Chapter Four: Spin the Bottle

"Hey there sexy," a raspy voice draws her back to earth. She turns to see a very drunken guy ogling her with his eyes.

"I can make tonight the best night of your life. Let's go upstairs," he slurs.

Stephanie cringes and jumps off her stool. She looks behind him expecting to at least see Brooke or something.

Where are you B? She asks within.

"What do you say sexy?" The guy asks closing the distance between them. Stephanie backs away from him.

Oh God!

Oh God!

Why did she have to come to this party?

Oh yeah, her best friend threatened her.

She becomes frightened. The drunken guy moves even closer before he backs away. She sighs in relief and then notices that he was pulled by someone.

"I'm sorry about him," the girl that pulled him apologizes.

Stephanie nods slightly not quite at ease.

The girl faces the drunk guy that she's trying to hold back.

"Get your shit together," she yells at him before dragging him along as she walks away.

I need to find Brooke, Stephanie decides.

She has had enough time with Cole. 

Stephanie heads out of the kitchen without her drink in hand.

In the living room, she scans the crowd but doesn't see Brooke.

She heads towards the stairs after groaning, keen on finding Brooke.

She finds even more people making out in the corners of the hallway. She tries the first room and immediately closes it after seeing a girl and a guy literally getting "Down and Dirty."

She makes her way to the next room and sees the door open ajar.

About fifteen people were in the room, they're seated in a circle on the floor. Some lurking around.

She sights Brooke seated beside Cole.

She enters and is happy to see that no one notices her.

She approaches Brooke and taps her shoulder.

Brooke looks up from her position on the floor, grins, and pulls Stephanie down to sit beside her.

"Yay! You're here. We're just starting," Brooke says.

"Starting what?" Stephanie asks.

"SPIN THE BOTTLE," Brooke replies grinning.

Stephanie's eyes widen and she tries to get to her feet.

"No way," she panics.

"You're not going anywhere Steph," Brooke holds her down.

Someone drops a bottle in the middle and sits down and Stephanie keeps trying to get out of Brooke's hold.

When she realizes Brooke isn't letting her go anywhere anytime soon, she stops struggling.

She looks at the faces of people sitting on the floor around her. They're all faces from school and around. 

Jason and Christopher are also seated.

And Christopher's girl is nowhere in sight.

Not surprising!!!

"Who knows? You might get to kiss a hot guy," Brooke whispers in Steph's ear. Stephanie glares at her and crosses her free hand.

Please dear bottle, don't point at me at all, she prays in her head.

Nobody must notice her.

A random guy spins the bottle and the game begins.

They've gone for six rounds now and Stephanie's fingers are still crossed.

Christopher grabs the bottle next and spins it. Stephanie doesn't really pay attention as before.

Who would she be kidding?

It would never point to her when Christopher Hayes of all people, spins it.

The bottle spins and it feels like everything is in slow motion before it finally stops, facing Stephanie.

She has a shocked look on her face as she and Brooke face each other. It can't be happening, can it?

She finally turns after some agonizing seconds to lock eyes with Chris who is already watching her.

She feels like running away from this Shenanigan.

This madness.

This stupid game, but staring into Christopher's eyes for the first time, she's compelled to stay and kiss those pink lips already.

It's not like this would be her first kiss. She has kissed before, it was a dare in eighth grade, so there's nothing to be scared about.

Isn't she supposed to be excited instead?

She lets her eyes settle on his pink lips and feels drawn to it. 

She's not gonna chicken out.

Brooke lets go of her hand and urges her, "Go on."

"Enough staring, get on with it guys," Jason yells, clearly impatient.

They both move closer to each other and lean forward until their lips finally meet.

They kiss each other slowly; their lips moving in sync. Their eyes flutter close as they get lost in the kiss.

It's the best kiss Stephanie has ever had but she shouldn't be surprised. Christopher is a player and he has had a lot of practice so he'd be good at it.

And isn't it supposed to come naturally for someone as hot as he?

She feels her heart banging against her ribcage as they kiss.

She resists the urge to run her hands through his hair while he holds her by the waist.

She doesn't want this beautiful moment to end but she is the first to pull away as he tries to deepen the kiss.

They look into each other's eyes after opening them. Stephanie looks away and removes his hands from her waist, then she sits beside Brooke.

Christopher stays frozen staring at her but Jason makes him sit while shaking his head slightly. Someone else spins the bottle, and the game continues.

"OMG! That was awesome," Stephanie whispers to Brooke.

"Wow! You - Stephanie Valentine, just kissed Christopher Hayes and said it was awesome?" Brooke asks quizzically, not quite believing it.

"Yeah. I need to go. I'll be back," Stephanie tells her.

"Okay," Brooke grins.

Stephanie rises and finds her way out of the room. She didn't think of where she'll go. She just needed to leave that room.

It was becoming too hot for her.

"I, Stephanie Valentine just kissed Christopher Hayes," she mumbles to herself as she makes her way to the back of the house.

The night breeze embraces her as she steps outside. She sees a few people around. She sits on a vacant chair and leans into it staring at the sky. She touches her lips unconsciously as a smile makes its way to her face.

That was the best kiss ever, she concludes to herself.

Maybe coming to this party wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She sits in a more comfortable position and closes her eyes still smiling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christopher watched her when she left the room. The jet black-haired, hazel-eyed girl he kissed. He doesn't know her.

Does she go to our school? He muses.

He doesn't think so.

He has never seen her before. She isn't familiar at all.

That was the best kiss he has ever had. 

He's kinda still in a daze.

He wanted to keep kissing her.

He wished they were alone and not in a room filled with people.

He wanted her all to himself.

And he'll make sure he gets her.

He couldn't even concentrate on the game after that kiss.

He kept replaying it in his head.

After a few more rounds, they all got tired and stopped playing.

"Who is she?" Chris asks Jason.

"Who?"

"The girl I kissed," he replies.

Jason shrugs, "I don't know dude. I've never seen her before."

He's disappointed.

"You can ask Brooke, the brunette that sat beside her. It seems like they're friends and I've seen Brooke around school before," Jason tells him.

That's better than nothing. All he has to do is find Brooke and ask about 'the girl'.

He begins to leave the room but remembers that he doesn't exactly know what this Brooke looks like.

"Jason," he calls slowly.

Jason rolls his eyes, "Just look out for the brunette hanging it with Cole. You know Cole, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks, man."

"Whatever," Jason waves him off.

Christopher hurries out of the room in search of Brooke - actually Cole.

He enters the living room and scans the crowd, hoping to sight Cole or better still, the girl he kissed.

He sights none and proceeds to the kitchen. He then sights Cole drinking with a brunette. She must be Brooke.

He makes his way to them and greets Cole. They both look tipsy.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" He asks Brooke.

Cole doesn't seem pleased with that question that came out of his mouth.

He wraps his hand around Brooke's shoulders and glares at Christopher.

Christopher isn't fazed by that. He gets that look from guys sometimes. He's known as a player and which guy would want to lose his girl to another guy?

"I just need to ask her something," Christopher explains.

Cole looks reluctant but Brooke tells him, "It's okay Cole."

Cole reluctantly releases her and she follows Christopher to the living room.

"Hi," he says.

Brooke gives him a puzzled look.

"Um...that girl I kissed during 'Spin the bottle'....is she your friend?" He asks.

"Yes," Brooke replies without thinking.

"Do you go to the same school as me?" He decides to ask.

"Duh! I do," Brooke exclaims.

"Does she?"

"Yes. Since 9th grade," she replies monotonously.

Maybe they've never shared classes before, Chris ponders.

"See, eh, I've gotta go," Brooke tells him and walks away before he can protest.

He couldn't even find out her name.

"Fuck," he yells and runs a hand in his brown hair in frustration.

He goes upstairs to join Jason.

After some minutes, Jason tells him, "Check out that babe dude. She's been staring at you since you walked in."

He looks at the direction Jason glanced at and as said, a blonde that doesn't attend their school is sizing him up, looking like she wants to eat him up. She smiles flirtatiously at him and he looks away.

He must find the mystery girl he kissed on Monday.