
suggested
.

"I'm good
.
I've had
only
maybe four beers in the last five
hours
.
"

"I'll walk you out
,
"
Becka
said
,
standing
.
She had been sitting cross
-
legged on the f
loor the whole time
and was
also
kind
of
slouching
while they played
.
She was doing her best to stretch her back out when
Nate
stopped her.

"Here
,
stand with your back to mine
.
"

Becka gave him a look like really?
He rolled his eyes and turned her so her back was to him, then turned so they were back to back.

"
Alright
.
Now
link your arms through mine
."

As she slipped her arms through his Becka
felt her heart thumping in her chest. Could he hear that?

"
Okay
.
Now
I'm going to lean forward pulling you wi
th me
.
Just relax your back
and let gravity stretch it out for you.
”

He slowly began
to
bend
forward
.
She
was pressed right up against him,
back
to back
.
As he moved forward
,
she moved with him
u
nti
l her feet were dangling above
the ground
.
His arms were not
crazy
huge but significantly bigger than any other guy she had been attracted
to
in the past
.
Even his back felt
ripped
.
Her back made a couple pops
,
and
Nate
slowly eased her back down
.
Once her feet were on the ground
,
he turned, turning her to face him.

"Better?" he ask
ed
, his
hands resting on her
s
houlders
.

"Uh hu
h
,
" Becka
smiled
,
rolling her head left and right to stretch her neck
.

They stood like that for a moment, his hands on her shoulders as she smiled up at him. Then
,
almost as if he remember
ed
something
,
Nate
pulled his hands down, taking a step back from her.

"I should really be going."

All Beck could think of was that they hadn’t had a chance to be alone
. It was a foreign feeling
,
having a guy that she liked come over and not even try and kiss her. This was seriously confusing
.
Becka
followed him outside and to his car
.
Nate
pulled her into
a
tight
hug, releasing her before she even had a chance to acknowledge
the heat of his body and the crush of his arms
around her
.
Becka
stood there reeling
at the negative space around her
,
wh
ere he
had been
just a moment before
.
Becka did
her best to wave cheerfully
,
even though she was freezing
as he drove away.

Once back inside
,
she crashed
.
I
t was late
,
and the night had been so surreally unexpected
.
S
he just wanted to sleep
.
Plus
,
she had no interest in hearing Dave and the bartender
.
Becka was too tired to follow up on her threat to
cockblock
Dave that night, but as she drifted off to sleep
,
Becka smiled at how payback was going to be fun.

Sunday morning
,
Becka called Lilly to tell her about
Nate
's unexpected visit.

"He didn't!" Lilly gushed.

"I'm not even sure if I believe it
,
and I was here."

"But what about his girlfriend?"

"I have no idea
.
She
didn’t come up. It is weird that he came over
,
right?"

"If he still has a girlfriend, yes
.
If
not
,
maybe he likes you too."

"We talk all the time, but it's like stupid stuff. I still don’t really know anything about him."

"Do you tell him stuff about you?"

"I don’t know
.
I guess. You
know me, I tend to overshare."

At that
,
Lilly laughed. They went on to gossip about their parents and a girl Becka had gone to
h
igh
s
chool with until Lilly had to go. Becka ran to the grocery store at one point to do a bit
of
restocking but
,
otherwise
,
Sundays in general were lazy for her. One thing Becka could not help but do was randomly check her phone all day to see if
Nate
would call or text. He didn’t.