near kisses and other stories: 14 days to love (kiss & tell)

Round and round, the bottle goes...

I would rather be in bed but curiousity got the best of me. I peeked out from my room only to be invited for a drink and a rousing game of Spin the Bottle. A perfectly harmless game, they say. I know better:

Spin the bottle, spin the bottle.
Lose your inhibitions; join the circle.

The first...

We were flushed as we crawled towards the middle with the rest giggling and cheering. Heads moved cautiously. Ours closer. Theirs followed from where they were. My hesitation, a slightly tainted reflection on the eyes staring back at me. It was terrifying but hand on cheek, we kissed. Perhaps, longer than it should be. But nothing whirred. Nothing clicked. No fireworks. No anything. After all, it was just a kiss.

I smiled softly. The other, the crushee, turned a brighter shade of red. The juvenile didn’t miss a thing and more jests and cheers soon followed: "crusher and crushee... k-i-s..."

And that’s how we were marked for life.

As for how the crushee became the apparent object of affection, let's just say that it was a product of an earlier round, another version, of this perfectly harmless game.

Someone spun the bottle, and it landed on me. A knowing voice playfully asked, "Who is your crush?"

Hurriedly, my eyes darted from one face to another, searching for an answer, until it reached the crushee. Crushee got my attention. Crushee was safe. Crushee was the easy way out. Losing my discretion, I yelled the name hoping nobody would remember it.

But I did. By heart.

And so did they: "... s-i-n-g".

Yes. That's how we were marked because somebody thought something whirred, something clicked, and somebody then told someone and a few others without realizing that those whirs and clicks are just in somebody's head.

Like I said, it was just a kiss. It was just a game. It was never a part of the plan, really. All of it. Everything. But I know it was my fault. I started it all.

Spin the bottle. It makes you do things you wouldn't normally do, or say things you wouldn't normally say. Truth is either told, or twisted to fit what is needed, and sometimes, white lies are committed by people. People like me.

Crushee was very likeable but how do I put it... I'm just not that into her.

Where it stops nobody knows...

The first spun until it slows down to a halt. The open end of the bottle pointing towards me.