Lie Lie Lie | ✔

Chapter 18 ~ Wine

Song of the chapter - No Lie Sean Paul and Dua Lipa

The wine glass trembles as Rachel tops it right up. Not just your usual allowance, right to the rim. Red liquid sloshing into the glass from an almost empty bottle.

"Drinking is still illegal for us," Victoria says, taking a sip from her ginger beer. "And it's only three in the afternoon,"

"It's five o'clock somewhere." I say, raising my glass with a slightly wobbly hand.

"Amen to that," Rachel raises her glass in toast before pouring almost half down her throat. "What's the plan for the rest of the day?"

"Well," Victoria says, standing and taking Rachel's glass away, "Do not get completely wasted and relax." She tips the wine back into the bottle, then holds her hand out for mine. I take one more mouthful, then pass it to her.

"I still don't get why Jamie hasn't just given up. I mean, he knows Mads doesn't want him, so why bother?" Rachel asks, her speech slurring a little and words crashing into each other.

"Because we aren't raised to just give up. This lifestyle doesn't allow that." Victoria answers, leaving the room, carrying the wine with her.

"That's stupid," Rachel mutters.

Clearly she's tired of hiding, just as I am. Tired of running and learning to defend ourselves.

"You know, sometimes I want to imagine what would've happened if I just waited for Jamie at that football game." I say, leaning backwards and almost falling off my beanbag.

"You probably would have married a jerk and had his little jerk kids," Rachel answers, head and eyelids starting to droop a little.

"You would have never found yourself," Victoria grabs my hand and pulls me up from the beanbag. "Rach, you need sleep. Mads and I are going to watch a movie."

"Sleep sounds good, actually. Have fun, you two." Rachel leans her head onto her pillow and as we walk out I can hear soft snores.

"What movie are we going to watch?" I ask as Victoria tows me to her room.

"It's a surprise."

Victoria lets me go by her bed, but keeps walking to her movie collection. She kneels, running her finger along the DVD cases. I watch her, trying to read the titles. Eventually, she grabs a case and turns away before I can see it. After putting it in the DVD player, she grabs the remote and jumps onto the bed beside me.

The song Mamma Mia starts playing. I turn to glare at Victoria, who is barely holding in her laugh.

"I'm guessing you don't want the sing-along version, then?" She asks, giggling at my expression.

"I'll put up with it if you dance along to the music," I reply, holding my hand out for her to shake.

"Deal." Victoria selects the sing-along option.

I wait patiently for the first song; Honey, Honey. When Sophie and her friends start singing, who does that in real life, Victoria stands up and starts dancing on the bed.

"Apologies if I stand on you," she says, easily moving her body and singing to the music.

She continues dancing randomly to the songs until Lay All Your Love On Me starts playing.

"What on earth are you doing?" I ask, flicking my gaze from the TV to her. It hits me as she slowly crawls over my body that she's copying Skye, crawling over my body.

"I see you've figured out my plan," Victoria says, her words breathless from dancing. She reaches past me and turns the volume down.

"I don't know if I have the full details yet," I say. "Care to explain?"