The last of the wine trickled into Judy's glass, the final drops spattering the coffee table as she passed the empty bottle to Christine, who placed it carefully on the floor. Judy leaned forward to rub the spatter with her finger, before sitting back on the sofa when she realized that the resulting smear looked even worse.
"Oh dear!" Christine said facetiously. "A nasty stain of vintage Merlot. I guess you'd better buy Rhona a new table, Judy."
"I agree," said Rhona solemnly, though she smiled as she spoke. She leaned back on the sofa, where she sat nestling between her two friends.
Christine reached over to gently tug Judy's long blonde hair "You're drunk," she observed. "Red wine always affects you too quickly. Why didn't you let me drink the last of the bottle?"
"Because she's greedy," said Rhona. "If there's free food or free drink, then Judy will gladly gobble it up before anyone else gets a chance."
"Not true!" Judy protested, pretending to look hurt and angry, though her mouth curled in a cheeky grin. "Who dares to spread such evil rumors about me?"
"My brother," Rhona answered, her keen blue eyes twinkling as she turned to wink at Christine. "And he definitely knows the truth about you. Isn't that right, Chrissie?"
Christine nodded, her mane of brown curls bobbing around her shoulders. "Oh yes, that's right enough. Paul told me about that incident in the Chinese restaurant, when Judy stuffed her face with prawns and threw up all over the bus."
"Jeezus!" said Judy, shaking her head in mock disbelief. "I was only eighteen at the time. What did your brother expect?"
"He expected nothing else, I guess," said Christine. "Except an hour of hot passion at the end of the evening."
"Yes, I remember!" Judy agreed, draining her glass in one gulp. "Even after I puked he still wanted a fuck on the beach."
Rhona laughed, glancing quickly at each of her friends while giving them a knowing smile. "Hey, ladies!" she chuckled. "You make my big brother sound like a teenage sex maniac. But he's a respectable lawyer now, with a wife and two kids, so leave the poor guy alone."
"I'm married with kids, too," said Judy. "And so is Christine. But that doesn't mean we don't remember what happened fifteen years ago, when she and I were innocent young college girls. Your brother was a sexual predator, Rhona, with the biggest ego on the campus."
"And the biggest cock!" Christine quipped.
"Definitely!" said Judy, giggling at the memory. "Twice as long as my husband's, I reckon."
Rhona gave a deep groan and put her hands over her ears. "Oh God! Please don't talk about my brother's penis, or indeed anyone's penis. It's so damn boring!"
Christine playfully ruffled Rhona's short black hair, running her fingers through the dark feathery spikes. "Okay, Rhona," she said, putting her lips close to her friend's ear. "No more comments about cocks, I promise. Sometimes I forget you're a lesbian."
"Why do you forget?" Rhona queried, closing her eyes when Christine lightly kissed her cheek. "You knew I was gay while we were still at college, and that was a long time ago, when we were just a bunch of kids."
Christine shrugged, flicking her brown tresses behind her shoulders. "I suppose it was kind of hard to accept that my best friend was homosexual. In those days I was just an immature teenage brat."
"I still feel like a teenager," said Judy, yawning sleepily. "Even now, at thirty-two, I feel as if I never quite grew up. Maybe none of us really matured properly, with the exception of Rhona's brother."
Rhona nodded, straightening the creases in her jeans as she stretched her legs. "I know what you mean. Paul seemed to get terribly serious and grown-up when he became a lawyer. To me, though, he will always be my crazy big brother who did lots of wacko things. Did you know about his secret chart, the one with all his girlfriends' names on it, and scores next to the names?"
Christine and Judy exchanged a smile and a nod, both women rolling their eyes and sighing. "Yeah, we know about it," said Judy. "He called it the Best Kisser List, and my name was always at the top."
"No way!" Christine protested, her eyes blazing with a vehemence that surprised Rhona. "Paul told me he put my name first, because my kiss was the best he ever had in his whole life. I guess the wine is clouding your memory."
"You're lying, girl!" Judy replied, sitting upright and tossing her blonde hair. "I was always Paul's best kisser, even after we split. Ten years later, he and I shared a very passionate embrace on the night before his wedding, and he told me afterwards that my name will be at the top of his list for eternity."
