Desperate

~ seven ~

        After a couple of hours at the party, I was beginning to feel like I had crashed it. There was none of Shreyas and my mutual friends. Sadly, I had resorted to trailing behind Amanda like a lost, sad puppy. I was all too aware of the depressing amount of cling I was harvesting right then. Finally I spotted someone I knew.

        “Shreyas!” I yelled as I unhitched from the conversation with Amanda and her friends. “Oh my god, please save me. I know, literally, no one.”

        He laughed, my heart fluttered.

        “Well, let’s—“ he started.

        “Spin the bottle!” Amanda yelled from the other side of the room, grabbing me by the arm. She tugged me to the living room where she pulled me down to the floor. Shreyas chuckled lightly and sat across from me. Almost immediately more people started to sit down. Soon the circle was complete with almost half of the basketball team, most of the girls that came to the party, and about three gay guys to make it interesting. Amanda started off the game by declaring it Shauna’s turn and spinning for her.   

        The bottle landed on one of the gay guys, Derek, who refused to kiss her. Lucky.

       I was next, and as I spun the bottle, I couldn’t help but desperately want it to fall on Shreyas. Alas, the universe was plotting against me once again. The merlot bottle chose Jason, the bane of my existence.

        "Hell no.” He said from across the circle.

        I rolled my eyes. “Suck it up, dickweed.”

        He groaned. “Fine, let’s just get it over with.”

        Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shreyas shift uncomfortably next to Jason. As I leaned closer to his lips, I couldn’t shake the image of Shreyas’s face distorted in discomfort. So, I pulled away.

        "What the fuck. What game are you playing?” said Jason, just as confused as the rest of the circle.

        “Fuck off Jason, she doesn’t want to kiss you,” Shauna said from my said. I looked at her and gave her the girls’ universal ‘thank you’. She gave me the girls’ universal ‘I got your back.’ Thank the lord for Shauna.

        I glanced over at Shreyas again, who had a small smile on his face.

        “Pass means your out!” Amanda piped up from next to me. OK, I thought, as long as I don’t have to lock lips with Jason.

        “Why aren’t I out?” Shauna asked, testing her friend.

        “’Cause,” she responded as if she was stupid, “Derek is gay. That’s a free pass.”

        The girl looked at me and shrugged, going back to inspecting her nails. At least she tried.

        It was Amanda’s turn, and she was way too excited. She happily spun the bottle with her creepily eager expression, and suddenly the improbable, became probable and blatantly real. The bottle flipped, and it landed on Shreyas.

        My heart stopped and the whole room gasped, because we all know what it meant. Seven minutes in heaven. I was snapped back into reality when Amanda took Shreyas’s hand and led him into the hall closet. Suddenly, I felt very nauseous, and very dizzy.

        I’m not going to lie, it hurt, it hurt like hell, and it wasn’t stopping. I wasn’t the only one in the room who was shocked by Amanda’s behavior, however. Shauna patted my back and pulled me into a side hug, muttering about how much of a skitch she is. Everyone knew about Shreyas and me, and everyone knew that Amanda and me were friends, good friends. The whole room was just as shocked as I was and I was frozen.