TOM

"No fuck off Harry, Granddad Bob is always the dealer. Give him the bloody cards," I scoff from the fridge in the kitchen.

"Language!" Mum called out from the makeshift poker table.

"I'm just shuffling them!" He argued back.

"Yeah and the dealer is the one who shuffles! You're probably going to hide a fucking royal flush under your placemat," I yelled back, stacking a bunch of bottle of beer in my arms for the rest of the table.

A tradition with our family poker games, was that we had to drink Guinness. It's an Irish stout which lots of people drink in the UK but most foreigners hate from its rich taste. I placed bottles around the large wooden dining table that everyone was sitting at, the cheery old man thanking me as I used a bottle opener to crack his one open first.

"Alright, standard rules and equal chips for everyone. We're not playing for money, this is just for fun," Granddad Bob said reshuffling the cards that Harry had shuffled before dealing them around the table.

Jasper was the only one of the cousins to join the game, the other two staying in their rooms. The family poker games have gone on for over ten years, our parents only letting us join when we turned 16.

Clark came back to the table with a white wine from the kitchen, sitting down next to Sam and sliding her little pile of poker chips towards her. She was the only one who didn't drink the ritual Guinness; because she couldn't tolerate more than two sips.

"You don't have to drink the Guinness Y/N, it's pretty strong if you're not used to it," Dad said to Y/N as she used the bottle opener to open the large beer in front of her. She was sitting across from me, next to Clark and Paddy.

She took a sip and coughed, making me chuckle and offer to get her another drink which she politely declined. She took another sip, then another, before saying she didn't mind it that much. I commend her, honestly most people hate drinking Guinness. Dad gave her a high five over the table and said a quick 'thatta girl' before Granddad Bob cleared his throat and put his glasses on.

Dad takes these games pretty seriously, he plays to win. So do my uncles. My aunt and my mum just like playing for fun and don't really understand the strategy behind poker. I mostly just play to fuck with my brothers heads and figure out peoples poker faces.

"Oi Pads! Eyes on your own cards," I said whistling at him to get his attention across the table once I saw him try to 'slyly' take a peek at Y/N's cards. She pulled them closer towards herself and Paddy looked in the complete opposite direction to brush it off.

Dad had a stunner of a game so far, having his third straight flush and raking in the chips from all of us. At this stage, Paddy, Clark, Mum, my aunt and Harry were all out of chips.

"I'm all in," Y/N said pushing all of her chips into the centre of the table.

"Seriously? That's such bullshit," I laughed, shaking my head and leaning back in my chair. She was the one person at the table who was new to me; I haven't figure out her little signals of whenever she bluffs.

Sam for example, always sniffs when he's lying. Harry gets overly cocky when he's lying about good cards and Clark blushes whenever she's bluffing. But Y/N? I can't figure out at all. This entire game I haven't been able to decipher what it is.

"You think I'm bluffing? These are awfully big stakes for me to bet if I was bluffing Thomas..." she said gently, looking at me with intense eye contact. As much as I was trying to figure her tactics out, she was trying to analyse me.

"Fine whatever. You're not betting that much anyway, I'm all in too," I said pushing all of my remaining chips into the centre and smirking at her. I had a lot more to lose than her, but my cards are pretty fucking brilliant.

"You're bluffing," Y/N glared.

"Am I?"

"Well I think you are."

"You can think whatever you want," I grinned.

We both turned towards Dad who pushed all of his chips into the middle as well before we all looked towards Granddad Bob who signalled for me to flip my cards over.

All three of us had bet the entirety of our chips and the rest of the table watched eagerly. I turned my cards slowly, dragging out the anticipation as I revealed a three of a kind.

4 4 4 10 Q

Paddy laughed and clapped his hands together, looking towards Y/N who kept her face perfectly still and poised. I still couldn't read her.

She tapped her cards on the table and turned them over. She looked down at them before flicking her eyes up towards me and smirking. My mind distracted itself from the game at play, purely looking at that damned smile and the glimmer in her eye as we made direct eye contact. That smirk... Jesus fucking Christ, I want her.

7 7 7 K K
A full house. She fucking beat me.

We both turned to Dad who just laughed and spread his cards across the table subtly. He knew exactly what he was doing.

7 8 9 10 J
And all in mother fucking diamonds.
A straight fucking flush.

"Fuck I really though I had you both there," she said as Dad leant forward and slid all of our chips towards him with a cheeky chuckle.

"And that, my dear friends, is how you sweep 'em all up," Dad grinned, pretending to bow as the table around clapped for his valiant win.

The adults basically then called it a night and said they were going to bed, given that we had all travelled several hours to get to Scotland today in the first place. Jasper, Sam, Clark, Harry, Paddy, Y/N and I all cracked open another drink and stayed in the living room by the warm fire.

"Oh yeah, the cool kids staying up late together," Harry said jokingly, sitting on the floor near the fire.

"You ruined it by saying that," Paddy scoffed jokingly.

"You guys, I could feel the sexual tension between you both during that game!" Jasper laughed once all our parents had left, flipping down on the couch next to Y/N and I, causing for a pretty crowded sofa.

She laughed and told him that poker was the sexiest card game there was jokingly before telling Jasper that if he had a girlfriend, maybe he'd understand. Paddy and Harry laughed at him and he told them to fuck off.

Seeing us the furthest from the fire (but still ridiculously warm), Clark offered a nearby blanket to Y/N and threw it up to her on the couch, smiling happily since Sam and her were snuggling on the floor near the fireplace.

I'm really happy Sam found Clark. They're both so cute together. They a bit quiet, but they're cute. Next I just need to find Harry a girlfriend so he can stop pestering me and making fun of me on work trips.

Shuffling to sit kind of sideways against the arm of the couch, I put my arm around Y/N and pulled her into me. Her back was pressed against half of my chest and she put the blanket from her legs across the both of us.

"You warm?" She asked quietly, looking up towards me.

"Now I am," I smiled, kissing her temple gently as she turned back to face Jasper who was once again rambling about god knows what.

I know we were a supposed to act like a couple in front of the family members who didn't know about our fake relationship, but right now it felt like both of us started cuddling on our own accord.

And it felt nice.