Poker

Friday night. Noiz was on her computer when she got a text. Hm? She picked up her phone and looked at the screen. The message came from Conrad. The kitty tilted her head.

"Poker game tonight?" she asked. "Do in the Activity Room?" Noiz scrolled down further on the screen. The next few words caught her eye.

"Free food?" Noiz read. The kitty shrugged to herself. Guess it didn't hurt to go check it out, right? She saved her work and shut off her computer.

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Noiz looked around as she made her way down to the activity room. She wasn't down there for the game. Let's be honest here, it was all about the free food. Noiz came across Graham at the front doors.

"Do you have a pass?" he asked.

"Pass?" Noiz asked, blinking.

"Yeah," he said. "How did you find out about this game tonight?" The kitty dug in her brain for a minute before she pulled out her phone.

"You mean this?" she asked. Noiz showed Graham the text message.

"Heh, fair enough," he said. Graham moved aside to let her in.

"Thank you," Noiz said, bowing. She walked into the back part of the room.

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Laughter was the first thing that came to her attention. Noiz poked her head into the room and saw eight guys sitting at a table in the corner. Rolling Stones played on a small radio in another corner. Most of the chair were still played on the tables just like they were at closing time. Noiz kept her eye out for the food. She didn't even know how to play poker. She still wondered why Conrad would invite her out here anything. Noiz frowned as a thought crossed her mind.

I'm being used as a good luck charm, aren't I? Where did that rumor even start? Dodge was too dumb to start something like that. Tanya? Was she even out of exile now? Maybe she still had her friends on the outside...

"Noiz! Welcome!" someone said in reality. "So glad that you could make it!" Noiz looked up to see Conrad and the seven other men staring at her.

"Uh... hi..." the kitty said, waving.

"Come, take a seat," Conrad said.

"But I don't know how to play," she said.

"That's okay," he said. "You can just sit behind me and watch." The kitty frowned as saw where this was headed.

"Where's the food?" she asked.

"Kitchen," Noah, another player at the table said. "I just cooked up some little smokies in brown sugar barbeque sauce. There are also some cheese and crackers."

"Anything sweet?" the reluctant guest asked.

"There's some ice cream leftover," Mickey, a third player said. Noiz forced a fake smile on her face.

"Sure," she said. "At least I'm getting food out of this." The kitty slid out of the car and walked over to the kitchen. I should've known. Well, she was here now. At least get something to eat. Good thing she didn't really have much to eat at dinner. Meanwhile, Conrad smiled to himself as the game resumed.