The Making of…
Chapter 21
Honestly, I Thought We Were More Mature Than This…
I had changed out of my soaking wet costume and into a white vest-top, unbuttoned red-checked shirt and my denim shorts (the look was completed by my dashing red flip-flops!) before heading back down to the lake shore with my guitar slung onto my back. I could already hear the guys down there, and I could smell the scent of cooking meat along with fire and smoke. It looked like I was the last person down, as practically everyone was already seated around a small campfire that someone had made out of driftwood. I squeezed into a space between Orlando and Viggo as food and drink was being passed around by Dom, who was wearing a rather snazzy apron emblazoned with ‘BBQ KING’.
“Nice outfit.” I smirked as he handed me a hotdog.
“Thanks,” He grinned, “Elijah bought me it as an early Christmas present.”
“I just saw it and thought of him.” Lij smiled. Once we were all seated, Elijah raised his beer bottle in a toast. “To Boromir!” He announced in a loud voice, “Who was pretty cool until he went a little nutty and tried to take the Ring, but then he said sorry and died, so he was cool again!”
“To Boromir!” We all shouted.
“Couldn’t have put it better myself!” Billy slurred as I laughed.
Eventually, the guys persuaded me to get my guitar out, and Billy demanded a ‘Good Old Fashioned Sing-Along’.
“Well, what should we sing?” I asked, casually plucking at my guitar strings.
“Christmas is in like… A week, right?” Orlando asked, “Let’s have something Christmassy!” It was true, and in a day or two we were all flying home to be with our families until the New Year, so this was pretty much the last evening we all had together before then.
“Jingle Bells!” Sean Astin yelled from across the circle. He was sitting with his wife Christine and daughter Ali.
“Sure thing.” I smiled, beginning to play. Between us, we somehow managed to make a simple song sound like a bag of cats being swung against a wall – we definitely weren’t the most tuneful bunch, particularly when most of us were slightly intoxicated! Then Sean was called upon to sing something, as it was after all his ‘Death Party’ (as Dom put it) but he downright refused to sing on his own.
“Come on Bean!” I coaxed as he shook his head, “Alright, I’ll sing with you, how about ‘Fairytale of New York’?”
“Best Christmas song ever!” Billy yelled as Sean smirked.
“Fine,” He sighed, “But I’m not singing the girl’s part.”
“That’s fine by me; it just means I get to call you names!” I grinned. It turned out that everyone joined in anyway, so there had been no point in worrying about embarrassment!
After about an hour, the sun began to set, and a few people trailed off to bed, including Sean and his family – but most of us stayed and tossed some extra wood onto the fire, providing us with more light. Suddenly, from his back pocket, Dom produced a little black book that looked a lot like a novel, but on the front in big white letters, I could clearly see the words, ‘Truth or Dare’.
“Anyone fancy a game?” He asked, waving the book around.
“My God Dom, how old are you?” I laughed, “I haven’t played that in years!”
“Well come on! Let’s have a game now!” He urged as one by one, most people volunteered to play.
“So, how are we going to work this? Spin the bottle?” Orlando asked.
