“That was fast,” I say when Chloe comes back onto the lounge chair. She’s holding a stemless glass of wine filled with dark red liquid and another glass, with my Coke inside. Ice clinks against the sides of the glass.
“I already added whiskey,” she tells me. “From the house.”
“Let’s get started,” Mason says, holding up the bottle of whiskey. Lennon sits back down in a folding chair, taking a drink of her wine.
“What are we playing?” she asks, looking at Mason. “I assume you have something in mind?”
Mason doesn’t, but he won’t let that stop him. “Twenty questions.”
“That’s not a drinking game, dumbass,” Jacob huffs.
“Like I said earlier, you can turn anything into a drinking game. We’ll take turns asking questions. Be as personal as you’d like. If you don’t want to answer, take a drink. If you don’t want to drink, answer honestly.”
Lennon’s eyes light up. “This could be fun! Who’s gonna start? Mason? Jacob?”
“You start,” Mason tells Jacob. “We’ll go in a circle, so you start.”
“Uhhh.” Jacob takes a drink as he thinks. “What is your most embarrassing moment,” Jacob says with a shrug. “Chloe, you’re up first.”
“Ohhh,” Chloe muses, scrunching up her face as she thinks. She turns her head, looking at me for half a second, and I think she’s going to tell everyone about that stupid, fated party back in college. The one where she was tricked into showing up in costume, and the one where I stood there like a drunk idiot, too stunned and scared to do something about my feelings for her.
“Right after the showrunners announced that they were officially turning my Nightfall series into a show, I did a live interview with this huge book blogger in Miami. It was my first live interview in front of thousands of people and was already nervous, plus even more so because we were doing the interview at the beach and someone picked out my outfit for me and got my swim top a size too small, and we didn’t have time to change. It clasped in the front, and when I inhaled, the clasp broke and my top popped open. Thankfully, I caught it before my nipples were aired to the world, but part of the clasp that flew off hit the blogger in the eye.”
We all laugh, and Chloe buries her face in her hands. “The poor girl started bleeding and everything, and we tried out best to carry on with the interview. I held a floppy hat over my chest, and she held a bag of ice to her face. It was awful.”
“That would be,” Lennon agrees, still laughing. “Okay…my turn.” She takes a drink. “Don’t worry, I’m still telling you. I just needed a drink first, because the most embarrassing thing that ever happened was I shit my pants on a date and I wish I was joking.”
“How the fuck do you shit your pants?” Mason asks. “Was this recent?”
“Two years ago, so the wound is definitely still raw.” Lennon throws her head back, laughing at herself. “I was on this fitness kick and hardly ate anything that wasn’t considered clean. I went out with this guy I really liked, and he insisted I order the burger I was eyeing as we waited for our table. I decided to treat myself to onions rings and a milkshake too. Yeah…bad idea. My stomach could not handle the overload of grease all at once.”
“Was there a second date?” Chloe asks.
“Oh, no.”
“Well, any guy who won’t stick by your side after shitting your pants isn’t worth your time,” Chloe laughs. “What about you?” She turns her face up to mine and it hits me all over again how much I fucking love this woman. “Would you stay with me if I shit my pants on our first date?”
“I would. I’d bring you new pants and everything.”
“You have an unfair advantage,” Lennon says. “You’ve known each other for like ever.”
“True,” Chloe agrees. “Keep the circle going. Mason?”
He shrugs. “I don’t get embarrassed easily.”
“Drink then.” Jacob holds up his cup and they both take a drink. All eyes fall on me, and I have to agree with Mason on not getting embarrassed easily.
“If I had to pick…my first week on the floor in med school, I was given the wrong chart and went into a room thinking I had a pregnant patient, but it turned out to be an overweight middle-aged woman who as at the hospital to have a severely infected toe cut off.”
“Psssshhh,” Chloe says with a shake of her head. “That’s nothing compared to nip slips and shitting your pants.”
“My turn.” Mason pokes at the fire with a stick. “Who’s your hall pass?”
“Hall pass?” Jacob echoes.
“It’s the one person—typically a celebrity—you want to fuck and your significant other would give you a hall pass to do so,” Lennon explains. “Chloe’s already had mine.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “And god help me if Charles isn’t as good in bed as I imagined.”