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?”