spin the bottle
Written for March Madness 2022, Prompt: Bottle. Comments and kudos would be awesome. Enjoy!
Pete hates these parties.
He only goes because Jimmy asks him to. Jimmy always makes sure to include him, keep him from awkwardly lurking on the edges of the parties, plies him with red solo cups full of soda (because he knows Pete doesn't drink and would never pressure him into it), steers conversations in ways that keep Pete from feeling left out. Always ends up leaving with Pete, too, and then they'll wander down to the beach or the park or just… anywhere else.
And Pete has to admit the parties do a lot of good – members of each of the Bullworth cliques attend, and it helps keep the hostilities low, has even sparked some friendships and romances outside of the usual social bounds.
But tonight something has gone wildly off script.
Because somehow, he's sitting next to Jimmy on a cleared bit of cement floor in the basement of some warehouse out near Blue Skies, the two of them just a small part of a circle of their classmates. An empty beer bottle sits in the center point of the circle, its purpose very clear. Just a friendly game of spin the bottle.
It had been Johnny's idea to play this stupid party game, so he goes first, gives the bottle a spin with a smirk on his face. It lands squarely on Mandy who is delighted with this outcome, and eagerly allows the leader of the Greasers to kiss her just a bit too enthusiastically.
Mandy spins, then, lands on Zoe, and amidst a lot of raucous catcalling from the boys, she pulls her old friend close and kisses her soundly. When the cheers finally die down, Zoe flips the lot of them off for good measure and spins for herself.
Zoe gets Russell, which works out well since they've been dating for a few months now. Russell lands on Chad, who grumbles about the flaws of playing this game with so very many boys but goes along all the same. Chad spins Vance. Vance gets Juri. Juri gets Peanut. He ends up spinning Lola, which is slightly awkward for everyone involved thanks to her status as Johnny's ex and his status as Johnny's second in command.
Lola spins Trent, which the bully is clearly delighted by, especially since Lola appears to be trying valiantly to get on Johnny's nerves with the raunchiest kiss thus far.
Trent spins, then, and the bottle points to Jimmy.
Pete is well aware that Jimmy has kissed… several people in this room before, including Trent. And he watches his best friend do so again now. He watches Jimmy spin for his turn and feels his heart sink down into his stomach when the bottle finally comes to a stop pointing directly at him.
"C'mon, Petey," Jimmy coaxes, one hand settling on Pete's back.
He's not going to be the one to ruin the game. As much as he's wanted to kiss Jimmy, as sure as he'd been that it would never happen outside of his awkward fantasies, this isn't how he'd wanted it to go. Still, he probably shouldn't waste the chance… it's likely to be the only one he gets.
He's taking too long, though, wide-eyed and panic-stricken, probably looks like he's about to throw up or bolt or both. Pete meets Jimmy's easy gaze, though, and he realizes Jimmy's about to make some excuse to get him out of this mess (hopefully with his dignity intact). Pete acts before he can, frantically grabs a fistful of Jimmy's shirt and hauls him in for a desperate kiss. It's… not a very well-coordinated attempt. Their noses mash awkwardly together, there's a sharp clack of teeth, someone (Zoe?) is wolf-whistling at them.
"Go Petey!" she laughs, but Pete barely hears her.
Jimmy sorts the kiss out properly, pulls back just enough to angle their heads the right way and they fit together so much better like that. He can feel Jimmy grinning against his lips for a second before it comes to an end. Pete comes back to himself, recalls that they are playing a stupid game and that they're surrounded by their classmates and that it doesn't mean anything that this was his first kiss. At least it was with Jimmy, he tells himself. His face flushes bright pink at the thought. And then there's an even more embarrassing realization.
That he has to spin now.
Jimmy's hand, still on his back, urges him forward and he reluctantly reaches out to spin the bottle for himself. Closes his eyes, can't bear to watch as it rotates around. The others seem weirdly quiet but maybe that's just because Pete can't hear anything over the sound of his own heartbeat racing in his ears.
"Oh, looks like we got a winner," Johnny laughs. "House rules. You get the person who got you and you get the closet."
The person who-
Pete finally opens his eyes. The bottle is pointing at Jimmy.
Pete cannot take this. Can't take another kiss from the boy he has feelings for. Can't take whatever this offshoot version of 7 Minutes In Heaven will lead to, either. He wants to leave.
And Jimmy notices his thinly veiled terror, knows him well enough to know exactly what Pete wants. The comforting weight of his hand is still there on Pete's shoulder. "We'll pass," he says, "gotta check on something at the beach house before we head back to campus, you know?" Everyone has to know this is a complete and utter lie but no one will dare call him on it, at least.
"Sure," Trent teases, draws the word out with all sorts of implication. "Don't do anything I wouldn't, Hopkins."
"That's a very short list," Jimmy counters, pulling Pete up with him. They all trade 'goodbye's and 'see you later's and the game continues with Christy who'd been sitting next to Pete. As he and Jimmy take their leave, the remaining players egg on what must be one hell of an impressive display with Ted.
Once they're out of the warehouse, wandering in the general direction of civilization (or at least as much civilization as Bullworth can provide) things get… awkward. Quiet. Tense.
Surprisingly, it's Jimmy that breaks it. "You know that was just a game, right?" he asks, and once more Pete feels his stomach drop.
"I… of course, yeah." Of course Jimmy would want to hammer that point home. Doesn't need his second in command hung up on him like some lovesick puppy.
But Jimmy surprises him, catches his arm and spins him around so they're face to face. "It was just a dumb game, Pete. But what if I don't want it to be?"
"…What?"
"What if I've had feelings for you for a while and for a minute there it kinda seemed like… maybe you did, too." Jimmy does not often do awkward and hesitant. Pete's only seen it once before, when everyone else was against him, ready to side with Gary and keep everything the way it always had been at their shitty school. Jimmy lives and breathes confidence otherwise. So seeing him like this now, he knows he's serious. "Pete?"
"It kinda seemed that way," he manages, forcing the words out, "because I do."
There's a sigh of relief and Jimmy pulls him closer. "Can I kiss you again, for real this time?"
Pete doesn't let him answer. He pulls Jimmy into another kiss (manages the angles better this time) and never wants to let go.
