✅ A Dose of Humiliation

50. Personal Questions

"Dare," Jodie said confidently, if a little unsteadily. We had all been drinking quite a little by then, and everybody was a little tipsy. Aside from Serena, of course, who it seemed was able to lower her inhibitions to match the others without any chemical assistance. Even I was in the middle of my second can of wine spritzer.

"Okay then," Elspeth smirked, and we knew that she was still thinking about certain Internet gossip about Hollywood B-lister Tyler Walthamstone. Jodie had been the one to mention what she'd read about the action star when it seemed relevant, and under the influence of the beer it had been easy to read some envy into her tone. Was that something that excited her? I doubted I was the only one expecting Elspeth to test the theory. And I was right.

"I dare you to sleep naked," she said. "Maybe we can't do that tonight, because Mrs Miller can't keep her nose out of other people's business. But next week, you have to try it. And keep a diary every morning, let us know how you feel about it, and what it makes you think of."

"You can't ask for her thoughts!" Nikki squeaked. "That's private!"

"Who was it who asked me about–"

"Okay, fine. But you have to write it down. So we don't forget in the morning." Jodie shrugged, and reached for her phone. Mine vibrated almost immediately, and I glanced down to see that we had all been invited to a shared document called "Jode,s dream dairy". I opened my mouth to comment on the spelling, but I could read the mood of the room well enough to know that would only diminish the fun.

"Right..." Jodie's gaze swept around the room, looking for her next target. She couldn't ask Elspeth right away, and Marcie was already snoring gently, having nodded off ten minutes before. None of us wanted to disturb her. "Nikki! Truth–" She turned to look at me as my phone vibrated again. This time it happened to be touching my almost-empty can, so the sound was amplified considerably.

"Sorry," I mumbled, silencing the alarm. That was my reminder to stop drinking for the evening. This can would be my last one, alcoholic or otherwise. I glanced over at Serena, who gave me a subtle nod. She was going to keep an eye on me to make sure that I didn't forget. I decided that I would head to the bathroom right after we heard what Nikki would have to do; I should probably have already gone, but the temptation to watch one more dare or hear one more secret had held me here a little longer than I would normally wait. And then in an hour the alarm would buzz again, letting me know it was time to get my diapers on ready for sleep. I was still a little nervous about the process, wondering if one of my friends might discover my predicament. But I'd gone over it in my head so many times now, and getting changed was fully ingrained as a part of my bedtime routine now. I wouldn't even need to think about it.

"Somebody wants you?" Nikki asked.

"No. Just a reminder about... nothing important. Making sure I don't forget something. That I'm already doing." Her response was just a look of confusion, but these girls were all my friends. None of them were going to ask more once it was clear that I wasn't enthusiastic about telling them.

"Okay," Jodie nodded. "So, truth or dare?"

I waited a few seconds, wondering what she was going to choose. And then I slowly realised that Jodie was still looking at me. She must have changed her mind, and I wondered what new ideas she was thinking of. She couldn't be planning to ask me what my alarm had been for, could she? I couldn't think of another reason for her to change her target so abruptly; but even if she did ask about that, I could just say that it was related to the thing they'd promised not to ask about. She would have to think of something else; and I might not even have to say anything if Serena decided to field the question for me.

"Me?" I asked, and she just nodded. I knew that most of the embarrassing questions she could ask me would be out of bounds... but it felt a little like cheating to use that get-out. Maybe it would be better to ask for a dare instead. Or maybe that was the anti-Lorna again, coming up with excuses to embarrass myself in front of all my friends. I couldn't be sure, but that sounded like the kind of trick I might have thought of if I was trying to push my limits in a way that seemed reasonable at first glance. I hesitated a second more, and then answered: "Truth."