"Check this out..Micaiah made meatballs." Sothe said coming through the door.
"Oh, that was nice of her. Come on we're playing out back tonight." Leonardo said closing the door behind Sothe.
"Great! Is Nolan here?" Sothe asked following Leonardo to the back porch.
"Not yet, he's bringing some sort of fancy scotch tonight." Leonardo said opening up the double doors to his porch.
"Really? Nice. I will look forward to trying some of that. Edward, what the hell are you doing?" Sothe asked.
"I'm building a fire!" Edward said as he threw wood into the open fire pit near the porch.
"Man, it is eighty degrees out here! You do not need to build a fire." Sothe told him.
"Aww, but I want to!" Edward said looking at his work that was already mostly completed.
"It's okay Edward, go ahead and finish building it. We'll want it later anyway." Leonardo said not wanting to break Edward's heart over the work he had done putting wood in the pit.
"What have you been doing? I haven't seen you for like a month and a half!" Sothe said sitting at the round table on Leonardo's porch.
"I've been working too much, the commanding officer owes me like…three weeks off now. Do you realize I made 17 bows last week!? 17! The army doesn't even need 17 bows right now, we only have five new recruits and three of them aren't even in archery!" Leonardo said.
"See, that's what I don't understand. I would think that there would be several men and women interested in joining our army right now. Wow, you have a beautiful view back here. Look at that pond." Sothe said noticing the serenity around him.
"I'm lucky to have such a nice back yard." Leonardo said.
"Hey, sorry I'm late. You know that girl that I've been seeing that you all aren't crazy about? Yeah…I think she was stealing from me so I kind of had to end that before I came over." Nolan said sitting a bottle covered in a paper bag on the table before him.
"Thank god! Nolan, that girl was just gross on all accounts." Sothe said taking the bottle out of the paper to examine it. "I will find you someone that isn't trash from Nevassa's back alleys. Here taste this." Sothe said wasting no time cracking the seal on the scotch and handing it over to Leonardo. Leonardo sniffed it.
"Wow…that smells smooth…let's find out." Leonardo tasted the scotch that Nolan had brought for the evening. Leonardo shook his head as if he agreed with what was in the bottle and handed it to Sothe.
"That is some fine scotch." Sothe said after tasting it.
"I could get us some glasses…hey Edward…will you go inside and get four glasses?" Leonardo asked noticing Edward's fire project was complete.
"Yeah, sure hold on." Edward said dusting off his hands and heading into the house.
"So you like that, huh?" Nolan asked referring to the scotch.
"Yes! I do like that. You have good taste Nolan." Sothe said.
"Oh here, I brought the deck of cards tonight." Nolan said throwing them on the table. "I'm going to wipe you all up tonight." Nolan said confidently.
"You haven't won the last three times we've played." Sothe reminded him as Edward returned with the glasses.
"Which is exactly why I am going to win tonight!" Nolan said laughing.
"Oh hold on, I have salsa and some of those barbequed sausages inside. Let me go get them." Leonardo said getting up from the table.
"How lucky are we? It's a perfect night for poker, we have a full bottle of scotch and food!" Nolan said to Sothe extending a hand to him. Sothe grabbed his hand firmly.
"We are so lucky, though I have to say I felt bad leaving Micaiah tonight. Sanaki came to visit with us a few days and tonight Micaiah and her are going to some play. Micaiah said she didn't care if I went or not but I feel like I should have gone." Sothe said.
"They'll have their fun and Micaiah probably knows that." Nolan said.
"Yeah, you're right." Sothe said. "So Edward, I have to ask you….because I've been thinking about this for at least three weeks…does Mia want to fight you all the time? I mean, does she just walk up to you and say fight me Edward! Fight me! I'm totally serious right now…I sit around and wonder about that." And even though Edward was laughing at Sothe right now he could tell that Sothe was serious.
"No…no, not all the time. Yes, we have had some really good sparring matches but I think it's out of her system for now because she beats me every time. She's great to train with." Edward said. Sothe watched him carefully.
"She just strikes me as being OH MY GOD I MUST FIGHT SOMEONE RIGHT NOW all the time. She's not like that all the time?"
"No, I promise you she's not." Edward said pouring the scotch and passing it over to Nolan.
"Alright, here we go. Now our card game can begin. Thanks to whoever poured this scotch for me." Leonardo said returning with everything he had promised.
"I'll deal." Nolan said shoving the deck in front of Sothe for him to cut it.
"You know, if any of us smoked we'd probably be smoking right now. It just seems like something you'd do when you play poker outside." Sothe said.
"Except that we don't smoke so we drink scotch instead." Edward said. Leonardo laughed.
"Me and my brother tried a cigarette together once. I was fifteen and we both coughed so much that we thought we might choke to death. Looking back that was so funny. We decided that was a habit we definitely would not pick up." Leonardo said laughing as he remembered that time. Nolan dealt the first hand of the night.
"If your brother would have jumped off a cliff you probably would have followed him right down." Sothe said smiling. "I wish I would have had that kind of bond with someone when I was growing up. I've just always thought that there's something endearing and inseparable in a brother's bond." Leonardo smiled.
"I'll tell you this, as much as we did things together we had our fair share of fights too." Leonardo shared with him. This was only the beginning of poker night and the beginning of that bottle of scotch. Leonardo had, in the past, earned himself a reputation of sharing plenty of information as the bottles disappeared. That could be dangerous as this night progressed.
"So, where's um…where's your beautiful girlfriend tonight?" Nolan asked Leonardo.
"She is at the tavern tonight helping the owners Wesley and Johann change their stew recipe. For whatever reason they want to start serving a different stew. She said they would probably make several batches tonight."
"Any chance she'll drink a lot of beer with them, get totally wasted, come over here to see you and do things to you that were never meant for my eyes?" Sothe asked. Leonardo shook his head, this was Sothe after all….you couldn't take him seriously.
"Yes, yes Sothe it will happen exactly that way." Leonardo said sarcastically.
"There is a part of me that wishes you were telling the truth, but the tone of your voice says that you're not telling the truth." Sothe said.
"I really did tell her that she could stop by tonight if she wanted but I don't think she wanted to interrupt tonight." Leonardo said.
"Oh, she can interrupt our poker night any time she wants." Sothe said. "Granted, it would be better if Micaiah would come and interrupt our poker night…ditch Sanaki and come clawing after me. You know I think Noelle is damn beautiful, but she's no Micaiah." Edward smirked and got up from the table. Thank goodness Sothe didn't see the expression on his face.
"Sothe, I swear! Do you say that to convince yourself or do you mean it?" Nolan asked winning the hand. Sothe swallowed the last of his scotch.
"I mean every word man, every word." Sothe said taking up the cards and dealing the next hand. Edward returned and as he sat down he snuck a small piece of paper onto Leonardo's hand. Leonardo looked at Edward and then at the paper. Edward had written: 'You know he knows Noelle is prettier than Micaiah, right?' Leonardo just looked at Edward and laughed.
"Edward, how's Mia doing that that she's moved nearly to the border and all? Was that a tough adjustment for her?" Nolan asked.
"Actually, she's adjusted really well. She loves her house and it's so nice waking up and seeing the river. There are deer all over the place around her house because of the apple trees. The very best part is that there is freshwater lagoon in the woods behind her house. She's not sure how many people know about it. But the water there is so clear that you can see the fish swimming around. There's a waterfall that pours into it…it's just the most perfect place." Leonardo eyed Edward very carefully. There was more to that story…Leonardo hadn't heard about that before but he could tell in Edward's voice that there was, without a doubt, more to that story.
"God, you all are so lucky. I want what you have, I really do. Even though in the past I know I have not been…very wholesome for any woman. After this last girl I realize that I don't want what I used to want." Nolan confessed. "But here's what I don't understand…you're married and you two are in very committed relationships…I'm going to be 39 in a month…you two are seventeen years younger than me." Nolan pointed to Edward and Leonardo. "And you are fifteen years younger than me…now at the risk of sounding like an old man….when I was your age the last thing in the world I wanted was a committed relationship with anyone. What's the difference? What insane trait do the three of you possess that I lacked when I was your age?" Nolan wondered sincerely.
"Well, I knew I would marry Micaiah from the time we were both like fourteen years old because she was all I had and I was all she had and we've been inseparable ever since then. She didn't need a 3.75 carat diamond ring for her to know I would marry her…I got her that because I loved her and she deserved it. She's always known there was no way in hell I would ever leave her. And there is no way…I would ever…ever break her heart. So to answer your question Nolan, I truly think there are some men that are less monogamous than others. I think you my friend, are the one that took 15 years to get anti-monogamy out of your system." Sothe made an excellent point.
"Wow! That was exquisitely put, Sothe." Nolan said. "I have to say I think you're right."
"Take him for example." Sothe pointed to Leonardo. "He's slept with Noelle and there is no way…no way in this world that he would do that if he didn't insanely love her. Now you…" Leonardo cut him off.
"Wait…wait…how…did you know that?" Leonardo questioned him. Sothe laid his cards down and picked up his glass. He smiled and licked his lips nervously as he swirled the scotch around the glass.
"I um…I…didn't know that…actually…I….oh my god I wasn't even trying to corner you! I was being hypothetical. Oh my god, I'm going to need more scotch." Sothe said still smiling nervously. He honestly did not mean to put Leonardo in the corner like that and truthfully he felt a little bad. Right now Edward looked as if he were going to faint. "Okay, okay. If I win this next hand…you tell me when and where and I swear to you…I won't ask anything else. Not even after I have a lot of scotch in me, I swear Leonardo! I won't do that to you, man!" Sothe said emphatically as Leonardo dealt the cards. Edward felt suddenly a little more relieved but he didn't know why. He wasn't going to dare utter a word about how much he knew.
"Alright, but only if you win this hand." Leonardo told him.