Their apartment was 20 minutes away. They had given me a key to let myself in, and I walked in on Alec, making himself a bowl of cereal. "What up, dude! No work today or late shift?"
"No work."
Alec looked like an Australian surfer. Shaggy long blonde hair, a reddish tan with a surfer's physique. He was also quite tall, standing around 6 feet. He was the most laidback out of the three of us. It certainly helps when your dad owns half the rental properties in town, and that only made up a quarter of his real estate portfolio.
"Cheerios and pot?" he asked me.
"No to the Cheerios, yes to the pot. Where's it at?"
"I should have a few joints in the drawer next to the sofa. Choose whichever one is calling out to you."
I got the joint and lit it up in their apartment. Since they lived in a unit owned by Alec's dad, they had tampered with the smoke detectors to not worry about it going off when they smoked. They smoked so much that weed was the permanent smell of their apartment.
Alec took puffs in between spoonfuls of Cheerios, and we finished the joint in 10 minutes. I closed my eyes and relaxed, letting the weed do its magic.
"Have you thought about getting an apartment with us?"
"Not really. I told Jackie about the idea, and she said I should go for it. I'm still on the fence, though."
"Speaking of Jackie, when is she coming?"
"Tomorrow. And no, I will not put in a good word for you."
"You don't have to. But can you ask her to put in a good word for me to her friends?"
"Oh, I don't have to. Jackie has told her friends about all your failed attempts to hit on her. You're quite popular among her friends."
"Fuck! Dude, that was before I perfected my game. Now I can get whatever chick I want."
You may be wondering how I was ok with my best friend hitting on my sister. Well, Jackie assured me it would never happen, and she would always keep me in the loop on his latest attempts. It was a good source of entertainment for both of us.
"Where's Jordan?" I asked.
"In his room."
It was as if we summoned him as Jordan walked out of his room. Jordan was the most responsible one out of us. Raised by a single mother, he was forced to be from a young age. He was shorter than Alec and me by a few inches. But he put in the work at the gym as he sturdy. He wore his black hair in curls and was the only one of us who could grow an actual beard, but he kept a stubble.
"Sup," he nodded at me. "Did you guys already light one up?"
"Yup. You should have come out of your little den."
"I couldn't. I was in an interview about an internship over the summer. It's a great opportunity to beat the rush."
"How did it go?"
"I think it went well. But it depends on how they think it went. I'm supposed to hear back from them after the holidays. Didn't your stepsister come yesterday?"
"Stepsister?" Alec asked. "When did this happen?"
"What do you mean? You were there at my dad's wedding. How could you forget? It was 4 months ago."
"I remember the wedding, but I don't remember your new stepmom having any daughters. Is she as hot as your stepmom?" he asked eagerly.
"I am not going to answer that. She has two daughters and a son. But Charlotte is the only one who's coming for Christmas."
"Charlotte," he repeated. "Hmm, sounds like a girl next door. How about I tag along when you go back home."
"Fuck off! You were asking about Jackie and her friends 5 minutes ago."
"Yeah, and you said I had no shot. It's time to move on."
"Bro, relax! He's meeting her for the first time. If he introduced you to her, that would be the worst way to start it off," Jordan said.
"Anyways, Charlotte and I have plans. We're going to a party at the UW campus."
"A college party? That's perfect."
"Yeah, except you can't come. It's a frat party, and her friend got us in. I don't want to risk bringing more people."
Alec started complaining, but Jordan said, "Let him do his thing. We'll go out to the city and hit up some bars. Happy?"
"Not as good as a frat party, but it'll do."
"Next time, I promise I'll try my best to get you guys in as well. I didn't know you would want to go to a frat party," I said, messing with him.
"You come into my apartment, smoke my weed, and make fun of me. Fuck you, man!"
We ended up ordering pizza for lunch and watching TV. Around 5 o'clock, I decided to go home to start getting ready for the party. I said my goodbyes, rubbed the party in Alec's face one more time and left.
I got home and went straight upstairs. I passed Charlotte's room on the way, and she called out for me to come to her room.
"What's up?"
"Nothing. I was going to text you asking where you were, but I don't have your number. The party starts at eight, which means 9. My friend invited us to pregame at her apartment. Are you down?"
"Sure. Uhm, will there be other guys or...?"
She laughed cutely and said, "You will not be the only guy there. And what's wrong with it if you were?"
"My anxiety will destroy me. We may need to pregame for the pregame."
"Oh boy, you do need this. Alright, pregame starts at 7. So let's leave in an hour?"
"Works for me."
I took a shower and had some time to kill before having to get ready. I decided to take a very short nap, but when I woke up, I felt refreshed for a potentially long night out.
After throwing on a hoodie and jeans, I knocked on Charlotte's door to see if she was ready, but there was no response. She instead came out of the bathroom, looking amazing. She had just done her makeup, and she did it very well.
"Give me a second. I just need to change, and we can head out."
She walked past me into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. There was a small part of me that was tempted to crack the door open and spy on her, but I shook that thought out of my head. She's your stepsister, I told myself.
I waited for her downstairs, and my dad and Samantha came downstairs all dressed up. Samantha said, "Since you two are going out, your dad and I decided to go out too. Have fun!"
Charlotte came down a few minutes later dressed in a light blue sweater and leggings. At that moment, Alec saying Charlotte sounded like a girl next door came to my mind. Even though he hadn't seen her before, I agreed with him.
"Let's go? Want to take your car or mine?"
"My car is already in the driveway."
"Ok, let's put on our jackets and head out."
We got in the car, and she gave me the address of her friend's apartment to put into the navigation.
"Jackie's coming tomorrow, right?"
"Yup, I have to pick her up from the airport."
"Oh. It'll be nice to see her again. I was talking to my friend, and she said it was weird how we're step-siblings but barely know each other."
"We are all scattered across the country. You have a brother and sister, right? Samantha said they're not coming for Christmas."
"Yup, you're stuck with me, but I am the best one," she laughed. "My brother is spending Christmas with his girlfriend and her family in Texas. My sister is spending Christmas with my dad."
That's when it occurred to me that I don't know what happened between her parents to cause them to split. I didn't feel like bringing it up if she didn't want to.
We got to her friend's apartment and knocked on the door. A cute girl with straight, brown hair opened the door. She was wearing a blue tube top with beige-colored pants. She had small, brown eyes with thin lips. Her top was stretched, trying to contain her massive bust.
"Hi!" she said as she wrapped Charlotte in a hug. After she finished her hug, she reached a hand out to me, which I shook. "You must be Noah. Nice to meet you. I'm Natalie."
"Nice to meet you too."
Inside the apartment, a couple was sitting on the sofa. A redhead girl wearing a university sweater, black leggings, and a black jacket. The guy was wearing a fashionable jacket and looked like he did social media for a living.
Natalie introduced us to the couple on the sofa, "Charlotte and Noah, that's Heather and her boyfriend, Chance. Heather and I were roommates freshman year. Charlotte and I went to high school together, and Noah is her brother."
Chance said, "Nice to meet ya. Hope you don't mind, but we already started pregaming."
"Follow me. Drinks are in the kitchen," said Natalie. We made the short walk to the kitchen, where she had tequila, vodka, and beer. "The frat that's hosting this party is known for going crazy on Fireball. If you don't like Fireball, I'd suggest loading up now."
Natalie, Charlotte, and I were together most of the time, talking to each other. I didn't know if it was the alcohol, wishful thinking, or both, but I felt that Natalie took a liking to me. It was honestly a blur, as I may have gone a little too hard on the pregame.
At around 8:15, we decided to head to the party. Chance said, "We won't fit into one Uber anyway, you guys get going. We'll meet you there."
"Ok. Lock the door from the inside before leaving. I'll take my key with me. And please don't make a mess."
As we walked out of the apartment, Charlotte said, "They just started dating, didn't they?"
Natalie nodded her head and said, "They can't keep off each other. Chance lives in a house with 4 or 5 other guys, and Heather still lives in the dorms. Somehow, my apartment became their hookup spot."
"I figured with how casual you were about it."
"What about you, Noah?" Natalie asked me. "Are you seeing anyone? In a relationship?"
"Uh, no."
"That's why I made him come to this party. I wanna see if I can play matchmaker and get him a pretty girlfriend," Charlotte said.
"You said you wanted to show me what college life was. Not find me a girlfriend."
"Would you have come if I said that?" she asked with raised eyebrows.
I shook my head. "Exactly. Sometimes, you have to lie to get things done," Charlotte justified.
Our Uber pulled onto a busy street lined with cars on both sides of the streets and flocks of students walking to a brightly lit house.
"Good thing we didn't take a car," said Natalie. We got out of the Uber and walked into the house. There were a couple of guys standing outside the door and recognized Natalie as she walked in.
We headed straight to the booze table in the back of the house. "What did I tell ya?" Natalie said, referring to most of the alcohol being Fireball. We took a few shots each before joining the party.
I attached myself to Charlotte and Natalie like a parasite, fearing if I lost sight of them, I wouldn't find them again.
Natalie was quite popular as everyone stopped to talk to her, especially the guys. Even Charlotte was stopped occasionally by people she went to high school with. I recognized a person or two from my high school, but I had never talked to them before.
After making a round of the party, we went back to the drinks table to top up before rejoining the party. We headed upstairs, where there was a game of beer pong was going on.
"Hey Nat! You want to play winner?" asked a dude as he sunk the winning shot.
She looked over at us and asked, "Which one of you is good at beer pong?"
I had never played beer pong in my life before, but Charlotte pushed me towards the table, saying, "You got this."
As the table was being reset, Nat asked, "You know the rules?"
"I could use a refresher," I said, not wanting to look like a loser.
She gave me a quick rundown of the rules before the game started.
The dude opposite us tossed us the ping pong balls, saying we got the first shot. Nat sunk hers, but I missed mine.
Natalie was great as she did the heavy lifting, but we still ended up losing. She said, "Don't worry. It was your first game. We'll get them next time." She left to go talk to the guy we lost to, and I saw them walking away.
I scanned the room for Charlotte, who was talking to a few people in the corner of the room. I made my way over to her, where she introduced me to the people she was talking to. Drew, Tobi, Mia, and Tiffany. The six of us went down for another drink.
The alcohol got to me as I wandered off on my own to explore the party. I found myself talking to people and playing drinking games with strangers. I was completely caught up in a game of battleships, but you had to take a shot each time the opposing team got a hit when Charlotte came up to me.
"Hey, I've been looking everywhere for you."
"I made new friends," I said, obviously drunk. "See, battleships, but with alcohol."
"That's cool. When you're done, we'll leave, ok?"
"Do we have to?"
"Yeah. Remember Drew and Tobi? They invited us over to their place. And this party seems to be dying down."
"Fine, but lemme finish this game. Alright, my turn!" I called out a position and ended up hitting. The game ended, and I found Charlotte sitting on a sofa with the same group of people. We followed them to their car, and the six of us packed into a sedan, with four of us smushed in the backseat.
It was a long car ride navigating through the traffic, and I ended up falling asleep in the car. Charlotte woke me up when we pulled into a nice-looking apartment complex. Drew and Tobi led us into their apartment, which didn't look like a student apartment at all. It was furnished and with fancy-looking stuff, too. The apartment on its own looked expensive, especially considering the area we were in.
"You guys have a nice apartment for students," I remarked.
"Students? We're alumni of UW and the frat. We work in tech here in Seattle," said Tobi.
"Oh, that makes a lot more sense."
"Make yourselves comfortable. I'll bring out some water and drinks. If you need to use the bathroom, down the hall, first door on the left."
Charlotte and I think Tiffany went to use the bathroom. Drew was setting the entertainment, playing some music, and fiddling with the lights while Tobi was in the kitchen.
I sat on the sofa, and the girl I assumed to be Mia sat at the other end of the sofa. She was either of Mexican or Latin American descent. She had foxy brown eyes with prominent cheekbones. Her dark brown, almost black hair tied up in a messy bun, a weakness of mine. She had a very slight underbite and natural-looking lips. She was wearing a Christmas cardigan, a white t-shirt underneath, and faded black jeans.
"Noah, right?" she asked.
"Yeah. Mia?"
"Yup. You enjoy the party?"
"Yeah. I didn't want to leave. But Charlotte wanted to, so here I am."
"This wasn't the best party I've been to, but also not the worst. And I don't think it would've gone on much longer anyway."
"Do you work with Drew and Tobi?"
"No, we're still students at UW. But I know Tobi from when he was still going to UW."
Charlotte joined us and took a seat in between us. Tobi and Drew handed us drinks, and when asked what it was, they said it was their special cocktail. It tasted dangerously nice, as you couldn't even tell there was alcohol in it.
Tobi was a short and slim black gentleman. He dressed pretty casually in sweats, but it looked fancy in a way. Drew was taller than Tobi but shorter than me. He had his blonde hair in a mullet and was wearing a sweater and jeans.
Tiffany finally joined the group after using the bathroom. She looked similar to Natalie, except she still seemed to have her baby fat. She also wasn't quite as big in the chest department but had a bigger ass than Natalie.
Tobi poured Tiffany a drink and stood up in front of the group. "How about we play a game?"
The girls all looked at each other with a smile, and Tiffany said, "What a surprise! Let me guess. Truth or Dare, or some stripping game."
He smiled knowingly and answered, "Truth or Dare. I'm sure you all know how we do it, but to make sure we're on the same page, I'll go through the rules. You spin a bottle to see who asks you a question. You decide if you want a truth or dare. You can pass one each but have to take a shot, no choosing the same more than three times in a row. If anyone feels like a line is crossed, call it out on the spot. Good?"
Everyone agreed to the rules. I looked at Charlotte because this was the first time I had ever played Truth or Dare like this. She looked at me, gave me a reassuring smile, and mouthed, "You'll be fine."
We shifted to the floor, alternating between boy and girl. Going from my left, it was Charlotte, Tobi, Mia, Drew, and Tiffany on my right. Drew had grabbed a bottle and placed it in the middle of the circle, asking, "Who's first?"
The girls quickly nominated him, and he spun the bottle, which landed on Mia. "What will it be, Drew? Truth or Dare?"
"I'm playing it safe and starting with a truth."
That drew a chorus of boos from the girls. After taking a minute to think, Mia asked, "What's your body count for the year?"
I nearly choked on my spit. I knew the games tended to have questions like this, but not right off the bat.
"Hmm, this year, I have to say it's 6."
"I don't believe it, but I guess I'll have to take your word."
Tiffany was up next, and it landed on Tobi. Tiffany chose truth as well, and Tobi said, "I'll give you something light. If you have to hook up with someone in this room, who's it going to be? Wait, if you were to hook up with a guy in this room, who would it be? I'm not letting you get out of this easy."
She blushed but answered, "You. Isn't that what you wanted to hear?" with a hint of flirtation.
He had a confident smirk on his face but didn't say anything.
"You're up," Charlotte said.
Sleeping in the car had taken away my drunk confidence and brought back my anxiety. My heart was thumping as I grabbed the bottle and gave it a wobbly spin. Luckily, the bottle landed on Charlotte. She could see I was tense, and I knew she wouldn't ask me a heavy-hitting question. Before she could ask truth or dare, I declared truth. I didn't want to be peer pressured into taking the game's first dare.
"If you could take me in any position you wanted, what would it be?"
This time, I choked on my spit. What would everyone else think? A stepsister asking her stepbrother what position he wants to fuck her in. And did she assume I wanted to fuck her? I scanned the room, but no one else seemed to be grossed out or think differently about the question.
She pressed me for an answer, and after stuttering, I answered, "Doggy."
Tobi applauded my answer, saying, "Same here, brother. I always love hitting it from the back," as he mimicked spanking a girl's ass.
Before Charlotte took her turn, she asked me to see her in the kitchen.
I followed her, and once we were out of earshot of the others, I asked, "What the fuck! What were you thinking about asking that question? And what's wrong with these people? Am I the only one weirded about a sister asking her brother what position he would take her in?"
"Stepsister and stepbrother," with a heavy emphasis on the step. "And they don't know that. I told them that we're friends."
"What? Why?"
"I don't know, I just did. Play along, ok? I met them at this party for the first time, and we'll never see them again. And we can't tell everyone our actual relationship after you said you'd fuck me in doggy style."
"Because you asked me."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Yo! What's going on over there?" asked Tobi.
"Nothing. We'll come back in a second," Charlotte answered. She turned her attention back to me and said, "Remember, we're friends. Not siblings."
We went back to the group and sat back down in our spots. "My turn, right?" Charlotte asked as she spun the bottle. It landed on Tiffany, and Charlotte kept the streak of truths going.
Tiffany asked, "What's the riskiest or most fun place you've had sex?"
"Uhm, I'd have to say a lecture hall."
This got everyone interested, and Tiffany said, "I know I didn't ask this as part of your truth, but details?"
"You're probably wondering if it was a professor, but no, it was a guy I was kinda seeing but not dating. I was helping him catch up on lecture notes after class ended, and we ended up having sex. That's all you're getting from me."