"My God! I can't believe it!" Justin exclaimed as he sunk down into a orange bean bag probably last used in the mid 90's. A cloud of dust made him cough briefly.
It was Friday afternoon and all five Walker siblings had by Nora been sent on a road-trip to the family's old ranch. Well actually, she had only asked Kevin and Tommy to go there and fetch some left over box from the attic. Things had been so hectic when she had visited last, so they were left behind.
When the other siblings had heard about the trip they had all wanted to come, and decided to make it a day. They were to come home safe and sound Friday night, after a short nostalgic journey.
Little had they known that a storm was rolling in, and now they were stuck in the house with the wind howling and the rain rattling on the roof and windows. They had all agreed it would be plain stupid to drive in this weather, and were now calling their awaiting respectives to let them know about the situation.
"Mum was all hysterical and I'm quite sure she thinks we're all gonna die out here." Sarah says as she returns, waving her cell phone in the air.
"I know, sweetie… I love you too. Bye."
"I hope what was Scotty." Kitty says while raising an eyebrow at Kevin when he enters the room. He answers her with a wrinkled nose and walks over to sit down on a very questionable easy-chair.
"It was very nice of the new owners to let us stumble in here when they're away, but I don't know if I'm comfortable ransacking their kitchen for food."
"Well, they've had this place for quite a while now, and the whole place is already covered in dust – we're allowed to make sure my blood sugar doesn't kill you all." Kevin Tommy gives Kitty a sharp look and drags her into the kitchen.
Two hours later, and the five of them are spread out all over the living room. They're all quiet, and extremely bored. They had tried to cheer themselves up by going through the house for whine or beer or anything with alcohol. They had found some red liquid in an unlabeled bottle in the garage, but they left it there. When they had almost given up, they found a whole bottles of tequila.
"What are we gonna do? We can't just hit here all night. The storm can go on for hours." Justin was the only one sober when his brothers and sisters were starting to get drunk from the tequila.
"I know what we should do!" Sarah shouts. "We should play truth or dare!"
A collective moan goes through the room.
"Not happening. I'd rather walk home." Kevin takes another drink. He passes the bottle to Kitty. She frowned, shakes her head and takes one too.
"Truth or dare is just a way of hiding that you want to make out with the entire room." She says. "And I don't want to. No offence."
"None taken. You're drunk." Kevin pokes Kitty with one finger, which makes her fall over, even though she's already sitting down on the floor. She had noticed it was cleaner than all the sitting furniture, but now she couldn't tell the difference.
The room was silence for a couple of minutes.
"How about Have you ever?"
"Sarah! Do we have to? Can't we just talk?" Tommy says.
"No, I think we should do it!" Kevin replies. "I think it's a great idea."
"Thank you, brother. Okay, you all know the rules. You get to ask a question aimed for anyone we want, and that person gets to ask the next one."
When no one is objecting Sarah continues.
"I start." She swallows a hick-up. "Justin. Have you ever kissed a girl?" She pitches her voice and the end of the question, making it sound like she talks to a child.
"Yeah." Justin looks a bit insulted.
"Have you?" Sarah looks a bit taken by surprise at first.
"Yes."
"What?" Kevin would've stood up, had he been able to balance his body.
"I was 16 and drunk. And it was on a dare. Not'n. Me 'gan. Kevin!" Sarah thinks for a while, then chuckles. "Do you spit or swallow?"
"Oh, Sarah, I don't want to know this." Tommy reaches for the half-empty tequila bottle.
"Oh, come on! Don't be such a party-pooper. Kevin, what is it?"
Kevin tries to look as if he doesn't care, but fails and just looks numb.
"Whatever. I alternate."
"Eww!" Comes from the entire room.
"What? You asked. Like you don't do it, Kitty."
Kitty points her finger to Kevin, but stays quiet. Kevin looks around before deciding who to ask.
"Tommy! Don't moan! Which is the weirdest place you ever did it? And if you answer the foot of the bed, I'll disown you."
"Ha. Ha. Eh… I guess like, I dunno… Mom and dad's bed."
"What? That's zzzick." Kevin points a very unstable finger at her brother.
"Like you're that much better, Kits. You slept with that guy… whatwashisname? Like John or something, in school!"
The reactions from the other three are loud, and Kitty makes a lame attempt to explain.
"And I thought I was cool. I've ever only done it in an airplane." Sarah looks a bit disappointed.
"Even I've done that." Kevin adds.
All four of them looks at Justin.
"What? I've never done it either mum and dad's bed, school or in an airplane. I think my most exciting spot was the foot of the bed, actually."
"Who knew you were so conventional."
"That means so much, coming from a republican like yourself, Kits." Justin smirks.
When it seems like no one remember who was next, Sarah starts to talk. "Kev. Who was your first time?"
Kevin sighs. "That would be Sara Gimble, we met here actually." Before Kevin had time to proceed to next loss of virginity, Kitty spoke.
"I smoked pot once."
Everybody got quiet, staring at their oldest sister.
"I'm sorry. It was only once, and I'm really sorry." Kitty tried to explain. She immediately regretted telling, but it was definitely too late. Chances were Kevin, Sarah and Tommy would have no re-collection of the entire night tomorrow, but Justin would without doubt remember every single word.
"Justin…"
"It's cool, sister. You weren't the one who led me into it. No hard feelings."
"Justin, I'm so sorry. You can hate me if you want. I'll make pancakes for you tomorrow morning. I love you, little brother."
"Kitty, if you do love me, you won't make me pancakes."
"Who did lead you into it?" Tommy asked.
"Uh… this guy I met here one summer. Tucker Booth."
Both Sarah and Kevin sit up straight by the mention of that name.
"What!" Kevin exclaims "He was my first too! Or second, whatever."
Sarah looks disturbed. "You did it with him? With Tucker? I did too. He was my first too."
It takes a couple of minutes before they all calm down. The revelation that Sarah and Kevin both lost their virginity to the same guy in the same place, was quite unsettleling.
"And I had such a crush on him." Kitty adds.
Justin got quiet after his revelation. The others didn't seem to care about who had started the whole chain of bad things for him, and somehow he was quite glad. It meant he didn't have to dwell on it either, and instead he could just enjoy the show.
It didn't matter to him that he was the only one sober. He quite enjoyed seeing this whole thing, and he didn't mind sharing. After Kitty's quite explosive exposing, Justin felt very brave for a moment.
"I once did it with a dude."
"That's three of my siblings then." Tommy says, counting Sarah's kiss.
"Justin, I can't believe you didn't tell me." Kevin looks at his younger brother with compassion. "If you need to talk to anyone…"
"Kevin, it was like five years ago, I was high as hell and there was a girl there too. It's nothing, I barley remember it." Justin shakes off the concerned eyes coming from Kevin.
"How did we end up being so gay? Whatchu done?" Kevin looks at Tommy with a serious face.
"Nothing!" Tommy shouts out. "Nothing. Ever."
"I'm sure you watched a little gay porn didn't you?" Kevin teases. "You did. I know you did."
"Whaaat? What are you talking about?" Tommy sips some tequila.
"Yeah, that's right. I knooow. Julia told me."
Tommy nearly choked on the tequila, making him cough for a good five minutes. Once he can talk again, Kevin is right back there to pick up where he left off.
"Was it good?"
"Uh. Julia wanted to watch it, I didn't. I only did it for her. And it paid off."
It was already dark outside, and the storm was subsiding.
"We should all get some rest, at least two of us must be able to drive in the morning." Sarah suddenly remembers she has to pick up her kids at Nora's before noon, and they must all leave quite early in the morning.
"Something tells me I'm one of them."
"You good baby brother." Kevin pats Justin on the head before leaning his head against the wall by the chair. It was only minutes before he fell asleep, quickly followed by the rest of the Walkers.
Only Justin stayed awake for a while longer. He knew all this information would cause some uneasiness in the morning, but it was them, they all knew how to deal with each other's secrets. Justin stood by the window looking out into the darkness. Through the swaying branches of a big tree he say the remains of the tree house. He giggles a bit for himself and crawls down under a blanket on a dusty couch.
