Chapter 17
We reconvened in the library, where extra seats had been placed. A couple of the red-vested staff stood off to the side of the room. Four chairs had been set up near the front of the room. The rest of the group filtered in, their faces eager and displaying various levels of horniness. The party had clearly achieved the intended effect of getting everybody ready for a night of hot sex and swapping, as a lot of gazes lingered on us as we entered the room.
"Welcome to the Tiebreaker!" Ty announced. Everybody cheered. Cary, Carla, Dan, and I were ushered up front.
Nancy pointed to four padded office chairs. "You four sit there. The name of the game is Never Have I Ever."
The other ten partiers started laughing knowingly. Cary looked as nervous as I felt. Carla looked confident. Dan was unreadable. I shrugged. At the end of the day, what I had said to Cary earlier in the evening was the truth--I already had a car, and I was less invested in getting a new one than in getting to a hotel with her. This crowd had me acutely aware of how sheltered my life had been by comparison, so I was not confident of coming out on top in a "never have I ever" contest.
"Here's how this will work," Nancy said, reading from a notecard. "It's more or less Truth or Dare. I have a list of sexy statements. For example: 'Never have I ever gone a whole day without wearing underwear.' If you haven't gone a day without wearing underwear--that is, if you
agree
with the statement, then you have to lose a piece of clothing. Once you have lost all of your clothes, you are eliminated. But you can keep a piece of clothing by saying 'Challenge' and performing a random naughty act on one of our lucky audience as dictated by these sexy dice!" She held a pair of large oversized novelty dice up in the air, to the
oohs
and
aaahs
of the group. "None of these go all the way to penetration, and you can only challenge three times!"
"And even though we assume people will be telling the truth about this, we'll go around and confirm details," Ty clarified. "Be honest!"
My heart sank. I could pretty much kiss that Aston Martin goodbye now. I was hardly a virgin, but this crowd almost certainly had me beat for sexual adventures and experience.
"First statement: never have I ever had sex in a public place!"
I hesitated. Did the park on Solstice night constitute a public place? Certainly it was public land. I crossed my arms and waited. I wondered what public place Cary had been in, since she wasn't taking any clothes off. The group laughed, and Nancy shook her head. "Okay, that was a gimme. Details, people!"
In order as she pointed to us: park, airplane, theater, bathroom. The last one was Cary, who flushed, but held her head up defiantly as she said it. I wondered what the story was there. My curiosity about Cary's past grew with every new revelation.
Next one: Never have I ever had a foursome or more.
I kicked off my shoes, as did Dan. Cary kept her hands folded, as did Carla. I stared at Cary in surprise, and she colored, not meeting my eyes.
Carla smiled: "Our last party! Some of you remember." The group nodded and laughed.
Cary hesitated. She was deathly pale. After a long moment and some encouragement from the crowd, she almost whispered, "Honeymoon."
The room exploded, and Cary buried her face in her hands. Shouts of "Yeah, girl!" and "No way!" echoed through the library.
Dan leaned over to me. "Did you know she was married, dude?"
"Separated," I managed, fighting a raging hard-on.
Dan looked as if he was about to say something else, but Nancy held up her hand to quiet the room. "Next one: never have I ever cheated on a partner."
I pulled off my socks and threw them on top of my shoes. Cary kicked off her heels, as did Carla. Dan looked guilty, but removed no clothing.
"Spill it, dude," Ty demanded, as the crowd obligingly made "Oooooh" noises, like a class full of kids whose classmate has just been called to the principal's office. This was like an Old West melodrama.
Dan squared his shoulders. "First girlfriend in high school. I was a little shit."
"Never have I ever bought something from a sex shop."
I was dying. I pulled off my tie and threw it into the pile. I'd never even been
into
a sex shop. Dan looked pensive, as if trying to decide whether something he'd thought of counted or not, but finally pulled his socks off. Carla and Cary gave each other a look and broke into chuckles.
"Do you want the whole list?" Carla asked. The group chuckled appreciatively.
"Lingerie," Cary answered primly.
"Never have I ever sent nude pictures to somebody."
My jacket went into the pile. Dan's tie followed. Carla appeared to think, and then pulled off her pantyhose and threw them next to her shoes. Cary smirked and stayed sitting. I almost laughed out loud, realizing that she was thinking of her fake affair photos.
The small crowd was really revving Cary up, now. She looked embarrassed, but said, "Professionally-taken pictures for my now-ex-husband." Her words had started to slide together--the drinks and the late night were taking their toll.
"Never have I ever gone to a strip club."
Dan and I looked at each other and shrugged. My cummerbund joined his jacket. I wasn't feeling quite so inexperienced, now. At least Dan was only slightly ahead of me. Cary sat coolly back in her seat, and I envisioned Eric dragging her into a strip club, to her embarrassment. Carla started to unzip her dress, but stopped as she saw Cary wasn't removing clothing, and said, "Challenge."
Everybody cheered and Ty rolled the dice. Consulting a printed table, he announced "Titjob." He pointed to Alan. "Agent Hardrock."
Carla didn't hesitate. Walking slightly unsteadily over to Alan, she popped her breasts out of her dress with practiced ease and unzipped his tuxedo trousers. The rest of the group cheered, but I could suddenly see Cary's resolve wavering. So far, all of the sexually explicit acts in this game had been in private--or at least somewhat private. The idea of doing something like this in front of thirteen other people appeared to have made her nervous.
Ty counted off time on a stopwatch, and then called time. Carla wiggled her boobs back in, blew a kiss to Miles, and pranced back to her seat. Nancy turned to Cary. "Details."
Cary rolled her eyes. "Taken by girlfriends the week after my separation." I nearly choked--that was so recent! The next several questions went by as we all tossed varying amounts of clothing into the pile--as with the other games, this one was clearly intended to get us naked as quickly as possible, or to get the other folks riled up hearing about sexy adventures.
Never have I ever done phone sex. Never have I ever made out with somebody of the same sex. Never have I ever had sex in water. Never have I ever flashed somebody in public. Never have I ever done the "walk of shame." Cary had to have that one explained to her, but then did not take any clothes off and said, "After Valentine's Day." By the time Cary had shed her stockings, dress, and bustier, things were getting heated. Carla had challenged once more and was down to her bra and panties.
I was sitting in my boxers, wondering if I should challenge. Dan was faring only a little better--he still had his undershirt on.
"Never have I ever hooked up with more than one person in a single day," Nancy's voice carried. "Our parties here don't count."
My heart beat faster. What the hell. "Challenge," Cary and I said simultaneously.
Ty rolled the dice and consulted his table. "Body shots!" he announced. Cary's eyebrows drew down momentarily, and didn't rise much after Nancy whispered an explanation in her ear. One of the red-vested attendees opened a desk drawer and asked for our liquor preference. I wasn't very experienced with liquor--hell, I wasn't supposed to be drinking at all. I would be useless for driving after this.