It was one of those days they were out in Reggie's backyard.
They sat around the fold out table waiting for the girls to arrive from picking up Jade. Beside the normal drinking, they decided to go back to there roots. How bets originally originated.
"What are we? Ten?" Patrick chuckled seeing Henry and Vic prop their arms up on the white table, a grin on both of their faces. "You think you can beat me Victor?" Vic was never the best arm wrestler out of the boys, he'd remember he beat Patrick once when they were in the fifth grade but even then it was a struggle. "Well? I outta try" They clasp their hands together, Henry giving a smirk seeing how focus Vic got. Reggie leaned forward from the plastic white chair he was in, his eyes focusing on their hands. "Go!" Reggie shouted, leaning back a bit to see it play out.
Vic didn't even last five minutes, his fist was immediately slammed to the table. "Ow!" Vic pulled back and shook out his hand, a few of his knuckles cracked when Henry has slammed his hand down. "Better luck next time, fuck boy" Patrick cackled from the sidelines. "Fuck off Pat, why won't you get up here then?" Patrick glances at Henry for a quick second, taking another sip of his beer. "Sure, if it helps your dignity" He stood up and stretched, sitting down the bottle in the chair.
Vic moves out of his way as Patrick hunched over, propping his arm up for Henry. Henry seemed hesitant about going against Patrick, something that he was using to his advantage. "No weird shit Hockstetter" Henry demanded upright as he grabs his hand, putting his elbow on the table. "Of course Henry" Patrick snickered. Reggie looked at both of their hands once again, "This outta be good" Reggie muttered underneath his breath. "Go!"
Immediately it was a struggle from both ends, Henry was able to get Patrick close to the table while Patrick was struggling to move his hand up. For a couple more minutes it remained that way until Henry finally pinned his hand to the table.
"I knew I should've licked his hand" Patrick huffed wiping his hand on his shirt. "Bro what?" Henry said with disgust. "That's that weird shit I was fucking talking about!" "What about you big fella?" Patrick said turning to Reggie, ignoring Henry completely now. "You wanna test your luck against the oh mighty Henry bowers?" Reggie leaned back in the chair, contemplating. "Okay" Patrick grins as he moves out of the way. Vic went to the end where Reggie sat previously, Patrick went to sit off to the side to retrieve his beef.
"Don't be a sore loser" Reggie said putting his elbow on the table. "Confident are we?" Henry laughs grabbing his hand and putting his elbow on the table. "I'm just saying, you and you're ego" Vic watches their hands carefully before clearing his throat. "Go!" Henry's arm immediately starting shaking a bit while Reggie's stayed still, slowly moving Henry's hand down while he struggled to keep it up. Vic watched as Henry's hand hovered over the table, finally Reggie pressed Henry's hand to the table with a grin.
"Come on!" Henry shouted as Reggie pulled away, laughing seeing how upset Henry got. "See? I told you!!" "Best out of three?" Henry asked leaning forward. "Hen-"
"What are you fags up to?" The boys all turned their heads to see the girls enter the yard, Tulip crossing her arms as she walked over to the table. "Some good ole fashion arm wrestling" Patrick answered spreading his arms out for a hug from his girlfriend. "What took you so long?" Ali walked over to Patrick and gives him a hug, stroking his hair. "We had to coax jade into leaving the house, she was in the middle of doing her hair or something" "Is that why you have a bonnet on?" Vic asked seeing the black girl stand off to the side. "Yer, And if y'all yank it off my head you gonna wish you weren't born" Jade states, mainly to Patrick as she throws her hood on her head.
"Arm wrestling? Let me guess Vic lost?" Lorraine snickers seeing her boyfriend glare at her. "Piss off Lorraine, Id like to see you try" Lorraine arches her eyebrow, was he challenging her? "Is that a Challenge?" Vic stares at her for a few seconds before giving a smile. "Sure" He answers. "Oh god" Ali and Jade said in unison. "This is gonna be the weakest thing I'm gonna ever see" Ali snickers at Jade who made her way over to Henry. Lorraine got on the other side of the table and puts her elbow on the table, snatching Vic's hand. "Goddamn, can you fucking wait?" Lorraine didn't reply, waiting for a go from Reggie or Tulip.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they snap their wrist" Patrick says with a laugh. "Don't over work yourselves now" Tulip laughs taking a seat on Reggie's lap. "Might ruin that arm for baseball Vic" "Just give the damn go" Vic muttered underneath his breath. Reggie inhaled deeply, trying to contain his laughter. "Alright Alright. Go!" Immediately it was a struggle from both parties that made the whole gang laugh.
"Oh my god, don't break your arms please" Jade cackles seeing them both struggle to move each other. It went on for ten minutes, ten long ass minutes. Finally, Vic had pinned her arm down. "Finally!" The gang all shouted. "That went for far too long" Lorraine grumbled angrily as she went to the cooler to grab a drink. "Any girl wanna go next? To fuel Vic's ego of course" "I'll go" Jade takes her right arm out of her sleeve, Henry had to double check to see if the girl had on a bra and lets out a sigh of relief when he saw the lime green sports bra. She moves the end of her hoodie to her shoulder as she made her way to the table.
"Let's go Criss, Chess isn't the only thing I'm good at" Jade gave a grin as she puts her elbow on the table, Vic smirks propping his arm up and grabbing her hand. "Go! Go! Go!" Tulip chants. Vic immediately tried to move Jade's hand, and failed. He couldn't get her to budge at all, he felt his arm shaking a bit while jade managed to laugh. With the click of her tongue his hand was roughly slammed onto the table. "Damn!" Henry laughed seeing Vic grab his hand in instant pain. "Ow! What the fuck!" Vic said holding his hand. "You could've crushed my hand!" "I could've" Jade said cackling her knuckles. "No, way. Watch out Ali cat" Patrick taps her shoulder for her to move, once she did he moved over to the black girl sitting at the table. "What? You wanna lose next Bruther?"
"Cocky, like your boyfriend" Patrick props his arm up with his hand up and ready. Jade gives a cheeky smile before grabbing his hand. "Some of his traits rub off on me, I won't deny that" Henry felt his heart thump hearing Jade say that, sometimes he almost felt himself growing soft.
Almost.
"Y'all pussies just gonna shit talk or what?" Tulip walked over to watch her two close friends. "Shut up Tulip" They said turning to her in unison, Tulip wasn't phased by that one bit. She actually found it amusing. "Start the count Kakach" Tulip leaned down looking at their hands. "Three...two...Go!" Immediately Patrick tried to go for the kill but he was mistaken when her arm wouldn't go down and he was slightly trembling. He looked at her face seeing how hard she was focusing, at least he had her actually focused on something.
In that moment, Patrick did something weird. Not the weirdest thing but in the eyes of the gang, it was pretty weird. He leaned forward to Jade's hand and licked her knuckles. Instead of it working out in his favor, immediately his arm was met on the side of the table. "Gross!!!" Jade shouts as she pulled away from the boy. "This is why I cant do shit with you Patrick!" "What did he do??" Ali jumped up and went over to the commotion. "He licked her hand!" Tulip laughs and pulled out a pocket sized hand sanitizer and tossed it at Jade. "And all of that, you STILL lost Patrick" Patrick chuckles shrugging his shoulders. "It was worth a shot"
Ali took the next placement at the table. "I wanna turn, Cmon" Patrick arches his eyebrow seeing his girl prop her arm on the table. "Seriously?" "Seriously." Ali confirms. Patrick puts his arm back up on the table and grasps her hand firmly. He had an evil glint in his eyes as Reggie started the count down. Ali grips his hand with a smile before Reggie said Go. It was on sight, both parties trying to take each other down. For awhile Ali had his hand hovering on his side for a minute before Patrick started to focus more. "Let's go Ali!" Jade cheered watching the two go on from the side. "You better not lose Ali" Lorraine followed up, dragging her chair closer to watch. "Shut...up..." Ali muttered trying to move his hand down. Patrick sat there with a lazy grin before putting his plan into motion.
"Hey kitty?"
"What?" Ali looked up briefly, and in that moment his lips pressed against hers. "Aw come on!" Jade turned her back seeing Ali's hand hit the table. "Patrick you're lame!" Patrick didn't speak, bring Ali closer to him while flipping Jade off. "Okay okay" Tulip punches Patrick's shoulder. "No making out on the game table!" Patrick pulled away, smiling devilishly seeing Ali's red face. "My bad" He simply said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to their original seats.
"Who's next? Tulip and Reggie?" Tulip looked at Henry like he was crazy. "Last time me and Reggie arm wrestled he damn near broke my arm" "Damn, bro gets down like that" Reggie rubs his chin, looking down ashamed. "It was an accident T" "Yeah, an accident that almost costed an ER trip" "Oh please" Henry rolls his eyes hearing how dramatic the girl was being. "I bet you have so many 'sex sent me to the ER stories'" "Yeah, most of them are from that one over there" Tulip says pointing at Patrick. "I believe it" Lorraine said shuddering. "Go on Henry! Get down with Girlie!" Tulip presses her hands on Jade's shoulders. "The battle of the biggest Ego!"
"Imma have to take my hoodie off for this" Jade started taking off the yellow hoodie as Henry took his seat at the table. "I'm going to go get some hot dogs. Patrick, can I trust you to light up the grill?" Reggie asked turning to the long haired boy. "What? Of course! Let me pull out my favorite lighter" Ali sighs standing up and off his lap. "Can you sit still for five seconds?" "After I commit arson- I mean after I light the grill!" Reggie harden his eyes before walking in the house.
"Bring the playing cards when you come back!" Tulip shouted at her boyfriend as Henry and Jade both sat themselves at the game table. Grabbing each other's hands and propping their arms up. "No hard feelings?" Jade asked casually. "We'll see how I feel at the end of this" Tulip looked at the couple. "Ready?" She asked. They both nodded silently. "Go!!" Jade tried to push his hand on the other side but was left struggling, and so was Henry. Both of their arms were slightly trembling and stayed in a hovering position on Jade's side.
"You aren't gonna let him beat you are you Jay?" Vic said looking at the two go on, he loved being one of the instigator of the group. "Yeah Green eyes, he isn't even trying. Slam him" Jade slowly felt herself getting distracted by his bicep, damn he was strong. 'Those weights in his room aren't just for show huh' Henry saw Jade's eyes shift from their hands to his arm. He smirks before leaning her arm down onto her side. When she tried to tap back in it was too late, he had her arm on the table. "No fair!!" Jade whines pulling her arm back. "I was distracted!!" "Really?" Tulip said crossing her arms. "By what?" Jade blinks, if it wasn't for her being Black one could say she technically would be blushing.
"I was distracted by his stupid fucking face" "Yeah, love ya too babe" Henry moves the chair over next to her. "Better luck next time" "Bet, I'll be ready" "Okay lovers, I got the grill lit up!" Patrick grins seeing the fire started, Ali had to watch him to make sure the fire didn't get to high. Reggie came out of the house with the hot dogs, hamburgers, and the bread. "Where are the cards?" Tulip asked her boyfriend. He turned around to show the card pack sticking out of his back pocket. She grabs them quickly before walking over to the table.
"What we playing?" Jade asked, she was leaning on Henry's shoulder as she watched Tulip take the cards out the pack to shuffle them. "You said you were gonna teach us how to play spades" "Oh boy" Jade sat up immediately. "Ard, I get first pick on partners" "What? It can't be couples?" Lorraine crosses her arms. "What's spades anyways? We just playing with the spades cards?" "Something like that. Let's see, I'm picking Ali" Everyone collectively sucks their teeth hearing Jade pull the easiest person off the board. "Okay then, I'm picking Vic!" Tulip called next making Lorraine huff.
"I guess I'll be partners with Reggie" Henry rolls his eyes. "Great, I'm stuck with Patrick. Do you move next to our partners?" "No, you stay where you at. But spread out so you aren't bleeding. Let's wait for the hot dogs though. I'm hungry as a bitch" "Right on time" Reggie brought over the plates and sat them on the table. "So how do we play" Patrick took his seat next to Reggie as he reached for a plate and tongs.
It was a complexed game for the gang to grasp at first but once they got the hang of it, it didn't take long for betting to come about.
"Ahaha!!" Jade high-fives Ali as they split the money on the table. "My new Spades partner! You're better then Sekani and Princess!!" Ali grins as she took her cut of the money. "Aht Aht Aht!! Run that shit fucking back!!" Tulip shouted, she was pissed from how much money she and Vic had just lost.
But for the most part, it was a pretty fun day. Almost too suspiciously fun.