Chapter Two - The Rival #2
Soon enough it was Sunday night, and I returned to 407 after having dinner with some of the new friends I’d made.
I was in high spirits…until I saw Taylor in the living room, with three guys I’d never seen before.
One of them jumped up to greet me. He was short, and had freckles all over his face.
“Hey,” he said. “You must be Taylor’s roommate. I’m Matty. What’s your name?”
I blinked at him, startled by his friendliness. “Archie,” I managed.
“Nice to meet ya,” he said.
One of the other guys, who was sitting on the carpet by the coffee table, raised his beer can. “Hey, wanna join us?”
“Um.” I glanced at Taylor, who wasn’t looking at me. Instead, he was wearing a relaxed smile. That’s right. He had to pretend not to be an asshole in front of these guys. “That’s alright, I’m pretty tired.”
“Bullshit,” Matty said, grabbing my arm and dragging me to the couch. “It’s not even eight. Come join us, we’ve even got booze.” He pushed a beer can against my chest. He patted a spot on the carpet, and I sat down beside him, only realising afterwards that I was opposite Taylor.
His eyes flickered over me, and for a brief second, I saw what it was like to be looked at by him without disgust, before he shifted his gaze.
The other guys, whose names I immediately forgot, explained they were playing Never Have I Ever in order to get to know each other better. They had only just started, so I was right on time.
Then we were playing. Matty was reading the questions off a website, so they were tame enough to start with. Never have I ever sneaked out of the house, attended a house party, stayed in a hotel without parental supervision. We all drank to those, and soon enough I had finished my first beer can.
I started on my second. Now came the questions about drugs, and I didn’t drink to any of them, not even the one about trying weed. Surprisingly, most of the other guys didn’t drink to those either.
Since we weren’t drinking, we decided to make up our own questions instead of relying on a website, so our beer wouldn’t go warm.
We said the most obvious things as excuses to take swigs.
Never have I ever visited another state.
Never have I ever driven a car. Never have I ever pulled an all nighter.
Never have I ever had a crush on a teacher.
An hour later, the coffee table was littered with empty beer cans.
I was tipsy, laughing even when something wasn’t particularly funny.
Matty and I were already best friends, with our arms slung over each other’s shoulders, swaying together as we sung songs.
The other dudes looked relaxed too. Even Taylor seemed happier than usual, his cheeks glowing pink.
On any other guy, I would’ve called it cute.
Guy? I meant girl. If those rosy cheeks were on a girl, she would have been cute.
“Let’s talk about sex, baby,” one of the guys sang. “Never have I ever…had sex.”
“Ugh, that’s so boring,” the other guy complained as he drank.
I watched everyone else take a sip, and quickly took a sip of my beer too. Yeah, I was lying, but no one would ever know.
“Say something actually hard,” Matty said.
“Fine, fine. Never have I ever…eaten pussy.”
Everyone drank except one guy. I hesitated, but Taylor looked at me, his eyes, black and shiny. Quickly, I took a sip too. My second lie of the night.
“Never have I ever…done anal.”
This time, none of the guys drank. None…except Taylor. My jaw almost dropped.
Taylor looked at me again, a hint of smugness in his expression, and I couldn’t help myself. I’d had a lifetime of being showed up by him. I wouldn’t tonight.
I took a drink too.
The other boys yelled. “You? You, Archie?”
“Yep,” I said with a shrug. “It’s kinda overrated, to be honest.”
I met Taylor’s eyes, and to my satisfaction, he looked surprised. He quickly blinked it away, and hardened his expression. “Never have I ever,” his said in his deep voice, “fucked a mouth.”
“Does that mean received a blow job?” One of the guys asked, beer can already raised.
“No,” Taylor said. “Fucking a mouth is different to any old blow job. It means grabbing their hair —”
His eyes were latched on mine, and I couldn’t look away.
“— and fucking that wet mouth until you come down their throat,” Taylor finished.
Fuck. I hadn’t expected him to have such a dirty mouth. Then again, he’d been top of the class in English.
The other boys didn’t drink. I took a swig before Taylor’s lips even touched his beer can.
“Damn,” Matty said after we both finished drinking and slammed our beer cans back onto the coffee table. “I expected every first year to be a weird nerd, but you guys are something else.”
“Makes sense,” one dude said. “With looks like that, it’s no wonder they pull.”
I was barely listening. All my attention was on Taylor, who was looking at me intensely. His cheeks were even more flushed. I wondered whether his skin turned that pink when he was just about to come—
I blinked. Why was I thinking about that? I shoved the thoughts away and focused on the game.
We played several more rounds, and Taylor and I drank every time. I couldn’t even remember what the questions were. All I knew was I felt a powerful rush every time Taylor thought he’d beat me, but then I’d drink too.
It must have been midnight by the time we were too drunk to play anymore. I vaguely remembered stumbling to the bathroom and throwing up in the toilet before passing out on the bathroom tiles. I felt awful as I drifted into unconsciousness, but unmistakably triumphant too.