A Game

Quiet chatter filling a quaint cafe, people moving about behind the counter with smooth yet swift movements, making drinks, calling names. A few people get out from their seats to grab their food and drinks, some remain seated as waiters drop off whatever they had ordered, eyes not focused on what was around them, taking infrequent sips of whatever they had. Fingers clicking against keys on thin laptops, someone even drawing on an iPad in the corner of a couch.

The quaint clamor of the shop was broken for but a moment as someone entered, sitting down in one of the many empty tables, another chair sitting right across from them, eyes focused on that seat as another person had entered.

The first: an older man, black hair slicked back, a goatee resting on their face, a few gray hairs sprinkled here and there - wearing a tan cargo jacket and black jeans. The second to have entered was a younger man, sitting right across from the older one - hair was long and black, tied messily in a ponytail, eyes were like two sapphire crystals, clad in the same color as his hair - baggy black shirt, black sweats, black vans.

The younger man licked his lips promptly, clearly nervous, clawing on a small collar on his neck, just barely visible beneath all the black he had on. The older man's eyes focused as he looked at the young man's collar, noticing the slightest bit of hair on his face, barely visible, just like whatever else he could've been wearing at the moment.

The older man reached out, "I'm Vick, you?" The young man hesitated for a moment before shaking Vick's hand.

"Chance... Chance Hunt." They let go of each other, Chance falling back down into his seat, running his hands through one another. "Let's just do a simple game. One that'll end quickly, yeah?"

Vick glanced at Chance's hands, "What would you propose?"

Chance twisted his jaw, "Coin - we'll flip a coin." Chance grabbed a quarter from his pocket, "I'll flip it," Chance paused, looking Vick in the eyes, "Will you go first or last?"

Vick leaned into the backrest of his seat, "Should we really...?"

"Do you want to make this longer than it has to be? We don't have a lot of time anyway."

Vick pressed his lips together, furrowing his brow, bottom lip quivering, sweat beading across his forehead as he leaned in closer to the table. They could almost feel each other's knots within their throats. Vick let out a sigh, looking almost as if he wants to cry, "I'll... I'll go first."

Chance nodded, "Alright... call it.

"W-wait."

"What?"

"We should make it to where whoever gets three wins - wins the game."

Chance nodded, "Alright." He placed the tip of his thumb under the quarter, "Call it."

Vick nodded, "Heads."

Chance closed his eyes for a moment before opening them, taking a deep breath before letting out a long sigh, flipping the coin, catching it in mid-air, and placing it on the back of his hand without looking at the coin once. "Right..." Chance chuckled, "I feel like I'm doing this backward but... fuck it." He took his hand off from the coin, it was "heads."

Chance cursed under his breath as Vick breathed a sigh of relief, putting out his hand, "Will I go next?"

Chance shook his head, "Nah, I'll flip the coin. But I'll have you remember what I call so you make sure I'm not cheating or anything."

Vick clicked his tongue, "How would I know if you're not cheating then? Just hearing you say what you call isn't enough dumbass."

"Pay attention to the fuckin' hand movements then." Chance leaned back, "I call tails." Flipping the coin in the air, catching it, placing it on top of the back of his hand. He quickly lifted his hand, revealing "heads." Chance's face looked sour, "Fuck..."

Vick chuckled, "That's one win, I'll call heads again."

Chance hissed through gritted teeth, "Alright." He flipped the coin, grabbed it mid-air, placed it on his hand, lifted one, "Tails."

Vick clicked his tongue, "Damnit..."

Chance swallowed through a dry throat, wiping sweat from his forehead away. "Alright, this time, I call heads." Chance flipped the coin again, grabbing it, landing it. "Tails." Chance bit his lower lip, "Fuck me."

Vick smirked at Chance's reaction, "Alright, I choose..." Vick paused, looking to a waiter coming in their direction, stopping the waiter in their tracks.

"How may I help you, sir?" The waiter asked.

"I'd like a coffee and some of those crussaints you got."

"You mean croissants?"

"Yeah."

"How many?"

"How many do you have?"

"We can always make more so..."

"I'll have four."

The waiter nodded, "Would you like anything else with your coffee?"

Vick shook his head, "No."

"Alright, will that be all?"

"Yes."

The waiter nodded again, "Alright," They turned to Chance, "Would you like anything?"

Chance almost shook his head but stopped himself, "I'd like... do you have green tea?"

"Yes, we do."

"I'd like that, and that'd be all."

"Alright, I'll be back with your orders." The waiter left, leaving the both of them in silence.

Vick leaned forward, "I'll choose tails."

Chance nodded slowly, flipping the coin, catching it, placing it, removing his hand. "Heads." Vick cursed under his breath, biting at his thumbnail. "Okay..." Chance's voice wavered, "Heads... I call heads." He flipped the coin, repeating the same pattern as before, revealing, "Heads." Chance bit his lower lip, leaning over the table, eyes closed as relief and excitement came across his entire body.

"Fuckin' tied..." Vick growled, "I'll go heads."

Chance sighed, "Okay," He flipped the coin, "Heads."

Vick chuckled, "Fuckin' got it."

"Tails... I'll do tails." Chance was about to flip the coin...

"Hey..." Chance stopped, looking at Vick.

"What?"

"Y'know... I have a family. I have people I need to go back to, okay? Just fuckin' give up. We can make this easy."

"No... I..."

"It's 2 and 1, 50/50. But... that doesn't mean you've got a chance. You already have one, I got two. Even if you won another there's no chance you co-"

"Shut the fuck up." Chance flipped the coin, getting "Tails." Chance let out a faint chuckle, looking Vick in the eyes, "See that? Fuck you."

"Fuckin'..." Vick leaned over the table in one quick lunge, hand tensed as he pointed at Chance, finger close to their face, "Y'hear me!?" It was in a yelling whisper but it still caused some within the cafe to look at them with quizzical stares, "If I fuckin' lose this I'm fucking killing you." He sat back down, "I'll fucking kill you."

"Call it..." Chance whispered.

Vick tightened his jaw, "Heads."

Chance flipped the coin, "Tails." Vick recoiled showing an expression that couldn't be easily described - disgust, anger, dismay, all put into one face. "Oka-"

The waiter arrived, placing everything down, coffee and croissants on Vick's side, green tea for Chance. "Have a great day... also, please don't disturb the other customers." The waiter paused, glancing at the both of them before bowing, "Good day."

Vick let out a long sigh, sliding into his chair more and more, "Let's take a step back -- a break."

Chance nodded, "Alright... let's take a break." Chance took a sip of his tea, Vick took a bite of one of his croissants, taking a sip of his coffee as well to wash it down.

"My son loves croissants. Has always loved 'em when he was a kid and loved them even more as he grew up."

"How old is your son?"

Vick hesitated, "He just got into college -- nineteen years old," Vick paused, taking another sip of coffee and taking another bite from his myriad of croissants. "I used to not like these..." He paused, "I almost said it wrong again, it was croissant, right?" Chance nodded, "Okay..." Vick swallowed it all, "I used to not like 'em... but I grew to love it just as much as he did. I also have a daughter... my son has a... son." Vick stopped for a few seconds, "Too young..." He took another bite from the half-eaten croissant.

"You support them?"

"Of course... I'm his father after all." Vick shook his head, "Enough about me... tell me about yourself."

"I have nothing to say. More like... I don't want to talk about it."

Vick chuckled, "Come on! I told ya about myself, why don't you tell me some things. Like, how'd you end up here?"

"Gambling... debts... et cetera. Wanted a quick way out. What about you?"

"Well... I think I've told you enough."

Chance took a sip of his tea, placing it down on a small mat on the table before grabbing the coin again, "I call... heads." Chance flipped the coin, grabbed it, placed it on the back of his hand, "Tails..." Chance placed the palm of his hand on his forehead, hands shaking, "God..." his eyes were closed as he prayed for a few seconds. He shook his head, leaning forwards once more. "It's your turn, Vick."

"I choose... heads." Vick paused, "Hey... it was nice knowing ya... is what I would say but, to be honest. It was quite unpleasant but if it weren't for the circumstances... maybe this wouldn't have been so bad."

Chance looked at Vick, then back at the coin, flipping it. It landed on "Tails." Chance pulled back in the chair, breathing a sigh of relief as Vick's face showed he was dumbfounded, completely shocked. Chance, leaned forward, "Heads... I call heads." He looked Vick in the eyes, "Okay...?"

"Are you provoking me?" Vick's face was completely red, veins popping out from his forehead, "You fuck."

"Don't get overly confident..." Chance flipped the coin and it landed on "Heads." They both froze in shock for a moment before Chance quickly distanced himself away from the table they were at. Vick lifting himself up from his chair, about to b-line it to Chance before the collar around his neck visibly tightened for a moment, Vick's face becoming pale, grasping at his neck as blood leaked out from his nose, slowly turning purple before collapsing to the ground, dead. Chance tried to back away, stumbling and falling into a myriad of tables, hands shaking, cursing under his breath, not knowing how he should feel as a wry smile came across his lips. Chance looked around, people-watching in horror at what had just happened.

Chance ran out the door...