Seven Minutes in Heaven

"A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down." ~Arnold H. Glasow

Simon Seville

Brittany is the first to run up to Macy's door and pound on the heavy wood. I shove my hands in my pockets and stare up at the house. It's absolutely ginormous! I glance at Alvin who is doing the same with his mouth half open and his eyes wide. I stand up straight and shove him a little. He shakes his head and looks at Brittany's back as she waits patiently for Macy to open the door. Instead, a man opens the massive door and smiles warmly at the six of us. "Hello children," he says in a thick British accent. "I'm so glad you've come."

"Hello," Brittany does a little bow, making Alvin laugh a little. The man bows back politely and opens the door wider for us to enter. Everything from the floors, to the walls, to the grand staircase is all white marble. I stare down at my muddy shoes and remove them quickly before taking another step. I can see that the others have done the same.

"Hello!" a young girl's voice comes from the top of the stair case. I look up at Macy who has on one of the prettiest dresses on that I've ever seen. It went almost to her knees and an array of colors. It wrapped around her curves just right, and with her blond hair curling over her shoulders… I rip my eyes away from her to look at my brothers, who are gawking as well, even Theodore. Eleanor punches his arm hard enough for him to yelp and give her a sheepish grin. Though, Brittany could have done jumping jacks in front of Alvin and he still would have looked over her shoulder at the beauty in front of us.

"You're drooling," I murmur in his ear. He stands up straight and wipes his hand over his mouth.

"Was not," he counters. I turn to Brittany and Jeanette who are glaring at us. I gulp and turn back towards Macy who has comes down the flight of stairs. "Hey," Alvin says first with a smile. We all chorus in with our hellos.

"Where's everyone else?" Jeanette asks shyly.

"Upstairs," she smiles widely back at us.

"If you don't mind me asking," I clasp my hands together, stepping towards the girls. "What does your father do? I mean you have quite an impressive house."

"Oh, thank you," Macy grins. "He's an inventor. He's made a lot of money for the United States Military, but he does a couple things just for himself. Though… when it's not weapons, they don't seem to always turn out so well…"

"I know what that's like," I reassure her.

"Well, let's not dawdle," she takes hold of Brittany and Eleanor's hands and leads them upstairs with us in tow. We wind through the house until we're in a wide room with a huge couch, a flat screen T.V, a long table full of food, and large space just empty in the middle of the floor. Well, empty all except half the town was hanging out there. Macy gathers us all together and we sit in a circle with our legs in crisscross applesauce fashion. Well, except for Macy and a couple of other girls who are wearing dresses.

"Britt," Alvin turns, smirking at her. "Truth or dare?"

"Not this dumb old game!" Jeanette complains. Others around the circle nod.

"What, you afraid Jenny?" Alvin turns to her sharply. She seems to shrink in her spot. I put a hand on her shoulder and she eases up. "As I was saying," Alvin puts a hand on his chest. "Truth, or dare Britt?"

"Dare," she says confidently.

"I dare you to go read the dictionary," Alvin smirks.

"You can't do that!" she protests.

"True," Alvin strokes his imaginary beard. "That would make it impossible to get you again, considering how long it would take you to read it… Fine, I dare you fill that cup," he points to a plastic cup on the table. "With ketchup and drink it."

"Ew," Brittany gags. But, being the overly confident girl that she is, she stands, fills the cup and chugs it. We all watch her in pure disgust, our mouths half open in awe. She comes back over to us, cup in hand and lets the last few drops land on Alvin's cap. He gasps dramatically and wipes the substance onto the knee of his jeans. Brittany gladly accepts a stick of gum from a girl named Jane beside her.

"This isn't very exciting," Macy mutters. "Just… gross."

"I agree," Brittany and Eleanor say at the same time. Alvin rolls his eyes.

We all gather around the television without saying a word to each other. Alvin stands up with a smirk and pulls out his latest horror movie out of his backpack. He quickly gives a couple of other guys a fist bump, knowing exactly what he was up to. The rest of us murmur amongst ourselves before settling down to watch.

After zombies, vampires, and all kinds of ridiculous horrors, the movie ends. We're all clutching each other like we did when we were eight. Theodore is holding Ellie with a death grip; Macy's got both mine and Theodore's arms while Jeanette holds onto my torso. Alvin and Brittany are on the floor in front of us shaking with fear, but refusing to touch each other. Other couples hold on to each other, but nothing like our huddled group on the couch.

"Let's play a game," Macy says, breaking the tension. She reaches behind her to reveal a coke bottle. "Spin the bottle." Us boys grumble a little, not too excited to be put in a situation that could mean embarrassment for life. Especially not in front of all the strong willed girls in the room. Macy explains the rules, which are simple enough to follow. You have two choices, kiss the person you spin to or remove an article of clothing.

"We can't do that!" Alvin screams. "You know what happens when teenagers kiss in the middle of the night! A freaking monster jumps through the window and eats you!"

"That's crazy!" Theodore waves him off with a nervous laugh, taking the bottle in his hands and giving it a twist before Alvin can protest. To his luck, it lands on Eleanor and they give each other a quick kiss. Embarrassment is prominent on both of their cheeks. Since Macy is directly to Theodore's right, he hands her the bottle and she spins. It lands on Alvin. She mock gags and removes her shoe.

"Well, that wasn't very nice!" Alvin says, making everyone laugh. Alvin needs an ego buster once in a while. The game continues never the less. I'm down to just my pants by the time the bottle comes around to me. All of us look disorderly without socks or jackets. Poor Theo can't risk kissing another girl besides Eleanor without getting her angry so he's had to remove something every time he's spun. I take the bottle into my hands and give it a quick jerk. We watch it spin, all memorized by the bottle this late at night. It stops. I look up to see Brittany staring back at me.

I look down at my pants first. Surely I couldn't remove them! I would be giving up my dignity. I look back up at Brittany who is wide eyed. She would resent me. I hear a low growl from beside me to see Alvin with his arms tightly crossed across his chest like a five year old. The moment is getting horribly awkward as we all just sit there in silence.

"New game!" Macy declares, standing up. All of us deflate with relief. Little did I know that this might change everything. "Seven minutes in heaven!"

~An Update Because I Love You! :D

We're coming to the moment of truth folks! Prepare yourselves :)