Dear Aphrodite, I'm Screwed

chapter 06 - part 2

"Welcome!" a familiar girl greeted. She wore the same hat as Seidon, and I recognized her immediately. Although Seidon wasn't her biggest fan, she'd always been nice to me, probably because we never had any conflicts of interests on student council. "I knew you two would show up here!"

"Yeah?" Carter looked proud. "See? We're famous."

"I wonder how that happened," I replied, though it was obvious.

His rounded eyes shone when he looked down at me. "Me too."

"Stop. You guys are reminding me that I'm single." Stacy gave a dramatic sigh before smiling. Then her hand was swishing through air as she gestured to the looming tent behind her. "Go inside! We just need to wait for one more couple and then we can start."

Carter held the flap of the tent open for me as I ducked under his arm and immediately noticed a giant table topped with some bowls and pieces of fabric. My chest felt hard at the sight of the bowls; I didn't love water, and the sizes looked somewhat perfect for dunking heads into.

"Hey guys," Carter said after we'd made it a few steps further into the tent. Six other people, three couples, stood around, some talking to each other, others scrolling on their phones or looking around curiously. At the sound of Carter's voice, their heads turned in our direction and we were greeted with a round of smiles.

"Hey," one of the guys said. I recognized him and his girlfriend, and a small wave of pride washed over me--I'd been the one who set them up, and I was happy to see that they were still together.

"I'm guessing you guys don't know what this is, either?" Carter asked, his hand mindlessly latching onto mine.

"Nope," his girlfriend spoke up. "But I heard it was fun, so why not? Plus the prize is cute."

She was right about the prize. It was a giant cat plush, one that had to be at least four feet tall, and it looked as squishy as a marshmallow. Carter turned in its direction as if seeing it for the first time, and before we could get any more words out, a loud fanfare blew through the tent as Stacy walked inside.

A couple followed her in, and with a brief flash of eye contact with the guy, I felt a prick of dread. I'd been friends with him before. Not close friends, but enough that it reminded me of the past I wanted to forget.

Carter squeezed my hand and I suddenly looked up; his gaze was curious, concerned almost, and I shot him back a smile. The past didn't matter, because I was here with Carter now. I had a friend who cared about me.

"Hello everyone!" Stacy started in an enthusiastic voice. "We can finally start Battle Royale, couple's edition! So let me go over the rules of this game. Basically, we've set up three different contests. Each contest has its own prize for the winners, and whoever wins the last one gets the biggest prize. Make sense? Ready to start? Good! First pick someone to be Person A and Person B."

"I'll be A," Carter said and I nodded in agreement.

"Notice the table behind you?" Stacy continued after it seemed like everyone had chosen a role. "And the blindfolds?"

Oh no. I glanced back up at Carter, and when he caught my gaze, he let out a quick laugh.

"What?" I whispered, and Carter shook his head.

"Nothing," he responded, a grin still lingering on his lips.

"Person A, please help Person B put the blindfold on," Stacy said.

"Which one do you want?" Carter asked as we approached the table. He let his fingers trail over the fabric of a few and I shrugged, my face feeling warm already.