“Relax, it doesn’t have to be on the lips,” Mason clarifies, and everyone settles down.
We continue playing for a couple of rounds and then Chase pulls a six of hearts. I know the exact moment he realizes what that means, because his entire face lights up bright red; the closest girl to his left is Charlotte.
“Ooo, Chase and Char! You know what that means!” Mason smiles, excited that he gets to witness his rule in action.
Chase looks completely stunned, and Charlotte giggles then raises her bottle.
“Cheers!” she says to me and Annalisa, because six means chicks.
We take a drink of our beers, and when Charlotte’s done, she puts her bottle down, puts her hands on Chase’s face, and kisses him right on the lips. I think she stunned everyone, but she probably broke Chase. I wonder if she stopped his heart completely. From the angle I’m sitting at, I can’t even tell if he’s kissing her back or not. She pulls away quickly and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Okay, it’s your turn to go, Aiden,” she says like she didn’t just kiss her best friend who’s secretly in love with her.
Chase, however, is in a complete daze, a slight smile on his face as he looks off blankly in the distance.
“You know you didn’t have to kiss him on the lips, right, Char?” Noah clarifies, his eyes shifting back and forth between her and a still shell-shocked Chase. She blinks at him, lids heavy.
“Oh.” She shrugs and giggles at nothing in particular.
Okay, maybe she should stop drinking. I’m the one sharing a room and bathroom with her.
Aiden, Noah, Annalisa, and Julian pull cards as the game continues. On my turn, I pull a five of hearts.
Five means guys, so the Boys raise their bottles in a salute and take a drink.
“Suit of hearts means I get a kiss, Amelia,” Mason gloats, almost smugly. “I want one like Char gave Chase.”
Mason smiles, and I ignore the feeling of guilt that appears every time I look at him. Clearly a drunk Mason is not a more charming Mason.
Before I can even react, Aiden abruptly stands up from his spot across from me and purposely walks around and sits down between me and Mason. He throws a quick glare at Mason when he starts to object, shutting him up immediately, then turns to look at me.
“Guess I’m the closest guy on your left,” he states.
Putting his hand possessively but gently on the back of my head, he tangles it in my hair and pulls me to him, kissing me deeply. My first thought is Damn that was sexy, but then the butterflies realize who’s kissing me and decide to throw a party in my stomach.
I pull away from him, ignoring all the whistling and cheers from our drunk friends, and look at him quizzically. What was that all about? Aiden smiles at me, looking mighty proud of himself, and gives Mason a quick, pointed look.
Realization slams into me like an eighteen-wheeler. He just used me to make some kind of point in his macho-man standoff against Mason.
Mason’s looking down at his bottle and not paying attention to the rest of the game. Sometimes, like at times like these, I think he likes me as more than a friend, and other times, like when we just joke around or when he flirts with other girls in front of me, I think he knows we’re platonic. So it would be incredibly awkward if I just confronted him off of a suspicion, and he looks at me all, WTF, k-bear, you know we’re just best friends.
And then there’s Aiden. I don’t really know how I feel
about him pulling this possessive kind of stuff. I’m not going to lie, it’s kind of hot, but then again, he didn’t need to use me to get to Mason, if that was even his intention. I could’ve kissed him on the cheek, like Noah just did with Annalisa.
Is this just “drunk” Aiden being superjealous? He doesn’t look drunk, though. After one more full deck of cards, we decide to call it a night.
I think Chase carried Charlotte up the stairs and helped her get in bed. Aiden helped Annalisa get Julian to their room, and everyone else kind of stumbled off to bed as well.
I decide to clean up before going to bed—I don’t want the twins to discover our giant party among all their presents. I’m not really tired anyway, and it’s not recommended to mix sleeping pills with alcohol, so I figure by the time I’m done cleaning up, plus the alcohol, I’ll be tired enough to fall asleep without the pills.
After clearing away all the bottles from the family room, and putting away all the snacks, I tackle the kitchen. Currently, I’m trying to get Noah’s shirt down from the top of the fridge. I have no idea how or why it ended up there, but at some point during the night Noah pulled it off, and then it ended up on top of the fridge.
I’m not the tallest person around and I don’t think I’m too short, but even on my tippy-toes and stretching as far as I can, I still can’t reach his stupid shirt. I’m past the point of going to grab a chair: this is personal now. I glance at the counter. Maybe I can jump onto it and launch off to grab the shirt? Or maybe open a cupboard door and monkey climb the shelves?
“Need some help?”
I twirl around and see Mason standing behind me, clearly deciding now is the time to practice sneaking up on people like a freaking ninja.