I. L'instant [H.S]

XXXVIII

"Don't be such a baby, c'me on!"

Mike along with Martin, Steve and Ares are playing against me, Annie, Sofia and Imogen -who's turned out to be a great sport when it comes to downing a whole glass of beer without flinching. We've been shouting at each other from across the folding plastic table set up in the middle of the living room, laughing too hard and honestly, feeling like teenage kids instead of fully grown-ass adults.

"I don't get it." Sofia frowns looking at us. "Why do we all have to drink if only Annie's done it?"

"That's the point!" Martin booms, cracking up at the question. "If someone on your team's done it, then all of you have to drink."

I wrinkle my nose, feeling very stupid for agreeing to play. "So we get hammered in a single game of Never Have I Ever? Great."

"C'me on, just drink! It's only beer, mate." Steve chants more confidently than usual.

"Fine." I huff and down the glass quickly.

The rest of the girls do the same although Annie almost chokes at the end. "This is not gonna end well." she says after coughing.

"Five more questions and that's it." Sofia points to her boyfriend but he only laughs.

"Oh fuck off Mike, just five and that's it." I say rolling my eyes.

Ares chuckles and shakes his head at my lady-like behaviour but I'm far from being ashamed of it now, I've had to down at least two glasses of beer already, plus the drink Harry made for me which I still don't know what exactly was. He's been at the back yard most of the night, with his girlfriend and her friends and that's partly why I agreed to stay here and play, so I have something to distract me from going out there.

"Now," Imo says with a grin, taking a card from the middle of the table. "Never have I ever.. stripped down in front of a crowd."

Mike shakes his head and Steve shrugs, Martin's about to say something but Annie cuts him off. "Oh, but Ares has. C'me on! All of you, drink!"

I try not to snicker or even react to Ares getting naked in front of people, so I simply watch as all of them drink up. Matt, Alex, Eric and the rest are standing to the side, watching as we play at least four more rounds in which Sofia confesses she's flirted with a policeman to avoid a ticket as well as Imo taking someone else's boyfriend and me admitting to using food for sexual purposes.

"I ate chocolate off someone. Relax." I state when Steve stares at me shocked. "My turn." I take a card from the pile in the middle. "This is the last one, right?"

"No, the next one is." Mike shakes his head vehemently. "Shoot."

"Never have I ever talked shit about my mates behind their backs." I read, waiting for one of the guys to confess.

Matt chuckles and takes a swig from the whiskey in his hand. "Thank God I'm not playing."

I laugh at his cheeky smirk. Mike and Martin look at each other before both downing their glasses, Ares and Steve to do the same after. There's some ohh's and uhh's shouted at the guys but everyone's mostly laughing and taking the piss just for fun. I think nothing of it but Mike's amusement seems to have died for just a second, only to have Martin smack his back and tell him to read the next question.

But then I get a bit distracted for a moment by the people walking into the living room, joining the rest to watch as we keep playing. Harry, Jules and two other people stand closely by as Steve helps Mike to sort the cards from the ones we've already read and the ones we haven't. Harry raises his brow at me, he's never liked drinking games because he says they're stupid though I know it's because he hates loosing, because he always does.