Underneath the Tree (gg)

Chapter 16 - In the Frosty Air

Summary:
All of the adults at the party contribute in a game of Taboo, playing in groups of two.

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The music blaring over Beth's surround system, the kids are upstairs playing with their new toys, the adults down, drinking as they converse.
"Hey sis... do you still have Taboo?" Annie places her glass down on the coffee table, failing to put it on the coaster.
Beth leans forwards to grab her glass, slipping a coaster underneath it, "I don't know, I can go check though. If anything it'll be..."
"Found it!" Ruby pulls the purple box from the closet near the laundry room, "Everyone knows how to play right?"
Beth instinctively leans towards Rio, already knowing that he's never played before, "There's a card with a keyword, and there are other words underneath it. You have to get your teammate to guess the keyword without using any of the others to describe it." Beth pauses for a moment, catching her breath, "If you do end up saying any of the taboo words, the moderator from the opposite team will call it out, making it a dead card."
Rio processes the information, looking back at Beth with a little smile, "Ma... you speak so damn fast." He laughs as he turns his attention to Annie who's squeezing the squeaker into Ruby's face.
Beth stands, setting up a small tray table to place the game upon, "So, did everyone hear the rules?" She shuffles the stacks of cards in her hands quickly, placing them back into a neat pile on the table.
"I don't think anyone did." Stan let's out a big laugh from his stomach, "The man's right. You do talk fast." He stands up and makes his way to Ruby who is already planning to go first.
"Wait, we didn't even make teams." Beth places her hands in the pockets of her hoodie, looking around the room. Before anyone can talk, the doorbell is sounding through the loud music. Beth walks over hesitantly, unaware of who would be at the door, she peers through the peephole hoping that it's not Dean. Letting out an odd sigh of relief as she sees Mick standing with his hands in his pockets. She opens the door with a click, greeting him, not even questioning why he showed up, everyone else in the room falling silent, obviously confused.
Rio laughs slightly as he shifts in his seat to turn back to the game that was just about to start, Annie breaking through the silence, "Okay so, the teams are?" She waves her hands up and down, trying to direct the attention onto herself, "Stan and Ruby... obvs- and then... Beth and Rio? I guess if we're going by gendered pairings, so that would leave me with Mick?"
Beth and Rio laugh quietly, simultaneously, Ruby now grabbing the small timer, "Are we staring now?"
Beth nods and Ruby is off, picking up a card she begins quickly, directing her hints towards Stan, "This is what Sara had to take!" Annie standing behind her making sure that she's not using any keywords.
Stan taps his foot, thinking quickly, "Oh.. Pills!" Ruby nods quickly pulling up another card.
The rounds continue for a while, Annie and Mick barely scoring, Ruby and Stan in the lead with 15 points, Beth and Rio following behind with 12, now their turn. Beth stands to grab the cards.
Rio flips the hourglass timer, awaiting Beth for hints. Looking at the card she immediately starts, "This is what you call me."
Almost instantly, Rio responds, "Mama." Beth places the card down quickly, their first point scored, she then reaches for another.
"This is where we were snowed in." Again coming up with the hints quickly.
Rio laughs and he answers swiftly, "Sauna." Beth let's out a small sigh, dropping the card down, accidentally grabbing out of the pile labeled mature.
"Shit... um. This is what we made a mess out of." Annie holding the squeaker lets out a loud snort, accidentally squeezing it, the squeak sounding out, "Annie I didn't even say anything!" Annie adjusts her shoulders, regaining her composure, giving Beth a look as if to tell her, sorry.
"Sheets." Rio says this at a lower volume, Beth still being able to hear him, she places the card in a stack beginning to grab one more, Stan jumps up quickly.
Pointing at the little hourglass, "Time! How many did y'all get?" He sits back down waiting for Beth to count the amount of points she got.
"Two, plus the mature card which is 1 point. We got 3... and that means that we are tied! We need a breaker" Beth her drops her shoulders, waiting for suggestions of how to break the tie.
"Damn you B!" Ruby laughs as she grabs her wine glass, taking a long swig, she sits back on the couch giving a smile to Stan who's contemplating different ways to fix the tie.
Annie bursts out quickly with a response, "Let's do a relay!" Everyone turns to look at her, the idea is good, but no one is aware of what actions they'd be performing, "Okay you guys look confused. So I'm going to make it up as I think, first you'd start at the kitchen, then you'd do a body shot as quickly as you can. Next, you'd make your way to the hallway near the end of the stairs, drop into your favorite sex position, I'll have to guess what it is. Lastly, you end by the front door, I'll have two glasses of wine, one person on both teams has to chug it as quickly as they can." She places her arms out, waiting for praise because she thought of the entire tie breaker off the top of her head. While she's waiting for a response, Mick stands walking towards the front door, waving his hand as he leaves.
"That's not bad, but isn't it a little sexual?" Beth twists her hoodie strings in her fingers, avoiding eye contact with anyone besides Annie.
Annie shrugs, "The kids are upstairs anyways, besides, I'm bored. So both teams go to the kitchen and I'll get the stuff ready."
Beth turns around to find Rio staring back at her, a big smile on his face, "C'mon, gotta get ready for body shots." He leads her by her waist into the kitchen, shifting to stand chest to chest, Annie places a lime into Beth and Stan's mouth, them being the ones having the shots taken off their bodies. She then hands Rio and Ruby packets of salt as well as a tequila shot.
Annie now standing near the front door with two wine glasses, she calls loudly towards the kitchen, "On your marks, get set. GO!" Rio takes the shot of tequila quickly, placing the packet of salt on the counter, he reaches his hands down to rip Beth's hoodie off, revealing the fact that she hadn't worn an undershirt, he throws it across the room. Beth squeals with the lime in her mouth, unaware that her clothing had to be removed. Rio then grabs the salt from the counter, sprinkling it onto Beth's bust, moving downwards he licks up her chest onto her neck, meeting her mouth to grab the lime out. Ruby and Stan are going slowly, struggling from laughter.
Spitting the lime out, he grabs Beth's arm, dragging her into the hallway near the stairs, shoving her down onto the floor, she lets out a loud gasp, the floor freezing against her back. Rio sets himself between her legs, lifting them above his shoulders. Beth moves her hands onto his neck, turning herself to look at Annie awaiting a response.
Annie remembering that she has to guess, she calls out enthusiastically, "MISSIONARY!" As soon as Rio hears this, he removes himself from her legs pulling Beth's hands to stand up, running quickly towards Annie, Rio is about to grab the wine glass.
Beth stops him and grabs it for herself, "I'll do this one," She takes the rim of the glass into her mouth, drinking quickly, Annie calling out as she's guessing Ruby and Stan's position, guessing correctly, Stan runs forward grabbing the glass out of Annie's hand. Beginning to drink, he stops as there is no use, Beth already finished, she places the glass back into Annie's hand, slightly out of breath, she remembers that she's only in a bra and pajama pants.
Rio walks around her, finding her hoodie that had been thrown in the hallway, picking it up, he walks back over to Beth. Glancing downwards, he leans forwards, wiping Beth's neck and chest with the hoodie, covered in salt and red wine. Beth laughs as she grabs the sweatshirt from him, finishing the job and pulling it on.
"Well, Rio and Beth obviously won that." Annie grabs Beth's hand, holding it up like she just won a wrestling match. All erupting into laughter, they continue the night, chattering and joking, Ruby and Stan along with her kids leaving first. Annie and Ben following shortly after, 6:23pm.

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