Once Again

Once Again (24)

“CARA!!!!!” As soon as I step into the basement, my ears are assaulted by the sound of Nathan screaming my name while he rushes from the other side of the room to greet me. “Ashley!” He says quickly, as a side note, after noticing his almost-girlfriend’s glare. She surely does not appreciate being a second thought.

“Let’s play!” He points to a beer pong table. I contemplate turning down his invitation, but Ashley drags me towards the game, abandoning her other friends that came with us. “Jack, this is Cara and Ashley.” Nathan says to the guy standing beside him. “Girls, this is Jack.”

“We’ll be a team,” Jack informs me. “You can go first,” He says graciously. I notice that he has already has spilled beer on his shirt. I follow Jack to the opposite side of the table, and accept the ping pong ball he hands me.

Ashley looks at me, waiting for me to do something. I’ve never played beer pong before, but after an awkward moment, I shrug and pick up one of the balls off the table. I know how to play, conceptually, thanks to Connor, so I lob the ball towards the other team’s arrangement of beer cups. I miss. Badly.

Nathan lets Ashley go first, because he is a gentleman, and her shot bounces off one of the cups before sailing in the opposite direction.

Both boys make their first shots, which means Ash and I must both drink a cup of beer. It is disgusting, but I force myself to finish it. I take my turn, and miss again. This time, the ball travels into another room. While Ashley follows after it, Jack brings a bottle and two shot glasses over. I hesitate momentarily, not sure how I feel about consuming all this alcohol.

However, it does not take much for Jack to persuade me to give into his peer pressure. I’m here to have a goodtime after all, so surely this will help. We each take a shot, ignoring Ashley’s disproving glare. If one shot is good, then two must be better; I challenge Jack to take another shot with me.

“Are you going to play or what?” Ashley asks, tired of watching me choke down more vodka.

We move the bottle and shot glasses and Ashley makes her shot. When I finally manage to get a shot in several rounds later, I cheer loudly. Jack gives me a high five and we continue to play.  

Once the game is over, I wander off and plop myself down on a couch, in between two girls that I know are friends of Ashley’s. I also know that I eat lunch regularly with one of them, but for the life of me I cannot remember their names. Nevertheless, I attempt to make conversation with them. It does not go well. Luckily, I am soon interrupted.

“Cara! Come here, pleaseee.” Ashley says, too loud. She grabs my hand and pulls me to the edge of the room. “Have you seen Nate?” She asks, shaking my shoulder.

“No, I haven’t. I have not.”

“Liar.” I am surprised by her fierce and accusatory tone, and moments later, when my brain finally catches up, I realize that what she said wasn’t so nice either.

“What?” I ask, confused.

“You are sabotaging my relationship with Nate.” She says, and if it weren’t for her angry tone, I would have thought she was kidding, because her words are utterly ridiculous. 

“Uh, no I am NOT.” I say, emphasizing my last word. “Why would I do that??”

“Because you LIKE him!”

“I like him as a friend.” I correct. “If it weren’t for me, you would not have a relationship.” I point out. “He didn’t even know you existed before you met me.” Alcohol has increased the distance between my mouth and my mind, making it so that I regret each word about thirty seconds after it rolls off my tongue.