“I’m sorry, I guess I wasn’t thinkin’ clearly,” she turned with a sly smile, acknowledging my presence for the first time. “Not everyone can be me and have Jess Mason.”
“I know. You’re just the cutest couple,” Katie Rae squealed. “He’s goin’ to be so cute in a suit. I bet your dress will…”
“Enough fawnin’ all over me,” she spat, cutting her off. “Shut it down with Buzz. I better see you far away from him the rest of the trip. Are we clear?”
“Yes,” she muttered in submission. I popped a Dorrito in my mouth, watching the sad show.
“So girls,” she purred in an odd voice. “Let’s play a game while the boys are gone. You in, Alex?”
I swallowed the chip feeling it scrape down my throat. Her attention moved to me.
“Why not.” I met her stare, holding my ground. I popped another Dorrito. Her eyes blinked in disgust, tracing over my old t-shirt and cutoffs. I crunched on the chip, pretending not to care.
Ashley went to the cabin and returned with four cups of vodka, each with a splash of Sprite. Jess had snuck a few cases of beer in with the rest of the supplies, but I didn’t know anyone had brought hard liquor on the trip. I wasn’t much of a drinker. Sometimes, Jess brought beer when we went fishing. This would be my first experience with something stronger.
“Ok girls, the game is, I Have Never. There’s only one rule. You make a true statement about yourself, on something you have never done. If someone else has done this statement, that person takes a drink.”
We all nodded in agreement. I swallowed hard, wishing I had gone on the boat.
“Alex, you start.” The cool eyes of Ashley flashed at me.
“Ok.” I looked over and said the first thing I could find different from us. “I have never been a cheerleader.”
I watched all three of them take a sip. We went around the circle. Katie Rae rattled off something about eating sushi. My cup stayed clasped in my hand. Ashley was next.
“I have never worn clothes from Goodwill.” Her gaze locked with mine as my fingers dug into the side of my red solo cup. Was she serious? I lifted the rim to my lips and took a swig, feeling the burn of the vodka all the way to my belly button.
“It’s your turn, Lila,” Ashley said without even looking at her. Lila’s eyes flickered over to me and back to Ashley.
“Um, ok,” her voiced held a tremor. “I have never had sex with Jess Mason.”
Ashley’s sculpted eyebrows arched up at me as she took a sip. Her eyelashes batted in my direction. What the hell? Did she think I would drink to that one?
“Alex?”
I jumped. “What?”
“It’s your turn to go.”
“Right,” I muttered. “I have never umm…had a speeding ticket.”
Lila drank to that one. Katie Rae followed with a comment about Sea World. I took another sip based on the trip two summers ago with the Masons. The next question was about Disney World. I took another swallow, for another Mason family trip that included me.
Ashley stared straight at me on her turn. “I have never thrown myself at Jess and got rejected.”
My stomach tightened; the alcohol swirling. Did she think her calculated planted question would pull some deep confession out of me?
“Alex?”
“Huh.” Her lipstick glowed in the flames. Everyone's fingers held in place on the plastic cups. The buzz grew stronger between my ears.
“It’s your turn again unless…there’s somethin’ you want to tell us. We can keep a secret, you know. If you want to talk about it?”
“I’m fine.”
Her evil smile watched me fidget. This game would be dirty in the low-down, female backstabbing, form of crap. We continued to play over the next hour. I took swig after swig from her pointed questions. The faces across the campfire blurred into the night. The three Witches of Eastwick haunted me through the hazy view of the flames. The sneers and laughs floated in a satanic feeling as the vodka circled through my blood stream.
“I have never lived in a car that smelled like dirty diapers. What’s that sayin’…I have never slept where I shit.” Her glossy lips pursed in a cryptic smile.
My eyes blinked a few times in a dead stare across the flames. At this point, the liquor had my brain numb. I held the cup up in her direction for a toast then kicked it back for a swallow. The vodka rolled into my stomach. I was too drunk for the ultimate slam to even hurt.
By the time Jess returned, I could barely hold myself up straight. Two bags of Doritos were empty and my fingers were all orange. I wiped the stains across my stomach and giggled, seeing the marks.
“I ate chips,” I muttered, his blue eyes staring me. I tried to stand up, but tripped toward the campfire. Jess caught my arm before I hit the flames. Sitting me back down, he lifted my cup for a sniff. His frowning face bobbed around, like a balloon then floated away.
“What the hell did you do to her?”
“Nothin’ she didn’t want to do.”
He went over to Ashley. Their voices got louder, but I couldn’t hear the words. Gentry put an arm under my legs and picked me.
“I can take her back to the cabin,” he said, looking over at Jess.
The rest of the conversation floated in and out in jumbled pieces. I willed my brain to focus on the words. I think Jess was angry at Ashley. A laugh bubbled out of my lips. Everything just felt funny. As Gentry carried me up the stairs, I muttered incoherent words against his shoulder. I felt like a twig in his tree trunk arms. My hand gripped his shoulder feeling the solid muscle.
“They’s right. You’s are cement.”
He laughed at me. “You sound like someone from the old West when you’re drunk.”
“No, I’s don’t…not,” I babbled back. “Hey, I’s gots a question. Jess mad at Ash-a lee?”
“Yeah, a little. You were drinkin’ vodka and the rest of ‘em were drinkin’ plain Sprite.”
“What’s? Not fairs,” I slurred.
“No, not really, I guess. You were the only one who was playin’ a drinkin’ game.” He sat me down on my bed and smiled. His green eyes split from two to four. “You goin’ to be ok up here by yourself?”
“I’s sure. Fine.” My fingers waved around trying to touch his face to make it be still. His cheek felt soft in the dim light. His shoulders were hard and his cheek was nice. Gentry captured my hand to place it back on the bed.
“Ok. Well, I’ll let you go to sleep. ‘Night, Alex.”
“Thanks Gentry. You’s nice.” My eyes slid closed and everything went black.
Sometime later, I regained consciousness, but it was still dark. The moon cast shadows across the second floor landing. My mouth felt dry, and my tongue was scratchy. The inside of my stomach rolled around scorched and angry.
“You ok?” A faint voice came from the floor.
I struggled to sit straight and keep my brain from spinning. Every cell of my body still felt drunk. I guess I was still drunk. It took a moment for the heap on the floor to come into focus. The faint light from the window reflected back two blue eyes.
“Jess?”
“Yeah,” he whispered.
“Why are you here?”
“I was worried about you.” He scooted up to sit beside me on the twin bed. I felt his hand in the center of my back right between my shoulder blades. The pressure felt soothing as Jess talked low against my spinning head. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah.”
“What happened down there?”
“Nothing.”
The spinning question took too much effort to keep my head up. I collapsed backward, bouncing with the impact. The contents of my stomach sloshed around up to my throat. I needed keep still or I would be very sick.
The bed shifted with his weight. Jess stretched out beside me on the twin bed. I relaxed next to his warm body. As I slipped back unconscious, I heard a few faint words against my cheek.
“I’m sorry I made you come.”