groovy tunes

“Truth,” Heidi chirped, leaning her head on Maggie’s shoulder. Her head was beginning to spin a little bit and she couldn’t understand why. She really hadn’t drunk that much so far tonight. Maybe she just hadn’t eaten enough today, she rationalised. 

Once Rick had sat down he found the time to realize that he was feeling a little bit weird. But, because Rick had often been in a worse state, he didn’t make too much of it. Noella, however, felt strange as well, and couldn’t wrap her head around it. Her eyes tried to focus on Heidi, but it took a moment, and when she had to think of a question she had a hard time trying to connect. “Uh,” she began, running a hand through her hair, just the sensation feeling odd. Maggie had her arm wrapped around her best friend. “If you’d have to,” she began, but quite quickly got distracted by Maggie, whose other hand was resting on Frank’s chest, as she attempted to pull the boy in for a kiss. 

Wallis still wasn’t completely sure why he’d been invited on this trip. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to be here or not. He knew for sure he wasn’t in the mood to play drinking games after being stuck in a car for far too long. “Fucking dare, I guess,” he replied, taking a swig of his beer. 

"I dare you to,” she narrowed her eyes, a smirk playing at her lips. “do a classical striptease on that table over there.” she pointed to the table that had just been moved aside. 

The alcohol hit the back of Pete’s throat, tasting nothing like anything he’d ever drank before. He grimaced, playing the shot glass down on the table and clapping his hands together. “Drinking games,” he declared almost matter-of-factly. “Frank. Rick. Help me move this table out of the way so we have enough room to sit and play Truth or Dare,” he grinned. Frank got to his feet to move the furniture, making room for people to sit on the old carpet. People busied around, grabbing their drinks before finding a comfortable spot around an empty bottle Pete had placed in the middle of the group. “Playing it with the bottle so none of you dickheads target people,” he gave Frank a pointed look. “Who’s starting?”

It took Rick about five more seconds than Frank to get to his feet, but once he did he grabbed the other side of the table, nearly collapsing as he did, but luckily everyone was fast enough to grab their glasses when they sensed the upcoming danger. Once the table was aside and everyone was getting ready on the floor with their drinks, Rick went to get himself a can of beer, before returning and sitting himself down between Penny and Noella, just in time to see Maggie pick up the bottle and raise it. “I’ll go.” she flashed them a smirk, before spinning the bottle, which landed on Wallis. Maggie raised her brows slightly. “Okay, guy. Truth or dare?” 

“How-” Pete couldn’t finish because Maggie was already speaking over him, he threw his hands up in the air and retreated back into the house. He knew they were alive and he could finally stop worrying now. Heidi had gone to help Penny and the others with unpacking, appearing next to Rick in the moment he realised the grill wasn’t with them. “She’s going to fucking kill you, man,” the girl laughed with a grimace. She looked back at Maggie as Penny nudged passed her and into the house.

Rick let the information sink in, not looking forward to another dispute. He reached for a beer bottle from a crate Thad was carrying. He opened it with his teeth, taking a gulp, before grabbing the wrapped up tent and heading to the front door. There, in the living room, stood Alex with a cup of coffee and at the sight of people entering raised it in a classy manner. “Guys, guys, welcome!” he greeted. Maggie was quick to appear next to him. “Now, that everyone’s here, we can start the party.” she smirked, raising a bottle of tequila, before taking a sip, grimacing a bit, but eventually licking her lips, vaguely eyeing Thad as she did.

The friends greeted each other quickly, getting those pleasantries out of the way. “Yes, I am!” Pete smiled wildly at Noella. He’d completely pushed aside those weird moments he’d had at the party concerning her, putting it down to just being a strange reaction to drinking. “Come on, I’ll show you where to put them.” He signalled for her to follow him to the back of his car, where a couple of kegs, some camping equipment, and their other supplies were being kept. It was beginning to pile up already. “That thing can’t be safe,” Buzz snickered, pointing to Rick’s vehicle.  

Noella followed Pete to the car and Iris kinda just stood there, not sure what to do with herself. Noella looked at all of the supplies, then turned to Pete, quite doubtful. “Are you sure you can fit all of that?” she asked, knowing that there was more alcohol and equipment to come. “If you want, we can take..” she again looked down at the packed mess. “..something.” she trailed off. “You’d be surprised.” Rick stated, as if he were advertising the vehicle. “He can work wonders.” Rick gently kicked the car, which made an inconvenient, old-car-that’s-falling-apart sorta noise, which even worried Rick himself. But he covered it up with a confident smile. “Are you sure about that, Ricky?” was the way Maggie decided to greet the group. With a bag at her feet and hands resting in the shallow pockets of her jacket she looked from one person to another, a smirk on her face until she noticed Penny. “Who’s taking her?” 

Frank managed to shrug of his shirt without dropping, his body doing most of the hard work of holding her up against the wall. “Bedroom?” He gasped, knowing they were going to have to move this to somewhere more comfortable sooner or later. 

“Subtle,” he teased. Frank didn’t know how to feel about the situation. Sure, he’d be similar ones plenty of times before, but there was something off about Maggie that didn’t make this feel quite right. On the other hand, she sounded like she need this more than he did. He didn’t waist time, bring his lips to her’s in a kiss as messy as the one they shared in the bar. He picked her up, pushing her back against the wall. 

She kissed him back as if her life depended on it. Her legs were wrapped around his waist, as her arms rested around his neck. She kissed harder, brushing her tongue against his lower lip, as her hands now tugged at his shirt. 

Frank brought the bottle to his lips, his eyes stayed glued to her as he gulped back the liquid. He let her take the bottle back and he watched her, the entire undressing her with his eyes. “Glad to be here,” he smirked, edging closer to her. “And why was it you needed me to come over so late?” He asked, a brow raised coyly. 

She put the bottle aside, moving even closer to him, her hands now resting on his shoulders as she lifted herself up onto her tiptoes, placing a gentle kiss against his cheek, before looking him in the eye. And Maggie was direct. She didn’t hold back. “I want you to fuck me.” she told him, in an almost desperate tone, biting down at her lower lip as she waited for a response. 

Frank couldn’t help but think that Maggie’s invite had been unexpected, if not a little strange. Still, Frank was Frank and he decided to take her up on the offer. After the day he’d had, with everything that he had found out, he decided to carry on with his life as usual. Why wouldn’t he? He leaned against the doorframe, a smirk spreading across his lips as she opened the door. “Are you going to invite me in?” He asked cockily when she didn’t say anything. 

She let out a soft chuckle, looking him up and down. With the smirk still on her face, Maggie raised the bottle as some sort of invitation. “Come in.” And once he did, Maggie closed the door, before turning around and leaning against it for a moment. Her eyes rested on him for a moment, before she pulled herself away from the door and approached him, placing her hand gently on his shoulder. “Glad you made it.” she told him, her hand moving to his chest, before grabbing his shirt. Her other hand reached for the bottle she had passed him earlier, reclaiming it back, bringing it to her lips and taking a sip. 

Buzz was tempted to offer to help Noella, but then she remembered she simply didn’t care. She thanked Noella for the information before heading towards the two girls on the patio. “Do you want to go wait at the front of the house?” She overhead Heidi ask Maggie. “Wait until the taxi gets here?” she continued before Buzz interrupted. “Where’s Alex?” she asked the girls bluntly, looking down at them.

Maggie was beginning to calm down. Her body was still trembling and she was getting chills, as well as goosebumps, but at least her speech and comprehension seemed a bit clearer. She looked up, not expecting to see the girl. With a shaky hand, she brought the cigarette to her lips, before taking a quite large smoke and inhaling. “H-he pissed off to somewhere, I don’t know.” she began, then remembering. “To call c-cab. He w-went to call a cab.” she then stated, her jaw shaking from the cold and exhaustion, making her still a little bit hard to understand. “W-where the fuck h-have you been?” 

Once Penny was left in Pete’s room, she felt like she could relax. Her foot still hurt but the bleeding had seemed to stop thanks to Noella. Penny collapsed into the bed, the only light in the room coming from the hallway through the slightly open door. It honestly felt like she was on a boat, the bed moving underneath her body, the room spinning around her head. She was comfortable enough to fall asleep. If it weren’t for still soaking wet t-shirt. She tugged the garment over her head awkwardly before throwing it aside. She climbed under the soft bedsheets and closed her eyes. After spending the past our pretending to flirt with Paul, Buzz finally admitted her lesbian tendencies to the poor jock before skipping away in the hopes of finding Alex so they could laugh at the boy together. She headed towards the patio, remembering that was the last place she’d seen him. “Noella!” Buzz called out surprised as she almost walked straight into the girl and the boy she was holding up. “Hey, have you seen Alex?” She asked, peaking her head around Noella’s to see if he was out on the patio, only to see Heidi holding Maggie as she cried. “What the hell happened there?” She asked, giving Noella a puzzled, yet amused, look. 

Noella looked up, quite taken aback by the unexpected conversation starter. Her main focus, despite all the weed and alcohol, was to get Rick to bed. However, she did pause her mission after processing that the other girl was there. Noella still held tightly onto Rick, not risking having to scrub him off the floor later. She looked around, everything seeming quite hazy, her eyes heavy. “Isn’t he there?” Noella mumbled when Buzz looked outside. Last time she knew, Alex was kinda trying to help with all the Maggie drama. Noella peeked out, seeing now just the two girls. She sighed, quite exhausted. “They had a disagreement.” she vaguely explained, not really having the time to get into further details, as she could feel Rick slipping away from her grip, his head kinda just hanging. She half jerked him upwards, before looking somewhat apologetically to Buzz. “Uh, sorry, I kinda have to make sure that this one here gets safely into bed.” she mumbled, like a mother. Maggie was now smoking a cigarette, chain smoking, mind you, the fourth one now. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Heidi asked, taken completely aback by Maggie’s choice of words. She didn’t want to get angry, she wanted to tell herself that she was only saying these things because she was drunk. But Heidi was drunk too, so it didn’t matter. “Can even hear yourself right now, Maggie? It’s pathetic. I might have joked about this thing you have with Thad before, but it’s not funny. You’re the one playing games and the only reason you’re getting angry now is because you’re starting to realise he doesn’t give a single fuck about you!” Heidi spat, not feeling the an ounce of regret. 

Thad and Noella were just about to start escorting Penny inside when the argument seemed to get more intense. His gaze rested on the trio for a moment, then traveled back to the two girls. “Do you think you’ll be okay on your own?” he asked Noella, and her eyes followed his to the dramatic scene. Noella then glanced at Penny, whom she was supporting, before turning back to Thad, and giving him a nod. “We’ll be fine.” she gave him a soft smile, and he returned it. Maggie had been bawling her eyes out, throwing slurred insults and self-centered points of view left and right. Overwhelmed, she cried even harder when she saw Thad approach. 

A few tears ran down Penny’s face, and she’d started hiccupping at some point, which didn’t make the situation any better. Music still blared from inside the house, only just about hiding the raised voices coming from the kitchen. “No you’re not,” Heidi laughed. The situation wasn’t funny in the least but Heidi couldn’t help but find her friend’s words funny. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard you say,” She looked to Alex for some sort of agreement from him. 

Maggie felt insulted. She couldn’t stand the idea of someone telling her otherwise. “We are! I love him, I’m in love with him, and he –– he loves me. You know this. Stop trying to make me feel bad about this––” she paused, as if she were realizing something in this terrible state of mind. “You’re defending Penny? Because her friends were murdered?” her speech was slurred, but she was convinced that every word she said was true. “Whoa, Maggie, slow down now, alright?” Alex put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re getting ahead of yourself.” he attempted, but she was quick to escape his touch. “Fuck you, Alex. 

Even through her increasing pain, Penny couldn’t help but give Rick a very confused look. “Okay…” She sighed, still beyond confused how Rick could possibly survive by himself for more than five minutes.  Meanwhile, Heidi was trying her best to calm Maggie down. “Mags, Maggie, stop, okay?” She tried to ask her calmly, trying to get to shut the hell up. “It’s nothing. And why would you care if something was going on with those two anyway?”

Rick was still sorta unconscious by the hot tub while Noella and Thad tried to nurse Penny’s foot back to health. Meanwhile, Maggie felt like nothing in the world made sense. She couldn’t believe that Heidi would ask her this, because to her, it was clear, despite herself never wanting to admit it out loud. Now, she was intoxicated, and she felt like she was being forced to. And because nothing else made sense, she was sure that this had to be it. “Because we’re in love?!” she choked out through the tears of frustration. 

Pete didn’t shy away from the kiss, placing a hand behind Alex’s head as he did so. He fell back into his seat beside Iris, draping an arm across her shoulders, not noticing how disinterested she was. Pete laughed at the shocked expression that appeared across Frank’s face, it didn’t last long. The boy shrugged off his surprise, grabbing Alex from behind the head and planting a rather sloppy looking kiss on the boys lips before reaching to spin the bottle, for barely moment to pass for anybody to process. Frank span the bottle grinning to himself as it landed on the half-naked girl across from him. He cheekily tapped his lips and waited for Maggie to kiss him. 

One of Alex’s hands was rested on the boy’s chest and the other on his shoulder as they kissed. When Frank pulled away, Alex leaned back, smirking as he carefully yet swiftly wiped around his lips. Thad watched the action, deciding that this wouldn’t bet to him if he’d just bottle everything up and not break down just yet. The idea of it seemed uncomfortable to him, but when he chose to not look directly and lit himself a cigarette instead it wasn’t that horrible, since he was already kinda drunk and all seemed hazy. Maggie was quick to enthusiastically push her hair behind her ear, before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him passionately, even bothering to bite at his lip. Proud, she then reclaimed her seat, spinning the bottle, which landed on Pete. Iris cleared her throat, but not loud enough to be heard by everyone. 

Penny grabbed the fist shirt she could find in Pete’s room, which happened to be a pretty large white t-shirt with Simba from the Lion King on it. She laughed a little at the image before stripping off her dress and bra, throwing the t-shirt over head before running back downstairs to join the others. She appeared next to Rick a few seconds later, looking down at the gathering in the hot tub. “Cute t-shirt,” Buzz complimented her, moving up to make room for the newcomers. Penny feeling a little better now she wasn’t expected to join the brigade of half-naked people. She slowly clambered into the hot tub, the water causing her shirt to cling to her body. She was a little surprised that the water wasn’t completely warm or bubbling yet. “This feels like we’re sitting in a bath more than a hot tub,” she stated, looking to Pete. “Oh, right, I haven’t turned it on.” He chuckled, leaning over the side and turning on a switch, bubbles appearing in the water almost instantly. 

Rick kinda used the time from Penny’s arrival to the moment Pete actually turned on the hot tub to sneak back into the house and grab himself a beer. He returned with the bottle in his hand, looking over to the crowd in the now working tub. He furrowed his brows, before attempting to get into the tub, when Noella spoke up. “Rick?” he looked up, almost startled, not expecting a sort of interaction just yet. This whole mission seemed too difficult. “You wanna go in in that?” she asked and he looked her, confused. “Clothes.” Noella stated. “Huh?” he still had a hard time trying to remember what they were on about. “You’re still wearing your jeans.” Noella finally just gave up. Rick looked himself down, noticing that he was, in fact, still wearing his jeans. So he did the most reasonable thing and took them off, before throwing them to the side and stepping into the tub, trying to squeeze in, which kinda just ended with him splashing into the crowd. He arose from the water, the bottle held high. Rick took a sip of the beer, before kinda letting himself float. Luckily, Maggie was flattered from earlier enough to pull him into her arms, letting him rest his head against her chest, as her arms were wrapped around his upper part of the body. “Okay, we need to get drunk.” she stated, reaching out for her drink and taking a sip.