33. Noah #2
“Well, I guess that’s one way to say hello,” I say and wipe my fingers clean of the flavoring caked on them. “I need to talk to you...” The words taste worse than vomit as they come up.
When her brows furrow, and she scans my face, she mutters the word. “Talk?” She asks. The chip bag crinkles as she dips her hand into it as if she's searching for buried gold. “Is everything okay?”
“Look.. umm.” My memory flashes to Brody’s hands ringing the collar of my shirt again, his nostrils flaring, ready to break my neck in half.
“I uhh...” I bite my bottom lip and shake it off.
I can handle it. I snatch the chip bag from her hands, and her mouth gapes open.
“I dunno if I can be around a chip thief!” I dig my hand in the bag, grabbing a handful of chips and crumbs, tossing it at her face.
She holds up her hands, squinting her eyes. “You’re a jerk!”
“Find your own snack, you bug-eyed mooch!”
She dips her head back and laughs. That’s when Payton storms back into the kitchen with her cheeks bright red, and her chest puffing up and down as she stumbles back over.
“Hey, what’s up, princess?” I lift my chin as I ask. “Did you lose already?” She flashes me a dirty look.
“Yeah, that was rather quick,” Charlie says as she dusts chips off her shirt and playfully nudges me in the shoulder.
“It’s kind of crowded over there,” she says.
Obnoxious laughter erupts from outside as girls pour into the kitchen screaming at the top of their lungs. My eardrums pop, and Payton goes white in the face. She stares up at the ceiling as if she were praying for someone to come grab her and take her off this planet.
“Charlie!” A group of girls squeals louder than tires about to explode.
There’s a blonde Barbie doll, a redhead with watermelon tits, and a girl who looks like she has an IQ equivalent to a pigeon.
They gather around us like a pack of coyotes circling their dinner.
Charlie stares up at the ceiling, her fists clenching tight at her sides as she mutters to herself before putting a fake smile on her face.
Even plastic surgery couldn’t alter the annoyance on her face.
“Are you ready to play Dirty Roulette?” The blonde Barbie smirks with a bottle of vodka in her hand. She dangles it from her fingers.
“Totally!” Charlie dips her head to the side, batting her lashes.
“We found a handful of hotties who wanna play!” The redhead winks, then hiccups, pointing a finger at me.
Her bottom lip curls under her front teeth, and I have goosebumps crawling all over my skin as she steps closer.
“And you can bring the bad boy with you,” she moans, looking me up and down.
“He’s cute.” She brings the red cup up to her lips, licking the rim with her tongue.
Lord help me, she’s worse than a groupie.
Bloodshot eyes are on me. She’s far beyond wasted, and if she thinks what she's doing is attractive, it’s not.
“Oh my God, you brought a guy for Trash. How sweet of you,” the Barbie doll coos and Ms. Big Tits chokes, spitting out her drink. If the floor isn’t sticky enough, now we need a wet floor sign.
The worst hyena laugh rips out of her lungs, and Payton’s jaw twitches. “Don’t be such a bitch!”
The pigeon chick giggles and is cut off by Charlie, fluttering her eyes and snapping, “Don’t call her that!”
“Well, someone’s gotta take on the responsibility,” Barbie laughs.
Payton looks defeated, like the weird kid at school who has bullies tipping over their lunch or shoving them in lockers.
She sucks in her bottom lip and her blue eyes glisten, her cheeks redden as she scans me, and I can’t tell if she thinks I’m a disgusting piece of shit, or if she’s wounded by the other chicks.
I cut in with a dumb question and ask, “What’s Dirty Roulette?” Even though I’m very aware of what I’m walking into.
Barbie flashes me a sly smile, using an index finger to lure me in. “Come upstairs and you’ll find out.”
“I’m in. Let me grab a friend and I’ll be right up.” I point my head outside, looking back once at Charlie’s face, which has turned an ashen white.
“I’ll win, don’t worry,” I mouth the words in silence. She gulps as I dip my hands into my pockets and take slow and steady strides outside where the fresh cool air hits my face and I’m not inhaling the stale skunk stench of weed and forced sex.
Omen watches a game of beer pong, sipping beer from a red cup as I stand next to him.
“They are heading upstairs.” I inhale a deep breath, hoping it would lift the pressure inside my chest, but I’m pretty sure my lungs are drowning from a thousand pounds of cement getting poured over me.
“You might like someone. They’re all hot bitches. ”
“If I don’t get a blowjob, we’ll have issues.” He takes a swig and gives me the deepest death glare as he turns a heel and heads to the patio door.
I push and shove my shoulders against people loitering throughout the house. When a bunch of preppy girls and guys wearing football jerseys climb the stairs, I know who to follow. Even the stairway is packed, and Omen follows closely behind before the gap between him closes.
People pour into one bedroom, and we squeeze our way in. There are men leaning against the walls with arms crossed and girls crisscrossed sitting on the bed. I don’t recognize anyone.
I push through the people standing around with red cups and beers in their hands and sit down across from Charlie and Payton. Omen follows like a shadow, sitting next to me with an arm propped over his knee.
“Listen up!” Brody chucks a box of cards into the center of the circle and a bottle of vodka. The room goes still, other than the subtle cough and snickering of other guys.
“We’re playing Dirty Roulette...” He starts off and my ears start to ring.
My heart pounds in my eardrums as he talks, knowing only hours ago he wanted to fight me.
When I snap out of it, I catch Brody swiping on the bright screen of his phone, and he showcases a video.
Charlie flashing, and Payton stealing from the fridges.
My heart tanks as my eyes shoot at her. She stole a bottle of booze?
What the hell. This wasn’t mentioned, and my chest constricts.
I wanna drag her out by the arm and ask her what the fuck is going on and what the hell is wrong with her.
Omen leans into my ear. “That’s the fucker who trashed the store?” I subtly nod my head, but don’t spit out one word. I scan the room, finding several men in here. Some of them pointed at me with a chin, or a head tilt. They know who I am.
“If I die tonight, I’ll fucking haunt you for all eternity,” Omen punches me in the chest and knocks the wind out of me.
I massage my sternum and say, “I’ll gladly join you in hell.”
A bong is passed around, and Charlie doesn’t hesitate to take a long hit. The water bubbles and her chest caves in. Smoke pools out of her nostrils as she covers her mouth and coughs before passing it around.
Wait, she fucking smokes weed? And she was sobbing not even three nights ago about me using drugs. I feel like I’ve been lied to. I can’t make out the words, but she's clearly arguing with Payton, whose legs are shaking up and down.
By the look in Payton’s eyes, it settles in my stomach that she has no idea what this game entailed.
An uneasy tension fills the room, and there are several girls who look uncomfortable.
They're tucking hair behind their ears, glancing at each other all over the room.
Guys point fingers, wink, bite their lips, rub their hands together.
I think I walked into a room where girls are assaulted just for fun.
Brody finds a seat next to the Barbie bitch.
She leans her head on his shoulder, and kisses him on the cheek.
My stomach flips because that’s the girl he cheated on Charlie with.
The perfect straight blonde hair and doe-green eyes, her attitude combined with his ego is like mixing bleach and ammonia.
They turn into a toxicity that sucks the life out of you if you breathe it in.
“You ready to fucking lose?” Brody leans over a few other players, lifting his bushy brows as he shuffles a stack of cards.
I’ll lose to her. But I’m not going to feed into him.
I do what I know best. Shut the fuck up and say nothing.
Silence has more power than any words right now.
The cards are dealt and of course, mine are pure trash.
I have a three, six, and eight. All different suits and a lame pair of twos.
I glance at Payton, who continues to rock back and forth as Charlie is organizing her cards with a tongue sticking out at the side.
“I can’t wait for you to lose that shirt of yours,” a guy with fuckboy hair rubs his hands together, licking his lips like Charlie is a piece of meat. My fingers almost puncture the cards in my hand. “I’m gonna fuck you silly.”
I clench down on my cards.
“Chill out. I can read you like a book.” Omen leans into my ear, shaking his head in disapproval.
It goes around the circle. Girls taking off their clothes, guys saying they will take off everything if a girl wants to leave with them right this second.
Brody lays down a royal flush thrown in everyone’s face. Everyone groans and lays down their hands.
The redhead with massive tits has a seven and a two that are both of a different suit and bombs it.
“Oh, my God! Me first!” She brings her shoulders to her cheeks and leans over and bats her eyes at me.
“You’re so hot,” she whispers and spins the bottle as it circles around and around everyone in the room. The barrel of the gun lands on me.
“Fuck...” I shake my head. I’m already stressed out.
“Do you wanna kiss her, or fuck her?” Brody asks with a vicious grin forming on his lips.