“No, I know,” Rowan replied breathlessly. “You’re just sofucking…” he trailed off.
Before I got pulled in again, I growled with frustration and pushed myself away from Rowan. I ran my hand over my mouth and down my chin. “Come on, we gotta go back out there before anyone notices we’re missing.”
“Spoil sport,” Rowan muttered, grinning.
“Yeah, yeah. You know I’m right.” I pulled the lock across the door. “I’ll head out first. Give it five minutes before you follow me.”
Rowan nodded. As I turned to open the door, he grabbed my t-shirt and tugged me into a brief, chaste kiss before immediately releasing me and shoving me back towards the door. I smirked over my shoulder at him and slipped out into the corridor, rejoining the party.
“Max, come here. Try this new drink,” Trisha called over as I walked back into the living room. She was standing beside a heavily pierced and tattooed girl, waving a glass with a brown, dirty-looking liquid in it.
I grimaced. “Do I have to? Looks pretty gross.”
“But it tastes so good, doesn’t it, Annabelle?” Trisha turned to the girl next to her. “We’ve been messing around for ages trying to get the balance right.”
“Oh hey, you’re Annabelle? I’m Max – Oliver’s flatmate.” I’d heard Oliver speak about a girl named Annabelle. From what I’d heard, she was a bit of a tramp which is probably why Oliver kept her around.
“Oh, yeah, hi.” She smiled and nodded. “But seriously – try it.”
I glanced down at the drink again. “Maybe later.” I caught Louise’s eye across the room, sat on the sofa, and she waved me over, giving me the perfect escape route.
“Happy New Year!” she exclaimed, pulling me down by my neck into a quick hug. “How’s it going?” I knew from her tone she wasn’t asking about my evening so far.
“Yeah, sure, fine,” I answered vaguely. Just at that moment, Rowan reappeared, having deemed it safe to leave the bathroom. He caught my eye but walked past me to talk to Trisha and Annabelle.
“Hey, Max, do you want a drink? We could play a drinking game? These stoners will be going outside to smoke shortly anyway.” Louise nudged Oliver, who was sitting beside her. He grinned cheekily.
I considered her request. I was starting to grow acclimatised to my drunken state, which meant it was either time to stop and sober up or keep drinking. I chose the latter.
A short time later I found myself with a beer, sitting on the floor beside my shabby coffee table. I glanced around the circle – Becca, Louise, Jackie, Trisha, Rowan, Annabelle and myself. Louise shuffled a pack of cards, and everyone took one at random.
“Whoever gets the lowest card gets to choose the first game, alright?” she announced. I flipped my card over, thankful to see a queen of spades. Becca waved a two of clubs at me and I grinned.
“Okay, I pick...” She paused, thinking. “I’ve Never!” Everyone around the table erupted in either cheers of glee or groans. If you had a lot of secrets, this wasn’t the game for you. “The rules, for those of you who don’t know, are that you start a statement with ‘I’ve never...’ and all those whohavedone what you said take a drink. For example, if I said, ‘I’ve never been skydiving’ and someonehasbeen skydiving, they’d have to take a drink – everyone understand?”
The group nodded and shuffled in closer.
“Okay then Becca – you start.” Louise clapped her hands together excitedly.
“Hm, let’s see...” Becca tapped the table thoughtfully, before she grinned mischievously at me.
Ah shit...I instantly regretted telling her about some of the lewd escapades I’d gotten up to over the years.
“I’ve never given someone a blowjob in a car,” she announced. I shot her a glare before shamefully reaching for my glass, along with Trisha and – unsurprisingly – Annabelle. I didn’t even dare to look at Rowan, just kept my eyes on the table. Louise gave me a cheeky grin and cocked a brow, noticing I had taken a drink.
The ‘ringmaster’ role was being passed to Becca’s right – meaning it was Louise’s turn next.
“I’ve never had sex in a public place.” Luckily, I was off the hook with this one. Only Annabelle took a drink. Next, it was Jackie’s turn. She looked at Louise with a mischievous smile.
“I’ve never had an intimate body part pierced.” I wasn’t surprised to see Annabelle take yet another drink, but raised my eyebrows as Louise joined her.
“You bitch,” she smirked.
“What have you pierced since the last time I saw you?” I asked, laughing.
“No place you’d ever be interested in seeing, Max.” She poked her tongue out at me, and I wrinkled my nose. Trisha was up next to announce a phrase to the group.
“I’ve never...” Trisha paused thoughtfully. “Fancied someone that’s around this table!” She chortled to herself.
