Spill into Realization

I stay quiet as we wait for our food to come, drinking my strawberry margarita and hoping my theory was wrong. Thinking back, this weird shit only started when we sat down for dinner. Reaching for a mozzarella stick, I notice the purple ring on my finger.

Could it be..? I pull my hand back, far too quickly, to get a closer look at the ring. At the same time, Riley was setting their glass of Pepsi down right in my path.

Splash!

I hit the bottom of the cup, tipping it away from myself. Dark cola went everywhere, dumping into the plate of onion rings and pooling on the table. Luke and Evan's shirts were soaked in soda, and no doubt their pants are as well. "Shit! Sorry!" I exclaim, grabbing my napkin to soak up some of the spill.

... Nobody else has much of a reaction. Well, the guys dab at their laps with their napkins, but Riley and Olivia don't seem to care much about the spill.

Riley even shrugs at losing their soda. "Hey, they got free refills here. No skin off my back."

"No need to apologize, you've always been a messy eater. We're used to it lol!" Olivia laughs, and this time I catch the ring glow brightly on my finger.

Evan adds his two cents. "Yeah, we're all in the splash zone, we gotta expect getting dirty!" The ring glows again. It's the ring doing this, it has to be.

"Uh-huh..." I raise the ring to my eyes, it looks like a typical arcade prize ring. Translucent purple plastic and visible mold lines from whatever factory it came out of. I try to pull it off my finger, but find it's stuck fast. I pull again, only succeeding in popping a knuckle. "Damn it..."

Wait... If I can get someone to say something specific about me, that should become true. Right?

I lean over to Riley, resting my arm in a puddle of Pepsi. "Hey. Tell me a lie about my appearance."

They furrowed their brow. "What?"

"Just, say something that's not true about me. My hair is blonde, I'm wearing a skirt, that sort of thing." I whisper again.

Riley finishes the soggy onion ring, taking another second to look me over and think. "Fine. Let me come up with something."

While they think, I grab a mozzarella stick and dunk it in marinara. Of course they don't need too long, so when Riley gets my attention again I end up missing my mouth and sending a glob of sauce falling to my chest.