Page 25 of Falling for Grace

I don’t drink, because I’ve never been to Disney Land, either. Ben looks down at me. “Ah, another neglected child. Nice to see I’m not alone in my sad childhood.” He grins and I smile, beginning to relax again as the game starts to pick up pace.

“I have never kissed a girl,” Theresa says, her eyes on me. The boys both drink, but I don’t. “I was sure you would have dabbled, you have that ‘I’m harbouring a lesbian fantasy look,’” she cries, her head tipping back on a laugh.

“Why would you think that?” I ask through the grin that is now tugging at my lips.

“What girl hasn’t?”

“You haven’t.”

“I have, I was lying,” she says, laughing at me.

“Heyyy, that’s cheating. Shot as punishment.”

She shakes her head.

“Shot, shot, shot!” I chant like a complete child.

“No, we aren’t doing that.”

I turn to Ben. “I call for an adjudicator. Shot for cheating?”

Ben looks at Rob and they both nod, pushing the tray towards Theresa, who is now pulling a fake pout.

“You do the crime, you gotta drink the…shot.” Rob looks confused at what he was trying to say. “I was trying to make it rhyme.”

“You failed miserably, dude,” Ben replies, laughing.

“If you’re doing a shot, we may as well move onto truth or shot,” I announce, watching as Theresa turns her nose up at the tray.

Rob shakes his head. “Nope. After this one, I’ve finally got a good one.”

“This had best be better than your last good one, which was utter shit, by the way,” Theresa says, her nose hovering over the shot tray.

“No sniffing,” I say, pushing her forehead back. “It’s shot roulette. It defeats the object if you sniff.”

She leans forward, her boobs practically falling out over her low-cut top and picks a random shot, tipping the liquid straight back. She scrunches up her eyes and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Vodka,” she says. “And not the good Polish kind, either.”

I pass her a tissue and her beer, which she chugs back to soften the burn.

“Okay,” Rob says. “I have…are you ready for it…never kissed a famous person.”

I look around the table and part of me is surprised when I see none other than my friend Theresa takes a gulp. I would have thought maybe he was trying to stitch Ben up.

Now I had a choice. I could pretend that I hadn’t kissed someone famous, which I knew I should do, but Theresa was being honest, so maybe for the first time I would open that door to a part of my past.

Not fully open it, mind you, just a quick peek.

Keeping my eyes on Theresa, I take a sip from my cup.

“I knew it!!” she roars. “It’s always the quiet ones you have to look out for. Who is it?”

I shake my head. “Nuh-uh, not part of the game.”

“I’ll tell you mine, if you tell me yours.”

“Nope.” I laugh, still shaking my head.