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Spin the… oh, hell no.
“I remember Amy grabbing my hand and, before I could object, dragging me up the stairs. She threw open the set of double doors at the end of the upstairs hallway, and there was a huge master suite. I remember counting at least eight people seated in a circle around a table. There were three girls and five guys, I think. And there was an empty beer bottle lying on its side on the table.”
“One of the boys told Amy they had been waiting for her to get started and asked her what took her so long. Apparently, she had brought me in to even out the numbers.” The images of that night continue flashing through my mind…
Amy leads me toward the table. The boy with his back to me twists around and my heart almost stops. Jamie Albrecht is smiling at me.
"Lara." I answer when the girl asks me to repeat my name. but all I can think is, ‘Is this really happening? Oh my God.’
"All right!" Amy exclaims. "Let's play!"
The group shifts, opening a space for me in the circle.
“I remember sitting directly across from you, crossing my legs, and avoiding eye contact. I knew that at any moment one of you would surely recognize me—Lara Dieckling, theatre geek, band player, the ugly duckling.”
I knew I didn't belong there. What if the bottle landed on me? No one there would have ever wanted to kiss me. But no one objected, no one hesitated. In fact, I was pretty sure a few of them were staring at my boobs. The movie in my head goes on, so clear, like it was yesterday…
I recognize one of the boys from the football team. "My turn." He leans over and gives the bottle a spin, and my heart leaps into my throat. Is this how I'm going to get my first kiss? With a stranger at a party?
But then again… Jamie is pretty much a stranger and if it was his turn, would I be worrying about that? Or would I be crossing my fingers behind my back, hoping it lands on me?
“You have no idea, Jamie. Watching that bottle slow to a crawl as it approached me was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. My mind kept screaming no, no, no.”
The relief I felt when it passed me and landed on Amy sitting beside me was indescribable.
“I had seen the game before on one of those after school special movies, but this one was nothing like that. They weren’t doing just a quick peck or a pop kiss. The boy wrapped his arms around Amy’s neck and gave her a full-on spit swapping tongue workout, full surround sound effects and all. You might not believe it, but I had never kissed a boy before, so watching Amy and the boy pull apart with a string of spit still connecting them… All I can remember is thinking, ‘Yuck. Is that what kissing is like?’”
Jamie
Shortly after Lara starts telling her story, her words fade into an unintelligible gibberish as the veil shrouding my own memories of that night is whisked away, and a living image of the events takes over my mind. The last bit of her story I hear is something about getting inside the house and some drunk girl. There is also something about someone’s clothes, I think, but I’m lost inside my own inner movie, blind and deaf to the present as I recall that night, nine years ago, as clearly as if it was last night.
"What do you mean? Are you breaking up with me? We have the football party tonight."
Amy looks at me in the mirror hanging inside her locker and rolls her eyes. "Breaking up? What do you mean, Jamie? We weren’t… like… an item. We had sex once."
I twist my fingers around the straps of my backpack. "Yeah, but, like, I was going to ask you out."
She reapplies her ‘fuck me’ red lipstick, adjusts her cleavage in her cheerleading uniform and then slams the locker shut. "No, you weren't. You just want a date for homecoming."
I tag along like a lonesome puppy as she strides off down the hallway. "Well, I mean, think about it. I'm the captain of the football team. You're head cheerleader. It makes sense."
Amy glares at me. "I told you I wanted to be with you, Jamie. And then we had sex, and then two days later, you kissed Mariah."
"She kissed me!" I hiss.
Amy rolls her eyes. "That's not what she said."
"Of course she didn't say that."
"Jamie… I'll see you tonight, and then maybe next week we can talk about it."
Talk about it? Is she fucking serious? Every girl in this school would die for an opportunity to go with me to homecoming. Who the hell does Amy think she is?
Plus, I'd already told the boys she was coming with me tonight. This won't look good.
Fuck… I need a drink.
Six hours later, I arrive at Mark's house already five drinks down. I'd convinced my team to show up early with me, so by the time Amy arrived, I could show her how much I don't need her. To my dismay, she's not only here, but she's out by the pool sitting on Bryan Lewis's lap.
