Chapter Thirty-Five:

Something About Gina

"I don't think I can do this." Natasha said, and leaned her head on the counter while hiding her face behind her red solo cup that's filled with flavoured vodka.

"Nat, you're just gonna say hi." I said, and patted her back.

"Can we uninvite him?" She asked.

"That's rude."

"You're naturally rude, so Marco wouldn't mind. He literally lives next door, so what's the proble-"

"I like Marco." I interjected and gave Nat a stern look.

"Well, I don't." She deadpanned and sighed. Natasha then stood up straight and chugged down her vodka.

"I don't like Thomas, and yet there he is." I pointed out, while gesturing towards Thomas and Dennis who were playing beer pong with my basketball teammates from across the room.

"That's totally different." Nat said. "You're not secretly in love with him."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. "So you're implying that you're secretly in love with Marco?"

Natasha bit her lip and groaned in complaint.

As soon as Dani and I went downstairs, people have already arrived. Dennis and Thomas were already entertaining them with beer pong, Cards Against Humanity, and they even set up my old Wii console and got people playing Wii Sports. Some were already tipsy, and there was a lot of excitement going on in each station.

Then we saw Natasha hiding in the kitchen. She was sitting on the floor by the corner cabinet and had a bottle of flavoured vodka beside her.

Before we even approached her, Dani was being called by our basketball teammates to play beer pong with them against Dennis, Thomas, and Marco. Apparently the boys are winning, and Dani and I both know that our teammates can be very competitive.

Then Dani grabbed my hand, as if asking for my permission. It made me smile at her gesture and just squeezed her hand back and nodded my head to let her know it's okay.

"This is all your fault," Nat complained. "Why did you have to give me ideas that Marco's... That he's- You know what? I'm going to say hi."

I chuckled and nodded my head.

"Yeah, you go girl-"

"No, no, no, no." Nat quickly changed her mind and filled her cup again with vodka. "Nevermind. Not gonna do it."

"Okay hold on, calm down." I told my best friend and took her drink away from her. "Let's chill for a sec. You know that I'm not forcing you to do this, right?"

"Yes." Natasha nodded.

"Then it's no problem, then. If you don't want to say hi to him, then don't." I said, and actually laughing at her stressed out face.

"But he's so cute..."

"Oh my god." I rolled my eyes.

"Here's the thing though." Natasha started, and sighed. "I think he likes me too. I mean, not romantically, I don't think. He's different. He's not some guy who wants to get in my pants, you know?"

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Well, yeah." She nodded. "Every piano competition, and me always getting second, while he gets first... I'm just realizing now that he would say, 'great job Nat'. Back then I thought he was saying that to rub it on to my face that he won, but now that I think about it- really think about it... He was actually really genuine."

"And you were actually just a stone cold bitch the whole time." I told her with a grin, but she didn't think I was funny. So she just ignored my comment and continued,

"And just a few days ago when our teacher bailed on our lesson, he suggested that we practice together." Then Natasha had that faraway look in her eyes.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Did you practice together?" I asked.

"Was that a sexual question?"

I hit her arm. "Natasha, no, don't be gross. I'm really asking what happened next."

"I declined and went home." She said, and sighed loudly.

"Like a stone cold bitch."

"Don't start." She warned. "Damn it Mave, I think I really like him now."

"Well, I'll be damned."

"Anyways, can we move on now?" Nat asked, and giving out a small chuckle. "Did you say hi to everyone?"

"As a matter of fact, I did." I answered. "And thank you for not inviting people that I don't know."

"Of course, all for you babe." She said, winking and filling the cup that I stole from her with vodka. "Now have a drink."

"Should I?"

"You totally should." Gina said when she walked in the kitchen with us and sat herself up on the counter. "And chill party we have here tonight, Mave. Good job."

Gina was holding a big bag of pretzels and eating it like she's starving.

"You know, I could make you a sandwich if you'd like?" I asked in amusement while she keep eating.

"I'm good." She said. "And can you do me a favour?"

"What is it?"

"I'm pretty sure my mom's gonna call later tonight so can you tell her that we're studying for our Chemistry test for next week?"

"What? What Chemistry test?" I asked in bewilderment.

"There's no test Mave. I'm just not really allowed to be in a party... ever." Gina explained, and offered us a handful of pretzels. Natasha took them and we listened to Gina tell her explanation. "If she knew that I'm hanging out with my friends, she would freak out on me and tell me that I'm putting my whole life away."

"But wait-" Natasha said. "You've been to parties before though, and parties that are bat shit crazy."

Gina grinned her mischievious grin and shook her head.

"Let's just say they're study groups." She said. "Study groups that ends late at night."

"Clever." Nat said.

"Liar." I said. "I think we should tell your mom." I added. Nat and Gina both looked at me like I was crazy. "I'm serious. I understand her point of view, and you shouldn't really be drinking-"

"But I don't drink." Gina said.

"What? Yes you do." Natasha argued with raised eyebrows.

"No, not really." Gina said again, and shook her head. "Everyone knows that I hate the taste of alcohol. And believe it ir not, you can actually still have a great time without getting drunk. I may seem drunk, to some people but I swear to god, I'm really not."

The look that Gina gave me makes me want to hug her. She looked so sad, but then she immediately replaced it with a grin.

"I just want some freedom once in a while, you know?"

I knew that her parents are strict, but when she said that, something tells me that they're more strict that I can imagine. I compared my parents to Gina's and wondered if there really is a perfect way to raise your own children. But my thoughts were interupted when Gina said,

"Do you guys want some condoms?" The look that we gave her made her laugh so hard that she almost choked on her food. "It's okay, my mom's the nurse manager at the hospital and she brings home a bunch of condo-"

"Okay, Gina you're so weird. We don't want to hear your parents' sex life-"

"Oh god, ew that's not where I'm getting at!" Gina interupted.

The three of us laughed.

"Anyways, they have this awareness for STI's, STD's, AIDS, and they're giving out a whole bunch of free condoms. My mom actually told me to spread the word, so... Would you like some condoms and reduce your chances of getting any sexual transmitted diseases and infections?"

"Hell yes." Natasha said and took two from Gina.

"It's like you're a condom dealer." I said and took one. "How do you even use this?"

"Do you want me to demonstrate?" Gina asked, and giggled. "I see you have a fruit basket over there. We can put it on a banana, if you'd like."

Again, the three of us laughed so hard, there were tears streaming down.

"Did you know you could turn a male condom into like... what is it called again? A dental dam! That's it."

"Yeah, I heard about that." Natasha said with a nod.

"Okay, I don't know what you guys are talking about." I said with a frown.

"It's a female condom. Let's say you're into girls, and you want to get down on a girl-"

"Oh my god..." I muttured in embarassment and couldn't even stare at them right now. Natasha and Gina were laughing, while I stood there with my face red and can't believe that we're having this conversation.

"So you cut the condom in half and just lay it down on the V like a blanket and then you can do your thing!" Gina explained.

"This is so great. We're practically having a sex-ed class right now." Nat said.

"Mave cannot handle this." Gina said in amusement. "She's too innocent."

"How do you know all of these things?" I asked, my face still feeling hot.

"Personal experience and phamplets. That's all I'm gonna say." Gina answered with a wink.

"Damn." Nat said.

I stared at my friends with a horrified expression. Gina and Natasha are sexual active people, and here I am thinking how in the world would I survive if... if I-

"I think this is too much for Mave." Gina noticed and nudged me. "I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, so maybe do you guys wanna play Mario Kart with me? Margo's beating everyone, and it's kind of getting on my nerve."

"Margo's playing Mario Kart?" Natasha asked. "Oh god, let's go."

But when we reached the living room, we saw that Dennis and Thomas are organizing a big circle. Everyone was participating, and I caught Dani's eye. She gestured for me to sit beside her, but then I immediately stopped dead on my tracks when Dennis called out,

"Spin the bottle everybody!"

Again, here I am thinking why on earth did I agree on having a party.

Unedited