Survival Of The Fittest

Alexander inspected the room for the final time before his guests arrived. The large table could sit ten people and he had enough chips for the buy in of $5 dollars. He had never been much of a gambler, or interested in card games, but he felt like throwing an event for his mates as a sort of pre-prom.

The room was immaculate and overlooked the acre of land at the rear of the house. The light fixtures glowing in a dim, but elegant way.

The was a chorus of bottle clinks as his uncle deposited a box full of lagers and ciders into the room.

'Have a good time, kiddo.'

'Will do, Rob.' He smiled.

Maybe some of his lady guests wouldn't be so opposed to the idea of strip poker after a few of these. He thought grabbing a bottle of Becks and taking a sip.

Damn it's sour...

((Kayla McArthur, continued from Crunch Time.))

((I'm making some assumptions based on your profile. Feel free to correct me.))

Kayla swallowed nervously, running a final check to be certain she looked alright. The poker game tonight was the first major social event she had gone to for nearly a year, and the first one she had gone to with people from the school. Mostly, she went to small functions relating to her parent's work. She sighed, looking at the large, expensive house. She was a foster brat from New York; why in the hells had this prim and proper English kid asked her to come here? Still, refusing had been out of the question. It was the accent that did it. It had a way about it that caused immediate acquiescence (she rather liked that word) lest it never be turned on to you again. Besides, it was good for her to get out and experience the world. Her writing was good, and it was a nice release, but living in worlds of her own creation for too long would be worse than just getting out and talking to people. She sighed, pulling the casual dress she was wearing down slightly so as to have it be more comfortable. She really didn't like to wear dresses; she felt that skirts were much nicer, but her mother had insisted. And it was brown. Brown was such a dreary color.

She approached the house slowly, taking in the sights. It was big. Really big. Her cornucopian vocabulary failed to provide her with a proper word as to describe the enormity of the house. For the most part, her experience with large buildings had been sky scrapers, which were admittedly larger than this, but the house felt larger than the sky scrapers did. It was the regality of the house which did it. It looked, sounded and smelled like money. It was a way of saying that despite the "equality" of America, we are still more important than you. And the way it said it was like a kick to the face.

Kayla knocked timidly on the door, waited a moment, then knocked harder. A well dressed gentleman came to the door and looked up at her. He was shorter than she was, and yet still managed somehow to look down his nose at her. It was a curious effect. "Uh... hi. I'm here for Alex's poker thing...?" she said timidly.

The man nodded curtly and beckoned her to follow him. She was led through the house, which looked about as impressive from the inside, to a back room. There, Alex waited for the rest of the guests. She entered quietly, noting with a slight wrinkle of her nose that there was a small case of alcohol waiting for the game. As long as nobody is smoking, I think I can deal with it, she thought. She cleared her throat to get Alex's attention.

Alex heard the cough and turned immediately. Kayla stood there looking as awkward as ever. He felt a little awkward with her being his first guest. It had been a spur of the moment invitation, during a maths tutoring session he had done in the library on calculus.

Kayla was a nice enough girl but she seemed pretty lonely. Hopefully she would have a good time tonight.

'Kayla, good to see you, you got your $5 for the buy in? Would you like a drink?' he asked leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. It was a custom he did with every girl to evaluate his chances. Didn't want to make Kayla feel left out.

Kayla nodded quietly, sidestepping Alex's attempt to kiss her. "I have the five dollars, of course. Um... I think I will not have a drink just yet," she said, crossing to look out the window. That kiss would have been awkward had it connected. Sudden rigidity of the knees made it difficult to walk and otherwise move around. She looked out across the grounds, taking in the view. She had no idea there was this much undeveloped area around here.

"So, I guess I'm the first one here," she said, turning to look at Alex. "I guess that's a little awkward, huh?" It was more than a little awkward. The last time she had been alone in a room with a boy had been by accident in ninth grade, and he, at least, had not tried to kiss her. Oh, and it was socially easier to escape from that situation. This situation was a good deal more awkward. She could already feel the stress tensing her muscles, especially the lower back ones. She never understood why those tensed first, but she supposed it could be to... she was getting off track.

This girl was seriously nervous tonight. Alex could read that much. The fact she had even suggested it was awkward made it much worse for him.

Where was his cousin when he needed her?

'If you're sure you don't want anything. I have plenty of non-alcoholic drinks. I'll take the $5 from you and put it in the kitty.'

He opened the small box in the middle of the table and held out his hand to accept the buy in.

'How are your studies going?'

((Charlotte Cave debut))

"Yo!"

Perhaps just in time to break up any awkwardness, the redheaded ball of spunk that was Charlotte leaned into the doorway, offering a small wave and a huge grin, her hair still damp from a post-workout shower. Oh, sweet, looks like I didn't miss much. "I'm not interrupting you two lovebirds, am I?" she teased.

Taking a look around as she hung up her jacket, she had to admit, this place was something impressive. She'd never seen a house this size in her life, let alone been in one. And hey, they had beer! Awesome. And it was Beck's. Eh. Nobody's perfect. She paused a moment, remembering her stuff was in her jacket pocket, rather than her jeans where she usually kept it, and turned around to grab her wallet and cigarettes before she'd think about getting comfortable. "Buy-in's five bucks, yeah?"

Alex was relieved. He turned to Charlotte stalling Kayla's response. She looked fantastic today and he hoped to sample her when she was drunk.

'Yeah, it's $5, Char.' he replied holding back his grin. He looked at her cigarettes. Kinky... he thought. 'If you're going to smoke, can you do so on the veranda?' He signalled to the wooden decking outside fitted with a hot tub and a swing seat.

How are your studies going?

Kayla handed the five dollars over before replying, "Oh, things have been going well. I think I did well on my finals, but we'll see when they send final grades out."

Another girl entered the room, diffusing the awkwardness slightly. Then she successfully ratcheted the awkwardness to new levels, with the casual suggestion that she and Alex were dating or in love. She blushed to a shade which nearly matched her hair. The entrance of the other girls had interrupted her response to Alex's question, so she bit her tongue mid-sentence and stopped talking. She set the money in the box and stepped back, tongue still tied for a response to the more brusque girl's insinuation. She assumed her awkward nervousness position, crossing one arm across herself and grabbing the other elbow. It had no useful purpose other than slightly diffusing her anxiety, and even that was only a small fix.

Kayla's response did not go ignored, but in the presence of Charlotte, Alex felt on edge. He liked this girl a lot, and from the way she had flirted with him at School he knew it was reciprocated.

'You seemed fine when I tutored you. I wouldn't be surprised if you got straight A's. You know your stuff.'

The girl was bright red by the time he'd made eye contact. His grin widened at her odd complexion. Whether it was the compliment or the indication they were an item. He expected the latter.

He tried to finish his Becks in one gulp but the cheap crap wouldn't go down easily. Time to crack out the Wifebeater and Strongbow methinks.

(Trevor Duncan continued from Enjoy the Movie )

Trevor checked himself over one last time before knocking on the door. It was Alex's poker night and Trevor was looking forward to having a good time and relaxing after what had turned out to be a very long day. He checked the plastic bag at his side to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. Trevor couldn't remember if there was going to be beer but he believed it was polite to bring your own and had raided some from the fridge.

Trevor looked up at the big house and wondered how on earth he'd ever made friends with Alex in the first place. Everything about him was so…rich. And foreign. Damn that accent. I wish I had an exotic accent. Trevor made a note to himself to not bring up politics at the table; he and Alex had very different opinions as to how it all should be run. Besides, tonight was supposed to be fun so he doubted that it would come up.

Trevor fingered the roll of notes he had in his pocket. It was only a $5 buy in but he didn't want to find himself with a sure hand and nothing to back it up with. Hoping he wasn't the first person there he raised his hand and knocked loudly on the door.

The knock at the door gave Alexander an excuse to get the higher grade drink out. John would let him in before he clocked off and returned to his family. He exited the room towards the door and popped into the "unmentionables" room. Opening the fridge he grabbed the two stacked boxes of Strongbow and Stella Artois.

John opened the door as expected and quickly turned to take the boxes of alcohol from his grasp with a mutter of 'I'll take those.'

'Tre! Good to see you, my friend! Come in and get acquainted with the other guests. It think you've met Char,' he turned on his heels after John 'the other girl is Kayla, shy but your type I think.' he whispered patting Trevor on the arm.

Charlotte couldn't say she knew the other girl, not having seen her more than a couple times around campus, but goodness she was cute when she blushed. "Funny, didn't think you had a thing for gingers, Al." The implication of her suggestion wasn't lost on her, of course. The way Alex had been acting around her lately, she wondered if he had the slightest clue she was a lesbian. It wasn't as if she'd ever hid it, after all. Not that there was anything wrong with that; it was cute, in a precocious toddler sort of way, and she had been going along with it, just to tease him. "Don't worry about it," she told him, dropping a five in the box, sliding her wallet into her pocket, gesturing with the Newports. "I just like knowing where they are. Probably saving them for later, anyway, y'know?" She gave a knowing glance over to the hot tub, before flashing a shit-eating grin back at the pair. She grabbed a beer and cracked it open, not really caring about the brand so long as it was alcohol.

"You seemed fine when I tutored you. I wouldn't be surprised if you got straight A's. You know your stuff."

Tutoring, eh? "Oh, I'll bet she does know her stuff, alright. So, who is your cute ladyfriend here?" Just as she spoke, however, a knock sounded against the door, sending Alex out of the room before she could get an answer, before he returned with Trevor Duncan, who she greeted with a smile and a brief "Hola, broseph."

Kayla heard her name mentioned and looked up. She had managed to stop blushing hot enough to fry an egg, but still had twinges of pink on her cheeks. She glanced over the newcomer, who she had seen around school before, albeit only briefly during passing periods. Due to her own lack of social acumen, she had no idea if she had met the boy at some random social event she may have gone to, or moved parallel to. That was generally the case, the parallel movement to a social situation was her specialty. She realized that she should probably smile or something, considering she just got introduced, and did so, for such a brief moment it would probably go unnoticed.

Trevor grinned as he took in the room. Thankfully he wasn't the first in. Relieved of his beer Trevor stuck his hands in his pockets and moved over to the nearest wall, leaning against it. He hadn't really seen Kayla all that much, just in passing. Alex was right though it was clear she was very shy even without having spoken to her, but she had a pretty pink tinge to her cheeks.

Trevor looked at who else was there and was happy to see Charlotte there, beer in hand. Well at least there's at least one person not shy around here. Trevor held a great deal of respect for Charlotte, both for being out and proud and for being a fighter. I must ask her how that's going he thought. Trevor always enjoyed talking to other fighters; they were generally confident and fun to be around, since he actually had something in common with them that he could get engaged in.

‘I see you hogging the beer there, maybe you'd like to pass one over if you please' Trevor said in a jovial tone.

Trevor looked around for Alex, $5 in hand. ‘Where exactly is this going?' he said aloud. ‘Wherever it is don't let get too comfortable, I don't plan on losing tonight.'

Indeed, the more familiar faces were around, the more fun this should be. Char had actually met Trevor's parents through her volunteer work, so she knew him well enough, and he was as good a kid as anyone she could say she knew at school, and she certainly tried to know everyone. She grabbed an extra bottle out of the cooler, passing it over to him with a mischievous grin. "Heh, well, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men, Trev."

Turning to Kayla, she gave the girl a pat on the shoulder and leaned in with the sort of friendly disregard for personal space that was something of a trademark of Charlotte's. "You and me, girl," she said, hoping to get Kayla to open up a little and not feel too much like a fourth wheel, "we are gonna rob these boys blind tonight. Ain't that right?"