Rising Shards

I was just about ready to call it a night after seeing one of my coworkers slobbering on another, but I saw Stella’s eyes sparkle a bit as her friend…got slobbered on. The whole thing was just weird, but what thing wasn’t in this world? It was like the fifth time that day I had to remind myself to loosen up and have fun. 

But I still felt bad as I sat on Stella’s lap, feeling like I was crushing her. She insisted she was alright though.

It was clear how truth or dare was gonna go for the rest of it after the first round. Mahina and her new friend Vallie asked each other increasingly flirty truths, throwing in a few flirty dares, but nothing as risqué as I was expecting given how flirty the truths were. Alix and Pippi were on some weird energy but both were on the same wavelength, mostly Pippi asking Alix to do some embarrassing dare, with Alix lapping it up and doing whatever she was told. Vega and Moira, the other people we just met, were basically just grinding on each other the whole time, barely acknowledging our existence. I wasn’t sure how much I could match the energy with others around, but I did my best to give Stella some fun ones.

“Truth,” Stella said.

“Uh, what color are your panties today?” I said. Not one of my better ones this game.

“I think you already know that,” Stella said, which got whoops and hollers from the others.

“I’d check to make sure, but you’re still under me at the moment,” I said.

Just as Stella was in the middle of responding with a joke about bottoming, our game was interrupted by a cheerful Brambler Travel Co. staffer. He kind of reminded me of Penteldtam, he had a similar silly demeanor. Maybe it was the suspenders he had on. The worker zeroed in on the mangled plastic toy fire in the center of our tent.

“Was that campfire banged up when you got here?” he asked.

“Sure was,” I said. Alix looked like I just saved her from a death sentence.

“Dang, sorry about that, y’all. Well, we got something fun for you to do next, it’s Teensly Street trivia hour!”

Before any of us could object, the guy awkwardly pushed in a flat screen TV on a little cart. There was a console connected to it, a party game that I saw advertised all the time, one with a bunch of mini tablet-like controllers perfect for parties. I didn’t realize this was a Brambler Travel Co. product. The game had various types of triva contests, but we didn't get to pick.

“I don’t care that he stabbed me with a bloodsaber, I love Jefri!” A girl shrieked as a question popped over the screen, “True or False: Was Jefri cheating on Seal during this exact moment?”

Pretty easy true.

“I think any Teensly Street thing about cheating is a freebie to say it’s happening whatever the question is,” I said.

“I think it actually does have the record for most affairs in a television show,” Stella said.

“What’s with all the cheating on TV lately?” Mahina asked. “You ever notice that? Renderfold’s Tryst, Tower of Hate and Love, this crap.”

“It’s a basic drama trope,” Vallie said. “Easy to get a reaction out of people with.”

After going through trivia questions about some of the most melodramatic entertainment put to film, we each won a coupon for the game system and some DVD box sets of Teensly Street. For how much this cost I was ready for the freebie part of it, even if some of the prizes were shows I’d never watch.

“Now what?” I asked.

“Hmm, we have a bit of free time before the next thing,” Pippi said.

“Maybe we need to go to the private tents next,” Mahina said.

“There are private tents?” I said.

“Oh there most certainly are,” Pippi said. “Come on, Alix, maybe it’s time for that first dare.”

The newly formed pairings each left one by one until it was just Stella and I. She leaned back on her hands, and we took a few just sitting quietly. It started to hit me how tensed up I was around all the other folks in the tent getting handsy and flirty with each other. It was a new experience for me.

“Yeah, I forgot to mention that they kind of have a make out break planned in this,” Stella said.

“So they seriously have planned time for that?” I asked.

“Brambler Travel Co. knows their audience,” Stella said. “They make Teensly Street, after all.”

“It’s rough being a wingman,” I said. “And kind of awkward.”

“The downside is someone’s gonna come in and spritz them with water in about five minutes,” Stella said. “They can’t just let people go too wild.”

“Like. Seriously?”

“Yep,” Stella said. “Guy comes around with either a spray bottle or a squirt gun.”

“So you made it far enough to find that out?” I asked.

“Nah, I wish! Well.” She looped an arm around mine. “It ended up working out that I struck out at all these.”

“Sure did,” I said. I could feel the tension in the air between us. We’d been at this all day, and all this romance had me wanting to indulge in my own sweet Stella. “Say…do you know anywhere we could go where we wouldn’t get sprayed with water?”

Stella grinned. “Follow me.”

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