We had all gone away for a month, us six guys: Ray, Mike, John, Matthew, Paul and myself. It was supposed to be a bonding thing. We were in the heart of the countryside, staying in Paul's family's holiday home. It was miles from anywhere and it was going to be our last group outing together before Ray got married.
To begin with it was fun. Just the six of us together, nobody's girlfriend allowed (or in John's case, boyfriend). We drank beer and ate pizza and stayed up late playing poker and doing generally male things. The cooking was split between John and myself and we had a great time.
But it was getting boring. There was no TV and we had run out of ways to amuse ourselves.
Then one night, a week after we'd arrived, we were sitting around having our regular poker session and Matthew was complaining that there was no fun in it. Ray usually won anyway and none of us could afford to wager any serious money.
"There is one solution," said John casually.
"What's that?" said Matthew.
"Strip poker," said John, raising an eyebrow.
This idea was greeted around the table with a weird silence. We were all looking at each other, trying to see who'd be the first one to turn it down. Nobody wanted to bottle out. We were all grinning.
Eventually Mike said, "Well, I'm game."
"So am I," said Matthew.
"So am I," I said.
Only Ray and Paul were holding out, grinning at each other. Of all of us, Paul was the least likely to go for it, while Ray would do anything to show off. Paul held Ray's gaze and said "Sure."
"Fair enough," said Ray, and he collected up our cards and started to shuffle them.
"How about a side condition?" said Matthew with an evil grin. "Whoever loses has to do whatever the winner wants for the rest of the evening."
I glanced at John. He was looking at me sidelong, a spark of mischief in his face. I grinned, a little nervously. This was shaping up to be potentially very embarrassing for whichever poor bastard lost the game. These guys were my best friends, which isn't to say that I trusted any of them for a moment.
"Sounds good," said John. The rest of us nodded assent, trying to look as confident as we didn't feel.
The game started, and I was having a run of luck. I'm not the best poker player in the world, but I was doing well and my bluffing was working. One by one, items of clothing came off; shoes, then socks, then shirts and then pants, and one by one whoever was down to his pants invariably folded before having to go all the way. John was loudly voicing his disappointment that none of us had had the nerve to push our luck.
He changed his tune half an hour later when he was down to his jockey shorts and facing Ray, who was in t-shirt and boxers, and me who still had my cargo pants on over my own boxers. He folded. We slagged him for that. John was camp and extravagant, but he wasn't that much of an exhibitionist.
So it was between Ray and myself, and while he was the better player, I had the better hand. Two pairs. There was no way Ray had anything to beat that.
"I'll see your boxers," I said, "and I'll raise you my boxers and my pants."
There was a low whistle. The tension was electric. Six slightly drunk young men in various stages of undress were sitting quietly in a circle, and there was something undeniably erotic about all the testosterone in the room. I had the beginning of a slight hard-on. I knew I wasn't really risking it, but I was hoping that if we played another hand I might lose, and have to pay the forfeit. In the meantime I was planning what to do with Ray when he lost those boxers.
"I'll call you," he said carefully.
I knew he was bluffing. Smiling, I laid down my two pairs. One of the guys gasped. I knew I'd beaten him.
He looked at them impassively for a moment. Then he looked up at me and said softly, "Not bad."
Then he laid down his own cards. A full house.
The guys burst out laughing and cheering. I went totally crimson. I couldn't believe he'd beaten me and that I was now going to have to strip naked in front of them.
Ray grinned. "Get out there in front of the fire," he said, and took a pull at his beer.
I got up from the table and walked the walk of shame, over to where the fire was burning. The guys were chanting "Strip! Strip!"
I decided to do it quickly. I unbuttoned my cargo pants and let them drop down my legs, then I stepped out of them and pulled my shorts down, stepping out of them too. I picked up my clothes and tossed them aside. I was finally naked. There were cheers.