Jessica Forever After

Chapter 9

I was alone in the family room, having been directed there by Cam as they'd decided we'd be gathered around the coffee table for a sleepover game night. I started setting up the shots for everyone while they were all changing so that they'd be comfortable playing the game for the next however long it takes us to play.

The shots didn't take long so I started wandering a bit before I went back to the kitchen and dug out the rest of the treats we'd been working on last night, adding a few snacks that I'd packed in case we had a card game night or anything that would require snacks. I was back in the family room, arranging the snacks in baskets when they started coming into the room.

"All ready, Fifi?"

I smiled at Sam. "I've been ready. Are you sure that ya'll are ready for this? I'm not sure you are."

"We're ready." Cam scoffed before kissing my cheek and claiming the seat next to where I'd already made myself at home. He pulled his shots over to line them up in front of him as Sam laughed and took his own favored seat.

"Are you sitting there because that's just where you normally sit if you're playing games?" I asked. "Because it is the same spot you usually chose at a table in Paris."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, you got me. We tend to be creatures of habit and sit in the same order which means I usually get to pick on Pete with discards and benefit from Zack's discards during Rummy."

"Oh, I can't wait for more game nights." I smiled. "Card games are a lot of fun; we'll have to make sure to carve out time for a game night every week. Wouldn't that be fun? Everyone could take a turn to plan and decide what we're playing and figure out food."

Sam smiled. "Yeah, Jess. I think that sounds like a really fun idea for us to use." I beamed at him as the others claimed their spots and he waited for me to settle next to Cam before he took his own seat.

"How are we starting this thing?" Pete asked.

I shrugged. "How do you usually decide who gets to start?" I asked.

"Card cuts it is." Tony grinned, pulling a deck of cards out and offering it to everyone to take a cut of cards before we revealed them to see who had the high card.

"Looks like it's lady first." Cam teased.

"Oh, so now I'm a lady?"

"You've always been a lady." He reassured me. "Pick your target." He nudged me with his shoulder.

"Wait... you should explain officially what the rules are." Josh said, motioning to the shot glasses.

"Oh. Okay. So this is like truth or dare but it's all truths. If there's a question that you don't want to answer, you can take a shot to avoid the question and we can't ask it again."

"We can't?" Tony pouted before grinning.

"No, we can't." I rolled my eyes at him. "Be careful though about what you choose to avoid because you only get three. After that, you have to answer everything without any skipping."

"Sounds fair really." Zack said, shifting slightly as he rearranged his shot glasses.

"Bonus, we're home and there's no designated drivers needed." Pete said.

"But we'd have one anyway." Sam raised an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, okay, enough. Everyone clear?" I asked.

"Do you want to explain why only three?" Cam asked.

I looked up and saw all of them watching me. "I mean, I've dated all of you and been overly exposed to Cam for years now and you all were friends and family before I ever went to my Prom with Zack. So I don't imagine there's too many secrets you have from each other but it's unfair to not share with me just like it's not fair if I keep everything silent about when we dated too so we're sharing. We're being honest and seeing if there's anything new we can learn."