Fairest by Beth Bishop

matters more embarrassing, my sweater rode up above the waist of my jeans and exposed my lower back. At least my jeans weren’t so low cut that the top of my panties showed.
    â€œNice,” Mike said. When I looked up at him, I found his eyes zeroed in on my butt.
    In my embarrassment, I blushed and teetered off my foot. “You have to keep one foot on the ground,” Derrick called.
    I grunted and tried to regain my toehold. “Yeah, well. I’m five-three.”
    â€œHere,” Linc said. He knelt behind me, gripped my calf, and pulled until my foot touched the floor. “There. Can you reach?”
    â€œYeah,” I winced as the edge of the table dug painfully into my hips.
    I took the shot, and when I backed off the table to miss the returning cue ball, my butt hit Linc in the head. He played at getting knocked out, stuck his tongue out, and fell backward.
    â€œSorry, Linc,” I said.
    He grabbed my hand. He pulled himself to standing and would’ve pulled me onto the floor if I hadn’t quickly braced myself.
    â€œLook, Skye. I’d
love
for you to sit on my face, but I need some warning.” He smiled at Whit and looked at the table. “Hey, you made the shot. We win.” He did a ridiculous celebratory dance, with fist and hip pumps, and I accepted the high five he offered. “You wanna play, again?”
    â€œSwap partners,” Mike said. “I think she’s a hustler.”
    Sicily said something of which I only heard, “Hussy,” and Linc spun around to look at her. “That would be the pot calling the kettle black, except
that
kettle,” he jerked his head toward me, “is pristine. You,” he said while wrinkling his nose, “not so much.”
    â€œWhen did you join the Cluck Moo fan club?” Sicily asked him. “You’d think she was your girlfriend.” She made a face at Linc, flipped him off. Then, she and Kelsey both went down the hallway to the bathroom.
    â€œYeah, do some more coke,” Linc called to her retreating back. “You should smoke a joint and chill out.” He looked around to find everyone else staring at him. “What? She’s being a bitch.”
    â€œThat’s just who she is,” Mike said. “Rack ‘em.”
    Whit came up behind me and rubbed my shoulders. “Here, take the edge off.” He offered me his drink.
    I shook my head. “I think I need my edge around here.”

Chapter Seven
    While Whit drank and mingled with his friends, I played a round of pool as Mike’s partner and another as Derrick’s. At the end of the final game of pool, Mike suggested we all watch a movie. One of the guys that I hadn’t been introduced to brought the two-liters of Coke and the bottles of Crown Royal over to the large coffee table and refilled everyone who was drinking, which was everyone but me and the now-high Sicily and Kelsey.
    The sofas formed a block-U around the coffee table. After much discussion, seats were assigned. Derrick and a now-drunk Mike sat at the ends of one sofa with Sicily and Kelsey sitting between them. Wedged between Linc and Whit, I sat on the sofa across from theirs. The blonde Mary Beth sat next to Whit while Lindsey and the other two girls sat on the middle sofa. The two remaining guys took spots on the floor in front of the sofa of girls.
    We watched
Inception.
Rather, I
tried
to watch it and understand what was happening, and everyone else slipped further into drunkenness and talked over the movie. Whit’s arm ran behind my lower back, and his hand cupped my hip. Linc’s upper arm pressed against the side of my boob, and we were practically holding hands.
    Not long into the movie, Whit’s hand slid under my sweater. His fingers stroked the skin of my waist. The way Linc and I were pushed together, he could feel Whit’s hand. After giving me a look, he dug his elbow into Whit’s arm.
    Whit sat up and leaned