Step-Something Ch. 03 - Party Favors

In which your humble narrator decides to merge worlds...

Step-Something III</p>
3 - 1. Party Favors
When Sophie arrived at Ben's apartment, about half of the party guests were already present. She deposited the bottle of wine she'd brought with the others, and filled a glass from one that was already open.
Beside Ben, she knew no one except for Stephen and Jasmine, whom she'd met briefly. Stephen was a classmate of Ben's. He was dark-skinned, with shaven head and merry, dark eyes. Jasmine, his girlfriend, was shorter and darker than her partner, though her eyes sparkled much like his.
Rose had golden hair, freckles, and pretty green eyes. She was perhaps the most casually dressed, in green crop tee and cutoffs so short they were more like denim panties, while her friend Heather was the least casual, in a green body-hugging dress with gold-framed glasses and a gold cross around her neck. She had auburn hair, and the dress's U neck showed a couple of inches of gracefully-lifted curves.
Ben was preparing the first game when the final arrivals rang the doorbell. Yui and Amanda were Ben's next-door neighbors, and they came armed with vegetarian snacks, since they were certain he would have nothing that was meat free.
Yui was a petite Asian woman in glasses, with short dark hair. Amanda was only slightly taller than her, with an olive complexion and ready smile. "He only invited us so that we wouldn't complain about the noise," she told the room.
That was unlikely, Sophie knew. These apartments were expensive and large, and there was very little chance of sound being a problem. That also meant that the women were probably not college students. Ben's accommodation was atypical for a student, as was Sophie's.

~~~~~</p>
When they all had drinks and some had sampled the vegetarian snacks, everyone sat around the large dining table.
"I hope y'all realize," Ben began, affecting a Western drawl, "that the games ain't gonna be G-rated. If you get to the point that you're uncomfortable, there ain't no shame in opting out. You can watch, or leave, if it's too much, and that's fine. It won't go beyond strippin' an' kissin', but if that's too much for you, you can say no at any time. Okay?"
Everyone nodded. He must have warned them when he invited them. He hadn't warned Sophie, probably because, well, she wouldn't expect anything less. The other guests' levels of enthusiasm varied, though. Where Rose and Jasmine were grinning, Rose's friend Heather looked nervous.
Stephen was beaming, but as he was one of only two men playing naughty games with six women, Sophie figured that was understandable.
"First game is embarrassing in a different way," Ben said, having dropped the drawl. "Who all here hasn't played Cards Against Humanity?"
Yui and Amanda had not. Heather said, "I have, once, but it isn't my favorite game."
Ben quickly explained the rules, which were simple enough, and the game got off to a quick start. Heather, in spite of claiming not to like the game, did remarkably well at finding funny combinations, beginning with "My plan for world domination begins with slowly easing down onto a cucumber," and she took the winning round with "During sex I like to think about Finding Waldo."
"Does winning mean I'm a horrible person?" she asked Ben. She was clearly happy to have won the game.
"Sure does," he replied. "So why do you hate it so much?"
"I got so embarrassed the last time I played," she said. "I played a card that had everyone rolling on the floor." Her cheeks had colored. "Listen, I really, really did not know what bukkake meant."
Most of the table burst out laughing.
"You do now?" Stephen asked.
"Never, ever, ever google a Cards Against Humanity card," she replied.
Sophie had been considering Heather a little aloof, and likely something of a killjoy, with her dislike of the card game, but this confession took some courage, and she was clearly willing to laugh at herself. Sophie's estimation of the girl climbed, though the dress and the cross both still gave her pause.

~~~~~</p>
After putting the cards away, Ben moved everyone into the living room. Rose and Heather took the large couch, and Sophie joined them, leaving the love seat for Yui and Amanda, Ben taking one chair and Stephen and Jasmine sharing the other. Then he passed around a delivery menu for chicken wings. Yui and Amanda looked at each other and nodded. Everyone else checked off choices of dip. After he'd called in the order, he announced the next game.
"Until the food arrives, we'll play hunt the thimble," he said.
Stephen jeered at that, and Jasmine said, "What the fuck?"
Ben laid his phone on a glass end table, and took a small object from his pocket, which Sophie saw to be the Monopoly hat playing piece when he set it beside the phone. "One of us is going to be the hunter," he said. "Another of us is going to hide the thimble somewhere on their maraş escort body, and the hunter has to find it. You're not allowed to say hot or cold unless the hunter is actively searching someone. The person they're searching isn't allowed to give instructions or to inhibit the search in any way."
At that the naysayers started to grin. It wasn't hunt the thimble, it was sexy hunt the thimble.
Ben brought up an app on his phone. He pushed a button and it made swishing sounds, which slowed. Then he showed everyone the screen. On it, a bottle pointed to an avatar labelled "Rose." There were seven other avatars, each with the name of a guest, plus Ben's own. "You, Rose, are the hunter. Would you go back into the dining room?"
"Who's the victim?" she asked.
"You get to figure that out." He made a shooing motion and she stepped through the door and closed it behind her.
Ben pressed the phone and it made its swishing sounds again. When it had stopped, he picked up the Monopoly hat and handed it to Sophie.
"Oh, great," she said. After a moment's thought, she slipped the hat into the back pocket of her shorts.
Jasmine let Rose back into the room, tied a scarf around her eyes, then turned her around a few times to disorient her. She felt around until she'd found Amanda, then at the cries of "cold," moved on to Yui, then to Stephen. After that she seemed to be more able to orientate herself, finding the couch and feeling her way along to Heather.
Since she was getting "warmer," she felt around Heather some before moving on. Heather turned pink as Rose felt along her legs and around her shoulders, but her embarrassment didn't last long as Rose decided she wasn't "warm" enough and sought a new target.
Sophie had expected some groping. What she hadn't expected was Ben's calling out "warmer" and "hot" and "scalding" whenever Rose's hands got close to her chest. Stephen joined in, and then Amanda, leading Rose to squeeze the front of Sophie's tee, then get her fingers inside its neckline and down into her bra. Jasmine had slid off Stephen's lap and was laughing uproariously on the floor. Yui grinned at Sophie's discomfiture.
Heather was watching in horrified fascination, her cheeks flaming. Trying to hold her eyes, Sophie grunted, "Someone please give her better directions?"
Heather darted a glance at her eyes, but shook her head slightly. It was Amanda who finally switched from deception to correction, and it took Rose a few moments to reorient herself, until she ran her hands over Sophie's torso until she found the center of "hot" by squeezing her ass.
That located the "thimble," and a moment later Rose had gotten it out of Sophie's pocket and was holding it in the air.
Everyone cheered at that, including Heather. Sophie called out, "I feel like you should have bought me dinner and flowers first!"
Rose said, "Give me your number and I will next time."
Heather was frowning at Rose. Was she jealous? Sophie wondered if she and Rose were a couple. She hadn't had that impression.
Ben was wondering aloud whether to start another game when the wings delivery arrived.

~~~~~</p>
Sophie ate a couple of wings, but then found she preferred the stuffed jalapenos that Yui had brought. She was eating her second when Heather approached.
"I hope you'll forgive me for not rescuing you," the girl said. She had a small plate with a couple of wings, and she made the comment casually.
Sophie grinned. "Of course. Were you enjoying the show?"
"Well..." Now she did look a little embarrassed. "Everyone was, I think. I didn't want to spoil it. I think... you were enjoying it, too."
"I'd enjoy it more behind a closed door," Sophie said.
Heather looked alarmed at the comment.
"I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have said that," Sophie said, quickly. "Are you and Rose close?"
The girl's expression gradually returned to neutral interest. She shrugged. "We're friends."
Strange. She didn't seem like she would be jealous of Rose, or hurt by Sophie's implying they might get together in private. "I hope I'm not offending you, but you seem... you seem like you feel out of place."
"I do," Heather agreed. "I've been trying to meet more people. To fit in better. Rose knows that, which is why she asked me to come."
"Did you expect all the salacious games?"
"Oh yes." Heather nodded sharply. "Rose warned me very clearly. I'm nervous about what might happen, but I know I'll survive, and enjoy myself. Even if it's in hindsight. I..." She hesitated a moment before continuing. "I wish I could be like you, able to take things as they come."
"Try not to stress out over it," Sophie said. "You'll be fine."

~~~~~</p>
When sufficient wings and vegetarian delicacies had been consumed, and everyone had drink refills, Ben led them back to the dining room, and sat at the head of the table. Heather had stayed with Sophie, and asked if she could kahta escort take the chair beside her.
"Of course you can," Sophie replied, with a quick smile.
Ben took out a pack of cards. "I think this game will take a long time," he said, "so I don't have anything planned after this. We play until someone loses."
"How do you define "loses?"" asked Yui.
"You lose when you're naked," Ben replied, with a grin.
"Ah," Yui replied, with a grin. "Very good."
Sophie leaned over towards Heather, and whispered, "Maybe I'll get to see you without that dress."
The girl turned scarlet at that. Then she turned towards Sophie and whispered, "That's what I'm nervous about."
The game that Ben described was a trick-taking game, so he verified that everyone knew the rules of hearts or spades or similar. The "sexy" gimmick was that whenever you won a trick, you were given the topmost card from a stack of dares. The dare cards were face up, so that you would know which dare you would have to perform if you were to win the hand. You might seek to win only mild dares, or discard your high cards, but of course everyone else would be doing the same.
And if you didn't win a single hand, you ran the risk of a worse fate. One player would be selected to take a card from the stack of major dares. These were face down, so you wouldn't know what you would be letting yourself in for. Since there were only fourteen tricks to be had between eight players, there was a very good chance of a player having to commit a major dare each round.
"Can you play hearts?" Sophie whispered to Heather. She'd already nodded when Ben had asked, but Sophie felt oddly concerned about her.
"I play contract bridge at church," the girl whispered back.
"Oh, damn," said Sophie.
"What's wrong?" Heather asked.
"If you're that good at trick games, you probably won't be taking your dress off."
Heather gave her an uneasy smile.
Ben passed the normal dare stack around for everyone to get an idea of what they'd be required to do. About a third of the cards were a mix of "remove an item of clothing," or "remove another player's clothing," with rules and restrictions that varied by dare.

~~~~~</p>
During the first round, Sophie was forced to take a trick that cost her her shoes. She led back a low card, and the trick was taken by Rose, whose dare was to sit on another player's lap and french kiss them for thirty seconds.
Ben's app whirred, and the bottle pointed to Sophie. So she slid her chair out, and Rose sat on her thighs, then wrapped her arms and legs around her and they kissed enthusiastically. Thirty seconds came and went, and a second thirty was almost done when they mutually ended the kiss. Rose stood, both of them breathing heavily.
"This after getting your hand inside my bra," Sophie said. "If you don't call me, I'm gonna have to hunt you down."
Everyone laughed at that, except for Heather, who seemed both amused and confused.
Rose stepped back, then turned back toward her chair. Sophie idly watched her backside, and something about her purposeful steps seemed familiar. Well, not just the walk. She realized that her face and features had a vague but nagging familiarity. It was the walk that brought it out though, and Sophie could hardly ask why she recognized Rose's butt.
On the other hand... "Hey, Rose?"
"Hmm?"
"Why do I recognize your butt?"
Everyone burst out laughing. "It was on the cover of Vogue?" Rose suggested as she sat, with a grin at Sophie.
That was when she began to suspect a setup. The thimble game, and now kissing, both with Rose? What were the odds?
She stared hard at Ben, and his entirely innocent expression told her she was right. He'd been manipulating the choices. That damned app he was using...
It certainly wouldn't be the first time either of them had run a con on the other. It only annoyed her that it had taken her several hours to realize that it was happening. Now she needed to figure out the details.
Was she being targeted alone? If making out with Rose was the goal, it was a pretty weak one. Rose had to know something of what was going on. Hell, if she wanted to get Sophie into bed, she only had to call. It wouldn't need an elaborate Ben scam. So, most likely, it was Sophie and... someone else? Who?
She glanced to her left, to see Heather watching her anxiously, her face flushed.
Rose's friend. Whom Rose persuaded to come to the party. Oh, God, really?
She turned back to give Ben her best "what the fuck?" stare, which he returned with the same perfect innocence as earlier. Then she studied her cards and thought.
Stephen lost his shoes to the next hand. While he was taking them off, Sophie's phone binged. She turned it over to glance at its screen without taking it out of her purse. It was possible that it was important.
"Took u long enuf," it said. She glared at Ben briefly. She hadn't kaman escort even seen him send a text. She must have assumed he was playing with the app. A moment later there was another text. "Trust."
So Ben wasn't just playing her. He was expecting her to participate willingly. Whatever he'd set up, it would be to her benefit not to disrupt his game. Hence, "trust."
Another moment's thought. Rose was working with Ben in some fashion. The purposeful walk and the golden hair finally gelled. She'd seen the owner of that butt moving with a tray holding glasses of beer, and seen the freckled face handing a drunk Ben a glass - except it turned out he wasn't drunk, and the beer was non-alcoholic. She was the waitress from the golf club that he'd co-opted to handle Ethan.
As she turned to look at Rose, the blonde caught her eye and winked. She mouthed something and made a phone dialing gesture. "Still want your number," maybe?
"Later," Sophie mouthed silently, with a tiny nod. Yeah, she was down with that. And maybe she needed to punish Rose for her part in this...
The final hand showed another copy of the "sit on someone's lap and kiss" card. Sophie saw Heather bite her lip, then wince as Stephen led a low diamond. She tossed out the king. "Any other suit," she mumbled. "Please, someone have a trump..."
No one had a trump. Heather took the trick, and Sophie shot her a commiserating smile.
Ben's app selected Stephen as the target, so Heather moved over to sit on his lap. Though she didn't make a big production of the kiss, as Rose and Sophie had done, she kissed him with enthusiasm, whether real or feigned. When they separated at the thirty second mark, her cheeks were red, and Stephen looked a little shocked.
"You go, girl," called Jasmine, as she returned to her place. When she sat she picked up her wine glass and took a large swallow.

~~~~~</p>
"No one failed to take a trick," Ben said. "I'm impressed and disappointed! Let's take a break before the next round. Get drinks. I'm going to open a few windows. It's too hot in here. I'm sure someone's going to learn about major dares next time."
Sophie turned to smile at Heather, who returned the smile tentatively.
"Are you going to date her?" The girl's question was casual, but she seemed somehow tense.
"Probably not," Sophie answered. "I haven't really dated anyone for a long time."
"You seemed... excited. You both did. Are you really going to ignore that if she calls?"
"Oh, well, I'm sure we'd be good for a romantic evening or two," Sophie replied.
"Romantic?" Heather's eyes were wide behind her large glasses. "If you're both women, is that even the right word?"
The question seemed genuine, rather than rhetorical. But Christ, Ben, what are you trying to do to me? Or to her?
"You don't think women can be romantically attracted to each other?"
"I guess I just can't think of it as romance if it's not... not a man and a woman."
Sophie considered her words for a moment. "Forgive me," she said. "I don't want to give offense, but I don't think you really believe that. I think it's your religion talking, not you."
"It's the same thing," Heather stated, but her tone lacked conviction.
"I don't think it is," Sophie argued. "I don't think your religion would really approve of most of what's happened this evening, but you seem okay with it. Or at least, you're trying not to disapprove, and I respect that. A lot, to be honest."
"I just don't want to feel left out," said Heather.
"I'm sure you don't," said Sophie, "but I also am sure that you can see that it's harmless, and we're enjoying ourselves, and I think you're enjoying it some, too. And you really don't think it's wrong to do so."
"I have been enjoying myself," Heather admitted. "Mostly. I'm not really sure about the rest."
"We each know what we're getting into," Sophie insisted, "and we're each responsible for our choices. We're not hurting anyone else. And if it tests our comfort zone, that can be good, too, because it can help us see the difference between what does make us uncomfortable and what should make us uncomfortable. And it can help us see when we need to work on acceptance and tolerance. It's the same with Rose and me. If we were to get together, who would we be hurting if we give each other a little romance? Or even if we just fuck?"
"Fuck?" Heather looked startled. "How can you even call it that? You don't have the right..." She glanced down towards Sophie's waist, then looked back up. "You don't have the right parts to f... to fuck."
"Ask me another time and I'll explain why that's not true," Sophie said. "But whatever we do, it will be just us. We won't be hurting anyone else, so how would that be wrong?"
Heather just shrugged uncomfortably.
Sophie frowned slightly. "With the way you feel, what will you do if you're dared to kiss one of the women? There are five of us and two guys, so it isn't unlikely."
For a brief instant, she got a flash of something which made her believe she finally understood Ben's thinking. As soon as she'd said the word "women," Heather's pupils widened instantly. Then her expression closed down and settled into mild discomfort.