Ellie's POV

Lilly set out glasses for everyone on the coffee table as we all crowded around. This was not going to end well. These games always turned out with Lilly coma'd out on the floor, Belle trying to drunkenly explained something deep and philosophical before vomiting and me sitting in corner having had barely anything to drink. The thing is Lilly and Belle weren't exactly 'straight edge'. They liked to enjoy themselves in ways that didn't always agree with the law. Even though I wasn't into that kind of stuff, I didn't complain or try stop them. But when it came to these sorts of games, I always edged up sober as hell. I was proud of that. I had never driven drunk, I've never hooked up with some random guys and I've never had sex. I was probably most proud of that last one, because if I wasn't a virgin, that would mean I'd slept with someone in my home town and they'll all gay or douche bags. No offence to Lilly of course. At least when we played this game I got to embarrass Lilly and Belle.

"So who's first?" Lilly asked after she'd filled everybody's glasses.

"I'll go." I said. "I have never kissed a member of the same sex." I raised my hand above my head with smiling proudly at Lilly and Belle. Both their faces instantly dropped as they reluctantly reached for their glasses.

"What!" Shaun said, obviously wanting to know the story.

"Well, Belle and I were at this house party, right? The party got to this point at like four am where most people were either gone or passed out on the floor. So everyone that was still conscious decided to play spin the bottle." Lilly explained.

"At this time I'd like to point out that Lilly was a lot drunker than I was." Belle added.

"There about three girls including us and four guys, so I was sitting there thinking 'sweet, I'm gonna get to make out with four hot guys.'" Lilly continued. I started giggling at this point.

"When Lilly spun the bottle, in landed on me. Now, I was sitting up there thinking that everyone is so drunk, they aren't going to remember if Lilly kissed me or not. But despite my protests, Lilly basically attacked me." Belle said. I tried to contain my laughter, but that was not going well. After I'd calmed down and we were about to move on, I noticed Andy try to sneakily put his empty glass back down on the table.

"Oi, you!" Lilly said, picking up his empty glass. "Tell."

"Shit, I was hoping no one would notice." He muttered. "It wasn't too long ago actually. I can't remember who I was out with but I got really wasted and the next morning I couldn't remember anything that had happened. So I was going through my messages and I had one from someone called Matt that said 'I enjoyed last night babe. Hope to see you again soon'. And attached was a picture of his…" Andy paused a moment, going quite red. "Well I'm sure you can guess. Now I'm not actually sure what happened but I think we hooked up." Lilly, Belle and I collapsed with laughter; we were nearly in tears. I looked over at the guys and they were pissing themselves too.

"Okay guys it's not that funny. You can calm down now." Andy said.

"But you kissed some random dude!" Shaun told him between laughs.

"Moving on!" Lilly interrupted. "Who's next?"

"I'll go." Bradie said. "I have never… Broken the law."

"Shit." I muttered, picking up my glass. I looked around and realised the only person not picking up their glass was Bradie. "Wait, what has everyone done?"

"Underage drinking I think is our answer." Belle said, gesturing to us three.

"But I thought you guys were all eighteen?" Andy asked.

"I am, but Lilly and Ellie aren't. That's why I had to go with them to the supermarket."

"So by admitting that you have broken the law in this game, you two are breaking the law." Shaun said, pointing to Lilly and I.

"Yes. So does that mean you didn't drink until you didn't drink till you were eighteen?" Lilly asked Bradie.

"Yup."

"Wow. Even Ellie drinks and she's the most straight edge person we know."

"We need better friends." Belle added.

"Okay I'm next!" Lilly smiled. "Now this one is boring but I just want to get as much booze in to Ellie as possible. I have never been to Samoa!"

"I don't know why you're targeting me." I said, emptying my glass.

It didn't take very long for Lilly to get drunk, and within an hour or so, she and Andy sat in the corner of the lounge muttering things to each other, cracking up from whatever they've said and taking another drink. Shaun, Bradie, Belle and I remained sitting at the coffee table talking, though Belle appeared as if she was starting to lose it a bit as she slumped against the couch.

"Are you often the third wheel in this drinking circle?" Bradie asked.

"Not usually. Most of the time I'm right there with them but I thought I should try keep my dignity for a little longer."

"You're the drinker of the trio, aren't you Elizabeth?" Belle mumbled from her spot by the couch.

"Not I'm not."

"Elizabeth?" Bradie asked.

"Yeah that's my full name. I don't really like it too much though so I get people to call me Ellie."

"It's a nice name." Bradie said, smiling widely at me. I looked at him briefly, but blushed and looked away.

"You know what sucks about long names?" Belle nearly yelled, suddenly becoming more animated. "How people shorten them!"

Here comes the rant.

"I mean, I get Izzy heaps, but I freaking hate that name because it's so common! And some people think I'm Isabella not Isabelle so I get Bella and then people make twilight jokes. And do you know what I do then Shaun?" Belle asked.

"No I don't! Why do you do?" Shaun replied at the same volume as Belle. I think he'd had a fair bit to drink also.

"I fucking punch them!"

"Really!"

"Yes!" Belle said. "You know what? I really like the word scheiße. It's a great word."

"Okay we're going!" Bradie announced, pulling me to my feet and leading me down the hall to my room.

"Why?"

"I don't really wanna hang round them when they're like that. Besides, I want to see these story boards I've been hearing about." He pushed open my door and sat down on my bed, waiting patiently for me to show him.

"Fine, but I don't think they're very good." I dug my folder out of my bag and sat down in the bed next to him. "Here you go."

"Wow." He said after a few minutes. "These are really good. You are quite the talented artist."

"Thank you." I blushed. He looked at me a moment like he wanted to say something, like it was right there on the tip of his tongue, but instead he turned away.

"I think I'll hit the hay. We do have an early start tomorrow, despite how those four are behaving." He stood up and walked towards the door, stopping for a moment to look back at me. "Night Ellie."

"Night Bradie." He closed the door quietly behind him ad I lay back on my bed muttering to myself.

"What the fuck was that?"