A Simple Bet

Holly walked into the kitchen where her roommate Jenn was preparing breakfast and started a pot of coffee. Holly was avoiding eye contact, knowing exactly what Jenn was going to say. It was the third morning this week that a different guy had walked out of the apartment before Holly even started to get ready for classes. It was her senior year at Drexel University and Holly was just having fun; while some of her friends were in serious relationships, that just wasn’t her thing. In Holly’s mind, college was the time for fun and flings, relationships only caused pain.

“Don’t even say it, Jenn.”

“What was his name?”

“Eric,” Holly replied, “he’s in my European Lit class and was explaining Shakespeare to me last night.”

“A real charmer then,” she laughed.

Just then there was a knock on the apartment door and Jenn’s boyfriend Andrew was waiting to escort her to class. The two of them had been together since the middle of freshman year and it was clear that they were going to get married after graduation. While Holly and Jenn had very different views on love, they always remained close friends.

“Are you gonna be home tonight?” Jenn asked before walking out the door.

“Probably not, Mel and I are going to O’Doul’s,” Holly responded referring to her favorite local pub.



It was a typical night at O’Doul’s with the same basic crowd. Holly found herself chatting with a guy who she vaguely recognized from her US History class. He was pretty interesting and very cute, so she let him buy her a few drinks. Mel had disappeared somewhere with a plan to meet up around midnight to check on the other.

“Hi,” Holly heard a smug voice say. She looked up from her drink to find Mr. History gone and a smirking red head in front of her. He was about 5’11 and kind of cute, but Holly couldn’t help but find herself annoyed with his presence.

“Umm, hi,” Holly responded, obviously looking around the guy in front of her.

“What are you looking for?”

“The guy that was just in front of me.”

“He left.”

“Well I’m going to find him.”

“Why, when I’m right here?”

“I prefer him and I always get what I want.”

“So do I,” he replied smugly as Holly walked away, her blonde hair swaying behind her. She had no idea who this guy was or why he thought that he could get his way. All Holly saw was a smug little jackass who was not going to get any attention from her. She could feel his eyes watching her walk across the pub and over to a group of her friends. There was no denying that Holly loved the attention, but she hated a guy who tried too hard.



Claude saw the beautiful blonde from across the room and knew that he was going to get her. She was chatting with some guy and smiling in that way girls do when they want free drinks. He immediately walked towards her; the guy must have recognized him because as soon as Claude was nearing the girl, he left.

She was even more beautiful up close. Claude looked at her blue eyes and knew that this girl was everything he could want in a one night stand. As soon as she noticed that the other guy was gone, the smile disappeared. It was going to be harder than he thought to get her attention…but there was nothing Claude Giroux loved more than a challenge.

Even though the girl was completely standoffish towards him, Claude wanted her more than anything. He knew better than to try again; every hockey player knew that type. This was the kind of girl who could get whatever guy she wanted and if the guy tried too hard, then she would be turned off. Next step would be to completely ignore her.

Claude went back over to where his teammates were standing.

“What happened over there, G?” Scott Hartnell asked.

“She’s playing hard to get.”

“Sure that it wasn’t just that she didn’t want you?” Danny Briere added.

“Like that’s possible,” Claude answered.

Claude Giroux had become an NHL superstar over the previous year and anyone who was a fan of the game was typically a fan of him. Girls typically fell at his feet in any city. He could immediately tell that the blonde girl wasn’t a hockey fan, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to get exactly what he wanted.



It was Friday afternoon and Holly was laying in the living room watching bad daytime TV when Jenn and Andrew came in from class.

“Seriously Jenn,” Holly started, “who has class on Fridays?”

“People who want to go to med school,” Jenn replied, “have you been on the couch all day?”

“Pretty much.”

“How was the bar last night?”

“It sucked,” she responded bitterly.

“What happened?”

“Some asshole got in the way of sealing the deal with a hot guy.”

“Holl,” Andrew started, “don’t take this the wrong way, but you really sound like a guy sometimes.”

All three of them laughed and then made plans to go to O’Doul’s again that night. Although Jenn worked hard during the week, she did enjoy going out on the weekends to unwind. Holly was just hoping that red haired jackass wouldn’t be there again.



The Flyers had a home game that Friday night against the New York Islanders. They believed that it would be an easy win and the team was pretty relaxed going into the game. Unfortunately, they were probably too relaxed because the young team of high draft picks took the game into their own hands pretty early.

After the game, Claude was pissed and needed to go out and blow off steam. A few of the guys just wanted to go home. The team was leaving the next afternoon for their west coast road trip and would be gone for a week.

“Let’s go to O’Doul’s,” Claude said to his teammate Jake Voracek.

“Looking for that girl again?” Hartnell teased from across the locker room.

“What girl?” Jake asked?

“Last night at the bar some girl completely blew him off,” Briere answered.

“Someone blew off the great Claude Giroux…and you want to find her again?”

“Come on Jake, it’s a bar.”

“Oh, I’m in.”

Claude and Jake were often mistaken for brothers to those who didn’t know them. Then as soon as Jake spoke and his Czech accent came out, it was pretty obvious that there was no relation. The two walked in the bar and Claude immediately looked around to see if that blonde was there. He spotted her immediately with a couple and another girl…the second girl had been there the night before also.

“Are you going to go up to her?”

“Nope.”

“So we’re going to stand her and pretend to not see her?”

“Yep.”

“Claude Giroux, you are an interesting person.”



Holly walked into O’Doul’s with Mel, Jenn, and Andrew and made a bee line to the bar. She wanted to start drinking early to erase the memories of the night before. Holly had no idea why this guy was getting to her, but the smug, cocky jerk weaseled his way in.

She scanned the bar once she had the drink and saw him across the room. He was with a different guy than the night before. Holly found it interesting that he showed up and left with a guy for two nights in a row.

“He’s here,” she said, turning to her roommate.

“Where?” suddenly, Jenn was taking an interest.

“Over there,” Holly responded, pointing to the corner.

“Holy shit,” Andrew practically yelled.

“What?”

“Holly, that’s Claude Giroux.”

“Who?”

“Philadelphia Flyers. Hockey. Superstar,” each word was its own sentence.

That didn’t really mean anything to Holly except that it explained why he felt so high about himself. It also might have explained why the guy she was chatting with the night before was so quick to bolt. Stupid college boys and their mancrushes on athletes turning them into idiots. Sometimes, they were worse than little girls and boybands.

All night, Holly would see Claude looking at her, but he would quickly turn away. It was Friday night and she had a few drinks, so Holly found her way to the dance floor and tried to ignore the staring eyes. There were a few good looking guys surrounding her, so she picked one to dance with. This guy started to kiss her on the dance floor and Holly obliged. It was a night like any other in Holly Taylor’s college life.

The guy’s name was Justin and Holly spent the night in his apartment which wasn’t too far from her own. She didn’t think that it would be more than a one night stand, but that’s all Holly was looking for. A relationship meant being someone else’s other half and Holly was all her own.



The following week, Holly went back to the same bar that she always went to and had the same routing, but something felt a little different. She found herself looking for that guy again. She almost missed getting the attention from across the room and flaunting herself to make sure he knew that he wasn’t going to get it. She had remembered Andrew saying something about the Flyers being on the road, so she didn’t expect it on Saturday night when Claude Giroux returned to O’Doul’s.

Holly was caught completely off guard when he walked up to the bar and sat down on the stool next to her, just as he had done a week earlier.

“So,” he started, “you’re not interested in me, but are you interested in a wager?”

“What kind of wager?”

“First, tell me your name.”

“Holly Tell me the wager.”

“Nice to meet you, Holly, I’m Claude.”

“Ok.”

“You’re not at all fazed by me.”

“Nope.”

“Okay, here’s the deal. You think you can get any guy at this bar to go home with you tonight.”

“I know I can.”

“And I can get any girl.”

“Except me.”

“Well then, here’s the deal: whoever can pick someone up easier wins. If I win, you come home with me.”

“And if I win?”

“Anything you want.”

“You leave me alone. Does this end tonight?”

“Nope, we keep score. Make it a game.”

“This sounds like someone guys do.”

“From what I’ve seen and heard, you can party with the best of the guys.”

“Nothing wrong with a girl having some fun.”

“Nothing at all. Game ends at the end of your semester. Keep a good tally…I want first names.”

“One rule…no cock blocking.”

“Deal.”

They took shots of tequila to seal the deal. This wasn’t a wager that Holly would usually take, but if she was going to continue her way of life, then it was an easy way to get rid of Claude Giroux.



Over the next two months, Claude and Holly lived as if they never met each other, except one major difference. They started to text each other about every person they had sex with. When they were at the bar at the same time, they came very close to breaking the line of their one rule.

Claude found himself learning that Holly was just a female version of himself. She was also smart, beautiful, funny, and a lot of fun to be around. Claude realized that he was falling for this girl and their game wasn’t as fun anymore. He wanted to lie to her to make sure that he won the bet. The last thing Claude wanted was to agree to never talk to Holly again. He had no idea how she felt about him.

In the middle of December, it had been almost two months since the bet had been made and the two made plans to meet at the bar where it all started.

“So my last final is tomorrow.”

“Which means.”

“Bet is over, I guess you won,” it upset Claude that Holly seemed upset. “I’ll be at your apartment after your game tomorrow night.”

Claude wanted to tell Holly that he lied and that his number was half if not lower than what he told her. He wanted to win the bet and would have done anything to do it…except actually sleeping with that many girls. Claude was never sure if Holly was being completely truthful, but he found himself increasingly jealous of the names he would read.



Holly finished her last final and went home to change. She found herself fixing her hair and putting on makeup. She also picked out the perfect little black dress. Claude wouldn’t be home until after eleven, but she was ready well before that.

“You look good,” Jenn said, “where are you going tonight.”

“Claude’s,” she responded quietly. No one knew about the bet other than Holly and Claude, at least she didn’t tell anyone. Deep down, Holly wasn’t sure if she wanted to win because the more they talked, the more she realized that he wasn’t as much of a self-centered, narcissistic asshole as she had once thought.

“You’re finally going on a date?” Jenn sounded excited.

“What’s with the tone?”

“You two are practically the same person and since you’re both so in love with yourselves, you’re pretty much in love with each other. I have to go, Andrew’s waiting.”

Jenn walked out the door and Holly wasn’t able to say another word. If Claude cared enough about her, he wouldn’t have had sex with all of those girls over the past couple of months.



“Wow, you look amazing, Holly.”

“Thanks.”

“We don’t have to do this,” Claude couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“You won fair and square.”

“No I didn’t.”

“What?”

“I lied for the chance to be with you, Holly. I…I can’t do this.”

“Do what?”

“Are you kidding? I’ve fallen for you Holly and you know that you like me too. I didn’t sleep with those girls. It took me this long to tell myself that I’m ready to change. I want to be in a relationship with you. I want to only be with you.”

Holly didn’t say a word in response. Claude went closer and grabbed her, kissing her like he had never kissed anyone else before. He felt her body weaken as he put his hands around her face, deepening the best kiss of his life.

“You sleep with another girl, I kill you,” Holly said pulling away. Claude kissed her again and Holly wrapped her arms around him too.

Turns out, it took finding themselves in someone else for Claude and Holly to discover love. Relationships took on a new meaning and neither wanted to be with anyone else.