Blackout

Ch 7 - The Back Bedroom

"Enough stalling, Miss Promiscuous," Michael demanded after Lex had successfully put off telling her story for several minutes. "Spill it."

"Ok, ok," she gave in. "It was my freshman year of college. There was this guy named Scott who I had been kind of seeing, and..."

"Wait," Ashton interrupted. "How can you 'kind of' see someone? Either you were dating or you weren't."

"Alright, fine. We were fuck buddies. Happy? Anyway, Tori and I went to this frat party with her boyfriend at the time. Scott had told me that he wasn't gonna make it, so when we got to the party, I met up with this other guy, Jeff. So, J..."

This time the interruption came from Michael. "Damn, woman. How many guys did you have on speed dial?"

"Who's telling this story?!" Alexis scolded. She paused to make sure they all got her point before she continued. "Like I was saying, Jeff and I were hanging out all night. You know, just having a good time. Needless to say, he got super drunk, which caused him to get super touchy. At one point, he told me to give him 10 minutes and meet him in the back bedroom. So, imagine my surprise when, as I was waiting, Scott walked in the front door."

"No way!" Calum exclaimed, not being able to contain himself. "This is better than a soap opera!"

Alexis just laughed. "Just wait. It gets better. So, Scott sees me and heads my way. Once he gets to me, it's extremely obvious that he's completely wasted. He starts trying to make out with me and then pulls me down the hallway to the..."

"Don't say it!" Luke warns. "Not the back bedroom!"

"Yep. The same bedroom where Jeff was waiting. Now, I'm not gonna go into details, but let's just say that a lot when on in that back bedroom that neither of those two idiots even know about to this day. So, the moral of the story, boys, is never let yourself get so drunk that you end up having an accidental threesome in a dark bedroom of a frat house."

There was a pause as the boys tried to process the end of her story. "Damn," Ashton finally mumbled. "No offense, but you guys hung out with some real dumbasses back in the day, huh?"

"Tell me about it," I agreed, Alexis and I both nodding.

"Alright, I think after that riveting confession, I deserve to go next," Lex noted as she refilled her glass. "Never have I ever been in love."

What had been a joking atmosphere just seconds before had now turned into a somewhat serious one. I reached for my glass and took my shot, followed soon after by Ashton and Luke. I turned to Calum, a questioning look on my face. "No shot for you?"

"Nope," he answered, shrugging his shoulders. "I've never been in love. At least, I don't think I have."

"If you have to think about it, then it wasn't love."

"Then, no. Definitely no shot for me." He stayed quiet for a minute before continuing. "What about you? Tell me about the guy who swept you off your feet."

I hesitated. I hated talking about him. But for some reason, Calum made me feel comfortable. "There's nothing to tell, really. His name was Jeremy. We dated for 3 years, and I was completely infatuated with him."

"Why'd you guys break up?"

"I told you I was in love with him. I never said he loved me back."

Calum looked appalled for several seconds. "Yeah, well, he sounds like a real dick."

"No argument with you there." We shared a quick smile before I turned my attention to Ashton and Luke. "What about you boys? Care to share your love stories?"

"No real excitement with mine, either," Luke answered. "It was with my long-term girlfriend before the band. We broke up when the band moved to London to record the album. We were both too young at the time, so it wouldn't have lasted anyway."

"Yeah, same deal with me," Ashton said. "We dated a while but broke up because of distance."

I suddenly felt sorry for the four boys sitting on my parents' living room floor. They were still so young and had already missed out on so much of a normal teenager's life. They seemed to take it in stride, though. As goofy and idiotic as they acted at times, their maturity was undeniable.

"Enough about us lovebirds," Luke said, looking at Michael and Alexis. "What about you two? How come you didn't drink?"

"Dude, you knew me in school," Michael told him, rolling his eyes. "I was a weird ass kid. There was plenty of infatuation on my part, but I never even got the opportunity to fall in love back then. Before I joined the band, girls would barely even come near me."

"And now you can't fight them off fast enough, right?" Alexis asked. Michael just winked, causing her to give him a little shove. She then turned her attention back to Luke. "The reason I didn't drink was because men are assholes. At least, all the ones I've had any experience with have been. There's been a couple of times where I thought I was in love, but luckily, those guys screwed it all up before I got in too deep."

Her confession was met with more silence. How in the world had we gone from joking about threesomes to discussing the true meaning of love? I decided it was time to lighten the mood.

"Ok, enough of this love bullshit. It's my turn. Never have I ever been to a strip club."

I sat there extremely proud of myself, as I was sure my statement would result in all the boys taking a shot. But it looked like I would never find out. Because at that moment, the generator died, and for the second time that night, we were enveloped in darkness.