Before settling in to watch the Bears and the Lions play, Carla ordered a few pizzas from a local place recommended by a clerk at the front desk. Everyone sat and watched the game, which was actually fairly entertaining for a game between two mediocre teams. The food was delivered just before halftime and the hungry group devoured the pizzas, all except Carla, who was too be nervous to eat, wondering how soon the outcome of her bet would be settled. The second half of the game kept everyone distracted, with the score staying close. Noticing there were only two slices of pizza left and hours of football ahead, Carla ordered a few more pies.
Joe and Tim had done a better job of estimating how much alcohol the group would be able to go through. Despite downing close to one bottle per quarter each, their beer supply looked like it might be able to see them through all three games, with a little help from some Rum and Tequila they’d brought. Carla had switched over to small, well-spaced shots of Tequila by the 4th quarter. With the first game almost over, she said, to no one in particular, “I haven’t seen a single commercial for the Steeler’s game, doesn’t that seem strange?”
“Maybe it’s a regional thing, the only team people around here care about is the Dolphins,” said Eric, chuckling a bit.
“Still, if the Dolphins aren’t playing today the local station is still going to show whoever is playing, right?” Carla asked. She picked up her phone and started tapping it, saying, “there must be somewhere I can see today’s schedule.”
“Don’t bother, Carla,” said Ed, “You won’t be able to find out what time today the Steelers are playing using your phone, either.”
“Why wouldn’t I, is it some kind of secret?”
“No secret at all,” Ed answered, beginning to smile, “They simply aren’t one of the six teams playing today; if you were as big a fan of them as you claim to be, you’d have known that.”
“There is no Steelers game? Okay, it’s true I didn’t know that, but you’ve all been acting like there was one all this time, you’re a sneakier lot than I thought. I guess with no game, none of us can win or lose our bet, what a lot of buildup for nothing!” she said a bit nervously. She muted the TV to focus on the sudden change in their conversation.
“Well, actually,” Joe interrupted, “if you read the contract carefully, you’ll see that paragraph 3 states: ‘If the Pittsburgh Steelers football team does not score any points at all in a National Football League game on Thursday, November 28, 2021, Bettor A (Carla Mc Enders) agrees to remove all of her clothing and remain naked until the end of whatever NFL game is currently in progress, in view of Bettors B, C, D, E, and F, named above,” it’s pretty clear about what’s required.”
“Oh. My. God. You can’t actually expect me to get naked in front of you all to settle a bet on the score of a nonexistent game? Are you kidding me?”
“You did agree to the terms,” Bill said, “and seemed pretty sure you were going to win a bunch of our money!”
“Whatever the damned contract says, this doesn’t seem very fair,” she whined.
“Fair? You’ve obviously never dealt with an actual bookie!” Eric said, laughing.
The TV silently showed the Bears edging the Lions by 2 points with a field goal with 1 second left on the clock, but nobody in Carla’s suite cared, or even noticed.
“I can’t believe you guys,” she fumed, “I thought you were gentlemen. Looks like I was mistaken, but as fucked up as this bet is, technically I did lose. I’ve never welched on a bet before, and I’m not going to now!”
A brief between games pregame show for the Cowboys vs Las Vegas game rolled silently by, unnoticed by anyone in suite 416, not being anywhere near as fascinating as the possibility that Carla might actually be about to get naked!
Moments after Las Vegas kicked off to Dallas to start the game, Carla picked up the remote and turned the TV off, then stood up and stepped in front of the blank screen. From the first moment she believed this was really going to happen, she’d felt it only fair that she have the undivided attention of her audience. It seemed a small thing to ask if she was going to strip nude right in front of them; if any of the men missed the play by play, they were wise enough to keep their objections to themselves.
The five men were pretty pleased with themselves for having tempted her into an unwinnable bet, one which would inevitably result in her being naked in their midst, and stay exposed for at least a couple of hours! Only Carla knew how much she had helped steer events to bring about the result they wanted, which she wanted at least as much!
She’d been imagining this moment ever since Tuesday night, when her companions were convinced that she didn’t really know much about football. While she didn’t follow the sport anywhere near as closely as they did, it would be hard for anyone living in the vicinity of Pittsburgh NOT to at least know when the Steelers were or were not playing. She realized after the fact that the $100 tip Ed had given the bartender might have been partially a payment to keep the bartender from mentioning which teams were going to be playing on Thanksgiving. “You could have saved your money, Ed,” she thought, “I already knew the schedule!”
The guy’s razzing her for always calling it a night earlier than they did had given her an excuse to mention her antics last Thanksgiving, planting the image of her getting naked in a bar in their minds. The hotel bar being closed on Thanksgiving had been a big help in getting her to this point, as had the men’s persistence in trying to overcome her refusal to bet much money. Taking away their chance to make much money on a bet with her steered them towards coming up with more interesting stakes.
Standing still and silent before her audience, Carla was surprised to find that despite having willingly helped set herself up to do this crazy thing, actually taking the first step was proving harder than she thought it would be. Having thought of little else the past couple of days didn’t keep her hands from getting clammy or her heart from racing. Oddly, she began to feel a bit calmer once she had taken the first, small step down the path she’d set for herself; she raised both hands towards her neck and popped free the top button on her blouse. Instead of continuing with the remaining four buttons down the front of the shiny gold garment, she unfastened the two buttons at each cuff.
Carla’s five-man audience began to clap, but went quiet when she spun around to face the window, her back to them. She worked her way down the row of buttons, and when they were all unfastened she pulled the edges wide open and looked over her shoulder to see how the men were reacting to this little bit of teasing. Instead of baring her shoulders, she pulled the blouse closed again, then turned to face the men.
As soon as she finished her turn she jerked her blouse wide open, revealing what was beneath – a big number 12 on a black Steelers jersey! Despite having expected to by now be seeing less fabric and more of her skin, the men were all old enough to remember Terry Bradshaw as a player, before his gig as a TV personality, mixing some laughter with their cheers. The cheers were joined by some whistling as they watched Carla slide her arms free and toss her blouse aside.