'Tis confusion!

Let's be teenagers again

We headed back into the living room, Q swinging the bottle of tequila wildly. I was half afraid it was going to fly out of his hands and shatter against the wall. Miraculously, his grip remained intact. I glanced at my phone and was surprised to find the time read after four pm. Already?  Q set the bottles of booze on the coffee table, then ran back in the kitchen to grab shot glasses. 

"Ok, everyone. Line up, and take a glass," he instructed. We all did as he asked. " I thought we'd play a little game to help pass the time.  Everyone is gonna go, one by one, and name a punishment that's happened on our show. If you can't think of an answer, or if you say something someone else has said, you take a shot. We'll keep going until...well, until we can't, I guess." I giggled. Q smiled at me. "Mara, you go first." I nodded. "Start with one of my favorites- strip high five." Q and Sal grinned. "Nice choice." "Thanks...Emily, your turn."

She answered right away. "Q the Dung Beetle/ Scarytales." This time Joe and Murr laughed. Q blushed. "Barbara," Emily said. Barbara grinned wickedly at Sal. "Haunted cornfield." He laughed. "That punishment is gonna haunt me forever, isn't it?"

"Yup." The answer came from every last person in the room. Sal smiled. "Guess it's my turn. Gatto's gymnastics 'routine' will be seared into my memory forever."

The game continued for quite some time. Many of my favorite punishments were named.

"Swing and a hit."

"Q falls."

"No apologies gauntlet."

"Do something to my face."

"Q the art critic."

"Q the fashion designer."

"Butterfly Crime Scene."

"Murr skydives."

"Murr the nude art model."

"Murr the human pinata."

"Sal's phone in the garbage barge."

"Sal's phone in elephant poop."

"Sal touches dog poop."

"I feel like I need to wash my hands just talking about this," Sal shuddered.

Before too long, however, people started stumbling on punishments. Barbara sat for a full thirty seconds trying to come up with a punishment. She eventually sighed and took a shot. Emily remembered Q picking his nose at the baseball game, and I recalled Sal's computer making the pornographic noises, but on my next turn, I drew a blank. I searched my mind frantically, but had to admit defeat. The boys weren't doing much better. They each drew blanks, and I was starting to suspect they were throwing the game on purpose. We abandoned the game and went back to doing shots 'just because'. I noticed that Q was (intentionally?) making sure that Murr's glass always had a shot of tequila in it, and wondered silently if his joke about Murr dancing with his pants on his head wasn't a joke after all.

Murr tossed back what had to be his fifth shot of tequila. "You guys know what I haven't done in a while? Played spin the bottle."

Sal studied him like he was an animal behind glass. "Could that be because you aren't a fourteen year old girl?" (Barbara giggled)

Murr frowned. "I'm serious. I mean, it could..it could be fun, couldn't it?" I glanced at Q, eyebrows raised. "Does the fact that Joe and Bessy are married become irrelevant here?" Q shrugged. "I'd say that's a better question for Joe and Bessy, not me."

"True." I turned my attention to Joe and Bessy, who had their attention on the half empty bottle of Sailor Jerry's close to them. "Guys?" They turned to me. "Yep?" 

"How long has it been since you've played spin the bottle?"

"Last weekend with Murr," Joe cracked. Bessy punched his arm lightly. "You promised not to tell anyone about that!" I could tell she was joking.

I laughed. "I mean, are you guys opposed to playing? What with you being married and all..."

Joe and Bessy exchanged glances. "It's ok with me if it's ok with Joe," Bessy said.

"Likewise." I looked around at everyone else. "Everyone's ok with this?" Emily giggled. "Are we really going to do this? I haven't played this game in ages."

"I've never played," Barbara said. Sal looked at her. "Really? Not even once?" She laughed. "Nope. But I'm up for it as long as everyone else is!"

Q poked me. "How about you, you ever play this?"

"Once or twice in ninth grade. You?"

"A couple times my junior year of high school. Remember, we went to an all boys school, so there wasn't a ton of opportunity there." I laughed.  Joe went to the kitchen and returned with an empty soda bottle. "Everybody on the ground in a circle. Let's do this. Let's be teenagers again."

We settled on the floor, alternating boy girl. I ended up with Q to my left, and Joe to my right.

Joe grabbed the bottle. "I'll go first." He spun it effortlessly. It whirled around and around, and landed on...me. I locked eyes with Q first. He didn't seem upset. I then glanced over at Bessy. She was smiling as well. She also shot me a thumbs up. "Go for it," she said. Joe has pretty soft lips. Murr can second that, I'll bet." We all laughed again. Joe smiled, leaned in, and gave me a quick, gentle peck.

 "My turn." I spun the bottle and watched it land on Sal next to me. He smiled at me, then leaned close and let me plant one on him. Kissing him almost felt like kissing Q. New, and exciting. He pulled back kind of slowly, then smiled at me. "My turn!" Sal spun, and we watched as the bottle landed right between Q and Barbara. Q and Sal looked at each other, and both immediately blew on the bottle softly, to make it point squarely on Barbara. She grinned. Sal stretched across the circle and gave Barbara a long, slow kiss. It lasted a while. There may have been a bit of tongue involved. 

"Murr, how come you wouldn't kiss me like that?" Joe cracked. Murr rolled his eyes. "Funny Joe."

I looked back over at Sal and Barbara. They were still going at it. I nudged Q and motioned silently. Q nodded. "Follow my lead," he mouthed. He then got up from the circle. Grinning, I did the same. We sauntered into the kitchen, where Q pulled me close to his chest, then mimicked Sal and Barbara's actions.

"God, you're beautiful," Q whispered. "How did I get so lucky?" He ran his nails gently down the nape of my neck, and grinned devilshly when goosebumps rose. "Sexy as fuck, and you melt like putty in my hands..I've really hit the jackpot, haven't I?" I pulled back quickly, just enough to nip at his lower lip. "You know I'm the lucky one. Smart, sexy, and funny? You need to take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror, Brian Michael Quinn. You deserve to see what I see when I look at you.  I like you a lot. A lot A lot. And I don't let go easy. You've reeled me in, and now I think you're stuck with me. I hope you know that."

Q blushed, and covered my hands with his. "If that's a threat...I think that's one I can live with. I promise not to let go."