Pink City

Chapter 10

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS DETAILED DEPICTIONS OF S/A

Although the party was set to start at 7:00 p.m, Lily and Daphne spent the majority of the day preparing for the party; While Daphne stayed at the apartment to clean out the room, Lily traveled all over stores to get the ingredients necessary for the party; party favors, decorative napkins, festive tablecloths, and most importantly, proper liquor. In the early afternoon, Lily visited a liquor shop six minutes away from their apartment and bought a crate of Stella Artois lagers, a bottle of Bacardi, and a six pack of ginger ales, for their eventual hangovers. To Lily's surprise, Daphne did not chastise her for buying beer.

The earliest guest to arrive was Britnee, and the last was Seench, around ten minutes later. Again, Seench casually styled up their yellow blazer, except this time, did not wear the ugly seaglass sandals from their last meetup.

"Hey, Seenchy! Are you ready to have some fun?" Britnee announced.

"You've certainly had a change of heart, Britnee..." Aiko said, nodding in approval.

"Change of heart, my ass. If there's liquor involved you know I have to be nice!" Britnee bantered, but the edge in her voice was off, and everyone in the group knew Aiko was correct.

"What should we do first? Truth or dare? Or do you have any... drinking games?" Frankie asked, and her eyes narrowed in a way that gave Seench tingles from the inside out.

"Hey, hey. You KNOW we can't drink on an empty stomach! I ordered pizza ten minutes ago, it should still be warm enough. Grab a slice!" Lily said, holding out the steaming box to the group. Everyone took a slice but Seench.

"Aren't you hungry? You're skin and bones" Aiko said in a maternal voice. Seench smiled and shook their head.

"Not quite a fan of pizza, but I will stay for the liquor." Seench smirked, knowing this remark would appeal to Frankie. Frankie giggled accordingly.

After the pizza was finished, the girls moved on to truth or dare, sitting in a circle below the couch. Britnee cleared her throat dramatically and gestured towards Aiko.

"Aiko, your name begins with an A, so you're first. I'm going to go in alphabetical order, ok?"

The group murmured in agreement.

"Truth... or... DARE!" Britnee hollered. Aiko's eyes creased in amusement.

"Truth, please."

"Why did you break up with your last boyfriend... or girlfriend?"

The group circled around her in oohs, except for Daphne and Lily, who were staring at her intently. Aiko flushed a little.

"If I'm being entirely honest, the love was one-sided. She didn't want to be my girlfriend for... typical reasons."

Daphne's eyes widened, but no one paid attention to her.

"What do you mean?" Frankie said. "Was it, like, a 'friends with benefits' situation?"

"Now, now..." Said Daphne. "You don't want to air out someone's dirty laundry to the group, do you?"

Aiko's eyes narrowed hastily, but she said nothing more. "I suppose you're right. We don't want to... breach anyone's privacy."

Luckily the state of awkwardness in the group was broken by Britnee. "Alphabetical order, right? Truth or dare. Daphne, you're next."

Relief washed over Daphne and she smiled nonchalantly. "Dare." She said.

"How about you... bring out the... refreshments?" Britnee smirked. Daphne blushed a little.

"Oh. Um, right. One second." Daphne disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared holding the crate of beer and the bottle of Bacardi. She took six shot glasses off the mantelpiece above the couch, and handed one to each person in the room, saving the last one for herself.