Hannah’s house was huge. All white, elegant columns, a u-shaped driveway with palm trees in the splotch of grass in the center. Inside, granite countertops, a fully-stocked dry bar in the living room, an edgeless TV inset into the wall. Hannah gave her a brief tour, showed off a family room and living room, and one of four guest rooms upstairs that Cat was meant to stay in.

“This place is a palace,” Cat murmured under her breath. “Why the hell would you want to live in a dorm after this?” Hannah giggled.

“Thank you! It was a great place to grow up, I have to admit. Independence is better.” Cat didn’t quite agree. “Before we had the pool installed, we had a sand pit and a swingset. But, when I became a teenager, my parents had the pool and hot tub installed. It makes the back yard look smaller, but there’s still space to have barbeques and whatnot.” As the girls made their way back downstairs, the doorbell rang. The stairs were wooden and freshly-oiled, slick and shiny. Hannah explained that with the right size of carpet square samples, it made for the bumpiest, but fastest, slide she’d ever been on.

Kelsey and Cameron walked through the door with big smiles on their faces and towels under their arms.

“How can we help set up?” Kelsey asked after quick hugs.

Hannah gestured to the dry bar. “I was going to start moving drinks and cups outside, if you could help?”

The four of them started with the hard liquor and a wide array of shot glasses, arranging them in a way to keep the alcohol in the shade for as long as possible as the sun stretched out overhead. It was quite warm out, and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky this late afternoon. With sunset still a few hours away, Cat found herself looking forward to a cold beer. The trio set to work on filling a few coolers with ice, cider, beer, and a few waters, before Hannah finally shut the last one and looked to Cameron.

“I thought your roomie was coming?”

“Yeah, in a bit. He had some preparations for a presentation to make. Speaking of--!” Cam’s eyes went wide as he pointed toward Catherine. Her stomach dropped to the floor. Prepare for a presentation. Oh god. This was where Cam recognized her from Peter’s complaints. “Do you have a communications class on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays?”

“It’s fucking him,” Cat grumbled as she slammed down a giant bottle of tequila.

“What?” Hannah and Kelsey asked in unison.

“There’s this jackass junior who thinks he’s better than everyone--” Cam interrupted her with laughter. “What’s so funny?”

“It’s just--no, no, you go ahead. This is going to be great. Guys, just listen. It’s hilarious.” Cam waved at the girls to be quiet and listen, and Cat stared at him as if he grew a second head.

“I don’t get it.” He waved for her to continue, and she glared at him. “Whatever, I was just going to say how we met at orientation, and he was a complete dickhead, and then I see him every Monday morning at Jittery Joe’s, and now he’s in my stupid communications class and we have to debate tomrrow, and I gave him a chance to work together, but he’s such a pompous asshole that he said no.” Cam looked like he was going to explode.

“What’s so bad about him?” he asked, holding back laughter.

She squinted at him. “Um, aside from how rude and completely selfish he is? His holier-than-thou attitude and his stupid face come to mind.” That was a lie. His face was maybe his only redeeming quality from the neck-up.

“I don’t get how this is funny,” Kelsey finally piped up.

Cameron waved at her to wait. “So when he gets here, you should talk to him for like, a minute, then ask him about her, and then you’re going to find it so funny. Just wait.”

“What did he say about me to make you think I was who he was talking about?” Now the fire lit in Cat’s stomach. If that asshole was talking shit--

“Honestly, I would not have guessed it was you if it weren’t for him saying your last name. Promise.”

“Tell me what the fuck is so funny before I--” As she raised the bottle of tequila, Cam waved a hand for truce.

“Relax! It’s just like, he’d been talking about you nearly every day since school started, and then he finally said your name, like, yesterday, and I was like, ‘There’s no way that’s her!’” Damn straight. “So when he said your name, I was like, ‘Nah, man. You must have heard wrong.’ And the guy fucking--straight up, was just like, ‘Nah. She’s the worst. Hopefully you never meet her.’ And yet, you’re super fuckin’ chill, and so is he, but like, you guys hate each other from a stupid orientation game!” Cat slammed the tequila down on the table.

“That’s reductive!”

“Okay, I can see how that could be funny,” Kelsey started with a grin. Cat glared at her. “But like, if they spend the whole night bitching at each other, I’m going to become an alcoholic.”

“I’ll be as cordial as he is.” The doorbell rang again, and Hannah disappeared without another word to fetch the next batch of guests.

Cat didn’t know any of these people, but she did meet two guys: Richard, a self-proclaimed Twink with gages the diameter of a quarter; and Javier, a short and fit soccer player, as well as a girl whose name she didn’t catch that had legs longer than the day.

The small group settled in at the lounge chairs by the pool and hot tub with beers and various mixed drinks, including a sangria that the girl brought. Cat settled with a beer, instead.

Over the next hour or so, more people arrived. Even Peter. He came with a couple other guys who looked to have personalities similar to that of motor oil, both unsmiling and tired. Like likes like company, perhaps.

“Everyone have a drink?” Hannah called when it looked like no one else would come. There were maybe a little over a dozen people, all lounging somewhere or dipping their feet in the water. “We’ll start barbequing in about an hour.”

“Dibs!” one of the unsmiling friends of Peter called, suddenly energetic. Hannah let out a laugh.

“Of course! You’re the best grill master out there!” She giggled. “Glad I could get you to look at least a little happy to be here.”

“Ah, sorry. John and I just came off twelve hour shifts at the factory. Wouldn’t miss your first party of the year, though.” Well. Maybe that was why Peter’s peons looked so unsavory. But what was Peter’s excuse? Though she completely avoided looking at him for the entire time, so she couldn’t honestly say if he looked like a big of a dick as he was. There had to be a way he pulled the wool over Cam’s eyes. Though...Cam wasn’t exactly a Stephen Hawking sort of guy.

It took Cat a full beer and a half to understand how Hannah knew everyone here. Apparently, her older brother went to school with a few of the guys that came with Richard and Peter, or she knew them from classes last year. It was weird, though, to see all these different kinds of people that didn’t know each other come together because Hannah asked them to. Then again, people didn’t really say no to Hannah. It was a little magical. All these different people, all different walks of life, hanging out because one person just genuinely wanted to have a party with them here. As far as Cat knew, Peter and the leggy brunette were the only plus ones--though still somehow connected through friends of friends. Small world.

At some point while everyone mingled and Cat started talking to one of the guys Peter came with, Benny, Hannah brought out some bluetooth speakers to play some music. Benny was a junior chemistry major with a smile that took up half of his face, and hair shaved so short he would win a military fashion contest. He was a bit slow, but nice enough. He called her pretty, so she didn’t mind his company. And he smiled when he spoke to her, so that felt nice.

Cat talked to him for about half a beer before Hannah remembered something and disappeared.

“How’d you meet Hannah?” she asked when there was a slight lull in the conversation.

“Art History class! She was one of my project partners. We failed so bad…. We tried to do a mod podge 3D Picasso painting. It melted just hours before our presentation.” She let out a courtesy chuckle, but found herself looking into the distance of the massive back yard.

“Giant Jenga!” Hannah shouted as she ran away from a garden shed on the other side of the grass. Cat squinted to see her carrying a big, black box, her feet taking tiny steps to overcome the heaviness. ”Drunk Giant Jenga!”

Benny shook his head. “Sitting drinking games out. Ended up getting my stomach pumped last year--haven’t been the same since.”

The small crowd let out sounds of amusement as they made way for her to step onto the concrete by the pool where they were conjugated. Cat rose from her seat a little slower than when she first sat down. Water and carbs would probably be smart about now, before she got tipsy off of beer.

Hannah reveled in the attention of the small crowd. “I wrote all the rules on the blocks. But the biggest ones, are you must always have a drink in your hand, you must take a drink before you take a block, and you can only use one hand.”

“So like, right hand drink, left hand block?” Kelsey asked from the edge of the pool. She stood up and took her feet out, and Cat, for the briefest moment, contemplated how refreshing jumping in would feel to battle the heat.

“Yeah!”

Cameron shouted on his way back from the restroom. “I’ve played this before. I got fucked up!”

“That’s the point!” Hannah dropped the box on the floor in the middle of the small group, and Cat moved forward to help her set up. The crowd began to circle around and fetch beers, Kelsey grabbing a few extra for Cat and Hannah, and Cat took her time setting up the blocks to try and take a peek at some of the rules written on the blocks.

“Oh god,” Cat sounded as she spotted one that said, “all girls shots!” “You customized this game, didn’t you?”

“I did!” Hannah announced gleefully, standing straight. “Alright, everyone got their drink?” Cat grabbed her fresh drink from Kelsey. “Okay. So we’ll start on my left. Everyone in a circle!” When she announced this, a few people chickened out and backed into the lawn chairs or back to the poolside. There were only six of them left, now, including Cat and Hannah. She booed them, then pointed to the cardboard cutout of a personality that volunteered to grill.

“Can you get some burgers on?” she asked as she gestured to the built-in grill closer to the sliding door.

“Oh yeah!” He took off as if it was some sort of race, and the hostess looked to Javier beside her.

“Javier, your turn!” Hannah nudged him in the ribs, and he responded by taking a swig of his cider before reaching forward.

“So, like, we just do what the blocks say?”

“Yeah. They’re double-sided. We’ll just do the blue sharpie ones now, and if we see a repeat, we’ll just flip it over.”

Kelsey waved for Javier to stop reaching. “Wait, should we like, establish boundaries or something?”

“Oh? Like what?”

“Like we say what we won’t consent to before it comes up, so it doesn’t ruin the flow of the game. Maybe if we don’t consent to something, we take a shot instead.” Consent? The group seemed to come abuzz with excitement. Cat’s stomach lurched. How many shots were required, here? And what would Jenga have to do with consent?

"And,” Cam cut in on Cat’s left, “we’re allowed to heckle you until you take your shot.”

Hannah nodded. “Oh, that’s a good idea. I know what all of these have, so I can just ask everyone at once.” The circle tightened as she spoke, and Cat found herself between Hannah and Cameron. To her dismay, Peter wasn’t one of the people to chicken out, and established himself between Cam and Kelsey.

“How bad does it get?” Cat dared to ask, clutching her beer to her chest.

“Not that bad, really. They’re just like, Truth or Dare, take a shot, give Left a hickey. Stuff like that. Anyone opposed to kissing?” Hannah gestured to everyone in the circle, who all mostly shook their heads. Cat looked at her suspiciously.

“Is this your way of getting into my pants?”

“A girl can try.” The group laughed. Cat only smiled.

“Alright, what else is there?”

“Um, drinking, sharing embarrassing secrets...oh! There’s a couple in there where you have to take off an article of clothing. I think there’s only three or something though.”

“That’s fine.”

“And light touching,” Hannah added quickly. Cat’s stomach jumped to her throat. Well, if she stood between Cam and Hannah, she supposed she’d be fine with anything with them. Or anyone else in this circle that wasn’t her obnoxious debate partner. But kissing and a boob-grab here and there weren’t big deals, so...this was fine.

“I do not consent to feet stuff!” Javier said quickly.

“There’s no feet stuff,” Hannah said with a disgusted look on her face. He sighed. “Okay, let’s go!” No one raised a fuss, and so Javier reached forward for one of the bottom pegs.

“What’s the penalty for knocking it over?” he asked as he pulled his block out.

“Uhhh--double shot of your least-favorite spirit.”

“Ew. I guess that’d be Fireball for me,” he said as he placed his block on top. “Okay, Never Have I Ever…. Never have I ever kissed a guy.”

“Weeeaaak,” Kelsey muttered as she, Cat, Hannah and Cam took a drink.

“This game is going to fuck me up….”

“Shut up, Cameron.” Kelsey stepped forward to try and take out her peg. “One-handed...this is...hard.”

“That’s what she said!”

“Penalty drink for being stupid?” Kelsey offered, gesturing with her drink to Javier.

“Agreed,” said Hannah.

“Pft. You’re...stupid….” But he took a drink like a good sport.

“Okay,” Kelsey continued. “Kinkiest fantasy.” She brushed her red hair to the side, and turned almost as dark a shade on her cheeks. “Um, fuck it. I’ve always wanted to be tied up.” Plunk! She dropped her block on top of the stack.

Peter approached the stack with his head thrown back to finish his beer, and plucked a block out without resistance. “Oh...sorry, guys.” He laughed, but looked guilty as he showed the block to all of the guys in the group.

“Shots, shots, shots!” Javier started to chant. “Tequila!” The girls laughed and relaxed a bit while the guys retreated to the snack table to pour their shots.

“This is going to get waaaay out of hand, way fast,” Cat predicted as she reached for a backup beer from the cooler.

“I wouldn’t mind it,” Hannah said, eyeing the group of guys that stared at each other with their shot glasses in hand. “I wouldn’t mind with any three of them. Or all of them at once. I mean with Cam, been there done that. But if you throw in another person, it’s a whole different game.”

“Jesus, Hannah,” Kelsey sounded as the guys knocked back their drinks. “Haven’t even gotten into the pool yet and you’re already in wet clothes.” Cat choked on her swig of beer.

“What? They’re all hot. Right? Even you have to agree, Cat. All of them.” She kept her eyes on one particular guy, the one she knew Cat had a problem with. He stood just slightly taller than the rest of them, grimacing at the bite of the alcohol. When he opened his eyes, he looked straight at her, and she ducked her gaze.

Cat sighed. “I’m not blind. He’s a dick, not ugly.” The girls giggled as the guys put away the tequila and glasses. Hannah started to fan herself with her hand; Cat fought the urge to mirror her. Half-admitting attraction was one thing. Fanning herself after Hannah’s fantasy explanation would be a whole different thing. And even though she literally felt the sweat begin to collect at her hairline, she was still about two beers away from admitting any further truths.

“So you wouldn’t mind…?” Kelsey egged.

“Not if he kept his mouth shut.”

“Same goes for all of them!” Kelsey piped up. The girls threw themselves into a fit of laughter, and Hannah seemed to light up.

“You ever have hate sex before?” But thankfully, the guys rejoined them before Cat was expected to answer.

“Alright!” Cam picked up his beer, still smacking his lips from the tequila, and approached the tower.

“Don’t forget to drink,” Peter said. Cam groaned.

“Right. This game is going to fuck me up.” He knocked back a swig, then pulled his out. “Drink or Dare! Someone ask me!” He plopped his block on the top as Kelsey raised her hand.

“Drink or Dare?”

“Dare!”

“I dare you to call in sick to somewhere you don’t even work!” The group roared at the idea, and Cam enthusiastically fished his phone out of his pocket. “Oooh, do Starbucks!”

“No, no, Ulta!”

“Target!”

Eventually, Cameron shushed everyone to put his phone on speaker as he called the local PetSmart.

"Thank you for calling PetSmart, this is Erica, how can I help you?” Cam covered his microphone as he giggled.

“Um, hi. Yes. This is...Jefathan.” Cat covered her mouth to try and contain her laughter. “And I’m calling in sick tomorrow because...I…. Because I’m giving birth. Right now.” At that, they couldn’t contain their laughter, and they couldn’t hear anything over Cam’s hush except for when he shouted, “They hung up on me!”

"Jefathan?” Cat echoed as she doubled over. “What the fuck kind of name is that?”

“I panicked!”

"You’re giving birth?”

“Shut up and take your turn!” Cat took several moments to compose herself before she could take a drink from her beer. The heat from the sun made her lightheaded, so she hesitated before trying a block near the bottom. It was a little tough, but she fished it out, and straightened up. The tower wobbled slightly, and the group collectively held onto their breath.

“Oh! Pick someone to take off an article of clothing!” she read aloud. Everyone started to whoop and holler as she replaced her peg. “I think I speak for everyone when I say, Kelsey, please take off your shirt.” The small circle started to clap, and Kelsey let out a loud laugh as she set down her drink.

“Joke’s on you…,” she started before quickly tearing off her shirt. “I’m wearing LAYERS!” She revealed a tank top underneath as she threw her shirt to the side, and the group let out its various laughs and sounds of disappointment. “Waste of a peg!”

“There are other ways to get you topless!” Hannah stepped up to take her turn. Javier let out a long breath and shook his head.

“Damn, Hannah. You’re the real MVP if you manage that.” The group let out its courteous chuckles as she held up her peg.

“Hey, Cat….” Her stomach dropped when she met her roomie’s gaze. God, what did this entail? “Don’t look so scared! I was just going to ask you if it’s okay that you do body shots with me.”

“Oh!” As the guys whooped and hollered, even Peter, to her surprise, Cat gave a short nod. It was better than where she thought Hannah might go. After she implied she found Peter attractive, she didn’t like the wave of energy coming off her friend. Though she was in quite a mood--this might have been a way to try to get in her pants. That was fine. Cat hadn’t quite decided how she felt about Hannah’s advances, but none of it put her off yet, so she was willing to keep going. And, truth be told, it was a little exciting. She didn’t hate the attention. One might even argue she encouraged it.

The cheers continued from their little group to the rest of the party, the small group of people that hung around the pool and drank casually. The passive spectators turned into voyeurs the minute Hannah shouted “Body shots!”

Richard was the first to stand up and ask, “On who?”

“Cat and me!”

“Aw. Be gender-fair!” Richard whined as he sat back down.

“Shut up! You’re not playing!”

“I would if there were more guys!” Both groups of people laughed as the Jenga players headed over to the table.

“Wait,” Cat said as she turned to Hannah. “What does the block actually say?” It didn’t occur to her until this moment that it could mean that everyone else did body shots off of them. That was far more nerve-wracking. That made her cheeks burn.

“Oh, sorry. Here.” She passed off the block before moving some of the other hard liquor out of the way of the table. Cat’s heart skipped a beat.

“Hannah…,” she started nervously. “This says ‘All body shot off u +1.’”

“Yeah.”

“You made it sound like we were just doing them off each other.”

“I mean, I was thinking of a race. One team versus the other. Losers take another shot.”

“Good god, Hannah!” Kelsey shouted through her laughter. Cat’s heart skipped a beat.

“Speak for yourself, I’m not complaining,” Javier chimed in.

Cameron seemed a little worried. “We just took a shot like a minute ago. Now we’re talking maybe two more.”

“I didn’t plan to go to class tomorrow anyway.”

“No one vomits in the pool!” Hannah yelled before hopping up on the table. “Come on!” The next instant, she reached up to pull at the hem of her shirt to peel it off, revealing her bikini underneath. A few of the voyeurs from the pool made their way over, including Benny, who let out a wolf whistle. “Cat, come on!”

“I--uh….” With all eyes on her, a deep tingling played with the edges of her stomach, and she couldn’t lift her eyes from the ground for the briefest moment, until air finally found its way to her lungs and gave her a slight reprieve. “The--how does this work, exactly? How does someone ‘win’?” She took her time making her way to the table.

“I want to judge!” The girl Cat hadn’t met yet walked to the other end of the table, behind Hannah. “Fastest and cleanest shots win.”

“Cleanest?” Cat pulled her netted shirt over her head and set it on the end of the table to act as a pillow for her. She wasn’t very nervous about being topless--she had her bikini on, and the netted shirt was more for fashion, anyway. But as she looked to the small crowd gathering, several with beers, some already cheering. Benny’s eyes were stuck on her like glue, which only made her shrink in on herself a little more. He didn’t seem so tired now. At least his counterpart was off grilling.

“Yeah! Cleanest,” the girl repeated. “No spilled tequila, no leftover salt, no rushing and getting lime juice all over the place. No wasting!” This...sounded involved. Sure, body shots were some sort of weird mating ritual for drunk people to show off their skin, but--

“I mean, we should show them how it’s done,” Hannah suggested, nudging Cat in the leg. Well--yes. She was going to need a bit of a stronger buzz to get through this without succumbing to nerves. “You do me first.”

As if someone else worked her limbs, Cat jumped off the table and approached her roomie, who lay on her back. First college party. She was not going to be the first one to chicken out of anything. The judge handed Hannah a lime wedge, which she popped in her mouth without hesitation.

“I--I’ve never actually--” Before Cat could spit out an excuse, the judge raised a salt shaker and said, “You have to lick a line on her stomach so I can put the salt on.”

“Right…okay.” The sound of shuffling feet behind her left Cat without the desire to turn around and address her new spectators. She knew what this was, why Hannah was so enthusiastic. She wasn’t sure which guy she was trying to get to pay attention to her, or if this was all 100% a show for Cat, but they all stared at her like a piece of meat, now. And as Cat placed her tongue right above her friend’s belly button to draw a line, the whoops and sounds of approval from the party reminded her that she was also just participating in becoming a spectacle. What would her Woman’s Studies teacher think of this? Probably not much, considering she agreed to all of this.

“Alright, ready?”

“Pour me a double,” Cat requested before the judge could finish sifting the salt over Hannah’s stomach.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Kelsey called beside her. Cat let out a nervous laugh and raked her hair to one side as Kelsey began to pour the tequila in a taller glass. When she handed it to her, the nerves intensified. Swirling in her stomach spread through her body, but before she could let any limb tremble even once, she heard a voice yell, “Go!” and off she went, downing the drink, sticking her tongue out to lap up the salt, and then to Hannah’s mouth--

“Oh!” But instead of the lime, she found Hannah’s lips, puckered for a kiss. The nerves flew out of her with the laughter as Hannah revealed the lime wedge through her smile, and as expected, Cat used her teeth to take out the lime wedge. Laughter and small cheers forced a smile on Cat’s lips as she took the lime wedge out, and Hannah sat up to wink at her.

“I see what this is!” Cat accused playfully as she tossed her wedge into the trash can below the table. The laughter cut the bite of the tequila more than the lime did. She wasn’t as irritated as she pretended to look, and it seemed like everyone knew it, based off the crowd’s reactions.

Hannah let out a devilish laugh. “Do you? Go lay down!” Giggling, she did as she was told and plopped down on her spot on the table, setting her head on her shirt and wiggling into a comfortable position.

“Okay!” Hannah announced before she took her time drawing a slow, thick line of saliva on Cat’s stomach. The wind blew, raising the hairs on Cat’s skin, despite the heat of the sun and the burn of the alcohol. No one commented if they noticed her sudden chills, though.

Cat carefully held the wedge she was offered between her lips, on top of her teeth, and waited for the soft rain of salt to tickle her stomach. She let out a shaky breath as she squinted into the sun overhead, and watched her friend tilt her head back to a shot before she returned to Cat’s belly.

She thought that Hannah might drag it out, make it last longer, but in a blink, her tongue was gone and the wedge pulled out of Cat’s mouth. Maybe she felt like she stepped too far before, with that kiss.

As Cat sat up from the table, her head spun ever-so slightly, and the realization that she’d actually had two and a half beers and two shots of tequila started to weigh on her. Liquid Courage is what they called it...and it was sort of working.

“You alright there, buddy?” Kelsey called from in front of Hannah on the other side of the table. Cat let out a slow giggle.

“Yeah, just starting to feel the heat, is all.”

“The heat, uh-huh.” And before she could call it something else, there began a light sprinkling of a saltiness amongst the summer air. “So teams are right versus left.” Right what, versus left what?

Peter started to ask, “Wait, does that mean--?” but Kelsey interrupted by shouting for him to get ready, to stand right beside Cat while she took her place by Hannah. Wait, Peter was on her team? When did this get decided? But with splashes of tequila hitting the table and pavement, Peter now held a shot glass and stared at Cat like she was some sort of alien. He wasn’t being subtle. She could see his heartbeat in his neck, fluttering like a bird, the way he stared like he couldn’t process something like this with something like her. That just made this whole thing a hell of a lot worse, more dehumanising.

“It’s just a game,” Cat said, more for herself than for the loathsome prick that hovered over her.

Peter echoed her in a breathy voice, but he looked like he had a hard time letting that sink in. Asshole. It wasn’t like she wasn’t cute. He wasn’t doing it off of a gremlin, the prick. Just as Cat was about to call him a coward, Kelsey shouted for them to go, and Peter slammed his empty shot glass on the table. His tongue was hot, fast, and raised the hairs on her neck as he made his way to her cleavage. Betrayed by her body, her stoic and stiff expression gave way to a surprised gasp when Peter’s lips hovered just over hers. Her eyes flew open to see his, bright and green and wide, staring straight into hers. She hardly noticed him pluck the lime from her lips until he backed away, and the sun returned to blinding her.

She hardly even shut her eyes to the brightness by the time the rain of salt made its way to her stomach. A cold lime edge was pressed to her mouth the minute another tongue lapped up the line of salt. Cameron replaced the cold of the lime with his own lips, and bit into it during his stolen kiss. Tart juice trickled into her mouth and leaked out the corners. As Cat opened her eyes, the crowd grew louder, roudier, and Cam took his time to sit up and let her breathe. She didn’t entirely mind his opportunistic moment; in fact, it wasn’t until he winked at her that she realized what he did, and she raised a hand to catch the juice running down her jaw.

“Right team one! Cameron left lime juice!” the girl by Cat’s head shouted. All that and he didn’t even finish the shot right?

“Shots, shots, shots, shots!” Oh, God. Maybe she shouldn’t have had that double. She didn’t anticipate being on the losing side. But now that someone shoved a shot glass at her, spilling some of it onto her lap, she had to wonder how much of this was really thought through, by anyone.

She refused to think about it, and instead downed the rest of the drink and let her face scrunch up on its own accord. This was a lot, really fast. Hopefully the game would slow down after this.

“Timeout for bathroom break!” Hannah announced when Cat set the shot glass down. Before she could pull her shirt on, Hannah grabbed her arm and pulled her inside.

“Oooh, that was a lot, really fast,” Cat muttered when Hannah slid the living room door shut.

“That wasn’t too much, was it? I’m sorry, it was more of a joke--”

“Hannah, you’re fine,” Cat interrupted. “I meant the alcohol.” As her eyes adjusted, she followed her friend toward the guest bathroom, though her feet took a little longer to listen than she was happy with. That’s what she got for not eating lunch, to start feeling it all so early.

“You sure? I didn’t go too far?” Cat shook her head.

“It’s all fine. But I appreciate you checking with me. Besides, I think Cam kind of followed your lead, there.” When they got to the bathroom, Cat took one of the hanging towels to wet it and clean up the leftover salt and lime. Hannah laughed and followed suit.

“I guess he likes you.” She wiggled her brows deviously. Kelsey pegged her for horny right from the start, but it wasn’t until that moment that Cat saw that it wasn’t just for herself. She was an instigator.

“From what you’ve told me, that’s not exactly a feat,” Cat said, flushing.

“True. If he’s too much, just tell him to fuck off. He’s pretty good at that.”

“No boundaries crossed yet.”

“Oooh, and the night is still so young!” Hannah looked far too excited by the sound of it, but Cat decided to shrug it off with more laughter.

The girls finished cleaning up, exchanging giggles and predictions of the night until they returned together to Jenga.

“Finally! My turn.” Javier barely waited for the two of them to return before he plucked a block and dropped it to the top. The tower was starting to get a bit rickety, some bits rotating more than others, but it didn’t budge when he messed with it. “Give left hickey.”

He turned to Hannah, who swept her hair to the other side of her neck for him.

“Hey, it didn’t say where,” he started to argue. Hannah laughed and pointed to her collarbone.

“Neck’s fine, loverboy.”

“Burgers and dogs are ready!” shouted the Master Grillman from somewhere behind Cat. She wanted to sigh with relief. If she didn’t line her stomach before she had anything more to drink, she might break Hannah’s only rule of not vomiting in the pool.

But the group agreed, after Hannah’s fresh hickey, to take a ten minute break to eat before continuing on with the game.

If only that meant things would slow down. Unfortunately, the block Kelsey picked after dinner was “all girls shots,” and any relief the burger would have given Cat flew out the window. Things only escalated after that. Peter had to kiss Cam, Javier had to take off his shirt (to no one’s dismay), and Kelsey pulled a block that said the two people with the least to drink left in their bottles had to trade shirts. And so Peter ruined and stretched out her netted top and she now nearly swam in his v-neck.

Although...netted tops weren’t a bad look for him. He was a similar build to Cam, a water polo goalie in high school. Cat again mentally lamented that such a beautiful body would be wasted on someone with such a shitty personality.

But now, two Jenga Beers and four Jenga Shots in, Cat stood in front of the rickety tower, her hands nervously twisting and pulling at the massive tee she now wore.

“She’s gunna knock it over,” Cam slurred excitedly. Cat surveyed the blocks carefully.

Kelsey stepped forward, bouncing. “What’s your least favorite spirit? I’ll get it ready!” Kelsey held her liquor better than the rest of them. She was the only one Cat hadn’t seen stumble, including the guys, who pounded everything much faster than them.

“Shhhh--shut up, I got this,” Cat insisted without a hint of confidence. She crouched down, selected a block with two gentle fingers, and pulled…

...and she honestly couldn’t say what happened after.