The Truth In My Lies

13

MADISON

KAIDEN wasn't lying when he said the party was going to be small. Turns out the "party", was more like a small get together.

I look around the small living room inside Cameron and Jordan's apartment. Kassie and Cameron are sitting on the couch, Claire and Jordan are in the kitchen making drinks, and there's two other guys playing pool over in the corner who I don't recognize. There's literally only ten of us.

"Madison! And Kaiden!" Kassie springs up from the couch and envelops both of us in a hug. "Where's Andrew?" She asks when she steps away.

"Uh, he couldn't make it tonight." I haven't had a chance to tell her about what happened, so she has no idea that Andrew and I aren't exactly on speaking terms.

"What a shame! Oh, well! I'm glad you two could make it. Claire and Jordan are making Jell-O shots." She claps her hands and takes her precious position on the couch, next to Cameron.

"Check this out," Cameron grabs a remote off the coffee table and presses a button. The lights in the room turn off and electric blue LED strip lights that are wrapped around the top of room come to life. It's just like the first party Kassie drug me to. "Cool, isn't it?"

Kaiden grabs a beer from the fridge and nods his head. "Pretty cool," He looks at me. "What's your favorite color?"

"Purple."

I've always loved purple, especially light purple, like lilac.

"Can you change it to purple?" Kaiden asks and brings the beer bottle to his lips. Cameron grabs the remote and changes the lights to a bright purple.

One of the guys who was previously playing pool walks over and slaps Kaiden on the back. "Where have you been, asshole? We've missed you."

Kaiden chuckles. "I've been busy."

"Looks like it. Who's this?" The guy looks at me. His  bright blue eyes eye me up and down.

"This is Madison." He introduces me and wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me to him.

"I'm Blake. Nice to meet you, Madison." He winks.

Claire announces the Jell-O shots are ready and Jordan helps her carry them to the coffee table. Kaiden walks over to a recliner and takes a seat just as Blake places a bottle of Fireball down next to the Jell-O shots.

"Come here," He pats his lap. I would feel ridiculous sitting on his lap like a dog. I shake my head and look around for somewhere else to sit. To my dismay, there really is no where else. Kassie, Cameron, Jordan, and Claire have filled up the couch, and Blake and the other guy have taken chairs and placed them around the coffee table. The only place left for me to go is Kaiden's lap. I sigh and move over to the recliner. I sit down on his lap and I feel him laugh against me. I'm glad he's finding this funny.

"So, what are we doing?" Cameron looks down at the shots and the bottle of Fireball.

"This." Jordan tosses a stack of cards down on the table. "I bought this online."

"And what exactly is that?" Kaiden asks, his voice right in my ear.

"Excellent question," Jordan grins and picks up the cards before shuffling them. "We'll go around the room, asking each other questions, and if you answer the question, you get to take a Jell-O shot. If you don't answer, you have to take a shot of Fireball."

I tense up. I only know three people in this room: Kassie, Claire, and Kaiden. Really, I only know Kassie. I don't feel comfortable answering personal questions in front of these people and I also don't feel like taking shots of Fireball.