Why not?

"Ok," Beth told the group. "I want you all to feel good. Really good. Just go with the flow and have a good time."

The change in atmosphere was instantaneous. Marcus smiled and sank into his chair, Joseph and James let out long sighs, and Kat started laughing.

"Oh, dude," Kat chuckled. "Oh, Beth, that's incredible. You've got to try this. Shit, I guess you can't." She brought out the baggie of joints again. "Wanna do the next best thing?"

Beth shrugged and took a second joint. As she sparked it up, she tried to think of what kind of fun she could have with her carefree, compliant friends. She exhaled a plume of smoke before speaking.

"Kat, tell me a secret."

A collective oooh went up from the group. Kat grinned and immediately replied, "I fantasize about you when I'm jilling off sometimes."

They broke into peals of laughter. Beth blushed, but Kat didn't seem to mind her secret being out in the open. She giggled and sat down next to Joseph. Beth took another long drag, jealous of the others' easy euphoria.

"Ok, how about this. Remember Jason?"

Kat made a face. "Yeah, that piece of shit was cheating on me. I still don't know the details but he all but admitted it."

Beth took a deep breath. She felt lightheaded and almost detached from reality, which made this slightly easier. "It was me. I was cheating on you with him. I'm sorry."

They all stared at her for a second before breaking into laughter again. Kat put her hand on Beth's knee and grinned. "Oh Beth, you must have felt so guilty! I'm so sorry that you had to keep that bottled up all this time! I mean, before tonight I would have been furious but now I'm just sad that you lived with this secret for so long!" She narrowed her eyes seductively. "Or that we never got to have a threesome. Can you imagine?"

James chimed in with a laugh. "I can and will."

"So you're not mad?" Beth asked. She hadn't completely followed what Kat was saying, but she was relieved that she didn't seem angry. The joint was hitting her harder than she expected, but she was feeling a lot looser and less worried about her friends. "Even though I slept with Jason?"

"I don't think we can get mad at you," Joseph said. "Unless you explicitly want us to. Maybe you can try that?"

Marcus spoke up again. "Why the fuck would she want that?" he asked with mild amusement, causing more giggles. Beth laughed along, getting into to the flow of the conversation.

"Maybe I want you all in love with me," she said with an impish smirk. Joseph stopped asking and looked at her earnestly for a moment. That's right, she thought. He already is in love with me.

"Is that really what you want?" he asked.