moonshadows | Julia - Poker for shots

“It’s just us tonight,” Audrey says as she sits down. “Nathan’s not really feeling up to being around people.”

“I don’t blame him,” I say quietly. She looks at me, briefly, piercingly, suspecting there’s a story behind my empathy but I pretend not to see it and she doesn’t say anything.

Duke glances at me, knowing what Audrey doesn’t. “Yeah,” he says slowly. “I doubt he’d appreciate me celebrating his old man not being the one destined to kill me, either. So!” He leans forward quickly, hands on the table. “How about we move this little party to the Cape and celebrate in private?”

Audrey perks up. “That sounds good. Maybe play poker for shots? It’s like strip poker,” she clarifies, “but with doing shots instead of stripping.”

He looks intrigued, but I know what almost happened the last time I got drunk around him. Really, really don’t need there to be any witnesses if I’m going to make an idiot of myself again. “If we’re going to do that, I’m going to raid the kitchen for a tray of nibbles to bring with us, Boss.”

“Excellent idea, kitchen wench,” he says, grinning.

Unsurprisingly, most of the jalapeño stuffed mushrooms end up in my belly. That’s why I picked them – I know I suck at poker. So, fortify myself with food and water and hope that gives me an edge in later hands.

It doesn’t, of course. We’re playing with a bottle from Duke’s private stock since he is celebrating, and the world goes wiggly sooner than I thought it would. But I’m careful to sit on my words – no witnesses, remember? No witnesses. So when I carefully enunciate that I think I should leave them to the poker, Duke smiles at me so warm I tingle down to my toes and I know…no witnesses.

I still snuggle up to him though, bare feet tucked up on the couch beneath me because that’s allowed when I’m drunk, right? It was last time. He puts his arm around me, so it must be okay even though there’s a witness. Just have to wait for her to be gone.

After a few more hands, Audrey smiles at us, and I know she’s saying, Go get him. “I’m going to turn in for the night while I still have my dignity,” she says, laughing slightly. “I’ll leave you two to…whatever.” She waves vaguely at us and I giggle.

“Good night, Audrey.” We wait in comfortable silence until she’s gone, then Duke smiles down at me. “Time to get you to bed, wench.”

No witnesses. “Pirate-king finally gonna ravish his tiny wench?”

Duke stares at me, mouth slightly open, and I pull myself up enough to press my lips to his because no witnesses.

When my brain drags itself out onto the sandy shores of wakefulness, I realize two things. First, I’m still fully dressed. Second, I’m lying on the couch where apparently I spent the night. That gets me thinking, trying to remember what happened after the poker game, and I remember-

Oh god.

I’m fully dressed and on the couch. Shit. I fucked up and I fucked up hard.

A groan escapes me and then Duke says, “You awake?”

Fuck.

Slowly, trying to not look in his direction although my eyes keep darting to where he’s sprawled in a chair, I right myself and stare at the remnants of the celebration still on the table. When he doesn’t say anything else, I stare down at my hands, clasped in my lap, and nod.

“Do you remember last night?” he asks cautiously.

Another nod. Here it comes, he’s going to ask me to pack up and leave. I bite my lip.

“You were very drunk,” he says sternly. “I’m not going to hold you to anything that happened last night.”

He’s not throwing me off. I didn’t fuck up completely. We’re still friends. I squeeze my eyes shut because I’m pretty sure I’ll cry if I don’t physically hold the tears in and I do not need to be pushing my luck right now.

There’s a pause, and then he says in a softer voice, “We can pretend last night never happened, if you want.”

It’s like the firing squad asking me what I’d like on my Tombstone. Mushrooms and pepperoni, please. Jerkily, holding my breath because now I really might cry with relief, I nod a third time.

“I’m going back to bed,” Duke announces casually, decisively. “Wake me if the Cape burns down.”

Carefully, I let my breath out and pull in a new one. “Okay, Boss.”

By the time he wanders back out I’ve got the table cleaned up and lunch started given it’s nearly noon. “Good afternoon, Boss,” I tease as he sits at the table and takes the painkillers I’ve left out for him.

“It’s eleven-forty!”

Flip the chicken, stir the onions and peppers. “Yup. D’you want me to heat up your breakfast, or would you rather wait for lunch?”

“I’ll wait.” When I glance at him, he grimaces. “Julia…”

I freeze, suddenly afraid he’s changed his mind about anything that happened earlier this morning.

“Last night…”

Here it comes. Oh god. All I can do is stare like a mouse before a snake, certain every moment will be my last.

“I was really worried for you,” he says, and relief makes me light-headed. “Promise me you won’t get, or let us get you, that drunk again.” There’s shadows in his eyes when he meets mine. “Please.”

Quietly, I promise. Some of the shadows go away and he smiles like I’m the one who just offered to pretend last night didn’t happen. “Thank you. Now, kitchen wench, what’s for lunch?”