“Yoooooooo.”
Alex stood in my doorway with a six-pack in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other.
“Pregaming?” I stuffed the last bite of pizza into my mouth.
“You know it. Get your ass downstairs.”
He disappeared down the hallway, shouting for Matt to meet us in the living room.
I wiped my hands on a napkin, got up from my dorm couch, and grabbed my phone and keys. Tucking them into my pockets, I followed Alex downstairs.
When I walked into the living room, Matt was already there. Three shot glasses half-filled with vodka sat on the coffee table.
“Half shots?” I flopped onto the other side of the sofa from where Alex was sprawled.
“This is the good shit.” He pointed to the label. “You fuckers get full shots when it’s your asses paying for it.”
“Fair enough.”
Alex and I were in our last year of college. We’d become friends freshman year and had been close ever since. Last year, we’d both moved into the shared house. Matt had moved in after our other roommates had graduated last year.
Matt was cool. He cleaned up after himself, liked to party, and was a genuinely nice guy.
“Want to up the pregaming?” Matt picked up his shot glass.
“I’m intrigued,” Alex said.
“Ever played Never Have I Ever?”
Alex grinned. “Who hasn’t? Beck, you in?”
Alex knew enough about me that he could get me plastered in about ten minutes flat.
“Sure. But we’re switching to beer. I’d like to actually get to the party and not pass out on the couch.”
“You good with mixing?” Alex asked Matt.
“Fuck yeah.” He shot back his vodka and slapped the glass on the table.
Alex and I did the same. He handed me a beer, which I cracked open, then slurped up some foam that spilled over the top.
“Finn!” Matt called.
Our roomie hurried past the living room but came back and hovered in the doorway, his gaze darting across the room. Since he moved in, Finn had spent most of his time in his room. The few times I’d bumped into him in the hallway, he’d greeted me politely, then shuffled away quickly.
“Want to join us?” Alex asked.
“What are you doing?”
“Pregaming with a game of Never Have I Ever.”
“I don’t know that one.”
We gaped at him. How could someone be in college and not know how to play?
“We’ll teach you.” Matt gave him an encouraging smile.
Finn glanced between us, then at the table, with the rest of the six-pack and the nearly full bottle of vodka.
“We’re doing beer, not hard shit.” Maybe he wasn’t used to drinking straight vodka?
“Um. Okay. Sure.” He came into the living room and put his bookbag on the floor. “I’m not going out, though.”
“You don’t need to be going somewhere to enjoy a drinking game with your roomies.” Matt beamed at him. “It’ll be nice to get to know everyone.”
Finn gave him a shy smile.
“So the rules are simple.”
He turned to me, his expression intense.
“We go around the circle, and everyone says something they haven’t done. If you have, you take a drink. If you haven’t, you don’t.”
“That seems simple enough.” He bit his lip. “Sure. I’m in.”
Alex handed him a beer, and we waited as he opened it.
“Matt, how about you go first, since it was your idea?”
Matt grinned. “Never have I ever hit on a friend’s mom.”
Alex and I both drank.
“Seriously?” Alex asked Matt. “You don’t have any friends with hot moms?”
“Plenty. I’ve just never hit on them.”
“Such a gentleman,” I teased. “Who’s next?”
Alex raised his glass. “Never have I ever hooked up with a friend’s sister.”
None of us drank.
“Guess we’re all gentlemen.” Matt leaned back in his chair. “Beck.”
“Um.” Shit, I had to say something. “Never have I ever worn women’s underwear.”
“Fucker.” Alex took a drink.
Matt laughed and also drank.
“Finn, your turn.”
He rolled his glass through his fingers, his cheeks flushed. “Never have I ever cheated on a test.”
The three of us drank.
“Never have I ever flirted with a professor to get a better grade.” Matt grinned.
None of us drank.
“Never have I ever had a threesome,” Alex said.
Matt drank.
I nudged him with my foot. “Dude. We need story time.”
“Freshman year, two chicks went down on me.” He shrugged like it was no big deal and he’d told us he’d had a ham sandwich for lunch.
“That’s not a threesome,” Alex protested.
“There were three of them, and he got his dick sucked. It counts,” I said.
“Jealous?” Matt poked Alex in the side.
“Hell yeah.” Alex gave him a look that clearly said duh.
“My turn.” I was into the game now. “Never have I ever had sex with two different people in one day.”
Alex shot me a grin and drank.
“Finn?” I said when he didn’t say anything.
“Um. Never have I ever hooked up with a stranger.”
The three of us drank.
Matt was silent for a few beats. “Never have I ever had sex in public.”
Alex and I both drank.
“Never have I ever mooned anyone.” Alex smirked at me.
“Asshole.” I was the only one who drank.
“Never have I ever slept with someone twice my age.”
Alex shot me a glare but raised his glass to his lips.
“Story time,” Matt crowed.
“Last year I met up with someone I’d been talking with online. She said she was twenty-nine, but she showed up, and she was obviously in her early forties.”
“And you still hooked up with her?”
He shrugged. “She was hot. And older women are where it’s at. They’ve got skills, and they appreciate our stamina.” He toasted Matt with his glass.
Matt raised his glass. “Huh, never thought of it like that.”
“Finn?” I asked.
He didn’t look uncomfortable, per se, but his cheeks were flushed, and he had a hard time looking any of us in the eye.
Shit. Had he had a drink yet?
We kept playing, each question getting dirtier and more ridiculous than the last, until Alex, Matt, and I were nearly done with our second beers.
Finn still hadn’t taken a single sip.
“I think it’s time for the lightning round.” Alex glanced at his phone. “It’s almost time to head out.”
“How do you play that?” Matt asked.
“Same rules. You say something you’ve never done. If no one drinks, you take a shot. If someone does, you chug some beer. Three rounds to get nice and ready to hit the Kappa party. You in?”
“Sounds good,” Matt said.
“Beck?”
“Hell yeah. I want more of that good shit you buy.”
Finn bit his lip. “Is it a shot of straight vodka?”
“You can stick with beer if you’re not used to the hard stuff,” I said quickly.
“Sure. I can do that.” He swallowed and put his beer on the table.
Alex filled the shot glasses, then handed Finn a plastic cup. “You can use this.”
Finn poured a few inches of beer into the cup.
“Matt. You start.”
He tapped his chin with his finger and pursed his lips.
“I can practically see the steam coming out of your ears,” Alex teased.
“It’s hard to think of something you crazy fuckers might not have done.” He sat up. “Got it. Never have I ever been arrested.”
No one drank.
Matt shot back his vodka. “Damn. That’s good shit.”
“Told ya.” Alex picked up his glass. “Never have I ever gotten caught cheating.” He grinned when no one drank.
What would be a good question? “Never have I ever given someone a lap dance.”
When everyone stayed still, I took my shot, the booze burning a trail down my throat.
He’d bought the good shit, and a pleasant flush spread through my chest.
“Never have I ever hooked up with a friend,” Finn said.
We all took a drink of beer.
“Drink up,” Matt encouraged.
Finn lifted the cup to his lips and took a long swallow, then promptly choked.
The three of us pretended we didn’t notice as he coughed and patted his chest.
“Never have I ever gotten a speeding ticket,” Matt said.
“Sorry, sucker.” Alex chugged the rest of his beer.
“Of course you have,” Matt sipped his beer, not fazed at all.
“Never have I ever paid for sex,” Alex said, a big grin on his face.
No one drank.
He took another shot and looked at me.
“Never have I ever had jury duty.”
When no one moved, I took my shot.
“Never have I ever had a one-night stand,” Finn said quietly.
The three of us sipped our beers. Finn refilled his glass and drank down his beer.
This time he didn’t cough. I shot him a smile, and his answering one made something in my chest flutter.
He was finally starting to relax.
“Never have I ever streaked.” Matt said.
I snorted as Alex took a shot. Last year, he’d accepted a five-dollar dare and had run across the quad at midnight, naked as the day he was born.
“Never have I ever slept with a professor,” Alex said.
“Never have I ever failed a class,” I tried as Alex took his shot.
I shot back what would hopefully be my last drink. I was feeling it. Too many more and I wouldn’t make it out the door.
“Never have I ever had sex.”
With a wry smile, Finn raised his cup and saluted us, then drank down what was left in it.
He was still a virgin?
Not that there was anything wrong with that, but it surprised me.
Objectively, Finn was good looking. He had that cute nerd thing going on, and the contrast between his dark hair and blue eyes was striking. He was fit but lean, like he was naturally slender and didn’t need to work out to maintain his shape.
He seemed shy and quiet. But I knew tons of girls who were into that sort of thing.
Was there some other reason he hadn’t had sex yet?
An elbow in my side jolted me out of my thoughts. Alex looked at me pointedly.
“Sorry, what?”
“I asked if you were ready to head out.”
“Sure.” I got up. “Matt, you coming with?”
“You know it.”
“I’ll see you guys later.” Finn stood and shouldered his bag. “Have fun.”
I watched him leave the living room, my thoughts straying to how he hadn’t had a single drink until the lightning round.
Alex slapped my shoulder, and I tore my gaze from the empty stairs.
“You good?” he asked, concern etched on his face.
“Fine.” The booze had kicked in, and warmth spread through me.
Twenty more minutes and I’d be good and tipsy.
Perfect.
