As Lola prepared her home for Friendsgiving, she found herself placing her finest china (the ones with gold trim that her mom had given her when she moved out) gently on the placemats that lay on her hard maple dining room table. The table was Her grandmother's -- maybe if her friends had known that...she shivered out of that thought.
She noted her nipples were erect and her breath had quickened. The sight of these items together provoked goosebumps on her arms and a warmth between her thighs. Lola flashed back to three years ago when she last hosted the annual tradition. She couldn't believe she kept the table after that night, no matter what the emotional significance was.
...
Lola was a junior in college; young enough to think she was bound to change the world. Old enough to know better. She craved the day where her late nights studying and her flawless extra curriculars would earn her the moment where she placed both palms firmly at the head of a large table and stared down her subordinates as they scrambled to offer anything she may find valuable.
Lola met Troy in Geopolitics class, which despite being a great student overall she still can't explain anything she was supposed to learn because she spent the entire ninety minutes three times a week drooling over Troy's green eyes, dark bushy eyebrows, and strong chin. Drooling was only sometimes not meant literally.
She was always on the petite side and her shyness around boys never helped, and so Lola had very little to connect with Troy on. It didn't take long to observe that the star logo he wore on several shirts was a football team, the Dallas Cowboys.
Naturally, when she found that out, Lola became a lifelong Cowboys fan, born and raised. The only downside to this declaration was that she had never actually watched a football game in her life. Bringing up her new-but-always-been-there fandom to her friends was her first mistake.
This group of friends were all around the same age, some a few years older and some a few years than Lola. Some were even in class observing Lola daydream in the direction of Troy. So when Lola brought up, "How about those Cowboys?" at lunch one day, the table's response was laughter. Laughter like the opening joke at a standup event. She didn't let them bother her. It was Lola's first time hosting Friendsgiving, and she wanted it to be special.
She invited all of the friend group over early for Friendsgiving to watch the Cowboys play against the Lions. The game would be over right around dinner time, so it seemed natural to have the gang over for a little pre-meal chill time. Little did she know the group was incredibly excited about this year's Friendsgiving and had the highest expectations about her hosting services.
Melissa was the first to arrive, and from the moment she stepped through the door she was a raging bitch. As Lola showed her to the kitchen she told her the long, dramatic story about how she decided to become gluten free earlier in the month and that nothing at Friendsgiving would be gluten free.
Lola didn't plan on drinking this early, but this seemed like a signal to call an audible. She retrieved a bottle from the cabinet and poured herself a deep glass as Melissa finished her lecture. Lola continued to nod at points that matched Melissa's tone but wasn't letting any more of her words make contact with her brain. Finally, Melissa paused.
"Stick to whiskey for all I care," Lola said with a smile as she placed an unopened bottle on the counter in front of her. Melissa would, and the bottle would be two shots less full by kickoff of the game, but she would appear blackout drunk.
Jeremy and Alex were the next two to arrive, together as always. If they didn't talk about nailing chicks all the time Lola would have thought they were a couple. In fact, the group joked about it a lot. Almost as much as Lola being a "prude". Getting raised Catholic doesn't automatically make me a slut, she thought when it was her time to be made fun of during their gatherings. Jeremy brought chips and dip and Alex held two cases of beer, happily. So far Melissa was right, neither one of their additions were gluten-free.
Tommy and Felicia were the last to arrive, together. Lola always was suspicious of them being an actual couple. They were the only two people that no matter when they were around each other seemed like they were always flirting. Lola wished she knew what that felt like. She again felt badly for being suspicious of her two friends. Was it so bad if they were in love and just didn't want to tell the rest of the group?
"Felicia's car is in the shop," Tommy offered as an explanation to a question Lola didn't pose. Lola nodded in understanding as she welcomed them in. As the three friends headed into the living room, the two announcers suggested the game would begin after the next commercial.
Lola saw Jeremy and Alex chugging beers from separate cases, and she now realized each case was for themselves. She laughed at the site, as she was a wine girl anyways. She sipped the rest of her glass quickly as she took a seat next to the chug brothers. Breaking her peace, yet to no surprise, Melissa yelled from the kitchen.
"Lola! I think the turkey is burning!"
Impossible, Lola thought. It would be in the oven for the next two hours. Lola ran to the kitchen despite her confidence, only to find Melissa taking her first shot of whiskey. Overwhelmed at her helpfulness, she armed herself with an oven mitt and opened the oven door with force. She closed it with annoyance.
"Why did you think the turkey was burning?" Lola asked, genuinely. It smelled good, not burnt, and it looked exactly as Lola would think a turkey with two hours left of a roast would look. Lola saw her take another shot, then rolled her eyes "it smelled funny..." She picked up the bottle Lola gave her and exited the kitchen with a huff.
"Bitch," Lola mumbled under her breath. She wondered if Melissa had been pre-gaming before she arrived to her home. Lola refilled Her glass with wine and took a deep sip. As she exited the kitchen, the walls seemed to dance elegantly around her, and she giggled when she thought about Melissa saying the turkey smelled funny.
"It's probably the gluten," she thought with a smile on her face as she joined the rest of her friends in the living room.
She was surprised to find them in a heated debate, Lola overheard Tommy tell the group, "I don't see how anyone would think the Cowboys are going to win today!" That was her queue as a Cowboy faithful. Lola calmly took a seat next to him and sat subtly, "The Dallas Cowboys have won the last three Thanksgiving games against the Lions, and the Lions haven't had a winning season in ten years." Lola winked at Felicia who was sitting across the room from her. Felicia had armed her with the research to try to get the group off her back.
Instead, the group laughed at her statistics. Even Felicia seemed amused, but maybe it was because the rest of the group was laughing. Lola sure hoped at that point she would burn the turkey. And they would have to eat every bite.
"So you think because you have a crush and looked up a few stats online that you know football?" Tommy asked with a smug grin. Lola always hated that grin. She took a sip of wine and uttered the firing shot.
"Tommy, I guarantee you the Cowboys will win today." Lola again winked at Felicia, although this time she wondered if it wasn't as subtle. Lola always had been a lightweight and this was her second glass of wine. She felt great.
Tommy seemed taken aback by her confidence. But after looking at the group, that smug grin found its way back to his face. "How confident are you, Lola?" he asked.
"You watch and see, the Cowboys will whoop the Lions' butts today!" Lola said emphatically. And then you will get to see Troy's smile in class tomorrow as he talked about the highlights, Lola thought. The highlights Lola would actually see for the first time. Maybe she would be able to make a comment to him about the game. He would be impressed. She smiled at that thought.
"Confident enough to make a wager?" Tommy said with a raise of an eyebrow, awaking Lola from her wine induced daydream. She paused to think but just felt the wine making its way to her brain. "What do you have in mind?" Lola asked as she scooted to the edge of the seat on the couch. The chug brothers made an "oooo" noise harmoniously as they opened another beer.
Tommy appeared to have trouble coming up with stakes, so Lola offered, "Loser has to clean the dishes by themselves?" Again, the chug brothers made their noise of intrigue. This time it seemed to be a little more sarcastic.
"I thought you said you were confident," Tommy scoffed. Lola rolled her eyes as she sat back into the couch and took another sip. The players were taking their places on the field and the announcer indicated the game was about to kickoff.
"Tell you what Lola, you stated your facts, but football is about gut instinct. My gut tells me the Lions are going to win this game," he said this as he pointed his beer to the television, as if Lola needed help determining what game he was talking about. She had enough. The attitude from Melissa, the fact that she had cleaned her place and cooked all the food, and now Tommy wanted to give her the business about something she had decided she liked, independently of any cute boy in Geopolitics class. It was off that energy she made her next comment, which she regretted immediately.
"Well don't be a bitch, Tommy, put it on the table."
She wasn't even sure what that meant, or if it was a saying -- but it sounded right at the time. Maybe the wine made it sound right, because after all the wine made her say it.
The group laughed, all except Tommy who studied her face. Lola never knew if she had a poker face until that moment. She didn't. Lola blushed when he said, "Loser has to eat at the Friendsgiving table...naked."
Lola felt warm, too warm. In her face, on her ears, and between her legs. Warmth, wetness, vulnerability. Everyone in the room had significant experience on Lola. She heard about it constantly, and never had anything to add -- therefore the prude jokes.
Tommy consistently and casually hinted at how big his dick was, and inevitably Felicia had to have at least sucked it, if not ridden it herself. Jeremy and Alex never stopped talking about "conquests", their most recent being the same girl, at the same time. Melissa, quite frankly, sat on more dicks in her life than chairs.
Lola evaluated her own path to innocence lost -- giving up her virginity senior year of high school, kissing a few boys in between then and now, and masturbating through trial with several too many toys that she hid in her nightstand bottom drawer. Lola wouldn't even change in the same room as Melissa and Felicia when they all got dressed up before going out for the nights. All of this led to obvious answer: no way in hell.
