Will and Lily had enough food and drinks for a half-dozen people, and enough alcohol for twice that many. Lily had misremembered that Christy didn’t eat meat, but the result was more or less the same—they’d bought plenty of bunny-type food as well.
“I tried to think of all the things in those little baggies you gave me,” Lily said proudly.
“You did a great job,” I told her.
“Thank you so much,” Christy added.
Lily beamed. “I know it’s kinda early, but we waited for you to start drinking.”
“It’s five o’clock somewhere,” I said. “Want me to do the honors?”
Will answered for her. “Be my guest. I’m drinkin’ beer, but y’all go ahead and start on the hard stuff.”
I mixed three rum and Cokes, although I made mine weaker than the girls’. I wanted to be clear-headed in case things went wrong. Besides, I knew better than to try to keep up with Christy.
The television in the living room actually had a working satellite box, and Will turned it to MTV. The time passed quickly as we drank and talked and occasionally watched a video.
Will turned out to be an okay guy. He was still a preacher’s kid and a dyed-in-the-wool chauvinist, but he had an outgoing personality and a decent sense of humor. He also told entertaining stories about things he’d done in high school. Most of them sounded farfetched, but mine would’ve too.
Later, he and I grilled hamburgers for dinner, while the girls cooked French fries and cut up raw veggies for Christy. We sat on the front porch after we ate, but the bugs finally drove us inside. I mixed fresh drinks for three of us, and Will opened another beer for himself. He’d already made a serious dent in the case, but at least he was a fun drunk.
We relaxed in the living room and enjoyed the evening as the heat of the day faded and MTV played in the background. Will told a couple of stories, including one about a church camp that sounded like a teen soap opera, complete with sneaking around, pranks, and even some bed-hopping. Most of it sounded exaggerated, especially since Will was the star of every episode. I waited for a decent break and then interrupted.
“It’s too bad the hot tub isn’t working.”
Lily sighed with relief and jumped on the bandwagon. “Yeah, I brought a killer bikini.”
“I brought mine too,” Christy said.
“Why don’t you put ’em on anyway?” I suggested.
“Yeah!” Will said. “Show us some skin, Lil.”
She blushed with excitement.
“Use our room to change,” I said.
She and Christy glanced at each other and grinned. They retrieved Lily’s outfit from the alcove and then disappeared into the bedroom.
“You ready for a refill?” Will asked. “Think I’ll switch to what y’all’re drinkin’.”
He went to the kitchen and left the girls’ half-empty drinks right where they were.
“And they say chivalry’s dead,” I muttered to myself. I cut him some slack because he was drunk, but I made a point to pick up their cups and bring them with me.
Will grabbed a fresh cup for himself, added ice, and upended the bottle of rum. The little plastic spout kept him from making a mess, but the bottle gurgled steadily as he filled his cup.
“Whoa there, Will,” I said in alarm.
“Wha’s’a matter?” He set the big bottle on the counter with a thunk.
“I’m just saying… maybe save some for later.”
“Why? There’s more’n enough.” He seemed to notice his cup, which was full of straight rum. “Oh, yeah. Here, have some. Which’n’s yours?”
I slid my cup toward him, and he emptied his into it. The extra sloshed over my hand and onto the counter.
“Party foul!” Will said without apologizing.
I shook off the dripping mess. “Why don’t I tend bar,” I said as calmly as I could.
“You’re better at it anyway.” He launched into a story from another church trip, while I cleaned up the mess and washed my hands. I listened with half my attention as I mixed drinks that wouldn’t send anyone to the hospital.
I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes when Will reached the point of the story. A couple of girls had gotten drunk and started fingering each other in the back of the bus, which sounded like a teenage boy’s fantasy more than reality. He wanted me to think he was cool, and in his mind, that meant “stud.”
“What about you?” he asked. “What kind of stuff did you pull in high school? I bet it was epic.”
“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you,” I said with deadpan candor.
“Girls? Lots of ’em?”
“Two, sometimes three at a time.”
He couldn’t tell if I was serious or joking, so he reverted to bragging. “Like those two on the bus. I did it with them.”
I nodded politely and didn’t believe a word, so he changed the subject.
“Wait till you see Lil in a bikini. She’s got the most bodacious set of—”
She emerged from the bedroom. She was a normal-sized girl, but curved and padded in all the places Christy wasn’t. Her lime green bikini top was at least a D-cup, but her breasts filled it to capacity and then some.
“What’d I tell ya?” Will said. “Have you ever seen a pair like that?”
“They’re pretty amazing.”
“Who cares if she can cook or clean? Doesn’t matter. Not with ta-tas like those.”
I offered a tight smile and kept my opinion to myself.
Christy joined Lily and seemed tiny by comparison—small breasts, flat stomach, and narrow hips. She wore the white two-piece she’d worn at Brooke’s house.
“Wow, y’all look totally awesome,” Will said.
“Totally,” I agreed.
Will grabbed his drink and left Lily’s on the counter. I tried to hide my annoyance, but the girls saw. I scooted all three cups together and picked them up with both hands. Lily made a point to thank me. I handed the other cup to Christy and bent to kiss her cheek.
“You look beautiful,” I said softly. “Lily too, but I’d choose you any day of the week and twice on Sunday.”
“Thank you.”
Will gestured to Lily from the couch. He patted his leg, but she sat beside him instead. He put his arm around her and casually groped her left breast. She fended him off, but not before he laughed and told her to relax.
I returned to my spot on the love seat and guided Christy onto my lap. She stretched up and kissed my cheek. Then she nuzzled my neck for good measure.
“Hey, y’all, none of that,” Will joked.
I ignored him and drew Christy closer. She wriggled into a comfortable spot and then relaxed against my chest as I wrapped an arm around her possessively.
“What should we do now?” Lily asked.
“Play a drinking game?” I suggested. “Truth or Dare?”
“Nah, that’s boring,” Will said without thinking. “Let’s play Never Have I Ever.”
Annoyance flickered across Lily’s face, although she hid it almost as soon as it appeared.
“Sure,” I said. “You start.”
Will thought for a moment. “Okay, never have I ever… done it during church.”
“Oh my gosh,” Christy murmured.
No one drank, until Will smirked and raised his cup.
“Your turn, hon,” he said to Lily.
“Hmm. Never have I ever… kissed a girl.”
“No fair,” he complained. He and I took a drink, although he sputtered when she and Christy did too. “What the hey? For real?”
Christy smiled enigmatically and then glanced at Lily.
Will laughed. “You got a wild one there, Paul.”
“Exactly how I like her.” I kissed her cheek to prove it and said, “Your turn, Little Bit.”
“Never have I ever… um… stolen something and been caught.”
Lily, Will, and I drank. Christy didn’t.
“You stole my wrestling T-shirt,” I accused.
“I only borrowed it.”
“You steal my socks all the time. My shirts too.”
“Your socks’re comfy and your shirts smell like you. But it isn’t stealing if I give them back.”
“Whatever,” I chuckled. “My turn. Never have I ever… fooled around on a church trip.”
“Ya got me there!” Will laughed. He took a big drink.
Christy and Lily took smaller ones.
“Seriously?” Will said when I didn’t.
“I’ve never been on a church trip,” I said.
“Paul isn’t like the rest of us,” Christy explained. “His parents never took him to church.”
“How’d you meet friends?” Will asked.
“The old-fashioned way.”
Christy grinned up at me. “Church is the old-fashioned way, dear.”
“You can say that again,” I said under my breath. Louder, “Let’s keep going. Your turn, Will. Never have I ever…?”
The next couple of rounds followed the same pattern.
Will made boasts about “doing it” in different places. He drank each time, and I suspected that “doing it” meant anything from making out to full sex. Lily’s questions had to do with girls. She was trying to find out how much Christy had done, but Will didn’t pick up on it.
“You’re jus’ tryin’ to get me drunk,” he accused. “For all the things I done with other girls.”
Christy’s questions were laughably mundane, like falling asleep in class or smoking cigarettes. I had to get creative with mine. I wanted to stick to sex but didn’t want to drink. So I asked about pretending to be someone else and cheating on my girlfriend. “Or boyfriend,” I added for the girls. Lily hesitated but raised her cup. Will drank straight away. The ice clunked in the bottom of his cup.
“I’m ready for another,” he said. “Fix it for me, hon?”
Lily took his cup and went to the kitchen. When she returned, we played a few more rounds. The questions were fun, although Will’s double standards were on full display. He drank at nearly every question but was shocked at Lily for some of the things she drank to. And when he emptied his cup again, he asked her for a refill.
“I could use another one too,” Christy hinted. “Paul, do you mind?”
“Sure, no problem. Here, Lily, I’ll make ’em.”
She handed me Will’s cup.
“You want one too?” I asked.
“I’m fine, thanks,” she said, but her smile lingered.
I decided to move things along. “Hey, Will, did you bring swim trunks?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, the girls are in bikinis. Maybe they’d like us to join them.”
“Yeah!” Lily said immediately.
“Uh-oh,” I said, as if I’d just thought of it.
Lily took the bait and asked, “What?”
“Someone forgot to tell me about the hot tub. No names mentioned, but she’s small, blonde, and looking very guilty right now. Anyway, I didn’t bring my trunks.”
“Shorts’re fine,” Will said.
“I might just wear my boxers,” I suggested.
“Yeah, whatever. It’s totally cool. I’ll be right back, hon.” He swayed to his feet, bumped into Lily’s, and lurched toward the cabin’s single bathroom. “Gotta take a leak first.”
“Are you sure you don’t want another?” I asked Lily.
She took the hint and rose to join me. She set her half-full cup on the counter and stood close enough that I could feel the heat of her bare skin where it nearly touched mine.
“Are you okay with this?” I asked. “What we’re doing?”
She feigned innocence.
“Christy told me,” I said. “Everything. Drink a lot, play naughty games, get naked. We’ve done the first two. Are you ready for the last one?”
Her eyes flashed with excitement.
“Tell me now if you don’t want to. We’ll have a nice little party and that’s all.”
“No,” she said immediately. “I want to.”
“Okay, if you’re sure. But you realize that getting naked usually leads to other things, like fooling around?”
She swallowed hard, but her eyes never lost their enthusiasm.
I chuckled, low and suggestive.
She shot a glance at the bathroom door. Then she threw caution to the wind and moved in for a kiss. I pulled her toward me. Her large, firm breasts pressed into my side, and her breathing grew heavy as the kiss heated up. I casually cupped her bikini-clad ass. She moaned and thrust her hips toward me.
We pulled apart when the bathroom door rattled in its frame. It came unstuck and banged open.
“Sorry,” Will said absently. He leaned on the furniture for balance as he crossed to the alcove. He disappeared behind the curtain, and the bed springs squeaked under his weight.
Lily started breathing again. “I can’t believe it’s really happening.”
“Are you sure about Will?” I wasn’t, but I wanted to stick to the plan if I could.
“You heard his stories. He’s done just about everything else.”
I had my doubts but didn’t voice them.
“Besides,” she added, “he’ll do anything when he’s drunk.”
“Yeah, but will he regret it in the morning?”
“I don’t think so.”
It sounded like wishful thinking, but I kept those doubts to myself too.
“What about you?” I asked instead. “What if things go further than just getting naked?”
“I want them to.”
Will yanked the curtain aside and emerged in a pair of swim trunks and no shirt. My eyes widened. He looked like a Calvin Klein model, with a sculpted chest and washboard abs. Christy took one look and then did a double take.
“Holy crap,” I said without thinking. “Do you work out, Will?”
“What?” he said blearily. “No. Why?”
“Just… you have a really nice body.”
“What’re you, a fag or somethin’? Jus’ kiddin’.” He stumbled to the kitchen and said, “Which’n’s mine?”
I pointed, and he took a long drink. Then he grabbed the handle of the rum bottle and unscrewed the top.
“Go easy,” I warned as politely as I could.
He waved vaguely and filled his cup to the top. He didn’t add any Coke. Then he lurched to the couch and took a longer drink.
“Crap,” Lily whispered. “I was afraid he’d do this.” She sighed again as she watched him stare vacantly at MTV. “Now he’s going to ignore me.”
I glanced at Christy. She was watching him too, and I could almost see her come to the same conclusion I just had.
“I don’t think anything’s going to happen tonight,” I said to Lily in a low voice.
She glared at Will.
“Sorry,” I added.
“I don’t know why I even bothered,” she said. “He isn’t going to change. I thought maybe this weekend…” She sipped her drink and glared some more. “If I’m lucky, he’ll pass out soon.”