Dysfunctional

Chapter 7 Dared

Perhaps there should've been a dress code for the party. As we all arrived, there was quite a difference in wardrobe choices. For example, Matt was wearing a sweater with a pumpkin on it, and socks with a ghost pattern. "I thought it was supposed to be a Halloween party!" he'd said. In the meantime, Simon and Wes both came in sweatpants and Wes was wearing an old Star Wars t-shirt and Simon one with a Batman logo. Meanwhile, Nina was even more glamorous than always, looking like an extremely fashionable British schoolgirl who had an unrealistic amount of time to spend on her hair and make-up. She was wearing the skirt she bought when we went shopping together. And last but not least, Anne had braided her red hair saying she was dressed as Anne of Green Gables, having been under the impression that it was supposed to be a costume party.
Besides, calling it a 'party' was actually a tad over-enthusiastic, as most people who had said that they were coming had bailed, and now we were with only some people from our group (Ted, Violet and Lilly all had better things to do) and two more people we knew.
Nonetheless, it was fun. We all sat on the couch or on the floor around a little coffee table in the host, whose name was Nick, his living room. We drank beer, listened to music and ate snacks while here and there people were having silly arguments or tipsy giggle attacks. I sat next to Matt, in the corner of the room with my back against the bottom of the couch and my feet underneath the coffee table. I had a great access to all the snacks from where I sat.
I managed to get my hands on a few cigarettes, but as I was about to light one, I froze. Was Matt going to get angry at me and have a fit about how smoking was unhealthy and how I was too young to smoke? I really wanted to make a good impression on him, and I didn't want to have to argue with him over something like this again. His scolding from before had already made me feel ashamed enough.
So, I slightly turned away from Matt as I took my blue lighter from the pockets of my ripped jeans, and held it up to my cigarette. I cringed when Matt tapped me on the shoulder anyways, feeling like a naughty kid who just got caught stealing candy.
But, Matt actually had a cigarette dangling from his lips too, and asked me if I could give him a fire. Surprised, I cupped my trembling hands around his cigarette, close to his face, and lit it for him.
"I didn't know you smoked", I said as I leaned back against the couch.
Matt blew some smoke in my face, and grinned. "I don't," he said, "just as a luxury on a party here and there, but with enough measures so I don't get addicted."
"Wise of you."
"And good for my wallet. Cigarettes are really expensive."
"What do you spend your money on instead, condoms?" I asked teasingly, because only a few hours before he had been making his usual sex jokes in our group chat again. It still baffled me how one could be so wholesome and innocent while also having such a profoundness for taking every opportunity he could to squeeze in a "that's what she said" joke.
Matt laughed at what I said, but couldn't come up with an alternative to what he did actually spend his money on.

For a while, we all played Uno together until we got enough of it and Simon accidentally spilled his beer over some of the cards. Nina brought some really delicious frosted cookies along, which we feasted on together for a while. As I was absent-mindedly (and admittedly slightly tipsily) sucking the frosting off my fingers, Matt squealed besides me like a flustered schoolgirl.
"Lars~" he whined, "stop seducing me being all sexy licking your fingers like that~" It was clear he wasn't sober anymore either.
Feeling flustered, I lightly punched him against the shoulder. "Shut up, you big homo", I grinned.
Before Matt could say anything that would fluster me even more, Nina came with the idea to play truth or dare.

Like that game always went, we started out with the standard questions like: "Do you have a crush on someone?" or "When is the last time you peed your pants?" The dares were still slightly uncreative, like mostly drinking alcohol or giving someone a kiss on the cheek. I managed to get by quite well, only having to make a headstand and being asked what physical feature about myself I liked the most.
"My freckles", I'd mumbled shyly. Anne had cooed at me and squealed about how cute I was as she leaned over Matt to ruffle my hair. It embarrassed me to the max. I didn't want to be treated like I was their cute little brother when we were hanging out, especially if Matt, the embodiment of "coolness", was there too. I was just as much an almost-adult as they were, and I wanted Matt to see how mature I was, not how much they liked to baby me.

But, as the evening went on and the alcohol levels in everyone's blood rose, the truths got more truthful and the dares more dared. People started to "ohhhhhh" when Nina was dared to give a lap dance to the next person who the bottle we were spinning would end up on. Everyone held their breath when Nina spun the empty beer bottle, some people in fear, others probably in anticipation. Yeah, Simon with his terminal boner probably wouldn't mind a lap dance from the prettiest girl in our clique.
But, the bottle ended up on someone with perhaps a boner not as terminal, yet the mouth of someone who swung his dick around as if it was a baseball bat, if we had to believe his jokes: Matt. Of course he wouldn't mind it either, and if he did, he was way too nice to say anything about it.
He just laughed, put his cigarette out, and went to sit on the chair Quinten set in the middle of the living room for him. Nina must have been out of her mind excited about this. She got up, straightened her skirt, but then said: "I don't know about you guys, but I don't know how to give a lap dance."
"Matt probably knows", Wes said.
Matt just laughed. "Shut up."
"Ohh, Matt is getting feisty!" Simon cheered.

Nick, the guy whose house we were hanging out at, gave Nina some vague instructions like: "Just dance around a bit", and suddenly some weird romantic song was playing and everyone was whooping at how Nina was giving Matt a "lap dance", which more so ended up being Nina dancing around Matt's chair a bit and then sitting on his lap with a gigantic smirk on her face. Yeah, if anyone had had the time of their life on this party, it had been Nina.
But, Matt didn't seem to hate it either. He was continuously laughing with his hands covering his face, but you could still see his ears which were red. When the song was over and the dare was done, Matt, still laughing, swung his arm around Nina's shoulder and sat back down next to her, which left me sitting rather alone.
I scooted over to Quinten and in a reflex my hand went towards a beer can, which I finished in one go. After that I groaned and put my head down on Quinten's shoulder.
"Quin, comfort me~" I whined.
Probably having no idea why, but doing it anyways because he was a good friend, Quinten patted my back and allowed me to sit with him for the rest of the evening.