"Ohhhh, momma!"
Maggie stopped in the narrow hallway of the party house and snatched her friend's wrist. She waited for a moment, listening. A strand of brunette hair fell loose from her bun and dangled in front of her hazel eyes. She combed it behind her ear. "Tulip, did you hear that?"
At Maggie's right stood a tan girl with a dark curly pixie hairstyle. She heightened a brow. "Yeah..."
They both turned to the door on their left, inched closer.
"Ooooo, momma!" the male voice groaned again.
The girls jumped back and looked at each other in a mixture of shock and glee.
"Should we..." Maggie flicked her eyebrows in excitement.
"No..." Tulip started to turn way but spun right back. "Yeah!"
The two friends eased even closer. Maggie grabbed the door handle and turned it ever so gently. The door creaked open, and they snuck a peek through the slit.
The light was on, ceiling fan on a low twirl. Just below, a young man knelt on the foot of the king-sized bed. He was completely naked: thin shredded torso and average veiny erection. His arms were stretched wide, as though tied to the walls by an invisible rope.
Maggie and Tulip whipped their heads to one another before withdrawing their iPhones.
"It's Joss." Maggie flipped to her camera and video-recorded the scene.
"What the hell is he doing?" Tulip asked while typing a text. "They have to see this."
"Ah—grrhhhh!" Joss trembled and threw his head back. He appeared to be pulling against the invisible binds. His body locked up. His face became red, but the head of his cock turned a deep purple. He quaked as a stream of ejaculate shot across the room and splattered the chest-of-drawers.
"Oh shit..." Maggie's eyes broadened.
Tulip glanced up from her text. "What happened?"
"Ever heard of Pompeii?" Maggie held Joss in the frame of her iPhone. Semen dripped from the tip of his cock, left a gooey white trail across the carpet, and dribbled down the dresser drawers. The sight briefly entranced Maggie, but she wagged her head and turned to her friend. "Don't worry. I got it."
A buzz of whispers sounded from down the hall just as a herd of people came around the corner. With plastic cups in their hands, filled with frothy booze, they approached Maggie and Tulip. Their voices hushed into soft whispers.
Once they gathered around, Maggie counted down with her hand. "One... two... three!" She swung the door open and rushed inside with the crowd on her heels.
The invisible ropes released Joss. His arms flopped to his sides. He hunched forward, catching his breath. As the party-goers ridiculed him, he just lay still while staring off into space. He didn't care to acknowledge anyone or scramble for his clothes.
People filed in, one after another. They giggled, snapped photos, and murmured about the popular boy's predicament.
A gold cube, the size of a baseball, materialized in thin air. The device dropped to the carpet and rolled against Tulip's cognac dress boot.
"What the hell?" Tulip picked the cube up. She checked over each shoulder, at the crowd, but no one seemed to notice the object but her. Their full attention was on Joss. After giving it a quick look, Tulip stuffed the cube in her purse.
***
"What the hell is that?"
On a brown leather sofa, Tulip fidgeted with the gold cube. "I don't know, like a Rubik's cube I guess? I saw it in that room Joss was in."
People congested the large dining room of the party house, in their separate huddles. A few stragglers staggered through, spilling their beer on the carpet. Chatter filled the air, along with heavy bass from an upbeat song in the background.
From a loveseat across from Tulip, Maggie narrowed her gaze on the device. She raised her voice over the crowd noise and music. "Looks more ancient, valuable. You better go put it back."
"It was on the floor..." Tulip rotated the cube's left side. It clicked as it moved. "...can't be that valuable."