Stray

XII

Cain

Peyton was coming back down from the stairs. She was an unfamiliar face at the gathering. With the makeup on and these clothes, she almost looked like she fit in, and he found himself looking at her in a way he hadn't before. She kept a hand on the staircase bannister as she came back to the living room. He could hear the hushed whispers around them, and there was no doubt she could hear them too. She kept one hand clasped so tightly against her bag that her knuckles were white.

How did she know Kade? Their conversation looked like more than just small talk. Cain met her at the bottom of the stairs. His hand brushed against hers and he reached his pinky out to pull her hand to his, but she drew hers back, looking back at him before walking ahead down the hallway into the kitchen.

He grabbed a red cup from the kitchen table and mixed a bit of vodka with some punch in it. "Full disclosure: there's a little bit of vodka in it," he said, passing her the cup. "Let's go meet my friends."

"A little? I'm going to need a lot more than that to get through tonight," she replied, putting the cup back down. She picked up the bottle of vodka and topped up her cup before sipping from it. He put both hands on her shoulders and ushered her back into the living room where everyone was standing around a table.

There were six red cups lined up along each side of the table. Flip cup. A party classic. "Peyton!" Mark exclaimed. He scuttled over to her and dragged her to one side of the table. She looked back at Cain, mouthing 'get me out of here'.

Kade followed them over. "You can take on Ashton!" Mark exclaimed, throwing his arm out towards their friend who was now leaning against the other side of the table.

"I don't think this is very fair," Peyton stated.

"You'll go easy, won't you?" Mark asked, narrowing his eyes at Ashton.

"Sure," he replied with a smirk.

"Do you know how this works?" Cain asked. She shook her head. "So when they call 'go,' you chug what's in the cup, then flip the cup over before moving on to the next cup. First to finish wins." He demonstrated how to flip the cup and Peyton gave it a couple of goes. She had pretty good technique, managing to land the cup on most of her first tries.

"Got any tips?"

"Head back and keep that food and water pipe open.."

"Food and water pipe?" She laughed.

"You know what I mean. Take in a huge breath and just pour it down," he said.

"That sounds horrifying."

"You got it champ," he said, patting her shoulders.

A small crowd had gathered around to watch them. Ashton looked across the table at her and gave her a thumbs up. Kade has also appeared behind Ashton, seemingly shooting daggers at Peyton. Cain had to remember to ask him about that later.

"And...3...2...1...go!" Mark yelled exaggeratedly, waving his arm down as if it were a flag at the start of a drag race. Peyton hesitated while Ashton went down for the cup.

"Go! Go!" Cain urged, grinning from ear to ear. Something seemed to switch on and she threw her head back, emptying the cup, flipping it one go. She glanced up to see Ashton was still flipping the second cup.

"Pey-ton! Pey-ton! Pey-ton!" Mark cheered with a wild grin plastered on his face. Other voices seemed to join him.

By the fifth cup, Ashton was looking a little worried, repeatedly glancing up at her while he failed to flip the cup. Finally, it landed, but then they were both on the last cup. Ashton finished drinking first, but the cup wouldn't flip. Then, Peyton cleared her cup and flipped it in one shot.

"And Peyton takes the win!" Mark roared.

"Yes!!" Peyton and Cain both cheered, jumping up and down while holding hands in celebration. As if she suddenly realised what she was doing, she quickly let go of his hands and pretended to be fixing her hair.

"Not bad," Ashton remarked. "Next time we should be on the same team."

"Maybe," she laughed.

"Who knew the girl could drink?" Mark exclaimed. "Where have you been hiding?"

She shrugged and excused herself to the bathroom saying her bladder wasn't coping too well. Mark sling an arm around Cain's shoulder.

"You making any progress?" He asked.

"Did you see her just now? Wouldn't you call that progress?"

"After seeing her tonight, I'm starting to think you're getting more than just a couple of perks from this," Ashton added. "What do you think, Kade?"

Kade looked up from where he was standing, just nodding.

Peyton came back from the bathroom and Cain quickly cleared his throat, slapping his friend on the back to shut him up, less he divulge details about the bet.

"Let's get some air," Cain said, leading her back upstairs.

"Ok," she agreed. They went out through the double doors of the mezzanine, coming to stand on the balcony.

"Who knew you could drink like that?" He grinned. "But then again, there are a lot of things you're hiding, aren't there?" He added with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes.

"So, what are the terms of your bet?" She asked, leaning against the balcony railing, looking over to look at everyone splashing around in the pool.

"I need to get you to kiss me," he lied. She turned around, raising an eyebrow.

"Really? Why does it have to be believable? No one said it had to be a real kiss. I kiss you in front of them, you win your bet and we can both be on our merry way."

"No! They won't pay up if it seems fishy," Cain said. Firstly, those weren't the true terms. Secondly, this was getting interesting and he wasn't quite ready to leave it there. Next to him, Peyton yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Anyway, let's get you home," he said.

As his bike approached her house, they both spotted a black town car parked in the driveway. Behind him, her body seemed to stiffen up.

"Let's take a detour," she said.

"Why?" He asked. They were mere metres from the house.

"To the diner," she continued.

"Harley's Rocketship?"

"Just go."