Mary raised her pink monstrosity triumphantly. ‘To poor decisions.’ She drank half of it in one go.
The table applauded.
‘Who’s next?’ Hannah said evilly. Her eyes swept the table. They landed on Eva just as she was brought her drink. ‘You.’
Eva raised an eyebrow. ‘Already?’
‘New person privilege.’
Mary shoved the cards toward her. ‘Come on.’
Eva picked one without much ceremony. She turned it, reading it. And then she placed it down without saying anything.
For fuck’s sake.
‘What?’ Hannah demanded.
“Say something flirtatious to the person to your left,” Eva repeated.
Mary cackled. Aria smirked. Eva slowly turned her head. To her left sat Maddy. Maddy blinked at her.
‘Umm,’ Maddy said softly.
Mary leaned across the table. ‘This is perfect.’
‘Is it?’ Maddy asked, confused and already flustered.
Eva took a chug of her drink and considered her for a moment. Maddy was going to be spectacularly awkward about this. Which, if Eva were honest, tempted her to say something that would make her blush. After all, the cards had told her to. She was permitted.
‘Alright,’ Eva said, preparing.
Maddy looked up warily.
No, Eva decided. She wasn’t going to make it any worse. Foreitherof their sakes.
Eva cleared her throat, trying to sound casual. ‘Well… you have very… excellent posture,’ she said, the words sounding far more awkward out loud than they had in her head.
Maddy looked relieved. ‘Thanks.’ She turned quickly back to Hannah. ‘Okay, that’s that then.’
Mary groaned dramatically. ‘That wasn’t flirty.’
Aria nodded. ‘You went soft.’
Hannah waved a hand. ‘She tried! Give her a break. She had a tough job.’
Maddy took immediate and obvious offence at that. ‘A tough job?’ she repeated slowly.
‘I just meant… You know! Librarians and everything.’
All three librarians in the room were now pissed. ‘I do beg your pardon,’ Aria said. Mary sniffed. ‘My body count is probably bigger than yours.’
And Eva, on Maddy’s behalf, was also very annoyed. She hadn’t held back because she considered Eva sexless. Quite the opposite.
That was how it happened. Because Eva couldn’t let Hannah get away with her little dig. She had to show her up. That was how the tide turned.
She turned to Maddy and started talking. ‘Hey, I need another go at my dare.’
Maddy’s eyes went wide. ‘Oh, no, you don’t have to…’
