Blackout

Ch 4 - Drink Up, Boys

Once the alcohol was chosen and the argument about who was going to sit where was resolved, we all found ourselves in a circle on the floor, the light of the lamp which was plugged into the generator glowing around us.

 “Alright, boys. The name of the game is ‘Never Have I Ever.’ Who wants to be the first victim?” Lex looked around the circle and was met by four blank stares.

“Um, it might help if we knew the rules,” Luke mentioned with a confused look.

 “You can’t be serious! You guys have never played this game??”

 “Guys don’t play games when they drink,” Michael answered, puffing out his chest. “We just... well, drink.”

 “Ok, Macho Man. Bring it down a notch.” She rolled her eyes and focused her attention on the rest of the group. “It’s really not that hard. Someone makes a statement about something they’ve never done. Like, ‘Never have I ever been in jail.’ If anyone in the group has done that activity, they take a shot. If not, then you’re good. Then, someone else takes a turn. The game ends when we get bored or when the liquor runs out, whichever comes first.”

 “And what’s the point of this game again?” Michael asked skeptically.

“The point is to get to know the people you’re playing with,” I answered, passing around the shot glasses after I filled them with rum. “But ultimately, Mr. Clifford, the point is to get shit faced.” I handed him the last of the glasses with a smirk.

“Fuck yeah!” he agreed as he raised his glass in a salute.

“So, like I said. Who wants to go first?” Again, Alexis looked around our small circle, waiting for someone to volunteer.

Ashton was the first to speak up. “I’ll go. Let’s see. Never have I ever… gone skinny dipping!”

There was a pause as we all looked at each other wondering who was going to be the first to confess. After a few short seconds, Alexis and I glanced at each other with a grin.

“Bottoms up, my friend.” We treated each other with a clink of our glasses before downing the liquid poison.

“Wait, you guys went skinny dipping together?” Calum asked, grinning at us. “That’s hot!”

“Don’t get too excited. We were also with the Miller twins.” Alexis and I shared another smile as we remembered that night.

“Ah, yes,” she reminisced with a sigh. “Josh and Jake Miller. Sexy as hell, but dumb as a bag of rocks. I wonder what ever happened to them.”

“Pretty sure Jake was arrested for shoplifting. He always was quick with his hands…”

“OKAY!” Calum interrupted with a huff. “I think that’s enough of your naked rendezvous with criminals, thank you very much. Who’s next?”

“Not so fast,” I stopped him. “I, for one, find it very hard to believe that Lex and I are the only ones who have ever been skinny dipping.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, nodding her head. “You’re four gorgeous Australians who also happen to be rockstars. You can’t tell me there have never been any late night swims with easy women in hotel pools.”

She and I both had disbelieving looks on our faces. There was no way in hell that none of these boys had ever been skinny dipping. Michael, however, was sporting a rather smug look. “You think I’m gorgeous, huh?”

Alexis just gave him a shove and mumbled, “Not now, Clifford.”

“It’s true, though,” Luke told us with a shrug of his shoulders. “I guess we’ve never really felt the need to strip down naked and swim around. I personally don’t see the appeal.”

“There’s a lot of appeal if you’re doing it with a member of the opposite sex.” I heard Michael snort at the use of the term ‘doing it’ but chose to ignore him.

“Alright then, Miss Promiscuous,” Ashton poked. “I guess you’ll just have to take us skinny dipping sometime and let us experience the ‘appeal’ for ourselves.”

“Deal.”

“Deal.” We sealed our agreement with a handshake, Ashton sporting a mischievous twinkle in his eye.  

“Now that we have that settled,” Calum grumbled, “who wants to go next?”

“I will,” Alexis volunteered. “Never have I ever… been in a rock band.”

“Oh, come on!” Michael shouted. “You already know the answer to that! That’s just a cheap way to try to get us drunk.”

“Hey, I don’t remember us setting any limitations to the type of questions we could ask. Fair is fair. Drink up, boys.”

The two of us shared a high five as we watched the boys empty their glasses. I began refilling them as Michael spoke.

“Ok, smartass. I’m next. Never have I ever kissed a dude.”

We just rolled our eyes and took our shots, not even bothering to fight him on wasting his round on an obvious declaration. However, Alexis and I weren’t the only ones participating this round. As soon as the statement came out of Michael's mouth, Luke’s eyes shot to Calum in a semi-panicked look. Calum just burst into laughter. Once he finally composed himself, he took his shot, Luke following closely behind.

Michael and Ashton seemed appalled. Lex and I, on the other hand, were captivated.

I stared at the dark haired boy sitting beside me with a look that was a mixture of confused and awe. “Do I even wanna know?” I asked Calum.

“Probably not,” he answered with a smirk. “But if you’re curious, Luke’s not much in the kissing department.  And that lip ring he used to have, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be."

“Hey!” Luke protested. Apparently he was now past embarrassed and had moved on to offended. “I happen to be a great kisser. And if you really wanna go there, I don’t know what everyone’s on about with you, either. Those plump lips everyone raves about did absolutely nothing for me.”

“What?! I’m a fantastic kisser! I obviously wasn’t putting much effort into it.”

“Well, neither was I!”

The rest of the group was watching the exchange like a tennis match, too entertained to say anything. But after a few more minutes of the boys swapping insults on who was the better kisser, I felt the need to interrupt.

“Do you two want the rest of us to leave? You can have a redo and settle this matter once and for all.”

“Hell no!” Calum protested. “I’m never kissing him again!”

“Back at ya, buddy!”

There was a brief pause before the six of us erupted into laughter. It seemed to take forever to compose ourselves, as we replayed the argument in our minds and realized just how ridiculous it all was.

“Okay, okay,” Alexis spoke up once we had finally gotten a grip on ourselves. “Simmer down. As entertaining and informative as that was, it’s someone else’s turn. Any volunteers?”

We all looked around the room, waiting for someone to make the next move.