SPIN THE BOTTLE !
( chapter three )

SYDNEY TRULY DIDN'T KNOW HOW she'd ended up here. In her ex's house with a flood of sweaty and drunk teens around her. Her best friend was flirting with Ben fucking Gross and she was sipping water out of a solo red cup.

Sydney Gilmore was notoriously known as the party girl of Sherman Oaks, but right now, she truly had no desire to drink what was probably spiked beer.

In the living room, Andrea Thompson was standing on the coffee table with her shirt off as a group of boys crowded around her, cheering her on. Usually, she would be the one in this position. Which is why it was no surprise to her when she felt a hand grab her arm and ask why she isn't drunk yet.

Sydney was in no mood to get drunk right now. There were crushed red cups and glass bottles waiting to be stepped on at her feet. Everyone's laughing around her--chanting, singing, giggling. It's pure chaos. Happy chaos.

"Hey Syd," Tess beamed, stumbling over toward Sydney. She too, had no shirt on and was left in her purple bra. Her breath reeked of alcohol and her hair was a knotted mess. "great party, right?"

Sydney rolled her eyes. "If you like the smell of sweat and booze maybe."

The brunette pouted, leaning her weight onto Sydney, then, her eyes darted down to her shirt and she tugged on it. "Hey, why is your shirt still on?"

Sydney chuckled. "Because I'm not wasted."

Teresa's smile made it's way back on her face. "Oh." she said softly, then attempted to stand straight but ended up nearly tripping over her best friend's heel.

Sydney's arm was quick to catch her and stabilize her. "Okay. I'm taking you home." Her eyes searched through the crowd, as Ben was no longer on the sofa--where he and Teresa were flirting. "Where's Ben?"

Then, she heard his voice saying excuse me over and over as he pushed through the drunken teens. Then, he spotted the wasted girl and her friend. "Jesus, what happened to her?"

"Are you sober?"

He nodded. "Very much so. Are you?"

Sydney mimicked the nod as she wrapped her friend's arm back over her shoulder. "Help me walk her to my car."

He nodded once more, obeying. He wrapped her left arm around his shoulder.

Tess beamed from ear to ear. "Ben! Hi!"

Ben frowned. "Hi Tess."

"Use your legs, Tess."

She did, barely. She slid her feet against the wooden planks that made up the floor. Ben was no help really, in carrying her. He was just two inches taller than them, and Sydney hadn't worked out a day in her life.

Finally, they'd made it to the door. Sydney opened it with her free hand and they slowly stepped through the door--sideways--and almost made it past when Tess groaned. "Guys, I don't feel so good."

Ben spared Sydney a look of anxious worry, in which she brushed off. "There's just a few more steps, Tess."

The duo tried dragging the girl further, and they'd made it to the top step when Teresa removed her arm from Ben and hurled over to her right, projecting vomit on Sydney's favorite pair of louboutins.

Sydney let out a gasp before she could contain it. Watching her best friend spill her guts on her heels was simply the worst thing that could happen tonight. Or so she thought.

       "I'll go get towels." Ben said, hurrying to escape the scene before Sydney hit someone or screamed.

Teresa laid on her side and let her arm fall off the top step of the porch. Shit. Now it would be even more difficult to drag her drunken body to the car.

       "Dude, are you okay?" Devi. The second-to-last person she wanted to hear from right now. Her eyes followed the voice and next to her stood Ethan. Of course.

Sydney felt vomit of her own swarm in her stomach and make it's way up her throat at the sight of chunks of Teresa's dinner and the eight bottles of beer she had. Swallowing it down, she spared the duo in the grass a deadening glare.

     "Do I look fucking okay?" She grumbled the rhetorical question with daggers shooting out of her blue eyes. The warm vomit was beginning to seep into the souls of her heels and in between her toes. "Where is Ben?"

     "You're hooking up with Ben?" Ethan asked, brows furrowed.

      "What? No. I--Ben is my cousin."

      "Oh, so that's why he's always hanging out with you."

The idea of people thinking Ben and Sydney being anything more than cousins disgusted her more than the puke in her heels. Even the thought of people confusing her for being his friend made her want to swallow nails. "People think Ben and I hang out?"

The two nodded in unison. Maybe Sydney's downfall really had been upon her, and Ben and Devi were the cause.

Ben returned with a roll of paper towels in hand. He began wrapping the paper around his hand.

    "Ben."

     "Yeah?" He responded with disgust as he kneeled down to begin wiping the vomit off her shoes.

      "After you're done cleaning the vomit off of me," she swallowed. "never talk to me again."

His brows knitted together. "Sheesh. Okay."

Sydney squeezed her eyes shut as she attempted to ignore the feeling of puke being slid off of her. And the fact that an annoying nobody and her ex--who were clearly hooking up--were watching only made her intense want to vomit increase. But soon enough, Ben stood back up. "I have to go get more."

Devi followed after him, leaving Ethan and Sydney alone. Sydney slid her heels off and placed them on the bottom step with a look of pure disgust on her face as she began cleaning her feet off herself with the singular paper towel.

"I take it you're not enjoying the party?" Ethan wondered aloud, and Sydney didn't even have to look up to see the smirk on his face.

"Your party sucks." She pouted, then curiosity overtook her of why he'd want to know, she glanced up at him, reading his features. "What are you doing?"

He shrugged, sliding his hand into his front pocket. "Distracting you."

Sydney rolled her eyes. "Charming."

Teresa sat up slowly, and it seemed she'd finally regained consciousness. But surprisingly, the first thing she did was smile. "This party is awesome."

Ethan laughed, resulting in yet another eye roll from the brunette.

Ben quickly returned with more towels and soon began wiping the rest of the vomit off his cousin's feet.

And it was silent for a moment, until someone in the house shouted, the words "Let's play spin the bottle!"

Teresa grabbed onto the railing of the porch and somehow stumbled back into the house, screaming her approval to join.

SPIN THE BOTTLE AT A HIGH school party was such a cliche. And when the bottle lands on the two ex-lovers, it really doesn't surprise anyone. Fate has spoken. They say. Or, at least that's what Teresa told her best friend when the bottle Ethan Morales spun landed on her.

And now, Sydney was in a dark closet in the middle of her ex-boyfriend's home.