A Cheat Among Liars

Chapter 3

The bottle spins, and lands on me. My heart beats faster and faster. I begin to sweat and hyperventilate. Oh, Lord, I've been chosen for this thing, and I only have seven minutes...

I jolt awake in a cold sweat. Liam looks over, very concerned.

"Babe, you okay?"

I make sure I'm not hyperventilating before I answer with a simple "yeah."

"Look, if this party is giving you this much anxiety, you don't have to go. I know it can be freaky for you but you don't have to go if it's too overwhelming."

He tries to be caring and mindful of me but I know it doesn't work. No amount of anti-anxiety medicine is going to stop me from probably having a panic attack over this girl.

"Thanks, Liam."

I push myself out of bed and go into the kitchen to down a full glass of water in a matter of seconds.

Water can usually make me feel a lot calmer. Once I have a glass I've calmed right down from what I was doing. It's basically like coffee for someone who doesn't wake up very easily in the morning.

Ablutions take place over the next hour or so, and then I just hang around on social media for a while. I go onto YouTube on my laptop and watch a few videos from my subscription box to take my mind off things.

I don't even hear Liam leave for work, but once I realise he's gone, I rip my headphones out of my ears and go into my wardrobe and decide what I'm going to wear.

I try on so many different outfits that I'm in there for at least an hour. I check the time. Only half an hour til the party, I think. I've got to make this work. I take a deep breath and take out some black skinny jeans, a white tee shirt with a colourful print on the front, and my favourite grey bomber jacket.

I try it all on, and it doesn't seem to look that bad.

Next I go to my dresser and whack some makeup on so I don't look like a zombie, and spritz myself with some perfume.

I look at myself in the mirror and approve of my choices. I don't look like a Victoria's Secret model, but I'm not looking terrible either.

Taking my handbag supplied with keys, my phone, and wallet, I head for the door.

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When I arrive, I'm the last one there, but it's okay because it would have been even more awkward if I was first.

I receive a chorus of "hi Kate!" as I walk through the door. I immediately see Stephanie, in all her glory. She looks absolutely beautiful. If all goes well tonight, I may even get to be closer to her.

Meg, who is the host, brings out little nibbles for everyone. Everyone flocks to the coffee table where she's placed the large plate of food.

"So what have you got planned for tonight, Meg?" asks Lou, a girl I've known since the start of high school.

"I was thinking we could do typical party games like truth or dare," Meg replies.

"What, all night?"

"We could watch a film as well, don't you worry."

Lou looks slightly worried, but then goes back to a straight face after eating a piece of cheese on a cracker.

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"Why don't we play spin the bottle?" one of the boys suggests after a few rounds of drinks.

"Ooh, that sounds good!"

"We should combine games," says Stephanie. "7 minutes in heaven mixed with spin the bottle."

"Oh, so when you spin the bottle and it lands on someone you have to do  seven minutes in heaven with them?"

"Isn't that already the rules?" asks Meg?

"I dunno, but we should play it like that anyway."

"Well... okay!"

We all sit in a circle and we place an empty beer bottle in the middle.

"I'll go first!" says Meg. She spins it and it lands to face one of the boys. All of us do the stereotypical "oooooooh!" as they stand up and go to Meg's bedroom.

When seven minutes pass, Lou goes to the bedroom and knocks on the door. "You time is up!"

She gives them a few seconds to catch their breaths (or get dressed, more like it) and then they come back in.

"Who's next?"

As I was sitting next to Meg, it was most suitable for me to spin. I nervously grab hold of the bottle and spin it as fast as I can.

But as it slowed down, my heart rate sped up. I was silently begging to myself "no, no, no," but when it stopped, I looked up at who it was.

I already knew. It was Stephanie.

I was hesitant. And I was incredibly reluctant.

But my pride swooped in and took over as I found myself standing up and following Stephanie to Meg's bedroom.

I shut the door behind us, and look her straight in the eye.

I didn't even know if she liked girls or not, but it didn't stop her from leading me into a bedroom and shutting the door.

"What are we going to do?" I whisper, so that the group can't hear us.

"Make the most of it."

Stephanie leans into me and kisses me. I'm absolutely shocked.

But I'm not upset.

No, not at all.

In fact, over the next seven minutes we were all over each other. We didn't even realise how much time had passed until we were interrupted by the knocking on the door.

I heard the dreaded "time's up!" and separated from Stephanie. We got off the bed and straightened out our clothes.

I smile at Stephanie and then open the door. We walk back into the living room and everyone stares at us. Some people are smirking, and some people look slightly disgusted.

I don't blame them. Lesbianism still isn't normalised.

As we sit down back in our spots, Meg says "who's next?" and Lou, who is sitting next to me, spins the bottle, and ends up with a guy. They both go to the bedroom and while we wait, Meg drags me to her kitchen.

"What did you do with Steph?"

"Meg..."

"I'm one of your best friends. Tell me."

"We did what any other couple would do. Kiss and shit."

"Wait... you really did?"

I nod. She seems to look happy for me, but slightly concerned.

"I didn't know she was into girls as well," I say. "I'm kind of glad, to be honest, I have a massive crush on her."

"And you got to kiss her for seven minutes? You're so lucky. I wish that happened to me when I used to get crushes."

Meg's been one my best friends since the start of high school, and we've been through so much that I'm pretty sure she was the first one I told about myself being bisexual, so she isn't really shocked or surprised that I just made out with a girl for a few minutes. The others, however, have no clue that I'm attracted to girls as well. I mean, some of them might have a small clue, but the rest probably didn't know until now.

"Kate!"

"Huh?"

Meg sighs. "How many times do you have to zone out in one conversation?"

"Oh, uh... yeah. Sorry about that. I should probably stop with that."

Meg raises an eyebrow and goes back to the living room. I take a beer from the fridge and pop it open, and go back as well.