Shirbert in the Modern Era

Chapter Seven: Spin The Bottle

Charlie was no less than astonished when a posse of girls plus Cole sauntered past him into his living room, but to his credit, he adjusted quickly.

"Josie," He said, rightfully identifying her as the ringleader, "What the fuck are you doing in my house?"

Josie ignored his question and waltzed into his kitchen.

"Charlie, do you mind if I make popcorn?" Josie said, already placing the bag in his microwave.

The rest of the invading party stood awkwardly in the foyer, varying expressions of remorse and regret on their faces.

"I elected that we ring the doorbell," Anne said sheepishly, "but Josie insisted that we just use the spare key."

"Charlie really shouldn't keep a key right under his doormat considering how close he lives to Josie." Cole added.

Charlie opened his mouth as if to say something, but could think of no appropriate response to having his home broken into by a slumber party.

"You guys wanna play Mortal Kombat?" Billy asked casually from his place on the couch.

"Actually," Josie said devilishly, "I had a better game in mind."
————————————————————————

Anne looked anxiously out into the circle of her friends and peers, wondering how she had allowed herself to be talked into a game of Spin the Bottle.

It was like one minute she was standing in the living room, and the next she had been transported into Charlie's basement without her permission.

Josie placed her empty coke bottle in the center of the circle. "We all know the rules. Who's going first?"

Everyone suddenly became very interested in the hems and stitches of their various garments.

Josie scoffed, disgusted with her friends' lack of enthusiasm.

"Fine." She harrumphed, "I'll go."

Gilbert gulped. He had no desire to kiss Josie. Frankly, he didn't really want to kiss anyone in this circle.

The whole game seemed unnecessarily nerve-racking, and he wasn't thrilled to find himself playing it.

He thought about who it might land on when it was inevitably was his turn. Looking out at his options, his first hope was Anne, though he didn't know why.

He told himself it was because he had never kissed a redhead before.

Josie delicately twirled the glass bottle, which spun agonizingly slowly for a period before coming to a stop in front of Moody.

Josie bit back her snarky comment. After all, it wasn't Moody's fault that the bottle hadn't landed on who Josie had been pining after.

She slowly made her way over to where Moody was, doing her best to give him a kind smile. She was certain it looked more like a grimace.

They kissed. It was uneventful, to say the least. Charlie's garishly lit basement didn't exactly have great ambience.

"Alright, shows over. Jane, you go." Josie said, resisting the urge to wipe her mouth with her sleeve.

Jane, unabashedly excited, spun the bottle with verve. With each rotation, the party grew tenser. Who would it land on?

It spun for what felt like a century before ending its journey in front of Jerry.

Anne's blood went cold. Her eyes darted between Jane, Jerry, and Ruby. Oh no, poor Ruby.

Ruby was doing her best to hide her distress, but she was failing rather spectacularly. Her eyes went wide, her bottom lip quivered, her whole body seemed to shrink.