“Aww, please? Just one more?”
“No.”
Zac blew the excess chalk from his cue. He gave Kelsey a thoughtful look.
“How about this, if I win this game, we have another baby. If you win, I won’t bring up the subject ever again.”
“And what if I refuse this gamble?”
“Since when have you ever refused?” Zac grinned. “Well, if you do, you just have to put up with me pestering you.”
Kelsey seemed to hesitate.
“Come on, this is your chance to shut me up.”
She paused a little longer.
“Okay,” she agreed finally.
“All right!” Zac exclaimed triumphantly. “And because I am such a nice person, I’ll let you break.”
“Why, thank you,” she replied cynically.
Kelsey lined up the cue with the cue ball. The cue ball hit the triangle powerfully. The three ball sank, and Kelsey contemplated her next shot. She sunk the six ball, but didn’t sink any on her next shot.
Zac stared at the table for a good two minutes before moving. He sunk the nine ball, then the fifteen ball on his second shot, and the eleven ball on his third. He sunk none on his fourth.
It was easy for Kelsey to sink the four ball then, but none on her next shot.
Zac sunk the ten ball. He sunk none on his next shot, but managed to leave the cue ball in a position where it would be virtually impossible for Kelsey to hit any of her balls.
Attempting not to show Zac she was annoyed (which is a hard thing to do when he knew her so well), Kelsey spent two or three minutes trying to figure out what the heck she was going to do. She checked out the angles and every possibility she could think of. It may have been virtually impossible, but she did manage to hit one of own balls. None sank, however.
He swiftly knocked in the twelve ball, followed by the thirteen ball.
She sank the five ball, the seven ball, and then the one ball.
They were now even. Left on the table was the two ball, the fourteen ball, and the eight ball. Kelsey was nervous. She was used to beating Zac, but knew that if she were in Zac’s position right now, there would be now way she’d miss getting in the fourteen ball. Which meant that he would have first dibs on the eight ball.
Sensing her nervousness, Zac smiled softly to himself and, in his irritating way, drew out the sinking of the fourteen ball. Kelsey gulped a little as it fell into the pocket.
Then it was time for the eight ball.
It would be a tricky shot, they could both see that. It was distinctly out of a direct line between the cue ball and the optimal pocket. Zac considered this for a long moment, frowned slightly, chewed his lip and tucked some of his hair behind his ear where it had slipped out of place. He lined up his cue and contemplated the angle, looking up and around numerous times.
Kelsey was getting edgy. Normally she wasn’t this tense with any game. But this time the stakes were somewhat higher. In fact, were the highest she had agreed to. She wished Zac would hurry up and hit the darn ball!
At last Zac struck. The cue ball flew across and nipped the eight ball in the side. The eight ball sailed towards the pocket… and dropped in.
“Whoo hoo!” Zac cried, exhilarated.
“Oh no,” Kelsey groaned, sinking down on a chair, then looked up hopefully. “Best of three?”
“You wish!”
“Man… I don’t want to have another baby…”
Zac sat down next her, jubilant. He grinned.
“Aww, c’mon, I won. We gotta now.”
“Why, of all the games you had to beat me, did it have to be this one?”
“Kel, I love you, but I could have beaten you any game we’ve ever played.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep. I was strategically losing,” he grinned. “I knew sooner or later it would come in useful.”
“You played the shark on your own wife?”
“Yeah. And don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done it to me, because there is no way I’d believe you. You, my dear Kel, are as deceitful as I am when it comes to pool. For all I know you have some elaborate scheme of your own that you can’t wait to play against me.”
Kelsey gave him a coy look.
“We know each other too well.”
“Way too well.”
“Wanna practice?”
“Practice what?”
“Well, you did win the game, after all.”