La Douleur Exquise

55

drunk man's words are his honest thoughts​. That's what they say, isn't it? Well, if that's true, then right now, I'm slightly worried about Harlan.

"Out of you all?" He slurred as his glazed eyes floated over us all. We were currently sitting in a circle, playing This or That, and right now, it was up to Harlan to choose his fate. Which of us would be most like to sleep with- me or Ritchie. He giggled to himself before pointing towards the subject of his answer. "Ritchie. No offense, Campbell, but you're just too, you know, straight for me. Not in the heterosexual way because you're both straight in that sense. It's just, you know you'd have a much better time with Ritchie."

"I'd treat you like the Princess that your are," Ritchie joked, sending a playful wink in Harlan's direction.

As he was sat next to Harlan, it was now Owen's turn to be given his own This or That question. For some reason, we'd veered into making the people in the circle the options and so far, we'd had some quite creative questions asked. Unfortunately, we were now back to Lauren and her choices were always from a little left field.

"Ok, Owen," Lauren said before hiccuping. She laughed at herself and then turned very serious as she looked at Owen. "Which of us has the best ass- me or Darcie?"

"Darcie," he immediately answered. He didn't even need a moment to think about it. When he noticed us all gawking at him, including Darcie herself, Owen didn't even look embarrassed. He just smirked. "What? Have you seen her ass? It's a work of art."

His words were met with some appreciative mods of the head from Ritchie and Harlan, and even Lauren agreed with his statement. A few more drinks were passed around and before I knew it, I was beyond drunk and really couldn't be held responsible for my actions.

"Nixon!" Ritchie turned to me, a question on his tongue. "This one is pretty easy. Who would you most likely set Darcie up with- me or Owen?"

Darcie opened her mouth to protest the question but she promptly closed it and looked helplessly to Harlan, mouthing something that I didn't catch.

"I probably wouldn't choose either of you," I answer honestly as I raise my drink to my lips. Taking a mouthful of the bitter alcohol, I winced at the burning at the back of my throat but try to ignore it as I start to give my reasoning for the answer. "Owen isn't her type, and you?" I cast my eyes over to Ritchie. "You'd end up hurting her."

Affronted, Ritchie set his drink down and stared at me. "I'd hurt her?" His tone was mocking and I hated it. "You've got to be kidding me! There is no way any guy on Earth could hurt her more than you and you're sitting there passing judgement on me? It's a good thing I'm drunk and I won't remember this in the morning because that type of shit would make or break a friendship."

I was about to retaliate, probably instigate a fight between us, but before I do, a voice cuts me off. "I'd go with Ritchie," Darcie announced. Drinking some of her double vodka and cola through a straw, she wore a pensive look on her face, almost as if she'd given this a lot of thought. Finally, she gives a decisive nod. "Yeah, it would be Ritchie. He'd show me a good time and he'd treat me like a Princess. What more could a girl ask for?"

"Darcie, my dear, I wouldn't treat you like a Princess," Ritchie scoffed. "I'd treat you like a fucking Queen."