"So, tell me again why you were afraid to go into your girlfriends basement," Jason's brother asked, laughing.
"Don't mock me. That was a very traumatizing night."
-
You're only young once. You might as well have fun now. Once you get to college, you better be all about studying if you expect me to pay for that expensive school you love so much.
His mother's words continued going through his head as Jason approached the front door. Five years, he'd waited. Five years before he was finally invited to her house. Jason had secretly been harboring feelings for years, and was hoping today the moment would finally arrive where he would be able to tell Kim how he felt.
He rang the doorbell and smiled as Kim greeted him. Here he was, finally being invited to hang out with the 'legendary' 'deep six': the six most popular-for-no-legitimate-reason kids in the school, and their closest friends.
"Whoa. Who is the new guy? I don't remember having a meeting to approve any new people coming to this party." Lisa, Kim's closest friend, said as Jason walked up the stairs where everyone was.
"Relax, Lisa. This is Jason. He's a friend. I invited him. I assumed it wasn't necessary to ask, since this is my party." Kim said.
"Oh, I get it. He's your replacement guy, isn't he?" Lisa paused, as she gave Jason a once-over. "Not a bad choice...I guess" Lisa smirked.
"Alright, I think it's time we moved this downstairs. We can fit a lot more people down there, and actually turn this into a party." Kim said. Everyone in the kitchen shouted in agreement as they began funneling down the skinny stairway and into the basement.
Jason froze as he reached the turn at the top of the stairs. What...is this place? He thought as he watched everyone in the room.
The first thing he noticed was an overly powerful smell of cinnamon. There was a fireplace in the North-East corner of the room, and 3 leather couches placed along the opposite walls. The wallpaper was a hideous purple-and-green vertical stripe. The carpet, he would later discover, was made of faux-fox fur that had been spray-painted green.
"What the hell is that?" Jason asked.
Lisa smirked. "This, new guy, is the 'Monolith of Desire','' she said as she pulled a small Washington Monument-esque rock out of the closet.
"The...what?" Jason's eyes widened even more as he tried to comprehend what that name could possibly mean.
"Have you ever heard of 'spin the bottle'? Well, this is our version of a bottle. Except, it's from an Egyptian Tomb - my brother used to work as an excavator and he brought this home for me one summer – so it's guaranteed to work." Lisa said, waiving the giant hunk of rock around as she spoke.
"Work? What does that mean? It's just a game. Of course it's going to work, as long as you follow the rules." Jason said, confusion mixing with his matter-of-fact tone.
"You have so much to learn, new guy." Lisa paused, as she began walking around the room. "With the Monolith of Desire, we don't NEED rules. It has a magic effect on anyone who touches it. As soon as you touch it and spin, whoever it lands on is bound to you. Forever." She paused once more, stopping behind Kim, "The only exception to this being, of course, Kim and her terrible ex-boyfriend whose name shall never be spoken again."
"But, we chalk that up to the tremendous amount of bad karma from him being such an ass." Kim said, smiling.
An hour passed. They were down to 8 people in the circle, as the others had been paired off and were in various areas of the house doing god-knows-what. But, Jason couldn't be bothered with what others were doing. He was focusing on the task at hand. His turn had finally arrived and he was determined to finally find a way to tell Kim how he felt. But, first, he had to make sure that his spin ended with her on the opposite end.
Jason placed the rock down, as he envisioned himself and Kim together, and having his chance to finally tell her how he felt. He wasn't certain if it would work, but he was willing to try anything. This was Kim, after all. And he wasn't going to let any more chances slip through his fingers.
He looked up at Kim, and smiled. But, seconds before he turned his wrist to send the 'Monolith' in motion, a flash distracted him and he looked away from her. As he opened his eyes, a look of fear came across his face. He then immediately looked down and watched the 'Monolith' spinning. As it began to slow down, he continued thinking about what he wanted to do, hoping that his feelings for Kim would will the 'Monolith' to heed to his desires.
It began to spin slower...and slower...and slower...Jason thought it would never stop. As he went on an inner monologue tangent about how impatient he was, possibly due to his mother's extremely high caffeine intake during her pregnancy with him, the 'Monolith' stopped.
"Ha! Ha-Ha!" Ielisabeth laughed. "I knew he liked me better!"
Jason sat, speechless. He kept looking down at the 'Monolith' and tracing its point to the person it was facing, hoping it would be Kim. But, it wasn't. Every time he looked up, it would be pointing at the same person: Ielisabeth, Kim's older sister.
Kim laughed. "I guess you were using me to get closer to my sister, after all. What a shame, Jason."
Before Jason could speak, Ielisabeth grabbed him by the arm and began leading him to a room attached to the basement. He could have found the words, but his mind was too busy screaming in fear.
-
"Well? What happened next? You can't just end the story there." Jason's brother asked with anticipation.
"Nothing. I explained to Ielisabeth that it was a mistake, and she understood. I got a chance to talk to Kim, and you know the rest." Jason said, looking away from his younger brother, trying to avoid his gaze.
"You liar. You're way too overly dramatic for it to have happened just like that. Either you tell me what happened, or I'll call Kim and ask her myself."
Jason paused. "Fine," he said solemnly, "you win. I'll tell you what happened."
-
Jason sat on the ottoman, at the end of the bed. Ielisabeth sat next to him, hands in her lap. He had been trying to explain why he was at the party, why he needed to leave and find Kim and talk to her. But, Ielisabeth would have none of it. She insisted that the 'Monolith' was never wrong. Clearly, according to her, they were the ones meant to be.
Jason shook out of his trance when he heard laughter coming from outside of the room. He looked to the door, then back to Ielisabeth. She grinned. As a multitude of thoughts began racing through his mind, Jason stood and walked toward the door. He paused as he pressed his ear against the door and listened, hoping that he was wrong and the love of his life hadn't just played a prank on him.
At first he heard silence. But, as he began to pull his ear away from the door, he heard laughter once again.
-
"Wait. You mean Kim and her friends played an incredibly awesome prank on you, by making you have to kiss her crazy, older sister who you secretly think is hot?" Jason's younger brother said.
"Yes. Yes, they did. It was not awesome, though. Not for me, anyway. I'm sure everybody else loved it, though. They laughed about it the entire time we were together."
"Until, eventually, you couldn't take it anymore and broke up with her. Great idea, big brother. You pick the best reasons to break up with really hot girls."
"I hate you so much." Jason said before standing up and leaving the room.
