"Look, this is going to be just as awkward for both of us, so don't pretend you have it worse than I do," I told Jen as we drove toward Dakota's house. "You don't see me bitching about having it worse than you."
"I'm just saying, Dakota was my friend first," Jen argued. "You can just drop me off and go home, then it won't have to be awkward for both of us."
"But this party was started by my friends," I countered. "And Dakota invited me first. You're the plus one."
"Jesus, why do you have to be so damn difficult."
"I'm not exactly thrilled about the idea of watching my baby sister hook up with a bunch of my buddies either." I pulled into Dakota's driveway and parked. "Let's just do this and get it over with. You want to have fun, I want to have fun, let's just ignore each other and pretend we're the only one here, okay?"
"Fine," Jen huffed as we got out of the car and walked up to the house.
The party started slowly. We talked to some of our own friends and had a few drinks while the last few people showed up. Dakota let us know when everyone was there and called us all in to the living room so the main event could get started.
"Gather 'round everyone!" Dakota called out. "Circle up. Most of you have been here before, you know the drill. For you new people, we're going to go over the game rules again really quick to make sure we're all on the same page." You'd think he'd done this before, but Dakota had only been invited to last year's party before.
"Game is Spin the Bottle, you all remember it from middle school. But we're all adults now, so we're going to kick it up a notch. Rules are pretty simple, you sit in the circle, you participate. There are no punishments or penalties for bitching out, because you will not be bitching out. If you don't want to do it, you can leave before the round starts. But if you leave, you go home. You don't get to skip the foreplay and come back for the climax.
"One house rule, just for my edition of the game. When we get down to the last two people who haven't done the task, they automatically get paired together without spinning. I want to make sure everyone gets to play, and I think it adds a little extra spice to the game. But that's just me. After everyone's participated at least once, we'll go ahead and skip to the next round.
"Anyway, let's get started. First round, first base. Spin the bottle and make out with whoever it lands on." Dakota picked a spot in the circle to settle, then spun the bottle. It finally stopped spinning, pointing to Beth. Lucky Beth, she'd had a crush on Dakota for a while. He didn't hold back either, it almost looked like he was going to push his luck and try to convince her to sleep with him right there in the middle of the circle.
But then he broke it off. He sat back down and motioned for Arthur to take his turn. Beth slumped back down as he reached for the bottle, as if she had been hoping for more. Arthur gave a spin, landing on Dustin. Arthur put up some protest at first, but was quickly reminded of the rules. He went ahead and kissed Dustin, who didn't seem to mind at all.
The bottle kept spinning. Freddy spun Leann. Karen spun Dustin again, lucky guy. I got Beth, which was a little awkward since I had dumped her a few years ago. Then Janet spun Dustin. That guy was really getting his money's worth out of this party. Then Jasmine spun Beth, who by now was getting pretty flustered with all her own attention. Dahlia spun Leann...
And then it was Jen's turn. I tried to tune out and ignore it, but I was enjoying the game and besides, what was the worst that could happen? I should have known better than to ask that question, because the bottle finally stopped spinning on me. A few people expressed surprise or concern at the result, a couple degenerates showed their approval. Dakota cut us off before we could protest.
"You guys knew the rules when you came here, you knew the rules before we got started. Tough luck, but you have to do it just like everyone else. The straight guys made out with other guys, the couples made out with other people, you have to do it."
"I know the rules," I snapped at him. "I was part of the original group that started this party four years ago, I should know the rules by the fifth meeting." I took a beat to compose myself and turned to my sister. She looked as uncomfortable as I felt. "Look, it's no big deal. It's the rules, we knew that. Just close your eyes and pretend it's someone else."
She cleared her throat and nodded. We leaned across the circle, closing our eyes at the last moment and summoning up images of who we would each rather be kissing. I tried to think of each of the other girls in turn, but I couldn't drag my mind away from how soft my sister's lips were. They were silky smooth, and she tasted somewhat minty too, which means either she hadn't had anything to drink before the game started, or else she'd been chewing on some gum to kill the breath.
"I think that's enough," Dakota said. "You can stop now-"
"Yea, but only if you want to!" interrupted Brandon, who laughed at his own comedic brilliance. I have no idea how he'd been invited, but I wasn't the host this year, so I didn't get to say. I'd have loved to deck him, but instead I just sat back down.
"Real clever, asshole," I said, to angry to come up with any kind of clever insult. I rolled the mint I hadn't been sucking on a second ago to the other side of my mouth. "But if I'm doing my math right, that means you and Hayden are the last two left, have fun with your own brother."
