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“Be right back,” Mike says and I half think he slurred the last word, but the music’s so loud, I could be wrong.
“We’ve got to catch up,” Sam says as she takes a sip and then scrunches her nose and makes a god-awful face. “This tastes like piss,” she says.
“Isn’t it supposed to?” I ask her genuinely, but she laughs like it’s a joke.
“Okay, so, let’s do a round, scope the place out and find a spot to get comfy.” She lays out the plan and I nod my head, eager to do whatever she thinks is best. We decided tonight would be chill. If we’re feeling it, good. If not … we’ll figure something out.
“What about Mike?” I ask her, and she gives me this look. It’s a look that says I’m being stupid.
“Girl, he wants you. He’ll find you, you don’t have to worry about a thing.” She talks as she takes my hand and leads me away from the crowded kitchen, back through the dark living room with the grinding couples having makeout sessions. We pass a set of speakers sitting on the floor and it’s no wonder the bass is pounding through me. They’re gigantic.
We don’t stop, though. Sam leads me straight through another room that’s mostly empty apart from a couple of guys smoking, then down the stairs to the basement. I follow her gratefully. Sam knows what she’s doing. Or at least she looks like she does.
The door’s cracked open and the lights are on. The music fades and in its place, a horde of loud and drunk voices ricochet up the skinny staircase.
“Maybe I should tell Mike we’re down here?” I ask Sam as we sit on an empty sofa in the back corner of the large basement. The room itself isn’t finished. It’s just cinder blocks. But there’s a pool table and a dartboard, plus a bar with a ton of liquor bottles lining it. Right across from the sofa is a ping-pong table with cups arranged on it.
“Babe, quit stressing,” Sam tells me, draining her cup and getting up to pull her dress down. She’s confident as she walks to the table and puts her cup in line with the rest. “He’s going to come looking for you. Make him chase you,” she says and I nod my head, although the doubt is still there. I can still barely breathe.
“I’ve never given you bad advice, have I?” she asks me and I know she hasn’t, but she’s not exactly the person I’m looking to take relationship advice from. Sam says she doesn’t want a boyfriend. She just wants to kiss and that’s it. But I think she’s in denial. I think she lies to herself because of the shit her mom’s gone through. Everyone wants to be loved. Whether they admit it to themselves or not.
That being said, she gets to kiss any boy she wants. So maybe she is right. Maybe I should make him chase me.
It only takes a couple of minutes of whispering about which nearby guy Sam likes most, before the door to the basement opens.
I’d be jealous of the attention she’s getting if I didn’t have my sights set on Mike. I smile into my cup as he comes down the stairs, spotting me on the couch and grinning.
“This is my cousin,” Mike says while the guy behind him taps his shoulder and yells out, “We need more beer, I’ll be right back.” I don’t pay him any attention as I scoot to my right, squishing Sam and making a spot on the sofa for Mike to my left.
He takes it and leans in close, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and making me blush. “So, what do you guys want to do?” he asks. His voice is still loud as hell like he hasn’t realized it’s quieter down here.
Sam laughs and shrugs. “You want to play spin the bottle?” she says like it’s a joke but I know damn well she’s being serious.
“You want to?” Mike asks and looks around as if there’d be a bottle magically waiting on the coffee table. Guess we dropped the ball there.
“Why the hell not?” is Sam’s answer.
“We brought a bottle to play with.” I have to roll my eyes before sheepishly adding, “You know, or to drink or whatever.” I hide my embarrassment by taking another sip.
“Where is it?”
“I gave it to the guy who opened the door,” Sam cuts in with her hands up in an apology. “My bad,” she says with a giant grin on her face. “I freaked and just handed it over.” She laughs into her cup again and chugs it, emptying it and biting the rim.
“Solo cups don’t work quite as well,” I joke but I’m not sure Mike heard.
“So, you want to do stuff?” Mike asks and I glance at Sam, who humorlessly raises her brow.
“Getting right to it, aren’t you?” she asks him flippantly, and I smack her.
“Like what kind of stuff?” I say. I know what he means. And yes, I do. I’ve watched porn before. A few times with Sam, although it got a little weird, so we quickly turned that shit off. It’s how she knows I like things a little different, though. “I could do stuff,” I say casually as my body heats.
“Drinks!” Mike’s cousin interrupts us, stomping down the stairs holding two red Solo cups and spilling beer all over the floor as he makes his way over. Sam jumps back, laughing and raising her arms in surprise and Mike’s cousin shoves one of the cups into her open hand.
“Drinks,” Mike bellows and clinks the plastic cups which only results in more beer being spilled and our conversation getting lost.
“Drinks,” Sam mocks them, widening her eyes and imitating their excitement, but she’s smiling the entire time and both the guys laugh, clinking their plastic cups with hers.
I take another sip and much to my dismay, it still tastes like piss.
