Page 74 of Eco-Activist's Mountain Men
To my surprise, it actually worked. Really worked. Everyone got involved. Everyone laughed. We even encouraged each other when the guesses were terrible.
By the end of the evening, something had shifted between us. The tension had melted. The walls had come down. For the first time, I felt like I truly belonged, and that we were really a team, not just a collection of individuals who happened to share a common space.
It went way beyond what I hoped for.
After the game, Eric had disappeared to his room and came back with a bottle of tequila, which he opened to much cheering.
We didn't have five shot glasses in the place, so we improvised with tumblers, and at least each had our own glass to drink from. Eric poured us all a shot, and then he proposed a toast.
"To vegan chili, with cornbread and cinnamon apples."
We all cheered and knocked our glasses back. Then Toby spoke up.
"Right then," he said. "It may not have been the moment earlier, I'll admit, but now definitely is the moment for a drinking game. How about it, folks?"
"Like what?" Jack asked warily, already bracing for Toby’s mischief.
"Well… how aboutHave You Done It?"
"What's that?" Eric asked, blinking behind his glasses.
"It's where you take turns to say something you've done in your life. Like, oh… bungee jumping, or visiting Thailand, or anything you don't think everyone else has done. Anyone who hasn't done it is punished—they have to drink a shot. Then the next person goes, and so on."
"Won't we all get really drunk, really quickly?" Eric asked, bless him.
"Err… yes, Eric." Toby grinned broadly, his teeth flashing.
"Oh. Okay.. I think. I haven't played anything like that before."
"Oh, you'll soon get the hang of it, Eric," Toby said, wagging his eyebrows. "In fact, something tells me you're going to turn out to be a natural at this game."
I decided I'd better step in before Toby steamrolled the whole night. "Alright," I said. "We'll play your ridiculous game."
"Woohoo!"
"But only if I go first…"
"Alright, Princess, you can go first, if it's that important to you."
"And you, Toby James, with your filthy lifestyle—you have to go last."
Toby gave a dramatic sigh, hand to his chest like a wounded actor, but agreed. Which meant I got to start. I wanted to, anyway. Even though it was his bottle of tequila, something told me Eric was not as experienced a drinker as the other three men—or me, for that matter—so I wanted to give him at least one free pass, and I knew exactly what I was going to say.
"Okay, guys, here we go. Have you ever made love outside, under the stars?"
"What, full sex?"
"Yes, of course, full sex, you moron." I rolled my eyes at Luke’s gravel-voiced clarification.
"In that case, err… yes," Luke admitted after a pause.
"Fair enough, Luke. Jack? Toby? Eric?"
Jack said simply, "Yep. Several times." His tone was blunt, matter-of-fact—the soldier reporting facts, not feelings.
Eric, on the other hand, flushed scarlet and whispered, "Yes," eyes darting toward me for a fraction of a second. His answerwas shy, almost apologetic, like admitting he’d done something scandalous.
Toby laughed and opened his mouth, already warming up for a boast, but we all cut him off in chorus: "Shut up." He only grinned wider, basking in the attention.
