The Other Fish in the Sea (Grab Your Pole, #2) Page 12

  “Have you ever kissed a girl?” Every guy in the tent drank.

  Oh and by the way, from here on out I’m probably not gonna say who asked what because that’ll just be tedious. If I think the asker is relevant, I’ll let you know.

  “Have you ever been arrested?” Brandon drank.

  “Four years ago when I was fourteen and took the car out…my dad thought it’d been stolen and called the fuckin’ cops.” Ouch.

  “Laughed until something came out of your nose?” Everyone expected Tristan to drink, but he didn’t.

  “Nope, I just spit shit out all the time,” he said while Jeff nodded in the affirmative.

  “Been pushed into a pool fully clothed?” Tristan, Kate, and I had to drink on that one and I was really surprised we were the only three.

  “Mooned or flashed someone?” Everyone in the tent aside from Jillian and I drank.

  And yes, surprising as this might sound, Jillian is playing. If she lies though, I doubt she’ll get caught. She’s not exactly an open book so I might not know whether she is or not.

  “Shot a gun?” Jeff, Tristan, Derek, Dylan, Jillian, and I drank.

  “Yeah, you should’ve asked if she’s ever shot a gun at a live person…” Jeff said with a little laugh, referring to Jill who winked at him with an atta boy look.

  “Kissed a boy?” Julia asked, following Bridget’s train of thought. Pete didn’t, but all the girls drank, including Jillian. I was close to questioning that, but then I thought twice…actually, I’m not all that surprised. Curious, but not surprised.

  “Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t?” Everyone aside from Jill drank. I believe that one though. Jillian is deliberate and the antithesis of impulsive.

  “Ever been cheated on?” The second the question was out of Bridget’s mouth, five pairs of eyes immediately locked on me and Tristan as I froze. He and I never talked semantics about what happened with licorice girl…

  “Drink up, Baby…if I count it then you sure as shit get to.”

  I was the only one who drank on that one.

  “Broken a bone?”

  When Tristan drank, Jeff tried calling him on it. “Dude! You’ve never broken a bone in your fuckin’ life!”

  “Dude! Be specific, I never said I broke one of my own!”

  “Yeah okay, I’ll give you that. That’s another warning for the little shit…you really don’t wanna touch his girlfriend,” Jeff said and started laughing at the scared look on Jeremy’s face.

  “I thought you said Pete didn’t have to go to the hospital,” Dylan said, being confused.

  “I didn’t, it was a different guy…same night though.”

  That brought an end to the tame and relatively non-invasive questions that’d lasted for about fifteen minutes where pretty much everyone had to drink because then like Tristan predicted, they started getting more personal with everyone trying to get even, or in Jeff’s case, laugh at Tristan.

  “Had two different chicks put their hand down your pants within sixty seconds of each other?” Tristan drank while more than half the group gawked at him.

  “Thanks, Baby,” he said and tilted his head up so I could lean down to kiss him.

  “No problem.”

  “Made-out with someone of the same sex?” Again, Bridget. No one drank, but there were a few people who watched to see if Pete did.

  “I’m not gay!”

  “Yeah, you keep tellin’ yourself that, big guy…I’ll wait,” Tristan said, giving Pete a saucy little growl that had us all busting up.

  “Ever posed for non-baby naked pictures?”

  I was expecting Melissa to retort with an eye-roll or some such thing however, she surprised me. It could’ve just been that her hand jerked but I swear it looked like she hesitated. Although just as she did, Tristan spoke up and my attention was diverted along with everyone else’s.

  “Does video count?”

  “Um…I guess it would. Should we vote?” MaryAnn asked and looked at the group for an answer.

  “Never mind…I gotta drink either way.”

  “Shocker,” Pete said impassively.

  “See? You know I’d be more fun than her…”

  “Yeah, that’s a big fuckin’ plus. Hey you should be making a pros and cons list, Pete,” Brandon said and received another fist bump from Tristan and laughter from the rest of us.

  “Ever made-out with someone currently in this tent who is not your current significant other?” Bridget asked.

  I’m not sure if she’s hunting for information or just trying to keep things interesting. But if she was meaning to keep it interesting, she totally accomplished her goal. I felt Tristan’s body tense and again, Melissa hesitated on drinking. Then I looked down at Tristan when he slowly raised his bottle and took a drink, eliciting a few intrigued raised eyebrows and a few seconds of silence.

  “Well, someone in this tent has to drink thrice now…who is it?” Derek asked with bated breath and looked around the tent at all the girls.

  “I’m not sayin’…if she doesn’t wanna claim me then that’s up to her,” Tristan answered, steadily keeping his eyes on me so as not to give anything away.

  It was also his way of proving to me that he really doesn’t kiss and tell as a sign of his respect for the girls he’s messed around with, which I honestly do appreciate. I’m not terribly sure why Melissa wouldn’t admit this though. Unless she has no reason to. Aw crap… I mean I know they dated and he was her first kiss but I actually have no idea if they ever really “made-out.” Crap crap crap! I can’t even decide if I want to know either way now! This sucks…

  I started checking the faces of my friends to see if one of them would give something away and then like it wasn’t a big deal and we weren’t all foaming at the mouth to know, Melissa said, “Oh, I guess it was me…I ah…didn’t know if we counted though.”

  “Mmhm, right. I don’t know if we count either but I drank because I appreciated the specificity of the question,” Tristan replied and slowly nodded his agreement; however it sounded like he was just going along with what was said. It was a little weird, but, I really don’t wanna go there, know what I mean?

  Most everyone was staring at me again like they were waiting for me to get all mad or something about this revelation but, I’m actually relieved. “I’m cool…I already knew about them and it was way before me so we may as well get back to the game.”

  Tristan pulled me down so he could whisper, “You really okay?”

  I gave him a little smile and a nod and sincerely said, “Mmhm, it’s not a big deal…I mean it’s not like you’ve made the rounds with all my friends, you know?”

  Then he gave me a sweet little kiss on the tip of my nose and said, “Right…okay, just checking.”

  Tristan took one of my hands and gave it a quick kiss and then rather than releasing it, he interlocked our fingers and holding hands, we went back to paying attention to the game.

  “Had sex?” That was Jeremy and he needs to work on hiding his line of sight because just about everyone picked up that he’s seeing what Jillian might be up for, and from the looks of it, that’s not much where he’s concerned. Actually, she’s idly working a Suduko puzzle in someone’s game book, barely even paying attention to the game.

  Interesting results though… Jeremy himself, Jillian, Melissa, Pete, and MaryAnn, along with me didn’t drink. It looks like my big cousin has found himself in the same boat of celibacy as my lion. I had to chuckle when Derek gave Tristan a commiserating look while Tristan nodded in the affirmative and then Derek gave him another one that said “you can do it, just stay strong,” but Jeff is bent on making that really tough for him...

  “Stood on one leg with the other leg straight behind your head?” Tristan flipped Jeff off when he asked and then letting go of my hand so I could take a drink, he groaned in misery.

  “Bullshit.” Why Brandon is calling me on that I have no idea.

  “Man, you’re a fuckin’ dick f
or bringing that up…Pete wasn’t around so I had to take an icy shower after she did it to win a stupid fuckin’ cookie a week ago.”

  “Gee, thanks honey,” I said sarcastically.

  “Sorry, Baby, I’m very proud, but can we please not dwell on this?”

  “No way! I wanna see that!” Brandon said enthusiastically.

  “Too fuckin’ bad, the game’s not called show and tell and if it was, we’d have all gotten to see that damned picture of Melissa’s naked grandma! Now, have you ever played dress-up?” Tristan said and started laughing when Jeff and all the girls minus Jillian drank.

  “He used to wear my mom’s makeup too…hey wait! Pete, maybe you’d like Jeff to bite the scruff of your neck instead…personally he doesn’t do a thing for me, but Kate doesn’t seem to mind.”

  “Oh dude, you wanna go? Ever played with baby-dolls?” All the girls, again minus Jillian (she didn’t play with dolls, she played with puzzles), drank along with Tristan while Jeff started laughing at him again.

  “Shut up, you fucker, I was like two.”

  “Dude, you got it when you were two…you carried that thing around everywhere until the middle of Kindergarten!”

  “Oh God! I forgot about that! Didn’t you try bringing it to school or something?” Kate asked and started giggling.

  “Yeah, he did…that’s why he and Zack fuckin’ hate each other to this day.” Huh? Apparently the animosity goes back quite some time.

  “Okay, I totally need to hear this,” I said. I mean come on, I totally do!

  “Mm-mm…Baby, no one needs to hear this,” Tristan said with what was meant to be a dissuading shake of his head.

  “Everyone needs to hear this and so, they shall,” Jeff told me with a sadistic grin for Tristan.

  “This ain’t right, man…” Tristan said, chuckling to himself and shaking his head in resignation. I told you, Jeff is really the only one who can get away with this stuff without Tristan getting pissed.

  “So Trist gets this baby-doll for his second birthday and he really fuckin’ loves it, right? I mean absolutely fuckin’ loves it…the dude took it everywhere, slept with it, dressed it, even pretended to feed it, and he wouldn’t let anyone including me touch it…so one day when we were like five and in kindergarten, Zack, who was an asshole back then too, sees how much Tristan loves it and decides he wants to play with it. Well, we all know by now what Tristan’s temper’s like and how he feels about other people touchin’ his shit, but Zack is already pullin’ on it. Trist decides to let go because he’s not only fuckin’ pissed that Zack is touching his doll, but he’s also afraid of hurting the doll! So he stops the tug-of-war, takes a step back and then hauls off and punches Zack square in the jaw and knocks one of his damned baby teeth out. The baby snatcher was so embarrassed that he was bleeding and crying that he pulled one of the doll’s arms off and threw it and the doll at Trist’s feet and ran away…which only made Trist start crying so his mom had to come get us early. The big cry-baby here begged her to fuckin’ operate on it and reattach the arm, which she did, but Tristan never took it to school again,” Jeff finished by shaking his head in sorrow.

  “Like I said, you’re a dick.”

  “Shhh, don’t give Pete any more ideas, I’m a one chick guy,” Jeff said and started laughing again along with most everyone else.

  “Hey wait. If Zack and you guys were in kindergarten together how come he’s a junior now?” I asked, thinking that by all rights, Zack should be a senior if he started school with them.

  “Where do you think that nasty case of chicken pox came from in the first place?” Kate answered.

  “I told you he was an asshole from jump,” Jeff muttered, making me picture him as a little kid with his arms petulantly folded across his chest and a pouty look on his face.

  “Yeah, yeah. Let’s get back to the game… Have you ever slept with a member of the same sex?” You’d think that would’ve been asked by Julia or Bridget, but it was Kate. The only people who drank were Jeff and Tristan. Kate, Melissa, Pete, and MaryAnn were cracking up.

  “The operative word there was slept…again, be specific. Plus, we won the inaugural Awkward Morning Award for that so I have no regrets,” Tristan said when everyone else was staring at them like they’d just admitted to having sex with each other.

  Ah. This also explains Tristan’s shirt and the award he and Jeff had to hand out last month…I’d totally forgotten all about that.

  “Yeah buddy!” Jeff gave Tristan a high-five and sat back. “That was a fuckin’ wild party though, wasn’t it?” He asked while leaning his head back, appearing to be taking a trip down memory lane.

  “Yeah it was,” Tristan agreed and then tilted his head back to whisper another warning in my ear, “This might get ugly so if you see a butterfly, be sure and lemme know.” He followed his words up with a particularly electric kiss that had the palms of my hands and the bottoms of my feet tingling.

  I appreciate the warning and the kiss even more so, but if he’s up for sharing, then I can hear it. I think I’m finally reconciled with his skeletons…I just don’t like it when they try raising themselves from the dead like zombies.

  “I gotta hear this one,” Derek said, laughing at the mere idea of the two of them sleeping together and getting an award for it.

  “Okay, so the summer before last we were all in Mexico at Mike’s beach place for the week of Fourth of July,” Melissa began. Yeah, I find that they went to another country to celebrate the independence of ours hysterical too. “…and these two are found one morning wearing nothing but underwear, ponchos and sombreros, all curled up and actually spooning together on a chaise lounge on the patio. It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life!” Melissa told us while wiping mascara from her eyes…again.

  “Best sleep of my fuckin’ life…the dude does some seriously good snuggling.” It’s true.

  “Thanks, man. I’m tellin’ ya, Pete…pick me.”

  “Oh, I really shouldn’t pick until my pros and cons list is complete, but good snuggling is definitely a plus for you.”

  Melissa was still crying with laughter as Tristan leaned back to wink at me with a wicked glint in his eyes. “Alright, you wanna play, little miss innocent? Have you ever passed out stark raving naked on a beach half a mile from where your clothes are?”

  I about died laughing when Melissa and MaryAnn both drank.

  “Hey! You have to drink too!” MaryAnn pointed a finger at him.

  “Mm-mm…I had a towel, remember?” Then he whispered to me, “You might wanna plug your ears.” Uh-oh…that means he knows what’s coming.

  “Okay fine, you letch, have you ever had sex fifteen or more times in a twenty-four hour time period because of a bet?” MaryAnn threw out.

  Kate, who was giggling, and Jeff, who pumped his fist in the air, both drank but when Jeff was in the middle of his gulp, he bugged his eyes out and wagged his finger at Tristan as MaryAnn was about to protest as well.

  “Dude, Katy and I won the bet but do the math…you gotta drink.”

  Tristan was counting on his fingers and started shaking his head. “No, I count fourteen.”

  “The time right before you joined the naked sisters over there and passed out too.”

  “I don’t count that.”

  Tristan was laughing and shaking his head in adamant denial, although he did drink—thrice—but when I took a breath about to ask why it didn’t count, he covered my mouth with his hand and shook his head again.

  “Don’t ask.”

  I’m still curious, though. I’m also curious about who he performed that feat with and I was about to ask that when he interrupted me again.

  “Don’t ask that either.” Damn it.

  “Why doesn’t it count?” You just gotta love my big cousin.

  “Damn it! I said don’t ask!” Tristan hollered through his laughter.

  Jeff was laughing at Tristan again and answered, “She passed out on him.”


  “You’re a giant dick!”

  “I try. That’s why you love me though, right?”

  “You’re gonna make Pete jealous, but yeah, it’s true.”

  “Wait, so you did pass out naked…you have to drink three times for that too,” Bridget said, sounding a little too interested in Tristan’s state of undress for my liking.

  “No, I had a towel goddamn it!” He’s cracking up now…

  “He did, so technically he wasn’t naked,” Melissa confirmed.

  “So how did that happen?” Dylan questioned while checking Melissa out. I’m thinking Keith would use him for punting practice.

  Tristan began chuckling a little and then said, “I was looking for that ridiculous poncho wh—”

  “You mean ridiculous as in completely fuckin’ awesome, right?” Jeff interrupted.

  “Well yeah, of course. You can’t be drunk in Mexico without a poncho…those are the rules. Anyway, I was looking for it when I found a trail of clothes down the beach, so I followed it like bread crumbs and found these two without a stitch on face down in the sand but I was so fuckin’ exhausted and hammered, all I did was just make sure they were breathing before I laid down and passed out in the middle of ‘em. They knew about that fuckin’ bet though and it totally scared the shit out of both ‘em when they woke up with me lyin’ between ‘em wearing nothin’ but a towel and a smile. Now that was one of the funniest goddamned things I’ve ever seen in my life.”

  “It really was pretty damned funny, and at least you had the courtesy and respect to pick up our clothes on your way,” MaryAnn said, grinning at him.

  “Yeah, but he could’ve covered us up with them before falling asleep,” Melissa added.

  “Why the fuck would I do that? That would’ve ruined the fun, besides, I used your clothes as a pillow and if I’d known about that picture, you know I would’ve been hunting for a camera instead of that poncho, so you’re welcome.”

  “Too bad you didn’t take one anyway…we could’ve done a little side by side comparison,” Jeff intoned regretfully, causing Melissa to shake her head that she’d already buried in her hands with Tristan’s comment.