“Now let’s play a drinking game.” Anna states, while she’s still the centre of attention.

“Not fair!” Joshua objects. “You’re drinking kiddo wine and we’re on hard liquor.”

“That’s your own choice bro.” Anna fires back.

“Nah, uh.” Ogon interjects. They can drink that during the game, but if they need to do a shot as a penalty, they should get a shot of the same stuff we do. I have shot glasses.” He puts two metal cups on the floor and fills them up with the vodka to prove his point.

“Fine.” Anna says. “What are we playing?”

“Truth or dare, obviously.” Jasmine replies.

“Cool. I dare you to twerk.” Anna immediately jumps in.

“I’m supposed to say whether I want the truth or a dare first!” The other girl cries out.

“Yeah, and you can’t just pick anyone. We’ll spin a bottle to see who goes first, then they spin a bottle to decide who they get to ask. Then that person chooses truth or dare, and only then do you tell them what to do. If you refuse a truth, you take a shot and get a dare. If you refuse a dare, you take two shots and get two truths. You can’t back out of those.” Joshua lays down the rules.

“Also, you can’t dare anything incestuous.” He adds sternly. I’m sure he’s making that up on the spot, but I cringe at the idea alone. Clearly Josh and his sister are used to this game.

Everyone seems to be fine with the rules. I’ve never played before, but it doesn’t seem too daunting. I can do this. It might even be fun.

Anna spins the bottle, and it turns out Alex can go first. He spins it and it lands on Jasmine. She chooses dare, and he unoriginally copies the assignment Anna stipulated earlier. Then again, I get why he would. It’s a good dare.

“See, you and twerking is just meant to be.” Anna chuckles.

Turns out Jasmine can’t twerk for shit, but she’s giving it her all. All the guys and Anna whoop loudly, while Ogon provides us with unnecessary nasty commentary.

After one minute, it’s Jasmine’s turn. Her spin lands on Ogon, who she dares to do a headstand. And to my complete surprise, he actually pulls it off.

We all clap loudly, most of the others clearly taken by surprise as well. Ogon sits back down grinning proudly, and spins the bottle to Ivanka, who immediately picks dare. Ogon’s grin only widens as he tells her to flash her boobs, knowing full well Ivanka can’t refuse the dare without divulging two truths. Ivanka’s face flashes red in anger as Ogon laughs at her.

“Come on, bunny… Show us your titties.” He teases.

Ivanka abruptly gets up, pulling Yinthas with her. The girl has no idea what is happening, but lets herself be led to the opposite side of the room without protest. Ivanka faces her, lifts her shirt and bra, showing us her bare back, then pulls it down again.

As she turns around, she glares daggers at Ogon. “There. I flashed my boobs.”

“No, no, no, missy… You need to flash us your boobs.” He says.

“You didn’t specify. My turn.” Ivanka states, spinning the bottle with such a force, there must be some remnant anger despite her very clever victory.

The bottle lands on me. “Truth.” I say, figuring the game should actually start there. Ivanka has the most secrets of all of us, and she’s already has Ogon gunning for her, so she’ll probably ask something friendly.

I’m not prepared.

“Ravi, are you gay?”

I choke on my drink. “What?”

“You heard me.” She winks.

I can choose not to answer, drink a shot and pick a dare instead. But that would be an admission in its own right. I could lie, but what would that serve me? I probably waited too long to answer anyway.

“Yeah.” I say, looking at Ivanka, and only her. I have no idea how the others will react, and I don’t want to be rejected by these people. Ivanka’s face turns into a sly smile, but it’s not cruel, so at least there’s that.

“Tsk.” Anna clicks her tongue next to me. “That’s such an outdated concept. All people are pansexual. Most of them just conform to archaic gender norms, posing as straight people, and some want to protest the world and identify as gay.”

“What?” This is the biggest nonsense I’ve ever heard. But Anna is adamant. She even gets support from all sides for her ridiculous point of view. The new boys don’t agree though, Bharin is even fiercely stating he sure as hell wouldn’t do another dude even if all the women in the world would’ve died. He’s looking at me when he says it, so I can’t help but feel personally insulted. Though turned around, I actually do agree with his point.

“Let’s test it!” Anna states. “Ravi, go kiss Bharin, see how he likes it, and then Ivanka can show you her boobs and…”

“My turn is done.” I say sternly, before Bharin can cave my head in.

I spin the bottle, and land on Fuzz. “Dare!” He calls out. I guess no one’s bothering with truths today. I’m starting to get why.

“Slide down the banister without falling.” I tell him.

He jumps up with a smile and runs to the stairs to demonstrate. “Without falling!” Joshua calls after him when he lands crumpled on the concrete.

He’s laughing, so he’s okay. It looked wholly ridiculous though, so I guess it was a good dare.

“I’ll go again!” Fuzz hops up and reclimb the stairs. I thought the dare was done, but Josh did have a point. I said without falling. So I watch the blonde boy try again, this time keeling over the railing on the other side and falling down from a much bigger height.

“You okay?” I shout over the railing.

“I’m fine, homie! I’ll do it again!” He enthusiastically yells back.

“No man, it’s cool.”

“No fucking way! I’m completing the dare!” He calls out, running back up and sliding down so fast he flies off the other end. But he manages to land on his feet this time and takes a bow. “Third time is a charm!” He smirks as Ogon slow claps in the background.

We all rejoin the ones that weren’t interested enough in Fuzz’ tribulations to get up, and wait for the boy to spin. He seemingly forgot about that, and Anna needs to remind him to actually get the game back going.   

When I check my phone next, it’s hours later. I’m drunk as fuck, and we’re still playing. I’ve been playing along and choosing dares that included peeing out of the window, twerking, and singing Stien’s songfestival hit. The gin I brought is long gone. So is the vodka, and some other mysterious liquid we put in the shot glasses. I’m now sharing a pack of cheap white wine with Jasmine and Anna, while Ivanka and the boys are doing lines of some sort. I don’t even ask what it is, though I’m observing the whole process with scientific interest.

“Dare!” Anna calls loudly when Alex spins the bottle to her. “Make out with Jasmine!” Alex grins.

Anna looks at Jasmine, who raises her shoulders in a shrug. Then she climbs into the girls lap and kisses her fiercely. I look at Joshua, who just shrugs. The other men are staring eagerly, and Ogon’s filthy grin is something I won’t be able to unsee for a while.

This starts off a whole new level of dares, all involving drugs, stripping or making out. So when it’s my turn I go with a truth.

“If you had to have sex with one of us. Who would it be?” Anna asks.

“None of you, obviously. You yourselves don’t even know where you’ve been.” I joke.

“That’s not an answer!” Anna replies.

Honestly, I have no idea. I’ve never looked at them like that. The girls are girls, and the boys are, well… Maybe Alex, but I really don’t know the guy, except that he’s straight. I don’t want to freak him out. I also don’t want to just choose someone, for I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea or offend them.

So I take a shot of the cheap muck and decided to stick to the dares. What was the worst that can happen?

“As you wish, gay boy.” Anna smirks. “Kiss me.”

I should’ve been expecting something like this, but I’m not happy about it. I am doing it, though. Otherwise, it’ll get from bad to worse. I can manage one little schmooze.

I lean over and opt for a chaste version, pecking her lips softly. But the girl surprises me by grabbing my hair and shoving her tongue in my mouth. It’s softer and wetter than my first kiss had been, and I don’t particularly enjoy it. But it’s okay. I’m reminded that kissing in general is nice. Even with Anna, who I hardly consider attractive.

As the kiss ends, I’m wondering why I couldn’t just have kissed Abby. It would have saved my friendship. Or maybe this is my drunk mind talking. I don’t know.

I dare Ogon to do the hokey pokey next, which is insanely funny. He looks at me like he’s plotting some kind of vengeance, but lucky for me, the bottle lands on Joshua, so I’m spared of his shenanigans for now.

I’m spared for quite some time actually, but there’s much to see. 

Fun dares that make me laugh out loud, like Fuzz trying to fit an entire bag of crisps into his mouth. Or Bharin trying to do a pull up on a wooden beam that ends up breaking under his weight. Lars drawing a 30 second caricature sketch of Ogon. Ivanka singing let it go whilst twirling around the room, and Joshua flunking a really transparent magic trick four times in a row.

Most dares still onvolve drugs, making out or nudity, which I'm slightly incomfortable with, except for the time when Alex is dared to perform a striptease for Jasmine. If I hadn't answered Ivanka's truth in the beginning, it would've been obvious by now. I'm aware that I'm staring but I can't help it, and I don't really give a crap at this point. That man is hot. 

I find the things to do with drugs more disturbing. Like at one point people are doing lines off Yinthas’ belly. I don’t even know how old she is. But everyone’s clearly having fun, so maybe I’m the abnormal one.

The next time the bottle lands on me, it’s Fuzz spinning. I’m slightly afraid of the consequences, but I choose dare anyway. It’s only fair.

He smirks widely. “Kiss of doom, and you can’t move.”

I know exactly what’s going to happen. And I know I could get out of it by just taking some shots and blurting out some truths, but I feel like I kind of owe him this. So I lie back on the floor, fold my hands under my head, and let him do his worst.

It’s truly the worst. As the smoke invades my nose and mouth, I start coughing, but he just keeps blowing the cannabis smoke further up my system until my entire body goes numb.

I SO deserved that, I realise as the room fades around me. The laughter dims in the background and, I feel like I’m floating. Only a second, before someone shouts “Pile up!” and my whole world collapses.

I don’t know how long the pile-up lasted. When the pressure disappears, I don’t know where everyone is and if I’m upside down or whatever. I just hear people laughing and vague lights dancing in the distance.

Are those flamingos with umbrellas?

I try to get up, but it’s kind-of hard. I look around at the faces laughing at me and realise I have to spin something. I swat at the floor, but manage to knock over a whole other bottle, to the hilarity of all present.

“Want some of this. I’ll get you right back up.” Ogon tells me. I can’t see what he’s offering, but I don’t need to know. I shake my head and defiantly grab the bottle of wine and take a swig. It’s not wine. I don’t know what the fuck else it is, but definitely not wine.

I manage to kick the bottle so it spins, but it’s hard to see who it landed on. I try and focus and see Joshua smiling. “Truth.” He says.

Yes truth.

“The truth is that I need to lie down.” I hear myself slur. Everyone’s laughing. I guess it is funny. Ha.

I drag myself to what I presume is my mattress, and fold.