"I'm bored."
"Me too."
Carrie and Jen were lounging on the couch, Carrie with her back to the armrest, her right foot on Jen's thigh.
I was sitting at the dining room table with a quarter-glass of rosé, and Christina was in the kitchen, pouring herself a glass.
"What do you want to do, girls?"
"No idea."
"Bake?"
Carrie made a face.
"Movie again?"
"Nope. Had enough of those. Boring."
"Okay, what's not boring?"
Christina joined me, sitting on another of the dining room solid cherry chairs with one leg folded under her on the chair seat. She took a sip of her wine.
Silence.
"Okay, how about a game?"
"What do you have in mind?"
"Something interesting, I hope."
"How about truth or must?"
"Truth or must?"
"Yeah." Jen's eyes twinkled a little as she smiled impishly. "Either you tell the truth about something embarrassing, or you must do what the others say."
"Must?"
"Must."
"No way out?"
"Nope."
"Hm."
"I'm in."
"Why not?"
"Me too."
We pulled the chairs around the table so that we were facing them on the couch in a kind of semicircle. Carrie and Jen were sitting up now.
"How do we start?"
"Dice?"
"Don't have any, do we? How about this quarter?"
"Sure. Who wants the first flip? How do we do this?"
"We all call it first, and then whoever's left calls it again. The last one has to choose truth or must."
Carrie perched the quarter on her thumb, heads up.
"Heads."
"Heads."
"Tails."
"Tails."
Carrie flipped the quarter up with her thumb and caught it, holding up her palm.
"Tails it is."
She perched it again on her thumb.
"Tails."
"Heads."
"Heads it is."
We all looked expectantly at Jen, who looked a little surprised that suddenly she was on the spot.
"Okay. Hm. Truth or must." She paused. "Truth."
Christina took a sip of her rosé, placed the glass on the table.
"I've got one."
"Okay."
"What was your last sexual encounter (and we want details!)?"
Jen's cheeks flushed a bit, and she brushed back her blonde hair behind her ear.
"Should have taken a must, I guess. Too late now." She looked a little flustered.
"My latest. Yeah." She looked off to the side. "It was with Mark. At his apartment. We were cuddling after a movie and one thing led to another."
"Details!"
"He pulled down my yoga pants, pulled them off, and his tongue went to work."
"Was he good?"
"I came twice."
"Those aren't details enough, you know that. How did he do it?"
Jen's cheeks were pink. "He knows how to do it, a little close, a little far away... And he hooked his finger..."
"Did you help him too?"
"You mean did he come? He did, eventually, actually he kind of erupted over both of us, even on my face."
"Good for the complexion."
Christina laughed, and moved her brown hair out of her eyes with a quick flip of her head.
"I think we should raise the stakes."
"What do you mean?" Carrie took a sip of her rosé.
"Not just truth. Truth about a sexual fantasy."
"What kind of fantasy?"
"One we're turned on by. One that could be made real."
"Okay." Jen smiled a little nervously. "You first."
"Not how it works. We flip."
"Okay."
"Deal."
Jen held the quarter in her right hand, perched it on her thumb.
"If you drop, you lose."
"That's a new rule!"
"Still a good one."
"Okay with me too."
"Heads."
"Tails."
"Tails."
Jen flipped the coin, but instead of catching it, it bounced from her hand onto the floor. She looked crestfallen.
"That was easy." Carrie laughed. "What's your fantasy, honey?"
Jen glanced around at her friends, and paused.
"Not sure I want to say."
"Come on!"
"Okay," she said reluctantly. "I had a dream that I was naked, with my hands tied behind my back, and I had like a gag in my mouth. I had to walk outside, down the street, and anyone who wanted could do anything they wanted with me."
"Anyone?"
"Anyone."
"Anything?"
"Anything at all."
"Hmm. We could make that happen."
Jen's face turned a little red, and she looked out the window for a moment, her lips parted a little.
"Next?"
"Okay."
Christina took the quarter, her eyes twinkling a bit as she glanced over Jen.
"Let's try this again."
She perched the coin on her thumb. "Call it, girls."
"Tails."
"Heads."
"Heads."
She flipped the quarter and expertly caught it with her palm.
"Heads it is." That means you're up, Care."
Carrie looked away for a moment.
"My fantasy? Truth?"
"Truth, obviously."
"I don't want to say, but." She paused. "Being forced. A guy holds me down, tears off my shirt and bra, pulls down everything, and pushes himself into me. In a public space, but no one helps, and everyone can see."
"Rape."
"Forced, anyway."
"Have you ever been?"
"Nope." Her voice quavered a little.
"Hm."
We laughed a little uncomfortably. They looked at me. I paused.
"I've never been with a girl. I guess I've wondered what it's like to be. Touched. Kissed. Licked. Or to do it."
"Not very explicit, hon."