Someone had taken the time to decorate the place, probably for one of the parties. Streamers hung from the ceiling and Christmas lights lined the walls, but they didn’t work because the building didn’t have electricity.
I had no idea how long we’d been at the warehouse, but almost all of the sun had disappeared, and a battery-powered lantern in the middle of the floor was our only source of light. The dull illumination cast shadows on our faces, making everyone look sharp and spooky. I’d lost track of how many beers were running through my system, but they were enough to make my head buzz.
“I don’t think so, guys,” I said slowly, trying to clear my mind and concentrate. It was hard to think when my head felt so heavy.
“Oh, come on,” Nick said with so much enthusiasm that he knocked over the row of empty bottles next to him. “You have to play!” He was quite a different person when he was drunk. More friendly.
The group was trying to get me to play spin the bottle, and I felt uncomfortable.
Cole had introduced me to everyone when we arrived—two girls and four guys—but they still felt like strangers. There was Kate, the girl with the pink streak in her hair, and her friend Molly. Then, not including Nick, two of Cole’s friends from the football team had come. I couldn’t remember their names, maybe Ryan and Jim, but they also could have been Bryan and Tim. Then there was Molly’s little brother Joe who had a lip ring and insisted on being called Jet.
Besides the fact that everyone here was older than me, I didn’t want to play spin the bottle for one huge reason. I had never been kissed. Did I really want my first one to be some sloppy, tipsy train-wreck with a boy I didn’t know?
“I probably shouldn’t,” I said, shaking my head.
“Sounds like you’re thinking too much,” Kate said, grabbing me another can. It was her personal mission to make sure that there was a drink in everyone’s hands at all times. When I didn’t take it from her, she stuffed it into the cup holder on my chair.
“Maybe we should do something else.” It was Cole. He was lounging back in one of the camping chairs, and the way the light from the lantern hit his face, he looked sexy, dangerous.
“Why not? You love spin the bottle.”
“I do, but I don’t think it’s Jackie’s kind of game.”
“What do you mean, not my kind of game?”
“You’re a Goody Two-Shoes.”
“Am not.”
“Prove it.”
In the back of my mind, I knew he was baiting me, but the alcohol made words that I normally wouldn’t say come out of my mouth. “Oh, you’re so on.”
We all sat cross-legged on the floor in a circle and placed an empty bottle in the middle. Kate spun first, and when it landed on Ryan-Bryan, she laughed and spun again.
“Hey!” Ryan-Bryan complained. “You can’t do that.”
“I’m instigating an ex-girlfriend rule,” she said. “I’ve kissed you enough to know never to do it again.”
“What are you talking about? I’m a great kisser.”
“Ryan, you’re a biter. Seriously, what was with all the tooth action? It’s not like my face is a midnight snack.”
Jet was up next, and when he spun the bottle, I silently prayed that it wouldn’t land on me. When it came to a stop on his sister Molly, they both made a face, and he ended up kissing Kate instead. I was beginning to understand that people just kissed whomever they wanted instead of the person the bottle actually landed on.
Then it was Cole’s turn, and the bottle landed on Nick.
“Ah, hell no,” Cole said, looking at his friend in disgust. Everyone laughed. “I’m going again,” he said, giving the bottle another spin. It twirled on the floor in front of us, and I felt my pulse quicken. Did I want Cole to kiss me? Sure, he was attractive. There was no denying that, but I just couldn’t figure him out. What if everything Alex said about him was true? Even worse, what if I was falling for him anyway? What did that say about the kind of person I was?
When the bottle started slowing, making one last circle, I realized that it was going to land on me. However, just as the nose pointed in my direction, the bottle wobbled one last time and finally stopped between Molly and me.
“Well, now what do you do?” Jim-Tim asked Cole as we all stared at the bottle. It was quiet for a moment, but then Cole answered.
“I get to pick,” he said, before sweeping across the circle with a quick step and crashing his lips onto mine.
For one small moment I let him kiss me, his body pressed up against mine, and a wave of heat washed over us. Then my dulled senses kicked in. I could hear Riley’s voice in my head: That’s boy’s gonna eat you alive, and you won’t see it coming…
Frightened, I shoved Cole away. “Get off,” I said, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.
Cole laughed and moved back to his spot across the circle. “It’s okay, Jackie,” he said, winking at me. “I got what I wanted.”
It was quiet. Everyone looked back and forth between Cole and me as the boom box crackled in the background.