I wanted to stay with Kasia all night, but she reminded me that her parents would ground her for life if she came in past 1:00 on a week night. She was, after all, barely 19, and still considered the 'baby' of the family.
I walked her home, high on emotion, after the most wonderful sexual experience of my young life.
- "When can I see you again?" I asked.
- "You mean, when can you get me into bed again?" Kasia laughed.
- "No, I meant -"
- "Just kidding, Dean. I know what you meant. Tomorrow night. Gaming with the girls." she said.
- "But they're out of town. Aren't they?"
- "Patricia and Angie are. But Vee will be there. And I have other friends. You'll meet them tomorrow night. Tonight, actually. And after the game ... who knows?"
She made me stop short of her house again, but then gave me a passionate kiss.
- "Tonight." she said, softly, pressing her fingers to my lips. Then she was gone.
Thursday night with the girls. And Kasia. Then Friday night with the guys. How was I going to keep a straight face? That got me wondering what Les would say, now that Kasia and I were ... what to call it? Dating? An item? These terms sounded lame, after the glory we had experienced together.
Lovers? More accurate, and more satisfying. But I couldn't picture telling my childhood friend that his baby sister and I were lovers. Well, sufficient unto the day ... no doubt Kasia would know how to tell her family about us when she was ready.
The day crawled by, but Thursday night finally came. When I arrived at the apartment, Kasia was there with another girl. She introduced us. Lucy was a slender redhead, a few inches taller than Kasia. She wore extra-thick black eye makeup, which gave her a bit of a Goth look, but none of the other trappings: no piercings, no leather. Instead of black, she wore an orange t-shirt tucked into her jeans.
It was a bit odd, talking to Lucy. She kept her head down, so that her long red hair covered half of her face, including one eye. The other eye looked up at me from underneath a veil of hair. It was mildly disconcerting. She was also very quiet, and left me to do most of the talking.
We were rescued by a loud knock on the door. It was Vee, preceded by a most unusual-looking girl. She was about the same height as Vee - maybe 5'4" or 5'5". But that was all they had in common.
Vee was pale-skinned, with mousy light brown hair, and no makeup. The other girl was an exotic creature. She had toffee-coloured skin, and long, unruly black hair which she had made no effort to style or even brush. She was wearing purple lipstick, and purple eye-shadow. She had deep brown eyes, and a patrician nose that would have made Julius Caesar proud. She put her hands on her hips, and looked down her nose at me.
- "This is him?" she asked Kasia. She had a deep voice.
- "This is Dean. Dean, meet Jasmine. We all call her Jazz."
- "Pleased to meet you." I answered. But before the words were out of my mouth, she had moved into the kitchen, pulling a bottle out of her bag.
- "Hey Dean." said Vee. Next to her slender, dark-skinned friend, Vee looked pale and chunky. She also looked a little down.
- "Hi Vee." I said. "You alright?"
- "Yeah." she answered. "Just tired. Too much work." She brushed back a loose lock of hair. "Thanks for asking, though."
- "What are we playing?" asked Jazz. "Hey Luce." she added, greeting the redhead.
This was certainly a very different group from the first one. Patricia had always been upbeat, even peppy, and Angie had all of the social graces. Now we had a tired Vee, the slightly weird, silent redhead, and the dominant Jazz, whose most common facial expression seemed to be a sneer.
Vee must have noticed the somewhat bemused look on my face. "Lucy and Jazz used to be Goths." she said. "But they dropped out."
Kasia got them seated, and called on me to explain the rules. We were playing Hot Air Racer. It occurred to me immediately that Patricia and Angie would have loved this game; I had no idea what these new girls would think.
Each player has a hot air balloon, and they draw cards representing their crew. Each crew member adds a bonus, whether to speed, or to trouble-shooting, or they bring along extra tools or cargo. But one of the most important things about your crew is their weight.
Players also draw cards representing the cargo they will carry. Some of it is simply ballast, to be jettisoned in order to increase altitude, while the rest consists of articles which score points if you can deliver them across the finish line.
There are dice rolls to determine the wind currents, and event cards which provide bonuses like a sudden gust of wind, or penalties. Finally, there are pieces of equipment, and the ever-popular 'screw your neighbour' type of cards.
It's fairly simple, and one of those games where strategy accounts for only about one quarter of your success. The other three quarters is pure luck, so it's a good intro to gaming for newbies.
Kasia was, as always, fiery and competitive. Lucy said very little, but she seemed to be calculating the odds before playing her hand. Jazz did everything with a flourish, slapping the cards on the table. She drew a disproportionate number of 'screw your neighbour' cards, and for some reason played them all on me.
The first couple were no big deal, and I accepted them without comment. I was the lone male, after all. By the fourth one, though, I had to ask.
- "Really?" I said.
Jazz looked down her nose at me again. "What?"
I pointed at the card, which would force me to dump my most valuable piece of cargo.
- "Kasia said you're a good player." she said, with a shrug. "I'm just making sure that you don't win this time."
- "You certainly are." I agreed.
Kasia won by a healthy margin. That left Jazz scratching her head. "Hmm." she said. "Maybe I should've shared the wealth, there."
- "You got too many of those negative cards." I said. "Good for sinking me, but they didn't do you much good."
- "Rematch. Kasia, you are going down this time." said Jazz.
- "In your dreams." replied Kasia. But she glanced at me. "OK with you, Dean?"
I really wanted Kasia's friends to leave, so that I could get her alone. But I was far too polite to say so. Besides, the game wasn't that long, and it was still early.
Jazz had caught the interplay between us. "Yeah - we get it. We won't stay all night."
This time around, Jazz sent Kasia a couple of her nuisance cards, but I didn't escape unscathed. "Sharin' the wealth." sang Jazz, as she dropped a minor disaster on me.
