Just a Game Ch. 01

"Truth or dare, Aves?"

"Come on you guys, don't you think we're a little bit too old for this game?" Cass rolled her eyes and topped off her wine glass.

"Hell no. You're never too old for truth or dare." Jill drained her glass and held it out to Cass for a refill, but she only filled it half-way. Jill pouted and continued to hold the glass out. "I live two blocks away. I'm walking home."

"Fine," she said, filling Jill's glass. "But you know I hate truth or dare."

"Still? God, that was so long ago."

"And yet it remains one of the most mortifying moments of my life."

"Oh come on Cass, lighten up. It's just a game."

"Truth," Avery interrupted, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

"God, y'all are so boring."

Jill's voice had taken on that whiney, belligerent tone that meant she was on the verge of getting obnoxiously drunk and Cass sighed to herself as she refilled Avery's glass and settled back into the couch between her two oldest friends. She missed them like crazy while they were all away at school, but it was funny how quickly they fell back into their old, tired roles when they got together. Last week they'd all been so busy with Christmas that this was their first chance to really hang out and now she was questioning the wisdom of opening a bottle of wine for the occasion.

"Dares aren't as much fun when there aren't any guys around. We might as well catch up on girl talk." Avery poked Cass with her bare toes and winked at her sympathetically.

"Well, I beg to differ on that score. My new roommate this semester showed me a thing or two about the kind of fun you can have when there are no guys around. But if you guys aren't up for some real fun, then fine. Aves, here's your question: did you screw that English professor you were crushing on?"

Avery laughed and shook her head. "No, he's still sexy as hell in his little tweed jacket, but I spared him the full force of my feminine wiles. I'm about to declare an English major and it would make for some awkward advisor meetings. Truth or dare Jill?"

"No one ever accused me of being boring. I'll take a dare."

"I dare you to take your panties off and wear them on your head."

Avery and Cass dissolved into giggles and Jill heaved a sigh as she stood and reached under her short denim skirt to work her underwear down.

"Oh my god, what are we twelve? This is not what I meant when I said I learned a thing or two." She may have complained, but Jill couldn't keep her giggles entirely under wraps as she pulled her short brown ponytail up through the leg hole of her red thong, sat primly down on the couch and turned to Cass with exaggerated dignity. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Of course. Do you have a vibrator?"

"Oh my god! No, I don't have a vibrator. Gross, Jill."

"It's not gross, you prude, it's a necessity. Maybe I'll return that silk shirt and get you one of those for Christmas instead. You look like you need to loosen up a little. Something's got you more stressed out than usual."

"No, I love that shirt. And I'm not stressed out. Please, I'm begging you. Do not get me a vibrator. Help me out here, Aves."

"Sorry Cass, I'm gonna have to go with Jill on this one. I love mine. Both of them. Sometimes at the same time."

"That's what I'm talking about!"

Jill and Avery high fived over her head and Cass tried to force her blush back into hiding. This was one of those times she wondered if she was the weird one or if her friends were. The thought of owning a vibrator, let alone getting one from someone else as a gift was enough to make her beet red, but her best friends didn't seem to find it embarrassing in the least. In fact, they were currently comparing their sex toys' sizes and features, casual as could be, as if they had been using them for years. Heck, maybe they had.

She took another long sip of wine, determined to loosen up a little and have fun while she could. Despite her denial, the truth was that she was stressed out. Maybe it had something to do with her sixteen course hours, ten hours a week of work study, mandatory workouts at five in the morning so she could keep her dance team scholarship, and trying to fit in time for her new boyfriend. Now that she had a few weeks off with absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to be, she wanted to take full advantage. Even being away from Trey was something of a relief, though it made her feel guilty to admit it.

After a liter bottle of wine and nearly an hour later the increasingly silly game of truth or dare was interrupted when headlights swept up the driveway and all three girls turned to the window to watch an old gold Honda pull into the garage. Cass hurriedly took her bra off the outside of her thin sweater, the result of accepting a dare from Avery, and shoved it under a couch cushion, hoping that it wasn't too obvious that her nipples were enjoying the soft tickle of the cashmere a little more than they should.

"I thought you said your parents left already," Jill accused.

"Their cruise left this morning, they won't be back until New Year's Day. That's just Aaron. His car's full of crap from his apartment so he took Shelly to dinner in Dad's car."

"Who's Shelly?"

"His girlfriend. Sorry Aves. She showed up this morning, supposedly to help Aaron move."

Avery shrugged and gave her a smile that was only mildly disappointed. "I'm not worried. We'll be in the same city now. One of these days I'm gonna run into him when he's single and he'll realize I'm the woman he's been waiting for all his life."

"Keep dreaming, that guy is never single. But in the meantime there's always Bob," Jill snickered.

"Who's Bob? Have you been holding out on me?" Cass turned to Avery, shocked and a little hurt that she'd share news of a new guy with Jill and not her.

"Battery operated boyfriend, Cass. B-O-B."

"Oh, right. The vibrator."

The garage door opened and the kitchen filled with deep male voices, halting the girls' conversation. Cass's stomach did a flip-flop as she recognized a familiar voice that didn't belong to her brother.

"Oh boy, The Dick is here. This night just got a lot more interesting."

"Shut up, Jill. He'll hear you," Cass hissed. "Damn it, Aaron didn't tell me Gabe was coming over or I'd have-"

"Dressed nicer?" Jill asked.

"Put on some make-up?" Avery offered.

"Brought the wine to Jill's house. Good grief." Cass rolled her eyes at her friends and tried to ignore the blush she could feel welling up from her chest.

"Well hello, ladies!" In walked a taller, more masculine version of Cass with the same wide smile, dark red hair, and deep chocolate brown eyes ringed with long auburn lashes. But where Cass's features were pretty, delicate, almost bird-like, her brother Aaron's had a rugged handsomeness that no one would venture to call pretty. Not since he was about fifteen and earned his black belt, at any rate. An Atlanta Braves baseball cap held his shaggy hair back out of his face but didn't hide the twinkle in his eyes at the sight of his sister and her friends drinking in the living room.

"Jill, Avery, nice to see you. Hope you had a Merry Christmas. Shelly, these are Cass's friends, or as I like to call them, bad influences. Ladies, this is Shelly."

Aaron left the petite blonde sulking in the doorway and swooped down to plant a kiss on each girl's cheek. He paused to look curiously at Jill's head-wear while Jill grinned back at him, completely unabashed. "Now I know you girls can't be drunk, since not a-one of you are old enough to be drinking."

"Delinquents, the lot of them. Call the law, bro."

The laugh died on Cass' lips and she felt the burn of the blush creeping up her neck. She folded her arms over her braless chest and tried not to watch as Aaron's best friend Gabe loped into the room and flopped into the recliner, stretching his long legs out in front of him. His dark brown hair wasn't quite long enough for the ponytail he was trying to pull off and strands fell messily in his face, giving the impression he'd just climbed out of bed. He rolled a toothpick back and forth across his lips with his tongue as he smirked at the girls on the couch.

"Cute hat, Jill. Very festive."

"Thanks. We're playing truth or dare. Y'all want to join us?"

"No!" Shelly and Cass both exclaimed then looked at each other in surprise.

Aaron ignored both of their outbursts and shook his head. "Nah, we're gonna take the new Playstation for a test run."

"I can't believe Mom and Dad got you that."

"Don't be jealous sis, green doesn't suit you."

"I can't help it. These don't quite compare to a state of the art gaming system." Cass unfolded her legs and stuck her feet in the air to show off a pair of red knee high socks decorated with snowflakes. Little red pom poms dangled against her knees and when Aaron leaned over and flicked one, it tinkled.

"Mine was a combo Christmas, graduation, and house warming present. And don't look a gift horse in the mouth, I bet you'll be the only girl in your dorm with jingling socks. Plus, aren't Mom and Dad funding all your dance stuff this year?"

She wasn't really jealous of her brother. They were all proud of Aaron finishing his degree early and getting in to the masters program at Emory, but she heaved a dramatic sigh and feigned envy just to tease him. "Yeah they are. And Mom's knitting is getting better so I guess I can't complain too much. The ones she made last year would have fit a sasquatch."

"Well if the sock fits..."

Cass flipped Gabe the bird without looking at him, eliciting an irritatingly amused chuckle from him.

"What? I'm just saying. It's not like your feet could be called dainty."

"Jealous much?" She looked up at him with an arched eyebrow. "I know you must be sensitive about your tiny...feet."

"My feet are plenty big. I've never heard any complaints."

"Not that you stick around long enough to listen to them," Aaron said with a crooked grin.

"Fuck off, Aaron."

"Don't you guys have princesses you need to save or something?" Cass asked in a bored tone.

"Yeah, come on man. Let's go fire that bad boy up." Aaron rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Aaron, sweetie, I thought we were gonna spend tonight together. I'm only in town for a few days, you know." Shelly's whine was like fingernails on a chalkboard and Cass wasn't the only person in the room cringing.

"We are gonna spend tonight together. In my room. Playing Call of Duty with Gabe. Who I haven't seen in months."

"Shelly, you're welcome to hang out down here with us and the wine." Cass smiled at her brother's new girlfriend, ignoring the annoyed huffs from either side of her on the couch. She'd been privy to enough video game nights over the years to not wish that fate on any woman, no matter how annoying her voice was.

"Uh, no. I don't think so." Shelly's voice could, apparently, get more obnoxious, especially when she was trying to sound condescending. "But thanks," she added unconvincingly after a glare from Aaron.

"Come on, then. Let's leave these three to whatever the hell it was they were doing before we so rudely interrupted." Aaron turned Shelly away and nudged her toward stairs, slapping her butt as she went. "You girls don't get too rowdy or I'll have to come confiscate your contraband."

"I'd like to see you try. Three against one, I think we can take you." Avery shot Aaron a challenging smirk, bolder now that the competition was out of the room.

"Ah, but I've got Gabe on my side and we're both black belts so I'm pretty sure if it came down to a brawl we'd have the advantage." Aaron said, turning his brilliant grin on Avery.

"One flash of boob and Gabe would switch sides in a heartbeat," Jill said with a wink at Gabe.

"Sorry man, she speaks the truth. Boobs are very persuasive."

Before Aaron could answer, Shelly's voice penetrated the laughter. "Aaron, sweetie, are you COMING?"

Aaron rolled his eyes and glanced over his shoulder. "You can see my boobs any time, bro. All you gotta do is ask." With a grin and a pinch of his nipple, Aaron turned and left the room.

Gabe sighed as he watched his friend walk away. "I love your brother Cassie, but his taste in women is highly questionable."

"It's Cass."

"What?"

"My name is Cass. Catch up, genius. No one's called me Cassie since I was fourteen." In her peripheral vision Cass could see Avery and Jill gazing casually around the room as if they didn't notice the awkward moment.

"Okay. Cass. Well, like I was saying, I've only known her for half an hour and I'm ready to puncture my own eardrums. I can't imagine what Aaron sees in her."

"Maybe she sucks dick like a pro."

The stunned look on his face as well as the faces of her two best friends was extremely gratifying until she realized what she'd just said. And to whom. God, there was a good reason she didn't drink very often.

...

Gabe walked downstairs having given the excuse of needing another beer, shaking his head at the idea that there was anyone in the world annoying enough to run him off when Call of Duty was available. Knowing his friend as well as he did, he doubted this girl was going to be around much longer. It was clear that Aaron was already irritated with her when they'd picked him up after dinner and Gabe suspected it was only his ingrained southern hospitality that kept him from going off on her after she'd been so rude to Cassie. Cass. Whatever.

Just as his foot hit the bottom stair he heard something that immediately snapped his thoughts away from his best friend's woman problems. If he didn't know better he'd be sure he'd just heard someone say the word orgasm. Damn, those girls must be pretty drunk by now; they'd been well on their way to toasted earlier this evening. Even Cassie seemed to have cut loose. Shit. Cass.

Well, loose for her, which wasn't actually saying a whole lot since she was usually pretty uptight. He couldn't even remember the last time she'd joked with him like she had tonight. Coming from someone like Jill that sucking dick comment would have just made him laugh. But there was something about those words falling from Cassie's sweet, innocent-looking lips that knocked the breath out of him and made his mouth go dry. The sudden mental image of those same lips sucking his dick like a pro hadn't helped the situation any.

He chuckled remembering how he'd stammered an unintelligible response and rushed from the room before his dick got too hard to risk standing up. Fortunately thirty seconds in a room with Aaron's future ex-girlfriend had gotten rid of that little problem for him; but now it seemed he might be up for more trouble. Without even realizing what he was doing he moved closer to the living room door to see if he could hear what they were saying.

"...not like I'm a freak or anything, stop looking at me like that."

His lips twitched into an unconscious smile when he heard Cassie's voice sounding husky and slightly slurred. Cass. Fuck it; she'd always be Cassie to him. If it bothered her, tough shit.

"But you've been going out with Trey for like three months, haven't you?"

Interesting. Cassie had a boyfriend.

"Yeah, almost."

"And in all that time he hasn't hit the right buttons, not even once?"

"Nope."

Hold on, were they talking about what he thought they were talking about?

"You guys are actually fucking, right?" Jill's sarcastic voice was twice as loud as the other two.

Maybe he shouldn't be hearing this. No, he definitely shouldn't be hearing this, but no way was he walking away now. Not until she answered that question, anyway.

"Well, I did make him wait for it, but if you look in your call log under October 24th I'm sure you'll find the text I sent you like ten minutes after we consummated our relationship."

He heard Avery's musical giggle. "It was all caps and had like fifteen exclamation points. I just assumed it must have been good if you were that excited."

"Just because I didn't...you know...doesn't mean it wasn't good."

"Yeah, it does," both the other girls said in unison.

Gabe couldn't help but agree with them.

"I'm having a really hard time with this," Jill continued. "The idea of screwing a guy for almost two months and never once having an orgasm just does not compute for me. What's the point?"

"It's not like sex is the most important part of a relationship."

"It ranks pretty damn high on the list. And it's kind of like a litmus test for the rest of your relationship, you know? Like, if he doesn't care enough to make the effort to get you there, what the fuck kind of man is he?"

Jill might be trashed, but she was making perfect sense to Gabe.

"Maybe it's not him that's the problem. Maybe there's just something wrong with me."

Oh fuck no. He looked down in surprise when he noticed his fists were clenched. This was protectiveness, right? Cassie was like a little sister to him and she sounded dejected; this had to be what any guy would feel like hearing his little sister sound so down on herself because of some selfish asshole.

"Of course there's nothing wrong with you," Avery assured her. "I mean, you've been with other guys. It's never been a problem before, right?"

The room was silent for a minute and Gabe had to tamp down the urge to crane his head around to take a peek.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jill's abrasive voice finally broke the silence.

"No, that's why I think it's just me. I mean, in high school I got close a few times when Greg went down on me, but every time I thought it was about to happen he'd stop and tell me to quit wiggling and keep it down. Brian had never heard the word foreplay and couldn't last longer than a couple minutes so I never even got close. I was just really hoping things would be different with Trey."

Gabe stifled a groan. He wasn't sure if it came from irritation with the selfish bastards Cassie seemed to go out with or the lingering image of her moaning loud and wiggling around.

"Boy you sure can pick 'em."

Once again, Jill echoed his thoughts...part of them, anyway.

"No, they aren't that bad. Greg was just afraid his mom would hear me and know we weren't studying. Brian and I were both virgins and neither of us knew what we were doing. And Trey...well let's just that he may be under the impression that I'm, you know, enjoying things more than I really am."

"You're faking?" Jill's voice rang out through the house and even Gabe froze for a minute, afraid Aaron was going to come investigate.

"Can you keep it down please? God, why are we even talking about this?"

"Because you're drunk enough to be honest with us and we love you and want to help you."

"Thanks Aves."

"But he'll never figure out what you like if you keep faking."

"I didn't do it on purpose. Not the first time, anyway. I thought it was going good, I was enjoying things and then...bam. It was over. And he looked so happy when he asked me if I...you know-"

"Came? Orgasmed? Climaxed? Pick a word, Cass."

"Shut up Jill. Anyway, I felt bad so I just said yes."

"Well, you should have been straight with him, but if he was paying the least bit of attention or had any clue what he was doing in the first place, he'd have known you didn't come. If not the first time, he definitely should have picked up on it by now."

Yes. That. Listen to Jill.

"Have you ever had one, Cass? Like by yourself?" Avery asked hesitantly.

"A couple of times, maybe."

"Maybe? Girl, there should be no such thing as maybe when you are talking about orgasms. I am SO getting you that vibrator."

Gabe didn't hear Cass's vehement objections or Avery's barely stifled giggles. He was overwhelmed by the mental image of Cassie naked on a bed- his bed by the way, not that it mattered- with her legs splayed wide and a vibrator pressed tightly to her wet flesh as her back arched up in mid-climax.