Hazel's Hitchhiker

13: Poker

Joey

It was now down between me and the man that looked familiar. This man was not going to give up. Not once did he ever fold his cards. With my forehead sweating, a part of me began wondering if I could actually win this game. My taste buds were heavily craving a drink. If I had a drink, I could probably perform better. Maybe I could even win. The stakes were incredibly high with so many chips on the table.

"You sure you don't want to fold boy?" he asked scratching his ear.

We continued playing with a crowd beginning to surround us. This old man was too good. Maybe it paid to be bald.

"You know, I must say," he began speaking again. "You are quite good. Nobody has ever given me a run for my money." The man lightly chuckled with his eyes not on the cards he held, but on me. "What's your name?"

"McKiss," I quickly answered. The name is McKiss." My heart began beating faster each second after he asked for my name. Would giving him my fake name allow him to see through me? And for the next five minutes, I waited for the man to make his next move.

"Ignore everything Ryan says," instructed Phillip. "He's just going to try to get you nervous. If at any point you feel nervous, take a sip of your beer. And don't forget to never fold. Raise as much as you can."

Listening to what my buddy was telling me, I did my best to ignore the one I was competing with. With Phillip's help, I was going to overcome the idiot Ryan.

"You doing alright buddy?" asked Ryan. "What's that fake name of yours? Was it McKissies?" His voice couldn't help but snicker. "You plan on kissing anybody tonight? I know a certain girl that might be interested. If you're not careful, I might take her for myself. She's a smart girl and I need her for my stupidity."

It took everything in me to not punch that douchebag in the jaw and yell at that ugly face. Almost forgetting where my beer was, I was close to hyperventilating. In a split second, my memory remembered where it was. Right in front of me. No time was wasted in taking a large gulp. Perfect. In fact, it was so perfect that I was able to completely ignore Ryan and kick his ass at Poker. Another beer was needed to celebrate.

"See that everyone!" shouted Phillip with two beers in his care. "With my wisdom, Joey kicked Ryan's balls at poker!"

The crowd began cheering and dancing with loud rap music playing in the background.

"But I bet Phillip couldn't beat me," claimed Amber on a microphone. "Boy, if you're so good a Poker, why don't you play me? Right everyone?"

The crowd roared in cheers wanting the two of them to battle it out. This seemed kind of weird. Was the girl any good at Poker? This should be interesting. How would this play out? In mere seconds, the two of them sat across from each other ready to play the game. As they began playing, Hazel was spotted next to me.

"Is she any good at this?" I asked.

"Probably not," was her response with a wine glass full of lemonade in her grasp. "But she is good at spiking Ryan's beer." From a distance, Ryan was spotted passed out on the floor.

The crowd was completely quiet watching the poker game go down. Someone had turned off the rap music.

"I'll raise you ten more chips," stated Amber in a flirty voice and a large grin."

"And I'll raise you fifteen," he responded.

Amber wasn't that bad at the game, but she was nothing compared to Phillip. But she knew how to raise just like he taught me. After an hour, the game was still going. It seemed like my boy was purposely trying to suck. So was she. They were both sucking. Why? What was the point of this? This was getting a little bit tiring. Could someone win already?

"Alright Amber, I'm out of chips. So how about this? I'll raise you a date. You and me, tomorrow. I'll text you the details."

Her face immediately blushed with her lips biting. Is this what everything was building too? To nobody's surprise, the game ended right there. The two lovebirds were going on a date. Good for them. From a distance, Hazel had left my side and hugged her best friend. Right then and there, not wanting to see the girls hug and not wanting to see my tutor's smile, my brain decided it was time to leave.

With my head back, in reality, it was my turn to make a move. What was I going to do? Kaboom! A lightbulb went off. Were my eyes deceiving me? Were these what was actually on my card? It couldn't be.

K♦ J♦ 9♦ 6♦ 4 

I had a Royal Flush. Trying not to smile, a sip of my beer was taken and it occurred to me that Hazel was not in sight. Where the hell was she? Hugging some idiot maybe? It didn't matter. That would have to be dealt with later. This was the ultimate move. This was it. Bam! The cards were put down. The old man began coughing and smacked that powerful fist on the table.

"Damn it!" he shouted. "Damn it to hell!"

While the man continued being a sore loser, no time was wasted in cashing in the chips. My head grew dizzy realizing how much money was won. A quarter of a million dollars. Hot damn! The temptation to crap my pants was real.

"Joey!" shouted Hazel running towards the table looking like a hot mess. "Run!" She held some money in her hands.

"What the hell? What's going on?"

"Just run! Text the damn Uber!"

Just as my feet were about to run, my sight couldn't believe what it was seeing. Ryan? Right behind Hazel? With a gun in his hand trying to shoot her? What the hell? What was he doing in Vegas? My body literally couldn't move. Someone needed to teach me how to run. Damn, why couldn't I run? Hazel could do it. She could teach me.

"Going somewhere?" asked the old man pointing a gun to my head. "I don't know what's going on, but your friend pissed off my boy."

Interesting. That's why he looked familiar. With a gun at me, an adrenaline rush took over all of me. No time was wasted in kicking the old man's groins causing him to fall to the floor in pain. And just in time, my legs were in sync with the legs of Hazel. The exit out of the door felt like an eternity. We would never make it. Keep running. We made it. And by the grace of Heaven, our Uber was waiting right where we left it. We would get out of Vegas alive with more than enough cash.

Congrats to Joey for winning! Thanks for reading! Don't forget to comment and vote!

Is there a game that you love that you're good at?

Will Joey and Hazel make it out of Vegas alive?

Should they be worried about Ryan?