Dangerous Games

THE PAWNS ARE MOVING

"Here's to another one of us biting the dust." Holland raised his glass, and all the other men followed.

With his glass high, Samuel slapped his recently engaged friend on the shoulder, shaking him hard. "Congratulations, man."

"To Reggie and Victoria!" Holland bellowed.

"To Reggie and Victoria." The guys chorused.

Their glasses clinked, and each of them took a decent gulp of their drink.

Samuel clapped after setting his glass down. Reggie's proposal to his long-time girlfriend was a surprise to all of them. That meant Samuel, who also had a surprise announcement almost a year back, had to sit through several references to his situation.

"This time, you are giving us time to plan, right? Not like what Samuel did."

Samuel chuckled, flipping Vicente off. "Stupid."

"Nah. We have time. Victoria also wants to really plan this thing. You know, the church, the dress, the reception, the guest list."

"Marrying a party planner, I can see the wedding set already." Frederick joked.

"She won't be crazy like that."

"That's what you might think, but you never know. Weddings are once in a lifetime. Look at Samuel. Not enough time to plan, yet the wedding came out like something from a fantasy gameplay."

"Yeah, man." Reggie supported, looking over at Samuel. "The angels hanging off the ceiling, whose idea was that?"

His mother's.

"Why? You want to ask for pointers?"

"Maybe. Victoria wants my input. The last thing I planned was my younger brother's surprise birthday, and I had help for more than half of it."

"You'll do fine. I am sure she doesn't expect you to be extravagant."

"If she did, she'd be very disappointed." Fredrick hollered, and another round of cheers rang out.

"Don't listen to the airhead," Holland said. "Just get past the wedding. Goodluck runs in our circle. As soon as you get past the headache of marriage, the marriage itself will be astounding."

"Yeah. Just look at these two." Vincente indicated between Rick and Samuel. "Marriage seems to be going well for these bozos."

"How lucky they are to find women that can keep up with their personalities."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rick joked defensively.

"You know what it means, Rick." Samuel coughed into his fist, looking away when Rick turned to him.

The men laughed and continued to eat and discuss their friend's upcoming wedding. They ordered more drinks and food when the first round was cleared out. After the celebrations, Reggie drove them back to their homes. Samuel lived along the path to Reggie's place, so he was the last to get down.

Outside the gates of his home, he stepped out and waved at his friend. "Have a nice day, man."

"You too, Reg. And congratulations again."

"Thanks. Say hello to your wife."

"Sure thing."

Inside, he found Kali passed out on the couch. She was dressed in pink linen pyjama bottoms, two sizes bigger than her and a snug tank top that barely reached her belly button. Her laptop paid on the coffee table, and the TV; muted, was set on a reality channel.

"Oh, Kali." He sighed, dragging the remote from her fingers and setting it beside her laptop.

He went on his knees, carefully lifting her from the couch, trying to move as little as possible.