Story, Part 4

As Jude pulled into Ryan’s driveway, he saw only two other cars there, neither of which he recognized. He wondered how many people were going to be at the poker party, and hoped it wouldn’t be more than nine or ten. He shut his car off, and as he opened the door, he heard a SPLAT on his windshield. As he looked through to water running down the glass, he saw Ryan aiming another water balloon at him. Jude dove out of the car, and ran for cover behind some bushes. After he heard Ryan launch the balloon, he started running straight for Ryan and the water balloons.

“AAARRRGGGGHHH! Take that, Jude! And that!” Ryan forgot about aiming and just threw the water balloons as fast as he could. Jude managed to duck all of them, and cried back,

“Ryan! This… is… SPARTA! Prepare for glory, you dork!” Jude reached Ryan just as he was pulling back for the next throw, and smashed the water balloon while it was still in Ryan’s hand, spraying both of them with ice cold water. As they stood there laughing at each other, Jude remembered when he and his dad would have water fights during the summer nights, and how much fun they had. I wonder if Ryan was trying to remind me of Dad. No, he couldn’t be; I don’t think I ever told him about those water fights.

“So, you ready to lose, dude?” Ryan asked. Ryan had been the one to teach Jude how to play poker, during homeroom in school.

“Um, no, not really. I came prepared to win, like always, man.” Jude had been getting better, but still had trouble remembering what all the different hands were called.

“Sure, Jude, sure. I invited some of the other guys over, like Dave, Robbie, and Josh. They’re all cool, you know.” Dave, Robbie, and Josh were all classmates of Ryan and Jude’s, and none of them were “party”-goers.

“Sounds like a plan. So, where’s the food, dude? I’m freakin’ starving!” Jude was pretty hungry, since he hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

“Inside. We got pizza, pop, and ice cream. Come on!” Ryan said as they walked into the house.