The party is getting started

You stay close to your best friend, and awkwardly look around for a place to sit. The living room has a table covered in alcoholics, but also with a few spare seats, so that's where you decide to go and rest first. There was a TV upped to full volume too, which created an odd loud mixture of noise when coupled with the intense music that ran at the same time. Some guys were shouting at each other solely to make sure the other person could even hear and understand it, others just gave up and danced in circles around the other woman besides you and Janny. She looked to be college-aged too, smooth black hair draping down her shoulders, some pale make-up on her face along with a few piercings in her nose, lip, and ears.

Your parents would kill you if you did that.

In particular the makeup around her eyes stood out. Thick eye liner, a red eye shadow, and some cheap mascara that had already left a few stains on her face after lord knows how many drinks - sure didn't seem like she cared much. Glossy red lipstick highlighted her lips, and you vaguely recall that kind of style... Goth? Or something? Been a while since you saw something like that at school. The last girl to rock that look to school was sent right back home after a scolding from the headmaster...

"It's loud..." you complain with a glance towards Janny. "WHAT?" came the abrupt response. "It's loud!" you repeat once again. "CLOUD? YEAH BAD WEATHER OUTSIDE," she replied before turning her head back towards the crowd of guys, ignoring you. At the very least, the men were decent eye-candy. Most boys in high school have never seen the inside of a gym, but these? Some decent muscle mass. Hot.

One of them noticed the attention, and joined you by the table. Since talking wasn't much of an option, he simply grabbed three small shot glasses, poured some brown liquid into it, and distributed the glasses to you. You don't hesitate picking it up, and then looking around to figure out who you are supposed to give it to. But, nobody was even looking your way? It was only when the dude gestured for you to drink it that you released an understanding ohhh and nodded, before strongly shaking your head! You never drank ****! In fact, your parents explained that it's pretty much like poison, destroying you from the inside out and stuff.

Still, he insistently continued gesturing for you and Janny to 'take the shot' and you eventually give in to the group pressure, tilt your head back, and clumsily splash half of the drink on your stubby nose while the other half successfully got into your mouth. Upon swallowing, you instantly feel an intense burn in your throat and gasp for air, grabbing your neck and comforting yourself! It's like lava! What the heck, mate! Who would drink this kind of junk??

He pours you another, and for your second attempt you manage to avoid spilling half of it on your face and swallow it right down. Aw yiss!

The third one is what finally gets your eyes watery, cheeks flushed red. You have to clear your throat before you manage to get any words out. "I don't know why I like it, but it's nice." Janny halfheartedly nods her agreement. "ICE? YEAH THAT'D BE COOL."

Since you've got a nice, safe place here you decide to linger for a little longer, watching on as the guys circle around the lone woman like she's a piece of meat. You also decided to give each of them some simple nickname to make it easier to tell them apart. 'Dude', 'Guy', 'Mate', and the fourth guy with lots of muscles is obviously called 'Bro'. As for the girl? 'Gothy'.

Unfortunately you're not lucky enough to avoid the social confrontations forever, and someone eventually drags the two of you towards the empty middle of the room and around the soft bear carpet. Probably not a real bear? Might be? Another person lowered the volume of the speakers so that it was actually possible to talk to each other. Ryan joined you too, though judging by the way he stumbled, he probably had a few drinks already as well. Everybody naturally had formed a circle around the carpet, and Ryan placed one of the empty bottles in the middle. Spin-the-bottle? Really? Weren't they too old for that?

Janny's brother joined in as well, and squeezed himself into the space between you and your female friend. "Hope you don't mind," he added. "And oh, yeah... just play along. It's not like the regular spin-the-bottle with these guys..." He sounded awfully vague, but whatever.

The first bottle spin ends on Gothy, and Ryan along with most of the group turn towards her. "Truth or Dare?" -- "Truth, what do you want to know?" Her voice sounded pretty raspy, she probably smokes cigarettes! Gross! Why would a girl do that to herself?

"Which guys in the room are you most attracted to?" Upon having a gasp escape your lips, the group briefly turns towards you before looking back over to Gothy. What kinda question is that! Are they going to ask you something as intimate as that? This is super stupid! They shouldn't! "Those two of course," she answered while pointing at Bro and Dude, who immediately high-fived with a really pleased grin. College people are weird.

The second bottle spin ends on Janny, and your blood pressure spikes right up. "Truth or Dare?" Ryan asks, everybody focusing their attention on the poor teenage girl. "T-truth I guess?" The one you call Mate intervenes to hijack the question. "Have you and Chris fu-" he pauses, reconsiders, and rephrases his question. "Have you two even kissed yet?" You could watch her cheek turning as red as a rose, after all she knew for a fact that he was her brother and not her boyfriend. "N-no. Haven't." Her answer was short and to the point.

The third bottle spin ends on Bro, who replies with "Dare," before there was even a chance to ask. "Sure, how about... uh.... hmmm... how about you show her a good time?" Ryan asks while pointing at Gothy. He instantly laughs in response and shrugs his broad shoulders. After a moment of hesitation, he grabs Gothy's hand who in turn held onto the hand of Dude... and then the three of them simply walked off? You could see them walking up the stairs and towards the bedrooms... probably to play some X-Box games? You envy her. Then again, she's probably garbage at FPS games.

The fourth bottle spin points at Ryan, and he chooses 'Dare' as well. Since everybody else was contemplating a good choice, you used the chance to speak up. "Do Karaoke!" -- "Do what?" he asked in disbelief. "Do Karaoke!" In the background, the rhythmical guitar solo of the beginning of U2's 'With or Without you' started playing. "Are you serious? I... ah... whatever... See the stone set in your eyes, see the thorn twist in your... do I really have to," he interrupted himself, but you nodded along with a gleeful smile. "Do it, do it!" -- "I can't live, with or without... really do I have to?" It goes on like that for five minutes, and you grin from ear to ear by the end of it all. Just in time, Gothy returned as well accompanied by Bro and Dude. She adjusted her pants with one hand, while using her other hand to wipe something sticky from the sides of her lips.

The fifth bottle spin is aimed at Chris of all people, and he follows tradition by speaking up with a clear "Dare!" Ryan sits back down by the carpet and gives it a quick thought. "Kiss your girlfriend, man. It's not really a relationship until at least that happened." He goes quiet and thoughtful for a moment. "Na, I can't do that, man. It's her first kiss! It has to be special, not in front of a group of strangers, ya know?" -- "Well then go upstairs, you can kiss her in one of the rooms and then come back." He sways his head from side to side and eventually gives in. Janny is wide-eyed but quiet as her brother grabs her hand and guides her upstairs, disappearing from sight. It was hard to tell if she was simply overwhelmed, or much like you, too drunk to think clearly.

In the meantime, the sixth bottle spin ends up pointing at you.