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A costume reveals a whole new woman. And leads to a risky bet.
This story is an entry in the 2010 Literotica Halloween contest.
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Being a Washington Redskins fan in Dallas is not the easiest thing. And when you find a kindred soul, you're quick to strike up a conversation, finding out where they're originally from, how long they've been a transplant, and reminiscing over the good old days of Super Bowls and NFC East domination.
I found a local bar/eatery that had about 20 TVs and carried most of the games. There were several Redskin fans that showed up regularly, in spite of having a less than stellar season. We started sitting generally together. There was a table of mixed high-school kids, that had a couple of Redskins fans, a Steelers Fan, and a Green Bay fan, that were there 90% of the time. There was another table with a 'Skins fans couple, who always showed up with their neighbors who were die-hard Dallas fans, and they just busted each other's chops regularly. Then there was my table.
I was a fixture as long as I was in town. The place was only a mile from my house, and they had pretty good hot wings and Guinness on tap, which was all I needed to know. Derek was a lawyer, young, married, no kids yet, who lived in the same neighborhood as me. Bob was older, in his late 40's, and had lived in the North Dallas area for over 20 years. He didn't talk much about his personal life, but I knew he worked for Frito-lay, and lived just a few miles away. Lori had shown up with her boyfriend one week, and without him the next. She was a tall, skinny, loud, ardent 'Skins fan, the loudest at our table. She was the oldest of 6, with four brothers, and a single sister, who was their youngest and about 12 years younger than her, still living at home and in middle school.
We all wore our Redskins jerseys, and the four of us, along with a couple of out-of-state friends, started up our own fantasy football league.
The first year that we all started going there we usually had no problem getting our table, and we took the ribbing from all the Dallas players in stride. Then one week we showed up and the game wasn't being shown. Asking the manager, he told us that the plan they had only carried a certain number of games, and that week there were more games played at noon than he could carry. As you can imagine we were a little irritated, since we were pretty good customers, showing up regularly, and eating and drinking our fair share (or maybe just a tad more). We had to drive halfway across town to catch the second half of the game, and we weren't happy about it.
My second season in town I decided to get the NFL ticket, so I'd never miss another game, but I still went to the same place, mostly for the camaraderie. During the third week it happened again, no Redskins. I suggested we head over to my place since it was so close, and my entire table of four transplanted ourselves.
"Damn, Jack, this is a nice setup!" Derek said, looking over my media room. The room was large, covering most of the area over my 3 car garage, and serving as my office, and a home theater. I had a 54" big screen TV that was razor sharp, with a Bose surround-sound setup. I hadn't splurged for the theater seating yet, so I had a single couch, and a lazy boy recliner. I wanted to build terraced seating, with a row of three theater seats in front, and four more in back, but that wasn't in the budget yet. A small refrigerator built into the wall unit that surrounded the TV meant fewer trips downstairs for refills.
"What the hell are you doing coming into our dive for the games, with this kind of setup?" Lori asked me, stretching out in the recliner she'd commandeered.
"I like watching the game with you guys. It's more fun than sitting here alone," I confessed.
"Well you don't have to worry about that anymore," Lori laughed. "My ass is going to be parked in this chair for every game, and it's going to take a forklift to get me out of here."
"Ditto," said Bob. "But you're going to have to stock something other than that black oil you drink.
"There a beer fridge in the garage. I'm pretty sure whatever you want you'll find down there. Unless you want the hard stuff - that's in the bar in the dining room." I told him, grabbing a Guinness from my stock, and parking myself at the end of the couch.
The game was a good one, with lots of scoring by the good guys which required jumping up, giving high-fives all around, and pulling out our cellphones to either share or gloat.
Before they all left, we'd planned the next week's get together. It was Monday Night Football, and even though anyone could have watched it at home, we all agreed to watch it at my place.
After the fourth week, I think we all started noticing that something was missing. The obnoxiousness, the give and take, the shouting at other tables. It was kind of hard to admit it, but we missed the dive.
The fifth week we were back, but at least now we had an option. We could afford to be a little pickier. We'd walk into the place, and if our game wasn't on one of the 4 super-sized screens, we'd just turn around and head around the corner to my place. And save a few bucks as well. Ok, maybe I didn't save anything, but I still probably broke even, and they ate and drank free.
It was about midway through my third year of occasionally hosting the game that things took a decidedly different turn.
Derek was now a father of a bouncing baby boy, and starting to do better in business. He worked in the legal department at one of the big companies down off Legacy, and had survived a cut of outsourcing which had him nervous for a while. He joked that it was the first time he was really happy to be black, a subject which had never even come up - sports are remarkably color-blind. Bob, we had found out over time, was a confirmed bachelor and private pilot, and who had decided that women in his life just weren't very understanding when it came to how much time and money he pumped into his hobby. He actually lived in a hangar at a local airport, with a nice little two-bedroom apartment upstairs, and his RV6, his hunting jeep, and a nice sized boat parked in his hangar. All the best boy toys. And nobody to give him grief when he spent $2000 on new headphones for his plane, or dropped four grand on new tires.
I'd had a pretty serious girlfriend for a while. She'd moved in and back out again by the time the third season had started. I was not an easy person to live with, working long hours, traveling a lot during the week, and pretty set in my ways. I'd also dated several more women over the years, but none had stuck yet. I was currently between skirts, and caught a good bit of ribbing over it. I owned my own consulting business with two other guys, and we'd grown from three employees when I'd first met this crowd, to more than 30. Things were going well for me, business wise. I'd even upgraded the TV to a 60" HDTV which was appreciated by all.
I was surprised that Lori was still single. She was attractive, but made no effort to emphasize it. Her game apparel was consistent, one of her three authentic NFL Redskins jerseys, and jeans. The jeans were not form fitting, though they fit Ok; the huge jerseys, on the other hand, fit like a burlap sack. She dated a lot, but never for more than a month or so it seemed. Her hair was shoulder length, and often unkempt, and as far as I could tell she had never worn makeup. She'd played competitive college volleyball, and was a real sports nut. At around 6 feet tall, she towered over Bob and Derek, and I only had her by an inch or two. If she had ever worn heels she'd have looked down on all of us. She worked in sales for a publishing company, and spent most of her time on the phone.
The honest truth is we didn't think of her as a woman very often. She was one of the guys, a true fan of the game, and a mouth that could make a drill Sargent blush. When it came to teasing and rough-housing she could give as good as she got. I liked her.
It was the day before Halloween and our favorite hangout was holding a costume contest with prizes for most original, most authentic, best costume, etc. We decided to dress for the game, and each of the guys decided to go as a Redskin Hall-of-Famer. With 20+ guys in Canton, we had plenty to choose from. Derek claimed Charley Taylor, Bob chose Sonny Jurgenson, and I had to go with Riggins, one of my all time favorites. Lori was being wishy-washy, torn between Slingin' Sammy Baugh, or going as Joe Gibbs. We gave her so much grief about making up her mind that she finally told us all just to shut-up and she'd surprise us.
It looked to be a great day for football, and we were planning to stick around for the whole double-header, with the Redskins playing the 49ers first, and then the Giants vs Denver. We still felt pretty good about our season, after starting 3-0, even though we'd lost the last two games. Dallas was sitting at 4-2, ahead by one in the win column, so we needed this one to keep pace. The Giants and Philadelphia were both tied with us at 3-2 keeping the whole conference knotted up at the top. It was a big week, with Dallas, Philadelphia, and our beloved skins all playing early games.
