Miranda had just turned twenty-one. With hazel blue eyes, soft blonde shoulder length hair, and a smile that made most men melt, Miranda had been looking forward to this particular weekend for quite some time.
Her two very best friends, Joey and Frank had been talking about taking her out for a night on the town for her birthday celebration. She had known Joey and Frank for years, never intimate with either of them, though they had certainly flirted and teased one another on several occasions. But beyond that, they'd remained simply friends, albeit very good ones. One thing that Miranda appreciated about both of them the most, was they could share and discuss nearly everything, trust one another to keep a confidence, and rely upon one another whenever there was need. They had both been by her side after her very hard breakup with her boyfriend Steven, something that had set her back on her heels for several weeks after discovering he'd been banging one of the women he worked with. Something that had been very traumatic for her to accept as she'd given her virginity to him shortly before discovering he'd been sleeping with another woman.
With everything she had recently been through, Miranda was looking forward to a fun-filled entertaining night with her two very best friends.
They had gone to one of the local restaurant/bars that was a very popular hangout. Starting out with a tall pitcher of Margaritas, one of Miranda's favorite drinks. She was soon into the swing of things, having a great time joking and laughing with her two friends. When it became known however that it was in fact her birthday, the custom of this particular place was to bring out the "party funnel" as it was called. Leaning back in her seat, one of the bartenders placed a long thin funnel just above her mouth while another stood on a tall chair pouring the contents of a specially designed birthday drink into the funnel. It was the challenge to see if anyone could keep up with the continual pour until the entire contents of the drink had been consumed. Not real high in alcohol content, it wasn't designed to make anyone sick or get stupidly drunk. And though she'd already had two glasses of Margaritas, Miranda felt more than up to the challenge.
Several other patrons began to gather around their table as the bartender began to pour the concoction down the funnel. Joey and Frank began chanting, "Go! Go! Go!" as she drank, miraculously keeping up with the continual pour. Spilling very little upon herself, though a large plastic bag had been draped around her to prevent ruining her clothing, the crowd began to cheer giving her a standing ovation for accomplishing a task that very few were able to keep up with.
"Impressive Miranda!" Joey said in congratulations to her. "Yes, it was...but I'd be willing to bet you couldn't do that again with a real drink!" Frank challenged.
"Well not now I couldn't!" Miranda admitted. "That was a lot of liquid! Maybe later," she left the challenge hanging.
"Yeah, right...maybe later," Frank teased. "Like I said, no way with a real drink!"
Though feeling good, Miranda was far from being drunk. But her inhibitions had flown out the window with the party atmosphere as well as having more fun than she'd remembered having in a long, long time.
"Put your money where your mouth is Frank! What are you willing to bet I can do it?"
"Ok..." Frank said grinning. "Twenty bucks says you can't!"
"That's it? Twenty bucks? Come on Frank, surely you can make this a little more interesting than that! Twenty bucks seems hardly worth it. Like I said, you're so sure I can't do it...lets really make it interesting!"
Joey perked up at that. "I'm in! So what if we lose Miranda?"
She considered that for a few moments, then grinned wickedly. "I win, the two of you have to come over and clean my entire apartment next weekend. And I mean clean it! Windows, floors, dusting mopping, everything!"
Suddenly Joey wasn't as enthusiastic as he was a minute ago. "I don't know Frank..." he began backing off worriedly.
"And what if we win then?" Frank challenged back.
"Name it!" Miranda told him.
Frank was now grinning even more broadly than Miranda had. "Anything?"
"Anything," she replied now wondering if perhaps she'd put her own foot in it as the expression on Frank's face told her he wasn't thinking about her doing any cleaning.
"Ok Miranda, here's the bet then. We lose, we clean your entire apartment. You lose, then you come with Joey and I up to my folks cabin next weekend."
Miranda stared at him. "And? That's it? Just come up to the cabin for the weekend?" Frank actually seemed nervous now as he obviously began mulling over the real meaning behind that. "Not exactly. You lose, you have to do whatever Joey and I want you to do with the two of us."
Miranda stared at her friend incredulously. They'd never been intimate with one another aside from that occasional flirting and horsing around which had included a few semi-erotic wrestling matches. But beyond that, there'd never been anything else.
"You can't be serious!" she replied thinking that he was in fact kidding around with her.
"Like you said Miranda, put your money where your mouth is!"
She sat back in her seat staring at him. It wasn't that Frank and Joey weren't attractive looking men, they were. Frank had a boyish look about him that was sexy as hell! He wore his dark hair long in a ponytail, stood a few inches taller than she, with alluring hazel green eyes that could penetrate a person's soul. Joey was the taller of the two with shorter light brown hair, but had the sculpture of a body-builder though he wasn't. More than anything, Miranda was concerned that getting involved sexually with either one of them might ruin their long-term friendship.
"If I do lose, which I won't by the way, both of you need to know this is a one time thing. I don't want it ruining our friendship," she added seriously. "But like I said, I have no intention of losing either. I expect to see the two of you showing up at my apartment bright and early Saturday morning ready to spend the entire weekend cleaning!"
Once again Joey appeared a little nervous at Miranda's self-confidence. That look convinced her.
"Ok, it's a bet!" she heard herself saying.
