“It’s just a party, Ishu.”
“I know.” She takes a deep breath, and gives me a pained smile.” Should we …？”
And we do.
The sitting room is full up with people. The couches and armchairs have people draped all over them. Sitting, crouching, leaning. There are even a few people on the floor, which is basically blasphemous for white people as far as I know. There’s music thumping along in the background, but it’s too low to overpower the chatter—you can only really hear the bass.
“Hey, guys!” Aisling waves over from where she is on the couch, basically at the center of everyone’s attention. “Good thing you’re here. Now we can finally start the party.”
“You could have started without us. Aren’t there more people coming?” I ask.
“A few, but we wouldn’t do anything without you, Maira.” Aisling says in the sweetest voice possible. That’s how I know that she has something planned. Probably something to do with Ishu. They’ve never got along, after all.
Aisling nods to a few people beside her to move along and make a space for us. She pats the empty spot next to her. It’s really a tiny couch meant for two people, but somehow Ishu and I manage to squeeze in beside her. I sit in the middle. I don’t think putting Aisling and Ishu side by side is a good idea.
“We were going to play Kings,” Dee says, bringing out a couple of bottles that I’m sure I’ve seen locked in a cupboard above their sink before. I doubt Dee’s parents know that she’s decided to sneak their drinks into the party, and I’m sure they won’t appreciate it when they inevitably find out. This plan has Aisling written all over it.
“What’s Kings?” I ask.
“It’s a drinking game.” Aisling grins. “The rules are a little complicated but you’ll pick up on it.”
“Why can’t we play a fun game? Like Never Have I Ever?” asks one of the other girls, rolling her eyes at the idea of playing Kings.
“Because Never Have I Ever is boring and cliché,” says Aisling. Her tone is harsher than it needs to be but nobody bats an eyelash at it.
Dee passes around shots to everyone as Aisling divides us into two teams. The three of us and Dee are all on the same team.
Ishu nudges me with her shoulder as Aisling is explaining the rules.
“Um, do you want me to tell them that you don’t drink?” she whispers, leaning into me and sending a shiver down my spine.
I shake my head. I definitely don’t want Ishu to have to deal with that. I hardly want to deal with it myself. But my options are pretty limited here. I’m obviously not going to drink for the sake of this game, but I also don’t want to announce myself as the odd one out in the middle of this party.
I chew on my lips, weighing my options. If Dee or Aisling notice my discomfort, they don’t say anything. I don’t know how they don’t notice, or how they don’t realize that this is not an appropriate game to ask me to play. They know—they have known for a long time—that I don’t drink. When they slink off somewhere under the blanket of the evening darkness and the seclusion of an open field to sneak a drink, I don’t join them. Or on the rare occasion that I do, it’s just to have a chat. What did they think all of that was?
“Okay, everybody clear?” Aisling asks when she has finished explaining the rules. Most people in the room look like they have absolutely no idea what they’re supposed to be doing. Aisling looks like she doesn’t care. “You’ll get the hang of it as we go along.”
“Aisling,” I say. “I think you’ll need someone else for this team.” I’m hoping she and Dee will just find another way to divide the teams instead of drawing attention to me, but Aisling whips her head around and looks at me with narrowed eyes.
“Why?” I can’t tell if she’s being deliberately obtuse or if she really doesn’t know. Maybe she’s already been drinking, though it doesn’t seem like it from the clarity in her gaze and voice.
“Because … I can’t play,” I try again.
“You have to play,” Dee chirps. “It’s my birthday. You can’t not play the game I want to play on my birthday!”
Now everybody has turned to look at the couch where the three of us are sitting. Exactly what I was trying to avoid.
I can feel Ishu tense beside me, and I just hope that she won’t say anything. Ishu will only make things a thousand times worse.