“Wren’s cheating!” he shouts at his girlfriend. She laughs, dropping her arms. Scarlett watches Miles carefully, probably trying to psych him out with her intense staring.
“I’m not,” she replies defensively. “You’re just a sore loser, baby.”
“You’re trying to trick me by calling me ‘baby,’” he shouts back, sulking. “You know it’s my weakness.”
I groan at their constant bickering and all the girls laugh. Wren says, “I’m not doing anything,” while slowly shimmying off the wings to her costume, dropping it to the ground.
“Look at me like that one more time and I swear to god-”
“Just throw the damn ball, Davis,” I say, nudging him.
He throws it finally. It’s like watching it in slow motion. The split second before the ball leaves his hand, Wren winks at him. From that, I can tell the shot is going to be a miss. Still, I watch it play out. The ball bounces on the table once. Then twice. Then again and it rolls right off the table. The second it drops to the ground the girls all jump in unison, cheering loudly.
I watch the sly smirk on Scarlett’s lips, and she turns to me. As they’re laughing, they make their way over to our side of the table. Wren goes up to Miles, laughing hysterically in his face and he takes it, letting her make fun of him.
“Are you done?” he asks her. She shakes her head, still laughing before he grabs her face and kisses her deeply, silencing her laughter.
“Very weird reaction for someone who just lost,” I mutter. Scarlett’s beside me now, leaning against the wall as she watches them make out before diverting her eyes to the ground.
“I don’t think he could ever lose if it came to her. Losing a game against Wren is just like winning to him,” she replies, a short laugh escaping hermouth.
“Doesn’t it get sickening?” I ask. She looks up at me, not understanding. “I mean being around them all the time, they’re constantly making out. Doesn’t it annoy you?”
She shrugs and then sighs deeply. “No,” she says simply. I hum in response. “I’d much prefer this…” She gestures to the Wren who is now sitting on the table, her legs wrapped around Miles’ waist as they make out. “Than pure silence.”
I laugh at that. “You’d prefer anything over silence. You talk too much.”
“I know.” She smiles at me for a second before dropping it and walking away.
* * *
We stay in the same teams for most of the night. I play against Scarlett at pool, and I actually go easy on her. She was struggling and after our impromptu lesson, she’s not exactly an expert.
I sit out on playing charades because it’s always such an awkward game when your teammates are shouting at you, so I don’t participate. The only time I play on her team is when we play a very butchered game of True American, which just ends with us getting buzzed from shot gunning too many beers.
Now, we’re ready for the final game of the night; trivia. Kennedy is the host for this one, leaving me on a team with Xavier and Miles against Scarlett, Wren, and Michelle. We beat the two other teams, so we’re in the final heat.
Our team won the sports round and the horror movie round while the girl’s team won the true crime knowledge and the song round. I think it’s rigged because most of the questions were relating to pop culture or inside jokes, which gave them an unfair advantage. There’s one round left and it’s a history round about NU.
Kennedy is standing on a makeshift podium (it’s a cardboard box with two bricks beneath it and an easel stand she stole from school) shuffling the index cards in her hand. It’s mostly quiet in here now as the teams that lost have now branched off into other parts of the house. To her left, me and the boys are sitting on plastic chairs while on the right the girls are sitting, each of them glaring at us.
“Can each team please select a candidate to represent your team in the final round,” she instructs. “In the meantime, I’ll play some elevator music.” She turns on her phone and instead of playing elevator music, she plays‘High Enough’by K.Flay adding to the already tense atmosphere.
I turn to my team and they’re already staring at me. I roll my eyes. “You can’t be serious,” I mutter.
“Come on. It’s history stuff. Miles and I won’t be any good,” Xavier says.
“He’s right,” Miles adds. “If we know anything we’ll give you a hint. It’ll be subtle. If you’re smart enough, you’ll figure it out.”
“Fine. You owe me for this,” I say, brushing off my jeans as I stand up.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Scarlett mutters and that’s when I see that she’s standing too, the nominee from her team. I beam at her, not giving her the satisfaction of thinking she’ll throw off my game just because I’m going against her.
Kennedy turns down her music. “Perfect,” she says, looking at the two of us. “So, I just decided on a new prize for the team captains. The loser has to ask the winner out on a date.”
Both of our teams laugh at us, and I just blink back at Ken, hoping she’s going to take back what she just said. She doesn’t. Scarlett rubs at her temples.
“That makes no sense,” she retorts.
