The Baybond Tales

Part 2

Mat then got in his car and started the engine. He looked at himself in the mirror and ran his hand through his hair.
"Shower time!" He said to himself and drove out of the car park and looked behind him to see Ben's car and Martha's car (which she carpooled with Larry) following him. He was sure Jim and Simon would catch up, and sure enough, they did.

It only took just under ten minutes to reach Mat's house. Mat and Ben pulled onto his drive and everyone else parked along the road.
Mat got out of his car and reached for his bag and keys and unlocked the door. He sighed as he entered his empty house, remembering the night last week his girlfriend left him, and took his kids too.
"Where's the Mrs?" Ben asked as he took his shoes off.
"Yeah, about that." Mat said, looking down.
"Hey, what's up?" Ben asked as everyone sat down in the living room.
"What happened?" Jim asked.
"She, uh, she left." Mat said, not taking his eyes off his feet, fighting tears.
"Hey hey, it's okay." Martha said and rubbed his back as Ben pulled him in for a hug. The hug relaxed Mat. He was glad he had all his friends, but he was mostly glad he had Ben and Martha (if not one in particular ;)).
"Anyway." Mat sniffed and held his head up, "what movies to watch?" He asked as he opened a large double door to reveal a large room of DVDs.
"Wow." Everyone said in unison.
"What's your selection of horror movies?" Simon piped up.
"Yeeeesssssss!" Everyone cheered.
"I have every horror movie known to man. How about we start with Saw?" Mat suggested.
"Perfect! I haven't watched those yet!" Larry added.
"Saw it is then." Mat said and popped the first DVD into the player and went to find snacks and alcohol.

"I swear these DVDs never fail to scare me." Mat said as he came back in with a load of crisps, sweets and biscuits in his hands. He put them down and immediately everyone dived for their favourites. Jim, the crisps, Simon, the liquorice, Larry, the marshmallows, Martha, the Fruitellas and Ben, the popcorn. And, of course, everyone grabbed a bottle of their choice of alcohol.
After he pulled the curtains closed and switched off the lights, he went to sit in the last available seat as everyone had claimed theirs. Martha and Larry were on the floor on a cushion each, Jim was in the armchair, Simon was lazed across one sofa and Ben the other. Mat squeezed in beside Ben and by the time everyone had settled down it was 7:30.

During the film, Mat snuck out to order pizzas and when he had come back Ben had taken up the whole sofa. He patted in front of him and Mat shrugged and laid down on the sofa in front of Ben and carried on watching the movie, tensing every once in a while, but relaxing when he felt Ben's hand on his waist and his chin in the crook of his neck.
At the end of the film, everyone but Jim had shifted their positions. Simon had moved from his lying down position to sitting up with his legs crossed, Martha had moved to lay her head on Larry's lap, and Mat and Ben were laying together.
Just then, the doorbell rang and Mat gently moved Ben's hand and got up, earning a cheeky glance from Martha, and she earned a shake of the head back, as he opened the door and payed the pizza boy and came back in the room with six pizzas and more alcohol as they had seemed to have run out.
"Meat feast for Jim, vegetarian for Martha, pepperoni for Larry, plain for Simon, spicy for Ben and spicy for me." Mat said as he gave a pizza box to everybody.
"Guuuuys!" Martha said, all of them rather drunk, "Let's play a gaaammmeee."
"That's very appropriate in the circumstances." Ben laughed and added, "Do you want to play a game?" In a deep voice.
"Yeeeeees! Let's play truth or dare." Jim said as he and everyone else sat in a circle on the floor.
"Right, who to go first?" Larry asked.
"Oldest first?" Mat suggested and looked at Ben who was sat next to him.
"Sure, sure." Ben laughed.
"Right, Ben, truth or dare?" Jim asked.
"Hmmmmm."