It’s 7:18 pm. So far so good. I have to say, I was feeling kind of nervous while I was texting Vic to come over. I also told him that he could bring some of his friends over. I made it really clear to him that this is going to be a little get-together. By ‘little get-together’ I was expecting like, 4-6 people but of course, Vic brought about twelve other people. He arrived together with Mike, Tony, Jaime, Austin and Oli. After about 15 minutes though, Matt, Jordan, Alan, Jenna, Taylor, Jack and Alex came knocking on my door. I guess this is actually a pretty interesting mix of people.
I went straight to my apartment together with Hayley. On our way here, we went to a store to grab some cases of beer and food for tonight. Yeah, I was nervous to my bones but still excited. I’ve never had this kind of socializing get-together thing in a while. We’ve had a couple of these back then in my home town but it’s usually just us sitting in a circle, talking about the bible and God and what He wants us to be. I mean, I’m not complaining about that, I really enjoyed our little group sessions but I guess this specific get-together right here is interesting in a whole different sense.
“Hey.” Vic’s voice snapped me out from my little flashback.
“Hey, do you need anything? I could get you another beer. Let me just get it in-“
“Chill, Kells.” Vic stopped me from my ramblings as he laid a hand on my upper arm and rubbed it soothingly. “Just sit with us over there. We don’t need a server, okay?” He said that last part as he dragged me from the kitchen to the living room. My knees were a little bit wobbly now since I already had three bottles of beer. The bottle that I was holding is my fourth. I surely would be dead if Sam sees me like this. But I hope she would understand. It’s not like I drink this every day, right?
The first thing that I noticed when we entered the room is of course, the people that sat down on the floor, forming a circle. The three girls sat side by side, Jenna is in the middle of Hayley and Taylor. Alex sat next to Tay and Jack was next to him. The two guys looked so funny. They looked so drunk but they could still manage to bicker about something that surely only the two of them would understand. Austin sat next to Jack and next to him is Alan who looked so sleepy. He looked like he was doing a head bang thing because his eyelids already gave up on him. I noticed how Austin carefully shifted Alan’s head and made him lean to his shoulder. That made me smile. It’s amazing how affectionate this best friends are. Next to Alan was Jordan, Matt and Oli. Vic decided to close the circle as he sat on the empty spot next to Oli and he yanked me down next to him. And so, on my left side was Mike, Tony and then Jaime.
9:18pm. Almost two hours had gone by since I sat in the circle. Most of us were just talking and laughing about anything under the sun. Alan has completely fallen asleep as Austin carried him to the sofa. Austin still manages to talk and laugh with us although Alan is peacefully sleeping with his ginger head resting on Austin’s lap. I was watching the two for a moment. I couldn’t help but to internally let out an ‘awww’ because of the obvious adorable sight. Austin has been playing with Alan’s hair soothingly. Every time the others would burst in to a huge wave of laughter causing Alan to stir up in his sleep, Austin would draw tiny, imaginary circles on his back as he carries on with playing with the boy’s hair. It’s too much for me to watch. They are too adorable. Their friendship is adorable.
“Here.” Vic sloppily handed me my sixth bottle for the night. I hesitated to grab the bottle from him but he flashed me a reassuring smile and for some unknown reasons, I gave in and willingly took it from him.
“Alright, alright. Who’s up for a little game called Spin the Bottle?” Jaime announced enthusiastically. Everyone cheered, agreeing to his little suggestion.
“Aren’t we too old for that?” I said with a laugh. The alcohol has kicked in and I don’t know how to feel. My head isn’t hurting but I felt so.. relaxed for once.
“Kellin, my friend, we are never too old for Spin the Bottle.” Jaime said in a mocking tone. I just playfully rolled my eyes at him as I grabbed an empty bottle beside me and handed it to him.
“Okay, house rules!” Jack shouted to grab every one’s attention.
“Hey, tone it down a little, willya?” Austin directed to Jack as he pointed a finger to Alan. Jack just giggled and nodded in response.
“Alright so basically the rule is, this game is only about dares and the person who gets pointed by the bottle, should do the dare or else.” He explained in a slurred voice. It’s a miracle that we could even understand what he was saying.
“Or else what?” Alex asked as he easily grabbed Jack’s attention.
“Something would happen.” Jack said with a wink but it looked like that he was directing that statement to Alex.
“Jeez, get a room!” Jenna shouted in her adorable Australian accent. Hayley high-fived her and they were both laughing hysterically. Why did they find it so hilarious? That I do not know.
“Okay, let’s do this!” Jaime shouted and finally spun the bottle. For once tonight, every one fell silent as our eyes carefully followed the spinning bottle in front of us.
“Shit!” Jordan shouted as he noticed the bottle slowly stopping to his direction. He thought that it was going to stop to him but luck was on his side tonight. The bottle stopped and directly pointed at Oli’s direction.
“You’re dead, mate!” Matt shouted as he slapped Oli’s arm but they both just laughed it off.
“Shit, I’ve got one!” Austin shouted from the sofa. We all turned our gaze to his direction as we anxiously waited for what he was going to say. “Since you’re already sitting next to Vic, I dare you to kiss his cheek!” He said the last part earning a couple of 'oooh’s' from the others. I tore my gaze away from Austin and turned my head to face Vic and Oli. Oli was smiling widely at Vic while Vic was just laughing.
“That’s the easiest dare that I have ever heard in my entire life.” Oli said with a shrug. He brought his hand on one side of Vic’s head and within a snap, he kissed his cheek like it was nothing. Like it wasn’t a big deal at all. I watched them and after three seconds, he finally pulled away. Everyone fell into a fleet of laughter and Oli just smiled and once again shrugged his shoulders. You know what’s weird? The feeling that I got in my stomach. I wasn’t feeling sick in the sense that I wanted to empty out the contents of my guts but it’s a different kind of sick. It’s a weird kind of sick. I felt a different kind of a somewhat stab on my chest. What is this? Never have I ever experienced this before. Whatever this is, it felt so different and.. annoying. Annoying because I didn’t know what was causing it. I viciously grabbed the half empty bottle of beer that was sitting next to Mike and drank it straight. And wow, I felt like literally hundreds of bricks was thrown at me at once. My head felt light and my vision was kind of blurry now but I could still manage.
“You okay there, bud?” Mike asked, looking all concerned.
“Yeah, it- it’s just, I don’t know.” I managed to choke out. “Next!” I roughly rolled the bottle to Oli’s direction and nodded, silently asking him to spin the bottle.
Once again, all eyes were on the spinning bottle as we watched it slow down its pace. Finally, it landed on Jenna’s direction.
“Oh, no.” She said with a chuckle. “Come on let’s get on with it.” She said as she started laughing, burying her face to her palms.
“Yeah, I dare you to kiss someone-“
“Alright, that’s an easy one!” She shouted not letting Alex finish his sentence.
“No, let me finish!” He whined and threw a piece of crumpled paper to her direction. “I dare you to kiss someone that isn’t a guy.” He said with a cheeky smile. Jack turned his head to Alex’s direction and they fist-bumped each other. Some kind of a bro code or something, I guess.
“And like what I said, that’s an easy one.” She said with a shrug. She was quick to tangle her fingers to Tay’s hair and in a split second, she collided her lips with Tay’s. They kissed for roughly five seconds and pulled away from each other with a smug smile plastered on their faces. “Easy.” Jenna said with a shrug. Jenna grabbed the bottle and swiftly spun it. Everyone was just too eager to know who the next victim would be. Slowly and slowly, the bottle came to a stop. I felt my stomach drop at the thought of the bottle coming to a stop in my direction. But with pure luck tied on my fingers, the bottle came to a stop towards Vic’s direction. I let out a sigh of relief because of that close call.
“Bro, I dare you to kiss Kellin.” Mike suddenly popped the bubble of suspense. He said it causally and like it was nothing. I was so taken a back. What do I do? I’m sure that they wouldn’t mind if I say no, right?
“And no, no backing outs.” Mike warned as if he was reading my mind. By this time, I just realized how much I hated the Fuentes. They are too annoying for my own liking. Mike just flashed me an innocent smile as I looked at him tauntingly.
“Well, let’s just get on with it, shall we?” Vic said as he turned his body facing me. I, too, shifted to my position and internally braced myself on to what was about to happen. Am I really going to do this? I have a girlfriend! He knows I have a girlfriend. Is he going to carry on with it? I think he’s not that cruel. Maybe he’ll back out for my own sake, right? Wrong. I was completely wrong. He was quick to act as I felt his hands cup my cheeks and instantly crashed his lips against mine. I flinched away a little but he hels me in place. The people around us cheered but Vic doesn’t even seem to mind. I was frozen in my place. His eyes were closed but mine were clearly open. I didn’t know what to do! Should I move? Should I push him away from me. This is awfully weird and wrong! This is against our religion, against my parents’ lectures! Against God’s rules! Everything about this is wrong but the awful thing about this situation right here is the obvious fact that I wasn’t making any attempts on pushing him away or stopping him. For the second time tonight, I felt that weird feeling erupting in my guts. What is this? It felt genuinely weird having this emotions boiling up inside of me. Was I liking the kiss? Yes? No! A little? I don’t know! This is insane. I couldn’t so it. My heart isn’t helping either as I felt it thumping in my chest. I felt a warm sensation rise up to my cheeks and was I really giving in to this? I slowly closed my eyes, not even minding the people surrounding us who were laughing and cheering. I was actually savoring the moment. My lips were about to respond when I felt him slowly pull away. He rested his forehead against mine and looked down to his lap. And as weird as this may sound but, my lips felt cold and longing for his warm and perfect ones.
“I’m sorry.” He whispered. As clear as day, I could hear regret and sincerity in his voice.
“Don’t be.” I whispered back. And with that, I pulled him closer and collided my lips to his. I felt him smile a little as of course, he kissed back. He wrapped his arms around my tiny waist and I draped my arms around his neck, both of us still holding on to our original cross-legged sitting position with our knees touching the other’s.
“What the hell is this?!” Someone shouted, tearing the fantasy away from me. Once again, I was brought back in reality. “All of you- except for you” She said as she pointed a finger on me. “Get out.” She said through gritted teeth. Everyone was quick and silent as they grabbed their stuff and stumbled on to approach the door. “You better watch your back from now on.” I heard Sam’s dark voice as she sent looks of daggers towards Vic’s direction.
“Kells, I’m so-“
“GET OUT!” Sam shouted, not letting Vic finish his apology. Oh, no. This is going to be very very horrible.