Disclaimer: Although not stated explicitly, all characters are over 18 years old.
Tonight was the night. Every weekend, my friends Abby and Kat would get together at Abby's house, which is just three houses down from mine, across the bridge. They would set up a tent in their backyard and I could hear them laughing the whole night through. I was pretty new to this school, and while I wouldn't consider myself to be best friends with Abby and Kat, but we had been in a group together, and we gave a presentation together. It wasn't particularly good, but we used a funny Pirate theme, which made us all laugh uncontrollably through the whole presentation, so I guess we were pretty friendly.
One day between classes I worked up the courage to ask if I could stop by on one of their camping trips. To sweeten the pot, every night for the past month or so, I had been sneaking a shot of whiskey from my dad's stash into a little plastic bottle I kept hidden in my room. The bottle was now pretty close to full, and I told them I could bring it by. This would be my first experience with alcohol, and I could tell from their reactions that it will be their first, as well.
After school, we all got off the bus at our stop. I waved goodbye to Abby and Kat, who took off laughing hand-in-hand to Abby's house to go set up their tent. I went home, and enjoyed a quiet night of anxiety with my parents. I ate a few bites of dinner, told them goodnight and went to lie in my bed with my eyes open while I waited for them to go to sleep. My heart thumped powerfully in my chest as I thought about what we would do together, in the tent.
I was pretty young, but I already knew I liked girls more than I liked boys. I was still trying to convince myself that it was just a phase, that I was just confused, that eventually I would think about boys in my nightly fantasies. But lately, the only people I'd been thinking about were Abby and Kat. They would take turns in my dreams, and I would envision little scenarios that would end with me "accidentally" touching Abby's small, tight chest, or walking in to see Kat's pale slender body naked in the locker room after gym class.
As I lay in bed, I reached a hand down my panties to feel myself. My lips parted with ease at the touch of my fingers, already wet and slick from the thought of being in that small tent with them tonight. We'll be dressed in our pajamas, our legs touching, sweat beading down our necks from the heat of three bodies in a tent built for two.
I allowed myself to relish in this fantasy for a moment - I still had maybe an hour before I could sneak out. I lost myself in these sexy fantasies, and plunged a finger inside me. I had to stifle a gasp with my other hand. Shivers shook my entire body immediately, and I felt like I was going to explode if I kept going. Biting my lip, I decided to get out of bed to sneak a glance out my door to check if my parents had gone to bed. The hallway was dark, and I watched the crack around my parents door until I could see they turned out their light. I closed my door and looked at the clock until 15 agonizing minutes had passed, then I grabbed my wrinkled plastic bottle of whiskey, put it in my bag and quietly slipped out of the house.
I nearly ran down the 200 or so yards of road between my house and Abby's. As I approached the tent, I could hear them laughing and giggling about something, but their voices cut off as they sensed me approaching. I stopped just outside the tent door, my little bag quavering in my hand, too scared to take another step. For a moment, I considered turning around, just pretending like I never came. I could explain it to them later, I had a stomach-ache, or my parents found out and told me I couldn't go. Something. But just then, I heard the tent's zipper open, and Abby stuck her head out the tent flap.
"Sarah? Is that you?" She whispered into the night. I stepped into the light being cast into the grass from the open flap of the tent.
"Hey!" I croaked, then cleared my throat. "Hi, Abby! Permission to come aboard?" I uttered in an awkward pirate accent, an inside joke from that stupid presentation we made for class a few weeks back.
"Granted!" she laughed, returning my pirate accent. She opened the flap a little wider for me. I could tell that they had been laughing pretty hard at something earlier, Kat's cheeks were still red and a smile lingered on her lips.
"Hi Kat!" I said as I stepped into the cramped tent.
"Hi Sarah," she said, nervously eyeing the bag I brought with me. The bottle inside crinkled lightly as I set it down on the ground.
"So!" Said Abby, as I settled in the corner of the tent, my neck hunched to avoid scraping my head on the sloped sides of the tent.
"So..." I replied, glancing around the tent. The ground was scattered with blankets and fluffy pillows. They had bags of sugary snacks and sodas in a small cooler, and a couple of board games with them.
I looked up, and Abby and Kat were both looking at me expectantly.
"Oh, um, thank you for letting me come!" I said, shakily.
"Sure!" replied Abby, "you're, y'know, one of the mateys!" again donning a terrible pirate voice. I laughed a little, appreciating being in on the joke. Kat didn't smile, but her eyes kept sweeping back to the bag I brought with me.
"I, um, brought something!" I said, picking up the bag. The heavy little plastic bottle crinkled softly beneath the fabric as I pulled it out. Abby smiled, but Kat looked a little sick.
"I mean, we don't have to," I said, picking up on Kat's apparent reluctance. But Abby grabbed the bottle from my hands.
"Great!" Abby said, "I think I have cups around here somewhere."
"I don't know," Kat said as Abby rummaged through the pillows looking for cups. "Aren't we kind of young for this?"
"What are you talking about?" Abby asked, pulling out a red cup and putting it on the ground in front of her. "Maya and Emily got drunk at that party at Ryan's house, and that was almost last year. We're way behind!"
"I guess..." said Kat, unsteadily.
"Look," I said, "I'm fine, I don't want to do it if you're uncomfortable. I mean, it's totally fine, we can just hang out."
"Are you guys chickening out?" Abby said, holding a second cup in her hand. "Okay, come one. We're going to try it someday, right? Well, we're all friends here, isn't it better to have your first time with your best friends?"
My heart skipped a beat. I always thought of myself as more of an acquaintance. To be included as not only friends, but in the inner circle as best friends? I could have cried.
I cleared my throat to steady myself. "We can take it slow. Right? Just teeny tiny sips."
"Right," said Abby, slamming down a third cup in triumph.
Kat took a shaky breath. "Okay," she said, "but only if we take it, like, super duper slow."
"Baby sips." Said Abby, as she poured the entire bottle, distributing it evenly between the three cups. She screwed the top back on and gave it to me, then handed me a small white cup. She passed the second cup to Kat, then held her cup for a moment, looking at it.
"So," she said, eyeing the amber liquid rippling in her cup.
"So," I replied. My mouth was dry, but Kat looked like she was going to be sick already.
"How should we do this?" said Abby, looking around. She looked at Kat, who only looked back at her with a terrified expression, then she looked at me.
"Um," I said, clearing my throat. "Well, uh, I was thinking maybe we could do a drinking game."
"Yeah!" Said Abby, brightening up. "We could play cards, and if we lose we have to take a sip? Let's play Egyptian Ratscrew!"
Kat's eyes lit up at the mention of the game. "That's my favorite!" She said
"I know," said Abby. "I get the feeling Sarah and I are about to get really drunk."
