First Sight

Six

"Which one?" Mira asks as she holds up two different outfits in front of her. The one on her left is a pale purple sundress with white flowers scattered around it. To her right, she holds a pair of high-waisted shorts and a white and green striped crop top.

"Hmm.. which shoes?" Grant asks.

"My Vans with both of them."

"I think you should wear the shorts. That way you don't have to worry about anyone seeing your..."

Grant finishes my sentence. "Your hoo-hah."

Mira's jaw drops and she throws the sundress at Grant. "I won't need to cover anything!" She starts to undress.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Grand and I say together and both look away. Mira doesn't seem phased as she slips on the shorts and crop top. She slides on her Vans, looks in the mirror, and decides to add her long, brown cardigan on top. She does a turn and poses for us. "How does it look?"

Grant and I both nod and reassure her that she looks great. "You're definitely getting laid tonight," Grant adds. I elbow his side and he gasps for breath. Mira either didn't hear him, or she doesn't want to acknowledge him. After about thirty more minutes of inappropriate jokes and getting ready, we all get in Grant's car and head for the party.

The party is taking place at Trent's family's cabin in the mountains. When we drive up there, there are already tons of cars parked anywhere they can find a place. We can hear the music loud, even while we were still in the car. It was dark outside but the light from inside the cabin lit the yard, and I could see the faint glow of a fire from out back.

"Is it too late to back out now?" Grant asked.

"I'm with him, I changed my mind."

"No, come on guys!" Mira says. "Let's at least stay for an hour?"

The three of us maneuver ourselves around the people gathered outside and make our way into the cabin. I find it increasingly hard to think as the music gets louder and the number of people multiplies. Samantha finds us almost immediately.

"Miraaaaa! Hi!" she says. She's dressed in a long-sleeved olive green sweater and a white tennis skirt. Her perfectly-manicured hand holds a plastic cup. "And Grant! And uh..." she closes her eyes and snaps her fingers.

"Sean," I say, almost impatiently.

"Oh yeah. Sean." Samantha giggles and playfully pushes my chest. She's obviously already a little tipsy. "Drinks are in the kitchen and there's a bonfire outside." Her words are a little slurred. Not bad, but noticeable still.

"We're okay, thank you, Samantha," Grant says.

Samantha giggles again and starts to shuffle off. She stumbles a little, but catches herself on the side of a couch and keeps walking.

My friends and I wander around the cabin for a while, finding people to talk to along the way. Eventually, we find out way outside and we gather around the fire along with all the mostly-sober people. Some are roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, some are just warming up. One girl has a guitar and a few of her friends are singing along to some campfire songs with her. We mingle for a while, and time passes faster than we think. Soon enough, we've been there for hours and the clocks on our phones reach one in the morning.

Grant, Mira, and I start to say our goodbyes to head back home when one of the girls who was singing stops us. "Don't you wanna play one last game before you go? We were thinking about spin the bottle!"

The three of us exchange glances. "Uhh..." Grant says as I stay silent.

"We have time, don't we?" Mira asks. "It's just one game." I can tell she wants to have as much fun as possible while we're here.

"Grant's driving, it's up to him," I say.

"Um... yeah we can play for a little while."

The girl gets excited, and some people around the fire leave. We follow them to a small patch of concrete and sit down. A few other kids join us, and one of the basketball players brings an empty beer bottle with him.

"Does everyone know how to play?" the basketball player asks.

Everyone murmurs in agreement.

"Remember that you have to kiss whoever the bottle lands on, even if they're the same sex," Basketball Boy continues. "But no homo though."

Samantha is in our circle and I catch her staring at me a few times. She winks when I accidentally catch her eye, and I immediately look away.

Basketball Boy goes first. He spins and the bottle lands towards a small blonde. They lean across the bottle and go in for a kiss. Next is Guitar Girl, who has to kiss Samantha, which gets a cheer from nearly every boy playing. Samantha almost seems a little too eager to kiss her, and we have to break them apart before things get too heated. Everyone gets a turn across the circle until eventually, it's my turn. I feel butterflies in my stomach as I hold the bottle and spin it.

Things seem to go in slow motion. The bottle almost lands on me, but it turns just a little at the last minute to point directly to... Grant. At this point, I want to puke. I watch Grant lift his head out of the corner of my eye and look at me, but I can't pull my gaze from the bottle.

"Sean...?" he says hesitantly.

I meet his eyes. His beautiful, dark eyes. And then he does the unexpected. Grant tenderly cups my face in his hands and plants a gentle kiss on my mouth. His lips are so soft. He pulls away, hands still on my face, and I can hear muffled sounds of people cheering. Right now, he's the only one I can focus on clearly. He looks into my eyes for a few more seconds, then I see his face turn red and he pulls away.

Holy shit. Holy shit.

I just kissed my best friend. And now I know for certain.