By the time we headed out of our hotel room, the rain had slowed down to a drizzle. But the day was nasty enough to make me glad we weren’t going far. Cassie’s cabin looked warm and inviting against the dark, damp sky.
Jack welcomed us at the door, looking like the archetypal home chef with a striped apron over his outfit and a spatula in one hand. I half expected him to be wearing a toque.
We found Cassie inside, lounging on the couch with a glass of wine. The beautiful blonde had changed into a light blue blouse and a navy skirt. I suddenly felt underdressed.
“Make yourselves comfortable,” Jack said, walking back to the kitchen area. “This setup isn’t great, but I can do OK with it.”
“He’s being modest,” Cassie said, “I swear, the way Jack feeds me, it’s a miracle I don’t weigh 300 pounds.”
“Now, who’s the one who’s exaggerating,” Jack said, gesturing with his spatula.
It was strange to see the two of them acting domestic. It shouldn’t have been — they were a married couple just like anyone else. But my brain couldn’t square the stories I’d heard with the people I was now seeing. It was nice, in a way, to discover that their relationship worked the same as ours did.
We offered to help Jack cook, but he wouldn’t have it, so we all settled into the sitting area. Cassie poured us wine, and we chatted aimlessly while her husband worked in the kitchen.
“So, what are your plans for tonight?” Cassie asked.
“I think they’ve been washed out,” Mike said.
“Oh good!” Cassie said, then realized that maybe she shouldn’t act so happy that our day was ruined. “I mean, I’m looking forward to us having time to hang out.”
“Sure,” Allison said, sharing one of her now-expected looks of annoyance with me.
Jack’s dinner was exquisite, I can’t argue that. Emily, of course, was especially enamored. But we all agreed that it was damn good. Especially considering it came from a hotel room kitchen using delivered groceries.
After the meal, Cassie cracked open another bottle of wine, Jack undid his apron, and we all gathered together in the living room, post-meal happy. Despite the fact that there was plenty of furniture, we all ended up sitting in a circle on the floor. For the moment, we paired with our respective partners. The three couples sat around the coffee table like this was going to be a normal evening.
“So, what’s the plan?” Mike asked. He’d spent all night with a strange little smile on his face, like a kid who’d figured out there was ice cream in the house.
“We should totally pick up where we left off last night,” Cassie said.
Allison looked demurely at the floor. “I think one boob was enough.”
“That’s not what Paul was thinking,” Mike said, and he gave me a convivial wink.
“Wait, what did I miss?” Cassie asked, her light blue eyes alight.
“Paul caught Allison naked in the shower this morning,” Emily said.
“By accident,” I said.
“Sure, it was,” Mike said. He was still smiling.
“Naked naked?” Cassie asked, “Like, full naked?”
“Complete, totally, all of it naked,” Allison said. She shook her head ruefully, but I could tell she was playing along.
“That’s awesome!” Cassie said. She reached over the coffee table for a high five. I slapped her hand, reluctantly. “Come on, tell me that wasn’t amazing.”
I looked at Emily, then Allison. I got the feeling that there was no answer I could give that wouldn’t get me in trouble.
“Well, all right,” Cassie said, clapping her hands, “We need to even things up.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying all day,” Mike said.
“So, what, we just get naked?” Allison asked.
“Of course not,” Cassie said, “That would be weird.” As if everything we’d been doing the past two days had been totally normal. Sure.
“Well, I still think we need to do something,” Mike said.
“Definitely,” Emily agreed. I looked over at her, continually surprised at how interested she was in all of this. My wife was a woman who insisted on switching off the lights before sex. Now, out of nowhere, she was craving the spotlight.
“We’ll play a game,” Cassie said, then quickly followed that up with, “Something different than last night.”
“I have a deck of cards,” Mike said. He reached into his backpack and, sure enough, he had a pack. “I always carry them around in case people want to play.”
There was something very ‘Mike’ about that. Outwardly social and yet also quite nerdy.
“What should we play?” Allison asked. I quickly realized that everyone was in on this.
“Spades, poker, rummy…” Mike started ticking off games.
“Not like that silly,” Cassie said, taking the deck from him and shuffling it. Her long fingers plied the cards with a practiced ease. “Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll deal out the whole deck, across the six of us. We’ll take turns playing cards. Kinda like UNO, you can either match the suit or the face. So, a King can go on a King or a Heart can go on a Heart.”
“What if we can’t match the card?” Emily asked.
Cassie’s smile went a mile wide. “Then you have to do a punishment,” she said, “If it’s a black number card, you lose a piece of clothes from the waist down. Red number, from the waist up. If it’s a Jack, Queen, or King, the rest of the group agrees on something you have to do with your partner.”
“So more than naked,” Allison said.
“Just little stuff to keep things interesting,” Cassie said, “Nothing crazy. A bit of friendly fun.”
“Wait, what about an Ace?” Mike asked.
“That’s the funnest part,” Cassie said. I could almost see the gears turning behind her eyes. “When someone misses the Ace, we move one space over. So, like, if Emily can’t play an Ace, she would go to Jack, I would go to you, Mike, and Allison would move to Paul. Then we toss in all our cards and reshuffle the deck. Starting the game anew.”