"Truth or dare? What are we, twelve?" Gigi said with a chuckle, Ivy nodding along with her. "What about, we spin a bottle and whoever it lands on has to do a dare?"
"We don't have an empty bottle, all we have are like- 3 half-empty bottles of wine, and 5 cans of those expensive as hell beer Wynter's been drinking," Karlie pointed out, pointing at the 6th can of beer Wynter was drinking. "I mean, who spends 2500 dollars on 15 cans of beer?"
Wynter frowned, looking at Karlie with a raised brow. She was obviously intoxicated now. "I do, cause I have enough money to afford it."
"Wyn, you're drunk. That's enough." Wade said, reaching to take the can of beer from Wynter's hand.
The brunette was about to let Wade take her can when she saw Taylor and Calvin cuddling on the corner of the couch. She frowned and looked away, finishing the remaining liquor in the can.
Wade's mouth went agape in shock, immediately taking the empty can from his sister. Estella looked at her friends in concern, knowing exactly how Wynter is when drunk.
"You're going to regret drinking that much tomorrow." Leo chuckled awkwardly, moving slightly to cover Taylor and her boyfriend from Wynter's sight.
"And why would I? Hmm Ryker?" Wynter asked with a raised brow, you wouldn't even notice she's drunk based on her speech.
"The shame you're going to feel when you remember the shit you did, especially that little performance you gave, is gonna be hilarious." He said, taking a can from Wynter that she was supposed to open.
"Shame? That isn't part of my vocabulary." Wynter embarrassingly winked at Leo, causing her friends to sigh. Taylor's friends were just watching the whole interaction in amusement.
"Yup, she's drunk. Sober up before you embarrass yourself further." Ivy said, giving Wynter a bottle of water which the brunette obviously didn't accept.
"I'm not drunk." The CEO whined like a little kid, pouting when both Wade and Ivy gave her a pointed look.
"Okay...? We still don't have a bottle tho," Karlie reminded them, taking the attention away from Wynter. Leo pursed his lips before taking his half-empty beer bottle and chugging it down. He then placed the now-empty-bottle in the middle of the circle they formed on the ground. "That works, I guess."
They spun the bottle and it landed on Ivy. Since Emma's friends were still in the process of warming up to the Quins, none of them spoke up. Estella noticed this and decided to clear the awkwardness in the room.
"I'll give you a dare first, V. I dare you to give anyone in this room a kiss." She raised her brows up then down, seemingly trying to suggest something to Ivy. The raven haired girl caught on, grinning mischievously.
Ivory turned to the tipsy brunette beside her. Wynter playfully rolled her eyes at her and leaned closer to Ivy, immediately getting the memo. The raven haired cupped Wynter's face and pulled her face closer. When Ivy's lips were inches away from Wynter's, she turned her head to the side so the girl's lips would only touch her cheek.
Wynter sat back down properly as if nothing happened. Coincidentally, Taylor was sitting right across her. The blonde had a small and barely noticeable frown, and when they made eye contact, she immediately looked back at Calvin.
The game continued on, everyone slowly warming up to each other. Stella was forced to reveal that she still watches Dora the Explorer, Gigi chugged an almost empty wine bottle, Wade and Leo kissed, Selena sang a cover of Girl in The Mirror, Ivy revealed a picture from her 'only me' album and so much more.
After some time, the bottle finally landed again on Wynter. The girl was now slightly sober, but still not fully sober. She raised a brow at the circle, waiting for someone to give her a dare.
"I dare you to tell us who you find the most attractive in this room." Calvin was surprisingly the one who gave her a dare. She nibbled on her lower lip in thought, her eyes taking in everyone's appearance.
"Gigi." She said with a shrug. Everyone around them cheered, but Wynter's eyes focused on Calvin and Taylor. The DJ had a satisfied smile, his hand around Taylor. The said girl on the other hand, had an unreadable expression, her eyes glued on Wynter. Instead of looking away immediately, the brunette raised a questioning brow at her, before shifting her attention at the spinning bottle.
The bottle coincidentally landed on Taylor right after Wynter.
"I dare you to go to the bedroom with Wynter for 21 minutes." Everyone's heads turned to Selena, looking at her in confusion and shock.
"Her boyfriend's literally here, Selena." Estella awkwardly mentioned, nodding her head towards Calvin.
"Plus what the hell will they do in the bedroom for 21 minutes? Talk?" Emma added, chuckling awkwardly.
"Yeah, I mean, it's not 7 minutes in heaven. They could do whatever they want," Selena answered with a shrug, taking a sip out of her wine glass. "So, will you do it or not?"
"I'm fine with it. What about you, Taylor?" Wynter shrugged nonchalantly, standing up and walking over to the mini fridge.
"I'm okay with it." Taylor said as well, pulling away from Calvin to stand up. The DJ was a little too calm in this situation, making it quite suspicious.
Emma and her friends aren't calm, tho. They all looked at the Quins in worry, silently asking why they were letting this happen. In response, Wade just shook his head, allowing Ivy to explain.
"It's fine, it's Wynter. Nothing will happen, trust us."
_______________
Once the two entered the room, Wynter locked the door as Taylor sat on the edge of the bed.
Wynter walked over to her and handed her a bottle of water, making sure to open it in front of Taylor to not arouse suspicion. "Drink up to sober up. Got them before we entered here."
The brunette could feel Taylor's eyes on her as she sat down on the small vanity chair to create distance between them.
"Sit here." Taylor said in a low voice, tapping the empty space beside her on the bed. Wynter shook her head and gave her a small smile.
"Your bloke's outside. I'm not that big of an arsehole, love." She placed down her half drunk water bottle on the small desk beside her chair. "We can talk like this."
Taylor nodded wordlessly, turning her head to focus her gaze on her fingers fidgeting with the sheets' seams.
"What d'you wanna talk about, darling?"
"Why'd... your... attractive... Am... not..." Taylor mumbled out, not making eye contact with Wynter.
"I didn't understand a thing, Tay." Wynter chuckled, pulling her chair a tad bit closer to the bed. "You gotta speak up, love."
"I said, why was Gigi your answer to the attractive question? Am I not attractive to you?" Taylor said with a frown.
"If I did, your boy would go bonkers." She chuckled humorlessly. "Plus, you already know you're the most pulchritudinous woman I've ever seen. I mean, I waited for you for a decade. That alone, explais a lot."
Taylor rolled her eyes playfully at Wynter. They stared at each ohher for a few seconds after Taylor's laugh died down. They were enveloped by silence for a couple of seconds before Taylor broke it.
"Come sit beside me, please." She was now sitting on the bed and leaning against the headrest. She patted the empty space beside her, throwing the pillows on the ground.
"Come sit here or I'll sit on your lap on that exact chair you're sitting on right now." Taylor threatened, raising a challenging brow at the younger girl. Instead of feeling threatened, Wynter smiled at her in amusement, waiting for the singer to fully register her own words.
"Tempting. But I'll pass cause you asked so nicely." Wynter sighed dramatically, plopping down beside Taylor. The blonde immediately rested her head on the brunette's shoulder, their fingers instinctively interlocking.
"You know, us seeing each other again at Charlie's party, wasn't a coincidence." Wynter started, fidgeting with Taylor's fingers. Taylor hummed softly, urging Wynter to continue her story.
"I knew you were attending, a week before the party," She chuckled, remembering how surprised she was when Charlie mentioned it to her. "It reminded me of one of our friends' party. I think it was Jessica's?"
Taylor nodded in agreement. "Yeah, the party I arrived at with my ex-boyfriend, but left with you."
Wynter smiled at the memory. "When we got home to my house, we danced in our kitchen, the only light we had came from the refrigerator. We had our first kiss that night, too."
"I wanted to break up with him on that exact night." Taylor said with a chuckle, watching as Wynter played with her fingers that was on her lap.
The brunette's actions stilled for a few seconds, seemingly hesitating to voice out what she had in mind. "But you didn't."
Taylor didn't respond, how could she? She opened her mouth to explain, but nothing came out. Wynter took her silence as an urge to continue.
"Why didn't you, Taylor? You said you wanted to walk to school with me the next morning, so I didn't ask our family driver to drive me to school and waited for 2 hours at the bus stop... only to find out you walked with him. You said you wanted to choose me as your partner for that one project before, so I passed out on everyone who was asking me, only to find out you chose him. You said you were going to break up with him the day after the party, but you stayed with him for 3 more months."
Taylor bit her lower lip, lifting her head up to look at Wynter face, but the younger girl pulled her head back to her shoulder. "Don't. Please."
Despite being confused, Taylor nodded hesitantly. She felt Wynter sigh deeply.
"You love me, right?" Wynter suddenly asked, her voice was laced with something Taylor couldn't decipher.
"Of course I do. Why are you suddenly asking that?" Taylor asked, furrowing her brows in both confusion and concern.
A few seconds passed before Wynter finally answered. "Mahal mo 'ko, pero bilang kaibigan lang, diba?" Wynter chuckled halfheartedly. "Kailan mo ba kasi ako pipiliin, Tay? Tangina, pagod na kong magpakatanga sa'yo. Pagod na 'kong maging kaibigan mo lang. Ako naman piliin mo ngayon, please." (You love me, but just as a friend, right? When will you choose me, Tay? I'm fucking tired of acting like a fool for you. I'm tired of being just your friend. Can you please choose me this time?)
Wynter spoke in Filipino, knowing well enough that Taylor wouldn't understand her. Her mumbling the words out didn't help either.
"What?"
"Nothing." The brunette chuckled, finding amusement in Taylor's confusion.
"I'm monolingual, not dumb, Mau."
"I said, what's your favorite movie?" Wynter easily changed the topic, her teasing and calm tone finally returning. Taylor pursed her lips in thought, she decided to just let it go and not push further.
"Why're you suddenly trying to start a small talk?" Taylor asked with a chuckle, a smile slowly making its way to her face when she heard Wynter laugh along with her.
"We have, I'm guessing, about 15 minutes left. What better way to spend it than playing 21 questions?"
"Okay, but you have to answer too!" Wynter nodded, resuming her earlier activity of playing with Taylor's fingers.
The blonde pursed her lips in thought. "I have quite a few favorite movies, but Love Actually is definitely one of them."
"I haven't watched that. Jennifer's body will always be in my top 3 tho. Don't know if it's because I can relate to it, or because Megan Fox is hot."
"Relate to it? Are you a succubus or something?" Taylor teased, earning a soft flick to her forehead.
"Jennifer was obviously inlove with Needy, and vice versa. They just didn't end up together because Needy had a boyfriend." Wynter explained with a shrug.
"And you relate to that, how?" Taylor obviously knew what Wynter was talking about, she wasn't dumb. She just really enjoyed teasing the CEO.
"Next question, who's your favorite actress?" Wynter once again deflected the question with ease.
"You're good at avoiding questions," Taylor chuckled teasingly, earning a gentle slap on the thigh from the younger girl. "Stella, she's really pretty. Loved her in The Lost Track of Time. I'm guessing yours is Scarlett Johansson?"
"Absolutely. Scarlett will always be my number one."
The game continued on and on, they were able to finish the game before Selena knocked on the door to fetch them up. The two friends feel much closer, despite the totally random questions they asked about each other.
The two friends left the room, and sat down back into the circle. One sat beside her boyfriend, and the other sat beside Ivy. They believe that they can now consider each other really great friends.
Wade glanced at Wynter worriedly when she sat back down. He seems to notice something the others couldn't. They had quite a distance between them, so texting was Wade's only resort.
iMessage.
john wick wannabe.
You ok?
dad's disappointment.
yea, why wouldn't i be?
john wick wannabe.
You cried. What's wrong?
dad's disappointment.
oh u noticed
dad's disappointment.
is it obvious?
j
ohn wick wannabe.
For others, no. For me who
lived with you your whole
life, yes.
dad's disappointment.
still don't know
how u do it.
john wick wannabe.
Your eyes look different,
like you're trying to hide
the sadness in them.
john wick wannabe.
And you have a really, really,
almost unnoticeable, pout.
dad's disappointment.
damn, didn't know u were
that attentive lol
dad's disappointment.
but I'm seriously fine, Mav.
thank you for checking up on me:)
Wynter gave him her most genuinely smile to reassure him that she was okay. He gave her a subtle thumbs up and raised a concerned brow. She nodded with a smile, waving her hand subtly to dismiss his worries.
She really was fine. Even more so, she believes that Taylor and her finally has a label for their relationship. They were friends; Childhood friends, best friends, close friends, whatever you want to call it.
They were friends. Just friends.
_______________
note :
WRITING THIS HURTS SM KNOWING WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE NEXT CHAPTERS 😓😓
hopefully u guys will enjoy this 2.2k rubble of words lmfao
see u on the next chapter! mwa!
— sincerely, ely! ★