"So," Erin said, shuffling her deck of cards expertly.
"You all know how to play?" she asked.

The five boys nodded.

"No duhh," Ben said.

"Hey," Erin replied sternly and started dealing two cards to everyone.

Once they were all out, she dealt herself, and set the deck down in favor for her two cards.

She smiled at her cards, set them back down.
"Staying." she announced. "Anyone wanna hit?"
"Hit me," Ben said, holding out his hand.
"Hit me," Connor added.
"Staying,"
"Me too,"
"Staying." announced the other three.
"Hit me," Ben repeated with a sigh.
"Staying," concluded Connor.

"Well boys," Erin said at last.
"Let's see what you got."
Connor laid down fifteen, Ben had nineteen, Chris had twenty along with Mike and Luke had gone over.
Erin smugly laid down twenty-one.
"I win," she said.

Ben glared at her.
"You cheated." he accused her.
Erin gasped. "I think not," she replied. Ben raised an eyebrow.
"You deal then, grouch." she snapped, and thrust the deck at him, which he shuffled twice before handing out cards.

This hand, Connor had received a twenty-one, and was extremely proud of himself, sitting back, watching the others draw and go over, like Chris who hit twice and ended up with twenty-seven and Luke with twenty-two. Ben got nineteen and Mike ended up with seventeen.
Erin showed her own twenty-one, and Connor's mouth dropped. "What?" he said.
Ben grinned.
"Alright," he said, and dealt a tie-breakers hand.
"I got nine," he said.
Erin grinned. "Seventeen," she replied.
Then she looked at Ben.
"I suppose you helped me cheat now, huh?"

Ben only grinned and dealt another hand.
The group played for over four hours, and by the time they stopped, it was two in the morning.
The boys had taught Erin poker and rummy, two card games she'd heard of but never played.

Then they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Who is gonna come knocking at two?" Chris asked, rather perturbed.
"Maybe the counselors," Ben offered, getting up, followed by the crowd.
They made their way down the stairs, Ben first, and to the door.
"She's fine," Ben stated while he opened the door, then he froze.
It wasn't a counselor member at all.

"Who are you?" Ben asked, staring down at someone at the door.

Erin pushed her way to the front.
"Who is it?" she asked, squeezing between Luke and Chris, who weren't moving an inch.

Finally, she managed to slip through Chris' barrier to see Brandon standing on their porch.
"He...," he said to Ben, his eyes continuously drifting back and forth to Erin and Ben.
"I'm here for Erin." he added, looking straight at her.

Erin furrowed her eyebrows.
"This late? For what?"

Brandon smiled. "There's a party at my cabin," he said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at a cabin with all lights on in the distance.

Ben stared the guy down.
"What for?" he demanded.

Brandon looked at Ben equally as stern, even though he was a good four inches shorter than him.
"Just because. Now, does she need permission from you to leave this cubicle or something? 'Cause if you don't mind, I'd like to get her there before the party is over."

Ben glared at Brandon.

"Party?" Erin asked Brandon, looking at him with big blue eyes.

Brandon nodded. "I mean...if you want to." he told her.
"You don't have to if you don't want to. I know it's late and all..."

Erin shook her head.
"I'd love to go!" she said happily.

Chris' head shot toward her.
"What?" he demanded.

Erin shrugged.
"Why not?" she asked.
"It's a party. Be right back, Brandon." she called to him, and ran up the stairs.

Chris turned to Brandon.
"Dude...what are you doing?" he snarled.

Brandon pretended to be interested in the inside of their dorm.
"Come on, man. You know exactly what' going on. She's hot. And you've obviously made no move. And I'm interested. So...you put it all together." he told him.
"Nice cabin..." he added for spite.

Chris glared at Brandon for a minute, then turned and stomped up the stairs.

Ben watched him go, feeling sorry for the guy.
Then, he walked over to the door.
"She'll come out when she's ready," he told Brandon, and promptly closed the door in his face.

Upstairs, Erin grabbed a pair of shorts and a red shirt with a tie in the back and ran into the bathroom. She quickly dry shaved her legs, rubbing some lotion on them quickly before jumping into the new shorts, and throwing on some mascara, eyeliner, and eye shadow and a little lip gloss.
Then, she put on a white bra and her red shirt, smoothing it down her stomach.
Deciding she would keep her hair in a pony tail, she brushed it out, and walked out of the bathroom, searching for her flip flops.

On the other side of the room, Chris was laying on his bed, going through breathing exercises

Erin looked up for a minute, and then continued her search.
"Chris, you alright?"

Chris was silent for a minute, staring at the wall across from him.

"Chris?"

"Yeah.." Chris replied gruffly.
"I'm fine."

Erin snickered.
"It doesn't sound like it. What's wrong?"

Chris groaned.
"Nothing." he snapped at her.

Erin looked at him, hurt.
"Alright. I'm sorry for asking," she said, and left abruptly after finding her flip flops.

She walked downstairs, seeing all the boys deep in conversations on the couches.
They stopped when she walked down.
Suddenly, Erin felt like the rabbit amongst the wolves. Out of place. Wrong. Out numbered.

She waved to them hesitantly, grabbed her phone, and walked out the door.

Brandon was waiting for her, leaning against the rail.
"Hey," he said, and looked her down.
"Why did you change?" he asked her. "You looked fine."

Erin shrugged.
"I wanted to." she replied.

Brandon smiled.
"Well, you still look great." he told her, offering her his arm, which she looped hers through.

"I'll lead you to my cabin," he told her with a grin, and began walking with her.