chapter 14: poker night

I told Mike about Jacks idea a bit later, and he seemed interested.

"It was nice to have the guys around, you know, spend some time with people my age"

"Oh, so I'm too young for you?" I asked, acting appalled.

"Hmm, I think most people would say that, yeah"

"So, what do you say?"

"I think it sounds like a neat idea, especially for you" He winked at me.

That had settled it. We spent the next few minutes planning on when the next BBQ/Dinner would be, what we would serve and who would be invited. I think Mike just liked the idea of being able to eat with people who could keep up with him, whereas I just had the fantasy of fattening up every single cute dad out there.

We planned to just ask the other guys if they wanted to come over to play poker, so their wives wouldn't know what was really going on. Of course, they'd think that poker was the main goal of the gathering as well, but me (and Mike) would be making sure that all of them would go home feeling very full. We scheduled the date for next weekend, seeing as that was the same time the BBQs had been.

All the invites we sent out were received positively, and some of the guys (including Jack) even blatantly asked if there was going to be food there.

Saturday came and the men started arriving at about 5pm. They all looked happy when they smelled the food coming from the kitchen. A couple had brought beer, which they asked to leave in the fridge. When Jack arrived, I thought I saw his eyes flicker to me for a split second, but it was already over when he greeted Mike. I suddenly felt a bit more uncomfortable about what we were doing, but shook it off.

When the last one had arrived, there was a noisy talk about cars going on, and most of the chips we had laid out were already gone, stuffed into the chubby faces of our dinner guests. I went to get more snacks, while Mike initiated the poker game.

As the game progressed, more and more chips fell victim to the glutton of the middle aged men and several empty bottles of beer and coke laid around. But that was not all. Nearing the end of the game, Mike announced that there would be dinner, which sparked a round of excited chatter. The two of us had prepared a giant pot of chili, rice and burritos.

After the food had been served, everyone started eating, forgetting the game. Soon they had gone back to their eating habits during the summer, downing as much as they could, glad to finally be able to let themselves go, without their wives around. And so, at the end of the dinner, every one of them was utterly stuffed, a few had undone their pants. Mike himself had turned towards me, to show off how much he had eaten. I looked over to Jack and our eyes met for a second, before he went back to talking to his neighbor.