5. Five Freya
Five: Freya
I glanced down at the cup in the middle of the coffee table, a multitude of cards splayed around it. It was filled with a brownish, foamy liquid, and I was pretty confident it was a mixture of a few alcohols that definitely didn't belong together.
“Pick a card,” encouraged Brent, nodding at me, and I snuck a glance at Kaleb. He swung his muscular arm over the back of the couch, getting himself comfy as he watched me. Sweat coated the back of my neck like a white-hot spotlight was shining on me from above, raising my temperature by what felt like fifty degrees.
“It's a three of clubs,” I stated after I picked one and turned it over, looking around at everybody, unsure of what I was supposed to do next.
“Clubs means you have to take a shot,” cheered a red-haired girl from beside Brent, casually pouring me a small cup of vodka and thrusting it in my direction. She wiggled an eyebrow at me as I shot it back, the liquid burning my throat, but I held back my gag.
“Brent, it's your turn,” said the redhead, giggling as he picked up a card and turned it over to reveal nine of hearts. A smile made its way onto his face as he glanced at me.
“What?” I questioned.
“Hearts means I get to choose someone to kiss.” He raised a brow at me questionably.
I looked out at everyone, their eyes boring into my own, causing me to gulp. Kaleb sat with an intrigued expression while Maggie sat next to him, her judgemental gaze piercing through my soul, making me overly frustrated and annoyed.
What the hell was her problem? What was the point of being a bitch just for the sake of being a bitch?
With alcohol flowing through my system, I closed my eyes as Brent leaned forward, pressing his lips to mine and kissing me softly. It was a simple peck—I’d made sure of it—but I couldn’t help but feel guilty. I thought of Zach, but I reminded myself of how he’d expressed himself that getting to know somebody didn't mean that you couldn't get with other people.
Multiple other people had their turns, taking shots and completing dares. However, when it reached Kaleb, I was nervous, worried he would be given a dare involving me. I didn't want to kiss him, even if he was ridiculously attractive. The thought caused my heart to palpitate, and I pushed the image from my brain, scowling at the ground.
I didn’t want that. Definitely not.
“Four of hearts,” said Kaleb with a huff, and Maggie placed her hands on his thighs, pushing herself closer to him. He gazed at her with dark eyes, her own pleading ones widening once he took hold of her hands and pushed them away. “I’m skipping my turn.”
She huffed, opening her mouth to speak, but when she received a blazing glower from Kaleb, she clamped it shut.
Once it was my turn again, I picked a card, and everyone laughed and hissed when I turned it around, revealing a joker.
“Ooh, tough luck, Freya,” mumbled Brent, looking at me apologetically.
“What does a joker mean?” Judging by everyone’s reactions, I didn’t want to know.
“See that?” chirped Maggie, snickering while pointing at the cup full of disgusting liquid. “You have to drink all of it.”
I grimaced, looking over at Kaleb to see his jaw stiffen, his eyes flicking between the cup and me with concern.
“Do you need me to do it for you?” Maggie asked, standing up to lean across the coffee table and grab the drink, raising a brow at me before she did so. Her hands hovered over it before picking it up gently, looking frustrated by my hesitation, toying with it in her palms, causing me to scowl.
A sigh escaped my lips, and I took the cup from her and brought it to my lips, guzzling down as much of the liquid as I could. My eyes watered as I swallowed, and I had to stop to take a breath, wiping at my mouth. Looking down into the cup, I frowned, disappointed that I’d only finished just over half of it.
“You don't have to do the rest,” said Kaleb with furrowed eyebrows, watching my nervous face. However, after seeing Maggie giggle with the other girls, I regretfully allowed my pride to cloud my judgment and tilted the cup towards my mouth again.
"You better pace yourself.” Brent chuckled from beside me, and a small gasp fell from my lips when the cup was taken from my hands.
I gazed up with wide eyes.
Kaleb was shaking his head with the cup in his hands, and he placed it back down on the coffee table, his face glum. “Don’t make a decision you’re going to regret.”
I furrowed my brows, and once Kaleb noticed my heavy limbs and hazy eyes, his mouth downturned into a frown. He ran his tongue along the front of his teeth in angst, taking a seat.
The rest of the game went by quickly, and I was grateful that I picked no more horrendous cards, laughing when Brent was made to do three shots in a row, his face scrunching up after the third one.
However, I felt groggy, my vision was blurry, and my skin was tingling despite feeling completely numb at the same time. I had nothing but alcohol inside of me, though, so I narrowed the nausea down to that.
I stood up along with some of the other players—some grabbing their empty cups to refill them, some heading to the bathroom—but I didn't have any time to even think about making my way to the fridge to grab a snack before Maggie stopped me. She eyed me up, a smile gracing her devilish lips.
“Would now be a bad time to tell you I added my own special ingredient to that drink?” She pulled the small bag from earlier out of her bra. The white powder was fucking gone.
My eyes rounded, and my heart dropped into my stomach, my blood suddenly feeling fiery. Had she seriously just said that? Or was I imagining things?
“What the fuck did you just say?” growled Kaleb in a low voice from the couch. His expression was deadly as he stood to his feet, stalking towards Maggie, whose expression quickly turned from humorous to uneasy.
“Maggie, are you kidding me?” spat Brent, taking my hand and attempting to gain my attention. However, I couldn't focus on him. The world around me was spinning.
“You’re a fucking bitch.” I clamped my eyes shut briefly, my head pounding. “What did that gain you? Seriously?” I was furious.
“You think drugging somebody is funny? Get. The. Fuck. Out of my house,” ordered Kaleb, his form towering above Maggie’s, making her look like a puny mouse compared to him—although she was on the taller side for a woman.
She scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Are you serious? Wow, Kaleb, so you disappear to become a cop and come back up your ass?”
“What did I just say, Maggie? Leave. Before I make you.”
“Fuck you,” she grunted, shouting a string of ugly words at him as she slammed the front door shut behind her.
I was left standing with Brent by my side and Kaleb in front of me, their faces perturbed.
“Freya? Do you feel okay?” Brent held his hands out to steady me, noticing my swaying stance.
The mix of alcohol I’d drunk in a short space of time and the drug Maggie had spiked me with was hitting me full force.
“Okay,” Kaleb muttered, sighing, pinching the bridge of his nose, and slowly approaching me. He attempted to have me focus on him. However, he was bleary. “Let’s go upstairs where it’s quieter.”
“I'll get her some water,” said Brent, quickly disappearing.
I tried to take a step but ended up ramming my shin against the side of the coffee table, the jagged wood digging into my skin. It caused a few cups to topple, liquid spilling over the living room carpet, staining the cream-coloured rug.
“Shit,” I mumbled, becoming sweaty, droplets forming on my upper lip. My clammy hands were shaking, and anxiety was coursing through my veins. I couldn’t tell what was worse—the feeling of actually having drugs in my system or the paranoia that the drugs were going to wreak havoc on my body and cause permanent damage.
How much had Maggie put in that cup? Surely not all of it?
Kaleb took hold of my wrist, his fingers grazing against mine as he pulled me away from the couch towards the steps. However, when I reached the bottom, he noticed my futile expression, each step looking daunting. Sensing my reluctance, he tucked himself behind me, nudging me forward and hovering behind my lower back in case I fell.
Brent quickly appeared behind us, clutching a glass of water. His mouth was down-turned, but I refocused my attention away from him to concentrate on moving my feet.
I felt even more off balance once we reached the landing, and Kaleb gripped me, guiding me to the nearest room.
His room.
The clean and musky scent of him wafted up my nostrils and filled my sinuses, and I cocked my head at the sight of his perfectly tidy bedroom. I hadn’t expected Kaleb’s room to be a state, to be honest, though. He was organised and orderly, and ?it looked like he preferred to match his surroundings to his character.
“Drink this.” Brent thrust the glass of water in my direction as I seated myself down on the edge of Kaleb’s bed, the duvet plush beneath me. I took a sip, which only made me feel even more nauseous, and I handed back the glass, resting my head on my knees.
My heart was racing.
“Freya, listen to me,” said Kaleb quietly, kneeling in front of me, tapping at my leg to gain my attention, and I gazed out from my knees to look at him. “When's the last time you ate?”
I furrowed my brows, unsure of the answer. I was running too late for college to have breakfast, and I'd spent my lunch trying to catch up on the work I’d missed. Food had been at the back of my mind, and even when I’d got home with a growling stomach, I’d headed straight upstairs to shower and work on my sketch.
“I… don't remember,” I admitted, pushing the hair that had come loose from my claw clip out of my face.
“She's got nothing but alcohol and drugs in her system,” Kaleb breathed out, standing up, his form stiff and eyebrows pinched.
“She needs to throw it all up,” suggested Brent, nodding his head towards the bathroom, his mouth set in a firm line.
Suddenly, as if it were an order, I clutched at my stomach and rushed into Kaleb’s en-suite, kicking the door shut behind me and throwing up the contents of my stomach. It burned my throat, and I cursed under my breath, flushing the toilet and slumping back against the wall.
“She drank the drugs towards the end of the game, so they wouldn’t have affected her body much. I think she’ll be fine,” Brent said from the other side of the door.
“Just thinking isn’t really good enough, though, is it?” Kaleb grumbled.
Their bickering was slicing right through my skull, but I did feel a hell of a lot better for vomiting.
“Just get everyone out. I'm done with their childish shit,” Kaleb ordered his friend, peeking open the bathroom door to step in, checking me over. I ran my hands down my face, trying to block my vision of his conflicted expression, and he narrowed his eyes. He leaned against the bathroom wall, his tongue skating along the front of his teeth once again as he watched me like a hawk.