Page 28 of Agony

“Hey, Jess, wanna go inside and grab something for me?” Arsen said.

“What do you need?” she asked him.

“I don’t care. Justgoand grab anything,” he replied meaningfully.

Jess looked confused for a minute, but when she saw the sullen look on my face, she understood and gave my arm a quick rub before leaving.

“Sorry about that,” Arsen mumbled. “Jessie’s a good girl, she just talks too damn much.”

I just shrugged and looked at the ground.

“Neve,” Arsen said putting his spatula down. “You don’t have anything to worry about. Fromanyonehere. If you could see the look on your face right now, you’d know why I’m saying that.”

I glanced up at him and nodded. I believed him but it was still hard not knowing if he’d slept with most of the women here.

“Neve!” Addie yelled, jogging toward me.

“What’s up?” I asked her.

She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me away from Arsen’s side, “These boys over here are bragging about their beer pong skills. It’s time that we show them how it’s done.”

“Hold on. I can’t do this in a dress.”

I walked back to Arsen and asked him if he had some shorts that I could borrow and possibly a muscle shirt of some sort.

“Is this a game I should be betting on?” he asked mischievously as I followed him into his house.

“You might want too. I hate beer; can’t stand the taste. It makes me a great player,” I explained with a laugh.

Arsen led me up the stairs and into his bedroom where he handed me a pair of black basketball shorts and a white muscle shirt.

“I feel like we should put some shoe polish under your eyes,” he said with a laugh when I walked out.

“Maybe a sweatband too?” I asked, sticking out my tongue. “Got anything that I can tie my hair up with?”

“Yeah, actually. Check the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. The last time my sister was here she forgot a bunch of those hair tie things,” he said, pointing to a door.

I went into the bathroom and opened the mirror. I grabbed a black, elastic hair tie and looped my hair into a tight ponytail.

“Hey, Arsen?”

“Yeah?”

“Shoe polish me?”

I heard his loud laughter as he approached the door and knocked before coming in.

“Step aside, woman,” he said in a fake macho voice.

I rolled my eyes and giggled as he produced the shoe polish from a different cabinet and uncapped it. He placed his thumb in it and with two quick, firm swipes, gave me some war paint.

I leaned over to look in the mirror and flexed, making a fake game face. He laughed again as he gently moved me so he could wash his hands in the sink.

“Come on,” I said to him cheerfully as I walked out of his bathroom, through his bedroom, and down the stairs to the main floor.

Once we got outside, I ran over to the set up table where Addie was standing and nudged her. She laughed and we high fived.

This game was going to be fun.

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