My Turning Page

Chapter 5

"What should we play?" Some random guy in a beanie asks to our group.

"Since it's our senior year, we should do a throw back game!." Nadine shouts out, jumping on her feet with Luis' arms cautiously out on each side of her, ready to catch her drunken stumbles.

"I love it! Let's do 7 minutes in heaven, and Never Have I Ever" Grace, one of the other player"s fling for the night says. "Anyone who is single will get paired up by this bottle, and plays the first game" she shakes an empty wine cooler. "Anyone who is taken will do the second game if landed on them. If you decide you really don't want to do 7 minutes in heaven you can do the other game instead too". Everyone in the crowd murmurs in agreement. My hands are sweaty, but it's fine. Everything's fine. Grace hands a guy across from us the bottle and he spins it. It lands on a brunette who doesn't seem to mind the idea of the first game. They both happily go to the secluded closet for the allotted time. After they come out, you can tell something of some sort happened in there. They're both smiling like Cheshire cats on an oxytocin high. The guy picks up the bottle and his spin ends up on another girl.

"I'll play the second game" She decides. "Never have I ever sent someone a photo that wasn't meant for them" she cringes. We all quickly get the vibe that she isn't speaking of just a typical photo. Her friend and others laughs as some people drink from their drink. She spins the bottle with the flick of her wrist and the bottle goes around and around. Slowly it starts to find its target. I puff a breath of relief, confident at the dwindling speed of the bottle that it will land two places to my right, on a girl I don't know. The Cosmos laughs back at my face, playing its hands in my fate. Mystifying wind, spontaneous animation, dumb luck, coincidence, whatever you want to believe causes the bottle to last just long enough to aim the rimmed opening at my foot. I gaze up and look down the line of people watching me. Some could care less, others play good sport and cheer me on. A quick spark of anticipation runs through me as I get the feeling this is a momentous decision. Whatever happens after this could change things, whether it's just this night or more. A butterfly effect.

My heart is hammering. My shaky hands reach towards the bottle, silently broadcasting my decision to everyone in the room. Little do they know, I have my own reasons. Elias is seated two on my left, Nadine sandwiched between us. Now, if the Cosmos wants to play mischievous games, I can only silently pray it will go along with mine. I try to speak confidence into me through my words that comes out raspy. "I choose the first", as I flick the bottle with what I hope is just enough momentum to land where I want. Everyone watches as it goes around two times and slows back around my way with little life left. Nadine suddenly gets up, shouting "oh shit, I forgot to lock my car!" and runs out of the room leaving everyone bewildered. Luis, who is on Elias' left, awkwardly gets to his feet.

"Uhh I'm gonna go check on...well, that whole thing". Everyone watches until his back is no longer visible in the crowd, temporarily forgetting what we are doing. I sense shifting to my left and eventually look at the side of Elias' face. He clears his throat and throws a side glance at me with a look that speaks "why are you looking at me like that?". Guy in the beanie brings everyone's attention back to the game with his sudden cheers. I watch Grace shift towards the door with expectant eyes on me. That's when I finally look to see that the Cosmos and I were indeed playing on the same team. The bottle is pointed at Elias crossed legs. My eyes widen comically, it's silly to think. In my defense though, it's just now dawning that he could reject the whole thing. Before any words can come from me, he is already standing tall, with his hand stretched toward me with a smile that puts my worries at ease, reminding me of why I fell for him years ago. I breath out a laugh as I take his hand, and walk ahead to the dark closet for our turn at 7 Minutes in Heaven.