Total pages in book: 213
Estimated words: 201920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1010(@200wpm)___ 808(@250wpm)___ 673(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 201920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1010(@200wpm)___ 808(@250wpm)___ 673(@300wpm)
Sam laughs and shrugs. “You want to play spin the bottle?” she says like it’s a joke but I know damn well she’s being serious.
“You want to?” Mike asks and looks around as if there’d be a bottle magically waiting on the coffee table. Guess we dropped the ball there.
“Why the hell not?” is Sam’s answer.
“We brought a bottle to play with.” I have to roll my eyes before sheepishly adding, “You know, or to drink or whatever.” I hide my embarrassment by taking another sip.
“Where is it?”
“I gave it to the guy who opened the door,” Sam cuts in with her hands up in an apology. “My bad,” she says with a giant grin on her face. “I freaked and just handed it over.” She laughs into her cup again and chugs it, emptying it and biting the rim.
“Solo cups don’t work quite as well,” I joke but I’m not sure Mike heard.
“So, you want to do stuff?” Mike asks and I glance at Sam, who humorlessly raises her brow.
“Getting right to it, aren’t you?” she asks him flippantly, and I smack her.
“Like what kind of stuff?” I say. I know what he means. And yes, I do. I’ve watched porn before. A few times with Sam, although it got a little weird, so we quickly turned that shit off. It’s how she knows I like things a little different, though. “I could do stuff,” I say casually as my body heats.
“Drinks!” Mike’s cousin interrupts us, stomping down the stairs holding two red Solo cups and spilling beer all over the floor as he makes his way over. Sam jumps back, laughing and raising her arms in surprise and Mike’s cousin shoves one of the cups into her open hand.
“Drinks,” Mike bellows and clinks the plastic cups which only results in more beer being spilled and our conversation getting lost.
“Drinks,” Sam mocks them, widening her eyes and imitating their excitement, but she’s smiling the entire time and both the guys laugh, clinking their plastic cups with hers.
I take another sip and much to my dismay, it still tastes like piss.
Hours pass, I think. My sense of time is fuzzy.
Everything tilts when I lean against Mike. It’s quieter too. Only for a moment and then it’s all louder. Is this what being drunk is like?
“I just need to lie down for a sec,” Sam says, gripping my arm and before I can say anything, she’s already headed up the stairs.
“You want me to come with you?” I call up after her but the music is so loud that she doesn’t hear me. The bass blasts through the house and makes my chest feel tight then hollow with each beat as I follow her.
“Need help?” I think I hear Mike say but when I look back, he’s talking to one of the guys who’s now playing beer pong.
I feel dizzy and it’s all so much. “Water,” I say softly and force myself to go back to the kitchen. Sam needs water. Hell, I need water too.
The smell of beer and pot hits me the second I round the corner.
Holy shit. I want to throw up.
Sam keeps moving, climbing the stairs to the second floor with both of her hands over her ears. “I’m coming, Sam,” I mumble as I run to the kitchen faucet and fill two cups. One for me and one for her.
Exhaustion and a thick cloudy haze greet me as I turn the corner to go up the stairs. It takes me a moment; while I stand there, a few guys pass by me and go upstairs. Mike’s cousin is one of them. The other two wait in line for the bathroom.
I watch as Mike’s cousin goes into a bedroom. The door was open, but he closes it behind him.
“Hey, you going up there?” A guy’s voice startles me just as I start to call out Sam’s name and I swear my heart almost leaps out of my chest. My ass hits the railing as I whip around to him and spill both cups.
“Me?” I say, fear clearly evident.
“You okay?” he asks me again with a broad smile like this is funny.
But it isn’t. The cups fall from my hands like I’m watching in slow motion.
“Whoa,” the guy says. Some part of me dimly notices he’s tall as he catches me when I tip forward. I know that I’m falling. I’m aware of it, but then it all goes black. I can hear him for a moment, asking if I’m all right and calling for help.
I guess that makes it okay, so I give in to sleep. Help is coming.
IN ONE DAY
In one day, a life can change. Or more than one.
Sometimes it’s a single moment that alters everything in existence.
Sometimes it’s the chain reaction of falling dominoes, lined up in pretty little rows and designed so that each one will cause more and more pain as it topples.