Romance in the Cards Chapter 1 Part 4

Ellie nervously sat at the oak table in between Frank and the hazel-haired man. She knew she must look very out of place, but then again, none of them looked like they would enjoy this game.

“Hey guys,” she said as she tried not to look confused. The man next to her looked at her with bright green eyes, but didn’t say anything. The other one didn’t look up from the pile of cards in front of his face. He just stared at them with a serious look on his face that Ellie couldn’t seem to understand. Was he waiting to hear horrible news or about to take a poo?

Frank was the first to speak. “This is Ellie. She’s going to play with us tonight.”

The hazel-haired man didn’t take his stunning eyes off of Ellie’s. “I’m Henry, we will deal you in. They’re almost done.” Frank flipped one of his cards with a green dragon on it sideways and said something that Ellie didn’t quite catch. His opponent pushed his thin glasses up his nose and continued to look serious. He smugly flipped one of his cards.

“That’s Neville,” Henry said quietly as not to disturb the game. “He’s hoping to go pro.” Ellie had no idea what that meant, but simply nodded and remained silent.

Suddenly, Frank jumped and said “Yeah! That’s three out of five for me!”

Neville just shook his head. “Man, this deck just isn’t doin’ it. I think I’m going to have to use the Vamps on Saturday.”

“That’s what six out of the top ten players use.”  Henry chimed in, using his calm collected voice.  “I’d go for it.”

“I don’t know,” Frank replied, “I’ve seen his vampire deck, it’s not much better.”

“Whatever,” Neville grumbled, clearly not getting Frank’s sense of humor. “Let’s just play.” He turned to Ellie saying “You bring your deck?”

Ellie nervously looked at her lap, hoping something would appear. She normally knew exactly what to say, even if it was a simple no. When she had broken up with Tanner earlier that day, she had kept a perfectly straight face, even though she sounded regretful. But, for the first time in the longest while, all she could do was mutter “I…”

She looked up for a second at Neville, but then changed her mind. When she glanced back down, she noticed a small pile of cards sitting on her lap. Suddenly, she knew exactly what to say.

“Let’s do this.” Ellie said as she stared at Neville’s smirking face.