Chapter 1

Luc folds. He should, he's French, those never win. Yin reraises my bet. Scary. He is the math-guy after all. Davy looks at me, trying to read my mind, as usual. He looks at his own cards again, as usual. Then he folds. You guess it: as usual. For a folder, he sure can cook though. Actually, for a Brit, he is truly amazing.

Well, there you have it, our cast of this tale. Well, besides myself, and some others to be later introduced. But we don't want to spoil that surprise, now do we? It would be plain reckless, and stupid to tell you at this point about Amanda, or Lucy, or Alice. Well, besides the names I have inserted here as a joke. I doubt these will come up somewhere. Y'see, I don't like to spoil a good twist. But back to the story again, shall we?

I called. It was a heads-on between the chip leader and native homeboy from Chicago. Well, actually third generation, but that's close enough for me. And for Wiki too. Right. Story. Sorry.

The flop turned out some diamonds, both ace and king. Well, maybe diamonds are a girl's best friend, I had more for the jack of diamonds. So the flop flopped for me. (Sorry, really didn't have to say it like that.) We both checked. Still no ten o'clock. Then we both checked on our cards. I guess he didn't have that much with the diamonds either. That, or he was trying to make me think he had nothing. Don't you just love poker?

Well, either way, he raised on the turn, after a six of clubs. I called. The river made the last card on the table another jack, this one diamonds. That just gave me a two pair, jacks over sixes. I had the game in my reach. All-in, baby. Please God, love me.

"It's ten."

"Yup. Means she is -..." The bell intervened. Either I would be saved by it, or it just ruined my-...

The voice of a female interrupted my stream of thoughts. Thank God, 'cause it wouldn't have ended right. Or nice. Exit thoughts, enter Alice. Yup. Sorry. I broke a promise within ... within ... Ah, you know. Whatever.

"Hey Alice! Welcome to our humble, yet very dirty residence!" Luc, charmer as he is, opened the door with his normal behavior. That wouldn't end even with Alice. Luc is still trying to get into Alice's pants. He's been trying that ever since she started to develop certain ... womanly features. Unfortunately for him, yet lucky for us and Alice, she hold him off like only she can.

Now, we've been friends since kindergarten, Alice and I. At least, that's what our dear old folks claim. I really don't recall those days, so I'll take their word for it. They've never lied to me as far as I know (Oooh ... Do you see that line? That's a build to a twist if ever I saw one!). My earliest memories do go back to time spent with Alice, though. Something with an attic, some dolls and her. Don't know the why, where or when, but I do remember her hugging me.

Memory is a funny thing. Davy we met along Yin, at one of our finest Chicago elementary schools. Luc entered the picture a little later, at high school, after he had moved to our fine home city. (Owh, I really should have told this earlier, but I've changed all the names in this story for reasons that might get clearer as this tale progresses. So if I do a bad job describing Chicago or New York, please remember I have hereby warned you. On an irrelevant side note, English is not my native tongue).

Luc fitted in perfectly. So now our little gang had five members. We finished elementary together, went to the same high school, had the luck, or bad luck, to end up in the same classes and graduate simultaneously. Us guys got into Columbia, Alice however got into Harvard. That was the break of our gang and we knew we would be going to miss our sweet angel Alice. So here we are, killing time on a Friday night until Alice shows up 'around ten'.

"Alice, baby! It's been to long!"

"Yes, well, you could have visited me, y'know."

"Anyway, why don't you freshen up, if you want, while we fetch your luggage and store it away somewhere." I said.

"Sure. Though I think you mean that you'll let me see your place while you send them to do the hard work."

"You know me to well, you."

I showed her where she would stay, Davy's room, and told her that the usual occupant would spend his nights at my room. Then I showed her the bathroom, with it's luxury, yet hardly used, bath and it's more often abused shower. Ah well, we're guys, ain't we?

"So, were we going, Jase? Something classy? Or something Luc picked? Please tell we aren't going to that place Yin told me about, I still can't believe you went there."

"Hey, I've got nothing against guys, y'know, even if they don't share my ... err ... interests."

She laughed. You know the kind. "Nice way putting that. Yin had some other words for that. You've always been the careful one, you."

I cracked a smile. "Here I was, thinking Davy was the careful one." My attempt at a joke, I really need improvement in that section.

"Honey, Davy may be shy, but he's got more backbone than you. You would be gone like the wind when you'd find yourself alone with a nice girl. Davy would at the very least try not to fall apart." I could just about see her grin, right through the bathroom door. Alice, she'd never miss a chance to make a joke out of me. She could be worse then Yin and Luc combined. Luckily, I wasn't the only one who'd every now and then got to be in reach of her playful moods.

"Anyway," I changed the subject. "I found this Jazzy place a little while ago. It's nice. Good music, they got my whisky there."

The door opened. And surely, at the right moment, Luc had showed up. I had wanted to make a nice remark, but he spoiled it by showing up at the time he usually does. "Wow, baby ... If I knew you'd wear thát, I would have made sure it would be just you and me."

Just my luck: Luc.

"So, I say to the girl, whom is all but happy with me: What do you want from me? I'm nothing but me and if you can't deal with that, to bad for you." Luc concludes his tale of his latest victory, "I mean, it's not like you didn't enjoy me last night."

"What did she say?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Oh, just the same old ... More or like. She didn't really say anything, but instead grabbed me in the crotch, looked me in the eyes and grinned."

"How you do it, I don't know. But you can't leave those girls alone, can you?" Davy intervened. His usual verdict.

"You are just a softy, Dave. Some girls just want something different every now and then."

"Alice, you got something to tell us here?" Luc asked. "Living the wild side now you haven't got these three following your every footstep?"

She gave us a knowing look. "I know. You don't."

"If you had the backbone to go along with that boner of yours, you'd do the same, Davy." Yin remarked.

"Hey, you leave the backbone with Jase-boy, won't you? He's got enough trouble with that without you stealing that from him." Alice replied. "Our little Davy here has more backbone then Jase. Besides, a backbone-boner joke? Please, you can do better than that!"

What does one do when cornered? Right, change the subject. I had no luck there. "So, Al, Harvard, how is it?"

"Nice, hard. Long hours. But don't you change the subject, Jase-boy. Please tell us the story of your latest crush."

I groaned. "It's not a crush, it's ... it's hard to explain."

"Yeah, we know," Yin stopped me. "It's complicated and we are fortunate enough never to be able to experience it ourselves. Now give Alice what she asked for." Really, his sarcasm is beyond words.

"All right, all right ... I'll tell you. It's this girl I recently met. She's nice."

"She got a name?"

"Shirley."

"Aww ... our boy's got a crush on poor little Shirley ... Have you spoken to her yet? She knows you exist?" Long live Luc. Asshole.

"Yes, she even knows my name. Now quit bugging me about her and let me order you some new drinks." Sorry, I get a little ... touchy ... when people make fun of my incapability to grow a spine.

"Sure ... Sure ... Relax, Jase-boy." Alice knows me. She knows what buttons to push to get me red and to get me down to earth within a few seconds. Within minutes, a waitress was around to take our orders.

"What's your name, sweety?" Luc asked. He can't resist that urge even if his life depended on it. Either that, or he was just out to annoy me.

"Shirley. Why? Want to ask me out? Your twentieth in line, honey. At least, if I'd date regulars here. Besides, weren't you here with that redhead just yesterday?" Man, did she know how to return fire. "Y'know, the one that first grabbed you where it hurts and then slapped you in your face?"

Luckily, Luc can take a hit. "Wow, easy darling. You are a babe, but it's not for me, it's for Jason here, he just admitted he has a crush on you."

Damn it, Luc! To hell with you and your ... your ... Just damn you! I wished the floor would open up and let me in, or that God would intervene at that time by sending us a nice little natural disaster. But no, Luc is the lucky one who gets lucky. Me? I'm stuck with me.

"Yeah. Err ... I'm kinda ... Err ... You ... Well..." Oh God, please let me grow a backbone.

"You're cute. At least you're better than him. Unless you are a serial-dater to?"

"Err ... God, no. No, I'm not..." Picture a tomato and use your imagination.

"You really got some charm there, Jason. Don't waste it. You got a phone?"

"Well, yeah. Of course. Why?"

"Not to fast, now are we. I am asking you for your phone number. I'd give you mine, but I think I'd have to wait a while b'for you'd call me, I guess."

"Sure. Sure, it's ... It's a..." Some times, one can be lucky one has got friends. Well, friends besides the ones almost passing out from laughter while you try to not fuck up and failing miserably at it. Thank God for Alice and her photographic memory.