Bad Boy Vacation

8. King's Cup

Nora's POV

"So... What are we playing?" Clayton asked, both his and Ryan's arms holding Charlie in place.

"King's cup." Adelaide answered.

Charlie gently shoved himself out of Clayton's and Ryan's grasp, readjusting himself to seem sober.

"Charlie, how much have you had to drink?" I asked him, over protective sister mode beginning to kick in.

"I'm fine." He said.

"Why don't you sit down." I suggested. There were a few spaces left to be filled.

Both Ace and that girl Allegra were seated on the three seater couch, while the rest of us were seated on the large u-shaped one.

"You can sit here." Ace spoke, his eyes looking up to Charlie as he patted the empty cushion.

Charlie groaned before slowly making his way towards me. He squeezed in between Nevaeh and I, slumping backwards against the headrest.

Ryan sat beside Ace, while Clayton moved over to take a seat between Adelaide and Isaiah.

"What are the rules to the cup of kings?" Charlie wondered, slurring his words.

"King's cup." Nevaeh corrected. "And it's easy, basically we set out a deck of cards surrounding an empty cup in the middle. We go around in circles picking cards, each card has a different meaning. And whenever someone picks a king, they must pour some of their drink into the cup. Whoever picks the last king, has to drink the cup." She further explained.

The look on Charlie's face said it all: that he had no idea what she had just said.

"Seriously, how much have you had to drink?" I asked Charlie, nudging him.

"I. Don't. Know." He responded.

"Alright, Charlie won't be playing." I told the group.

"No, I wanna play." Charlie said, sitting up.

"Nora's right, you should just sit back and watch." Ace added.

"Or, just a thought, I could play." Charlie threw a glare at Ace. What the hell is going on with these two?

"You're drunk." I stated the obvious.

"It's a party, duh. That's like the entire point of partying, is it not?" He retorted.

"Fine, play if you want to play." I said.

Charlie's POV

I must say that I felt a whole lot better after glugging down that water.

I'm not saying that it was a miracle worker and it sobered me up, but it did make me feel a whole lot better.

"Okay, I'll start." Nevaeh said, reaching forward to pick up one of the cards that were scattered around the base of a large glass cup.

"Seven, heaven." Nevaeh said, instantly raising her hand upward. Nora did the same on the other side of me, pulling my arm up with it.

"Ryan was the last." Clayton stated. Ryan then drank.

"Okay, so seven equals heaven, which means you put your hand up in the air." Nevaeh explained to me. "Ace equals waterfall, which means you have to start drinking at the same time as me, but you can't stop until the person who got that card does."

I felt like I might need a notepad for all these rules and whatnot.

"Two means you, if you pick that then you get to choose someone else to drink. Three means you drink. Four means you have to quickly touch the floor, the last person to do so loses and has to drink. Five means all guys drink, Six means all girls drink. We already explained seven, Eight means you choose someone to drink whenever you drink. Nine equals rhyme, you have to say a word, and everyone has to say a word that rhymes. Ten, categories: choose a category of things, then everyone goes around naming things in that category. Like, if I were to say shoes, everyone would name different types of shoes, as long as they don't say the same as someone else did. Whoever fails has to drink. Jack equals Never have I ever. Queen equals questions, you ask anyone a question, if they answer, they ask someone else a question. Whoever doesn't answer a question has to drink. And King, all you have to do is pour some of your drink into the middle cup, the last king means you have to drink the mixture."

It was a lot to take in, but even drunk Charlie understands the assignment.

"So is it my go?" I asked.

"Yep." Nevaeh said.

I reached for the closest card to me, flipping it over to find a Nine.

"Nine." I announced.

"Okay, now say a word that we all have to rhyme with." Nevaeh said.

Hmm, okay. Let me just rack my brain real quick.

"Ummmm, Hat!" I said, sounding way too exited.

"Bat." Nora said next to me.

"Uh, Rat." Ryan rhymed.

"Mat." Ace said.

"Oh, uhhh, cat!" Allegra answered before giving off a fake laugh.

Ace said something to her, which made her laugh again.

"What's their deal?" I asked Nevaeh in a whisper so nobody else could hear.

She followed my eyes and turned to answer me. "Oh, they've had this summer romance thing every summer since they were fourteen." Nevaeh explained. "I know, it's so gross."

Yeah, it is. It's also odd that I had no idea.

"Shit!" Clayton cursed after not being able to say a rhyme. Without context, Clayton seemed to have said the right word for this situation.

First with this 'friend' business, now he's deep conversing with his summer fling?

Is this the reason he suggested LA for summer?

To see her again?

The game continued onward, until I got the last king.

"Oh god." I grimaced at the thought of drinking mixed liquor. I am positive everyone who picked up a king card had poured something different into the cup.

Oh well, fate must want me hammered.

I reached out for the cup.

"Maybe you should just let someone else drink it on your behalf?" Ace suggested.

Nora agreed beside me.

"Fucking hell, stop treating me like a stupid kid." I groaned, putting the cup to my lips and glugging it down as a show of defiance.

I'm sick of them telling me what to do all of the time.

Pricks.