It was 10:30 on a peaceful Friday evening - Tyler had just slipped out of the shower and began dressing when he checked the clock and smiled knowing Cam would be showing up in the next 15-minutes.
Tyler wasn't your typical 20-year old college kid - he took a year off after high school before starting college - he's currently a sophomore at the University of South Florida majoring in video communications and earning a small salary as a producer at 870 AM, The Sports Animal - in Tampa. Living at home with his parents was a drag, but when they went on vacation he was sure to make efficient use of his house. Ty's love life was at a standstill; his high school sweetheart was the last person he had been intimate with and every girl he was close to was either engaged or madly in love with their "soul mate". Despite Tyler's non-existent sex life, he had his fair share of kinky fantasies, which he was determined to live out before graduating from USF.
In fact, one of those fantasies ran through his head while he got dressed - his erotic twist to the classic version of strip poker. It wasn't that unnatural for Tyler to be daydreaming of this considering he often imagined himself playing it with Cam.
Cam was the epitome of Tyler's dream girl. She's 20-years old herself and attends Eckerd College (near St. Petersburg Beach) where she's majoring in Business Administration. It's her face that Tyler daydreams about most often. She has dark brown hair that she wears in a ponytail with a couple braids spurting out from behind her ears covering the sides of her eyes. Oh her eyes - they were the deepest and darkest brown eyes Tyler had ever seen - and they consisted of the perfectly round shape that anime characters are often thought to have. Simply put, Tyler had never laid sight on a more beautiful pair of eyes in his life until he met Cam in November.
Their meeting was by chance, Cam grew up in classic tomboy fashion and her family forced football and NASCAR down her throat. Luckily she got over the NASCAR fascination but football was in her blood and on a warm and tropical Floridian afternoon, Tyler and Cam bumped into each other at a USF football game - they managed to find seats near each other and the rest is history. Unfortunately for Tyler, that day was a microcosm of the last four years - meeting the girl of his dreams only to find out that she's in love with a guy 8-years older than him.
They've spent many nights together since that infamous football game - watching movies, soaking in a night at the comedy club, even the occasional party on the USF campus. In fact, they had spent a great deal of time together over the last month because Cam's boy toy left in early March to visit his brother and spend part of the summer in Phoenix. But no matter the circumstances or how far away her boyfriend was, Tyler knew there was a line he couldn't cross without possibly ruining a friendship with the most beautiful girl (and coincidentally his best FRIEND) that he had ever met in his life. "After all" he would think to himself, "There's 8-years between the two of them, eventually something has to give, right?"
Amidst all these thoughts, Tyler loved spending time with her and tonight was an optimal time - his parents were in Detroit visiting family so the house was his. "Good Will Hunting" was on Cam's wish list for the night and Tyler owned the DVD. It was no secret to Tyler that Cam had seen it before, but her obsession with Matt Damon drew her interest on that hot and humid April evening.
Just as he had finished throwing on his "Hard Rock Café" tee shirt, the doorbell rang and Tyler's spirits were instantly lifted. He rushed downstairs and swung the door open - Cam came in, gave him a tight squeeze, and walked into the family room to set her purse down and take her sandals off. Tyler fired up the DVD and killed the lights so there wasn't too much glare on the TV screen. The two grabbed a pair of pillows and lay out on his newly carpeted (and fairly soft) floor and watched the first few minutes of the flick.
About 15-minutes into the movie, Cam got up to get a glass of water from the fridge. She went to set her glass down on the kitchen counter and placed it on a deck of cards. She instantly froze and stood in a state of shock for 30-seconds before snapping out of her daze and crawling back up to her pillow next to Tyler. Ty glanced over and noticed the spirit she had when she came in the door had suddenly vanished. He put a finger in her hair and asked her if she was all right. Cam explained how she had managed to go a couple days without thinking of her boyfriend but knew that his brother was holding a poker tournament with his work friends and her boyfriend was supposed to be playing with them tonight. She added "I was doing fine until I rested my glass on a deck of card by the sink and it reminded me of him". Tyler offered words of encouragement and asked her what he could do to help take her mind off it. Cam shook her head and told him she was going outside to get some fresh air.
Tyler knew at this point that the movie wasn't going to help that much so he turned it off and pulled up a seat next to the kitchen table. Cam came back inside and walked over to the sink and took another sip of water, then she grabbed the cards and took a seat at the table herself.
"If he's playing cards tonight, why don't I?" she thought to herself. "Ty, what games do you know how to play?" Tyler answered "Euchre (it's a Midwest game his Detroit family taught him how to play), rummy, and poker." "Hmph" she whined, "of those three, I've only played poker before."
Tyler's biggest weakness became rather apparent at this point - his male hormones immediately considered the possible fun he could have playing poker with her. "Most of the time people play poker for money, but I'm flat broke Cam and I'd never take your money anyhow." Cam nodded and replied "Yeah, I'm running low and I'd feel horrible taking your money too hon - but what else can we bet with?" Tyler smiled and calmly but with a joking smile said, "there's only one other version of poker I've ever heard of."
Cam could have taken that comment a variety of ways - but she knew Tyler would never do anything against her will. In the 10-seconds that followed Tyler's comment, she realized that she needed something "different" to cheer her up - she also admitted to herself that she had found Tyler attractive from the day she met him at the football game - and the fact that her boyfriend would be gone for another month meant there wasn't any real excitement in store for her anytime soon.
"All right hot shot" she exclaimed with a very sly, mystical half grin on her face, obviously changing moods rather drastically - "I've never played before, so what are the house rules if I was to agree to play."
Tyler managed to keep a straight face but inside his heart was beating 100 Miles per hour. "I guess the regular 'lose a hand, lose an article', unless there's any other twists you wanted to add." She quirped "What do you mean by 'twists' Ty?" "Well, I imagine both of us might be a little bit nervous when we start bearing it all, and the loser is going to feel especially vulnerable. Look, I know he's not here and this is kin**" She cut him off "Listen, he's not involved in this tonight - this is 'my' night - tell me what you're thinking because you may never get this opportunity again!" she said with a smile... a smile Ty had never seen on her face before. A smile Ty wouldn't soon be forgetting.