A Week at the Beach (19 page)

            “Don’t even act like the only reason you want to play it is because you know you’ll win.  You’re counting on my clumsiness to give you an easy victory.”  I laughed at him.

            “That sounds like something a person who is trying to hustle me might say, you know?”

            I rolled my eyes at him, “Just bring the damn game over here and let’s play it.”

            He shook the box happily and brought it over to the coffee table we were playing on.  “I always wanted this game, but my dad wouldn’t let me have it because he said it made too much noise.”  He talked while he pulled the game out and put all the pieces together.  He was smiling from ear to ear and watching him made me smile too.

            Just to make him happy, we played the game three times.  We ate the leftover pizza while we played and continued talking about anything and nothing at all at the same time.  He’d just cleaned up the pizza when Chrissy walked in.

            “What’s up?  What are you doing?” she asked and plopped down on the chair across the room. 

            “Just playing a few games,” I shrugged.  “Where have you been all day?”

            “I was out with Todd.”

            Hearing her say his name brought back the memory of last night.  I was about to make a comment when I heard a snicker from behind me. 

            “Todd? The swimmer?” Nick asked.

            I giggled and Chrissy eyed me suspiciously. 

            “What does that mean?” she asked him, with another glare in my direction.

            “We saw you in the pool last night.”  Nick said with a smile.  He sat down next to me.

            “Pervert!” Chrissy said half-heartedly. 

            “We didn’t mean to see you, Chrissy.  We had to escape the house because Darren and his redheaded friend were making too much noise, so we went down to the beach.  On our way back to the house, we stumbled upon you and Todd in the pool.”  I explained with the hint of a blush. 

            Chrissy smiled, “Sorry.  When he brought me home last night, we thought everyone was asleep because all the lights were off and the house was silent.”

            “Where is everyone?” Darren’s voice boomed from the first floor.

            “We’re up here!” Nick shouted back in response.

            “What are you doing?” Darren shouted and ran up the stairs to join us.

            When he appeared in the room, I answered him.  “We were playing board games.”

            Darren turned to Nick with a strange look, “Are you telling me that I left you alone in the house with two beautiful women and all you’ve done is play board games with them?”

            Without missing a beat, Nick said casually, “Chrissy just got here, but I did sleep with Cami earlier today.”

            Chrissy sat up in her chair, “What?” she shouted at me.

            I elbowed Nick in the ribs.  He laughed and gasped for air at the same time.

            “We were sitting in the hammock downstairs and fell asleep.  We
literally
slept together.” I clarified for our audience.

            “What the hell?” Darren looked at Nick.  “Are you kidding me?  What are you, twelve?”

            “It’s not his fault,” Chrissy said with a giggle.  She’d settled back into the chair.  “Cami’s not that kind of girl.  She doesn’t hook up.”

            “That’s just nonsense!” Darren exclaimed and left the room. 

            “He can’t even begin to understand that concept.”  Nick, who was still struggling to take a full breath, commented as his friend left the room.

            “Forget these kids’ games, let’s play something dirty!” Darren shouted as he walked back into the room.  He had four shot glasses and a bottle of tequila from the house’s liquor cabinet.

            “A drinking game?” Chrissy said with a giggle.  “I haven’t played one of these since college.  What are we playing?”

            “How about ‘I never…’?” Darren grinned at her.

            “I’m pretty sure that the object of that game is to find the sluttiest person in the room and get them drunk so someone else can take advantage of them,” I said with a suspicious grin.

            “Don’t worry,” Nick leaned forward and gave Darren a comforting look.  “I won’t let either of these girls take advantage of you.”

            Chrissy laughed and got up from the chair.  She sat on the floor across from me, and in front of the couch.  Darren put the glasses and bottle on the table, and plopped down next to Chrissy.

            “What do you say?  Shall we play?” Darren asked us all.

            “I’ll start!” Chrissy smiled and poured tequila into all four glasses.  “I’ve never been to Disneyland.”

            Darren rolled his eyes, reached for his shot glass, and threw back the drink.  Nick grabbed the glass in front of him and did the same. 

            Darren was up next.  “This isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but we can start slow.  I’ve never been to the Statue of Liberty.”

            Chrissy and I both took a shot. 

            Nick was next.  “I’ve never eaten oysters.”

            Darren and Chrissy took shots.

            “I’ve never owned a car,” I smiled as both of the men took another shot.

            Darren slammed his glass down on the table, “That’s enough of the G-rated game.  Let’s spice this thing up, shall we?  You’re up, Chrissy.  Make it a good one.”

            She smiled at him.  “I’ve never had a threesome.”

            Darren tipped his glass at her and took a shot. Nick slowly leaned forward and picked up his glass.  I didn’t look at him as he took that shot.  I knew it shouldn’t bother me that he drank to that, but I couldn’t help but feel a tingle of jealously.

            “I’ve never kissed a man,” Darren grinned at us.

            “That’s not fair!” I said back at him. 

            “Okay,” Darren conceded.  “I’ll change that to I’ve never kissed someone who is the same sex as me.”

            Chrissy took a drink.

            “I’ve never had sex with three different people on the same day.” Nick said with a head nod in Darren’s direction.

            Darren glared at him and took a shot.

            I was up next, but had to think for a minute about what I wanted to say.  “I’ve never cheated on a partner.”

            All three of the others took a drink.

            “Wow!  Does anyone have morals anymore?” I asked jokingly as Darren refilled their glasses.

            “My turn!” Chrissy said excitedly.  “I’ve never worn a French maid costume in the bedroom!”

            My face immediately turned red as both Nick and Darren turned to look at me.  With absolutely no pride left, I leaned forward and picked up my glass.  I took the shot and slammed the glass back down on the table.

            “A French maid costume?  What, no sweats and t-shirt that night?” Nick said with a grin.

            I didn’t look at him, but responded quietly.  “There are supposed to be no explanations necessary.”

            “This is getting good!” Darren said with a laugh.  “Okay, I’ve never met someone at a bar and taken them back to a friend’s house because I didn’t want them to know where I live because I secretly knew they were crazy, but I really needed to get laid.”

            I turned to look at Nick.  Darren’s statement seemed extremely specific and detailed.  Nick avoided my gaze and did his shot.

            “Best four hours of your life though, right?  Isn’t that what you said when you brought my keys back?” Darren laughed loudly.

            “Something like that,” Nick said shyly.  He cleared his throat and started, “I never.”

            I didn’t let him finish though.  “Wait,” I said quickly.  “By four hours you mean the four hours you spent with her all together, right?  You mean that it took four hours to meet her, convince her to come back to Darren’s with you, drive to his house, have that awkward make-out session on the couch, have sex, and then take a one hour nap before driving her home, right?”

            “Not exactly,” Nick grinned.  “It was more like four hours from the time we got to Darren’s until the time we left his house.”

            “Okay, moving on,” Chrissy jumped in.

            “Hold on,” I put my hand up to indicate for her to stop talking.  I looked at Nick with a disbelieving look.  “Four hours, really?  Are you sure you weren’t just exaggerating that timeline to brag?”

            Nick laughed, “No, it was four hours.”

            Chrissy tried to speak again, but I shushed her before the words could come out.

            “Seriously?” I stared at Nick, still disbelieving what I was hearing.  “Did you take a pill or something?  What do you even do for four hours?  I don’t think you’re doing it right if it takes that long.”  I shook my head then stopped and looked at him again, “Maybe I’m not doing it right.  I was lucky if I could get a solid twenty minutes out of Jack.”

            Darren and Chrissy laughed.

            Nick smiled, “No pills.”

            “Rethinking that I-don’t-hook-up policy?” Darren asked with a smile.

            I nodded, “Yes, but for research purposes only.”

            Nick laughed, “Okay, moving on!” 

            We played a few more rounds, but my head wasn’t in it anymore.  I played along, but couldn’t seem to get the four-hour thing out of my head.  I tried not to picture it, but the fact that Nick was sitting close enough to me that our legs were touching, made it very difficult to not imagine it.

            When it got to me again, I panicked and said the first thing I could think of.  “I’ve never had a pregnancy scare.”  I looked around to see if anyone was drinking, but all the glasses stayed still.

            “Um,” Chrissy’s quiet voice drew my attention to her.  “Does an abortion count as a scare?”

            “What?” I asked slowly.

            “If I had an abortion, does that count as a pregnancy scare?” Chrissy asked again with a hint of shame in her voice.

            “When did you have an abortion?” I sat forward, leaning across the table.

            “Six months ago,” she said and looked down at her hands.  “Clark didn’t want his wife to find out about us that way.”

            “Why wouldn’t you tell me about that, Chrissy?”  I scooted even closer to her. 

            She shrugged, “I guess I was afraid you’d judge me.”

            “Chrissy, I don’t have to agree with every decision that you make, but I will always be there when you need me.”

            Chrissy looked shamefully at me.  “I wanted to tell you, but Clark said that if I told you then you might tell someone else.  He didn’t want me to be embarrassed or ashamed of it.

            Darren made a loud huffing noise and we all turned to look at him.  “What?” he said.