[Fiction] Poker Night

[Dare Lord]

AUTHOR'S NOTE: While this is labeled as fiction, it's heavily based on an actual party a group of friends and I had a couple of years ago. Most of the dialogue (and all the names) have been changed, and some things have been re-arranged to make for a better story, but it's probably between 80-85% non-fiction.

POKER NIGHT

CHAPTER 1

“What did you say?” I asked.

“You heard me,” Mike said. “We should play strip poker.”

I should provide some context. There was a group of six of us, all friends, who liked to hang out on Friday nights, drink, and play board games. We had made it through most of the classic board games, as well as a few newer ones—along with more than our fair share of bottles of whiskey and rum. To be honest, we were starting to get a little bored with our choices, and buying new board games could set us back fifty dollars, money that would be better spent on booze.

As for our group? There was Mike, the ringleader, a tall, skinny, darkhaired guy who made a point of drinking more than everyone else. Then there was Kat, a short, thin girl with small breasts and straight blonde hair that reached down to the small of her back. Andrew was a slightly pudgier guy who was proud of being, in his own words, “the gayest one.” Ellen changed her hair colors a lot—sometimes blue, sometimes green, but tonight jet black—but her bangs complimented her pale features and wide curves. She was curvy without it seeming to translate into fat. Leslie was the shortest member of the group, a brown haired girl with glasses and the most traditional hourglass figure of the group. The two of us had been seeing each other on and off for a little while. And last, there was me—Ben, who could stand to lost a few pounds and was the only one who could come close to matching Mike for drinking.

Tonight, we’d started off with a round of Fireball shots, and Leslie, the lightweight, was already a little the worse for wear. Our weekly debate about which game to pla had fizzled out, and we were in danger of going for our phones—a big no-no at our Friday gatherings.

Which is when Mike, out of the blue, suggested we play strip poker.

“I’m not sure everyone here will go for that,” I said. For one, I wasn’t sure I would go for that. Moreover, Kat seemed too modest to even consider it.

“Well, we can take a poll of the group,” Mike replied. “We’ll go around the group, and if anyone doesn’t want to play strip poker, we’ll find something else. Sound good?”

We all agreed. None of us had seen any of the others naked. Well, Leslie and I had seen some of each other one time when we made out, but that was it. I wondered how many other members of the group had thought about what we all looked like in nothing but our skin.

“Obviously, I’m on board for strip poker,” Mike said. “Andrew, what about you?”

“Sounds kinky,” Andrew said. “I’m down.”

Mike moved his attention to Ellen. “What about you?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Leslie?”

She laughed. “I don’t have anything I want to hide.”

Mike laughed with her. “No, I guess not. How about you, Kat?”

This was it, I thought. This was where the risky part of the night would come to an abrupt halt, and we could play drunken Scrabble (which is harder than you think).

“I’d love to!”

I gaped at Kat, and I wasn’t the only one. Nobody had expected her to be so instantly enthusiastic about the prospect of getting naked in front of strangers. Which meant the course of our night was up to me.

“Come on, Ben,” said Mike, and I realized I’d been silent for a while. “What’s it going to be?”

I shrugged finally. “Let’s play strip poker.”

The group cheered, and we set to making ourselves ready. First things first, everyone made their next round of drinks. I went with my usual whiskey and coke, mixed a little stronger than usual to give me extra confidence. Then we laid out the ground rules:

The game would be Texas Hold ‘Em. Each player would start with two cards in his or her hand, and the dealer (so that we could all play, we’d switch dealer duties each hand) would place three cards from the top of the deck in the center of the group. Using those three cards and the two in the hand, the player could bid on whatever poker hand they had. Then the dealer would place down a fourth card, which would set off a second round of bidding, and a fifth, which would lead to the final round. If more than one player was still in the game at that point, they would have to show their hands, and the winner would take the chips.

The poker hands, ranked for future reference:
Royal Flush (Ace, King, Queen, Jack 10, all of the same suit)
Straight Flush (Five cards in sequence, all of the same suit)
Four of a Kind
Full House (Three of a kind, plus a pair)
Flush (Five cards of the same suit)
Straight (Five cards in sequence)
Three of a Kind
Two Pair
Pair
And if nobody had anything, the highest card won.

But tonight, instead of chips, we would be bidding clothes as well. We would each start with five chips, and five articles of clothing. We made sure to count so this would be equal. I wore a shirt, pants, boxers, and two socks. Mike and Andrew were the same. Leslie and Ellen both wore a dress, a bra, panties, and two socks. Kat wore a shirt, skinny jeans, her bra and panties, and one sock. The game would go on until we all agreed to stop. This meant if we all got to our underwear and chickened out, we could stop, but it also meant that more than one of us could end up naked.

“Are we out of the game if we lose all our clothes?” Leslie asked.

“Nah,” Mike replied. “We can just play for dares after that, if we want to keep playing. Let’s say one dare counts as all your betting for a round. The winner of the round can decide what dare you have to do.”

A couple more rules were decided as well: If players were betting with chips and you were betting with clothes, one article of clothing counted as seeing the other players through to the final round, but if everyone was betting clothes, you had to put in a new article each round. And if you lost all your clothes, you couldn’t get dressed again, even if you won clothes back.

With that, we all sat down on Leslie’s carpeted floor and started to play.

TO BE CONTINUED...