Chapter 9 - Spin the bottle

Spin the bottle



`Kaede, hey Kaede!' Sakura yelled at her, because as soon as she had seen Kaiba, she turned on her heel and began to walk back to Ana's house.

As she walked, Kaede felt someone grab her arms. She looked back at Honda and Duke, who had each grabbed one of her arms and wouldn't let go. Kaede looked over at Joey who was glaring at Kaiba as if there was no one else in the world that he hated more.

`Kaiba!' Yugi said after a while, as usual (N.B. Sorry, had to put that in, for Nemya, I just thought she would appreciated that one).

Kaiba ignored him and went to the boot of the car and opened it. Yuula followed him and pulled out a large crate full of orange juice cartons. Kaiba, meanwhile, emerged with about twenty bottles of champagne. Kaede starred. She knew that he had probably brought them for his own personal enjoyment, but it was nice to think that maybe he was going to offer them as drinks.

`Yay, orange juice!' Yuula danced around madly. The others helped her by taking some of the orange juice cartons and carrying them inside for her. Kaiba followed them with all of his champagne.

Almost as soon as they had walked through the door, Marc and all of his friends grabbed the orange juice and the champagne and ran with it to the kitchen. Yuula and Kaiba stood and watched with their arms pathetically hanging by their sides as Marc and co. ripped open the cartons of orange juice and poured it into some glasses, then filled up the glasses with Kaiba's champagne.

They emerged from the kitchen with the glasses on a serving tray, and went around handing them out to all the guests. Kaede took one, in better spirits now that Kaiba looked pathetic as he no longer had his champagne.

She left Kaiba and Yuula looking as though they felt extremely sorry for themselves and went into the living room with the rest of her friends. Almost all the people she passed had drinks in their hands and were all happy and smiling. Kaede felt someone take her hand and pull her to the dance floor. She looked up into Joey's eyes and smiled, and rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her and held her closely to him. They danced slowly, in time with the music, and just held each other as if they were the last two people in the world.

Feeling someone's eyes on her, Kaede opened her eyes and looked over Joey's shoulder. Leaning against the doorway, staring right at them, he looked as if his heart was breaking. Kaede felt a large pang of guilt as she looked into his face, realising that maybe he didn't think he was better than her, maybe he did nice things because he liked her, maybe he felt something a little bit more…

And with that, Seto Kaiba walked away.

And Kaede felt as though her heart had been ripped out of her chest as she watched.

She stopped dancing, and Joey's arms fell to his sides as he realised that something was wrong. Kaede smiled weakly at him, and then looked down at her feet. She felt so terrible, so horrible. Her head was screaming at her that she had done nothing wrong, that he had brought it upon himself; it was his fault for being such an asshole.

But her heart was telling her to run after him.

`I'm going to get another drink,' she said, and turned and walked away from Joey, ignoring him yelling, `You've already got one in your hand!'

Kaede pushed through the throng, towards the door to the lounge. She made her way down the corridor, to the kitchen door. She was just about to enter when she heard voices from inside.

`Sorry, Seto, but I have to go, something has just come up,' came Takumi's voice. He sounded generally sorry about something, and she heard Kaiba reply.

`Sure, I'll just hang around here with Yuula. It's not as though anyone else wants to be around me.'

Kaede bit her lip. Was it her fault? How didn't he know she was going out with Joey? The rest of the world seemed to know. Where had he been, the moon?

`Aww, come on, Duke's here, and so is Ana, I'm sure they'll talk to you too. And Yugi and Joey might,' Takumi said it what was supposed to be a reassuring voice.

`They won't,' Kaiba said stubbornly. Kaede blinked tears away from her eyes. Since when had Kaiba cared what they thought of him?

She would have listened more if Ana had not grabbed her arm. `Come on Kaede, we're going to play spin-the-bottle!'

`I'd rather not,' Kaede complained, but Ana pushed open the kitchen door, showing Takumi and Seto sat at the table together. `We're playing spin the bottle, come play.'

`Sorry, but I have to go,' Takumi said, standing up and walking to the door. `Really sorry, but I must. Tell Yuula that she can drive the car home.'

He pushed past Ana, and when he got to Kaede he gave her a meaningful look. She looked down at her feet, feeling at bit ashamed. What had Kaiba told him?

`Oh well, Seto, you'll play, won't you?' Ana grabbed Kaiba's arm. He looked as if he was going to wrench it away and back against the wall in fear.

`Um, I'm not sure if-' but he couldn't get any further, because Ana had dragged him out of his seat and towards the door. She got to Kaede and grabbed her in her other hand, and lead them upstairs.

They entered a room on the first floor and Kaede looked around. Their whole friendship group was sat on the floor in a circle, some looking a bit embarrassed, some bored. Kaede sat down in between Honda and Ryou, as it appeared it was meant to be a boy-girl-boy-girl layout.

`Okay, this is a bit unfair as we have one more boy so it is uneven but it is okay,' Ana smiled. `Okay, so I'll spin first and whoever it lands on will start. When you spin, you kiss person of the opposite sex who is closest to the pointy bit of the bottle, so if it lands on someone of the same sex you don't have to kiss them unless you want to.

`Right, so I spin…' she said, and sat down and spun. It landed on Yugi, who blushed and said, `That's not-' but then he turned into Yami, who smiled and said in his deeper voice, `Alright, I'll start.' He put his hand over the bottle and said to himself, `Heart of the bottle, guide me.'

He spun as hard as he could (it managed to not go spinning off in a random direction and just spun on the spot) and he closed his eyes. It slowed down and everyone was staring at it. Kaede crossed her fingers behind her back, and she could see Yuula doing the same, praying for it to not land on or next to her. There were two people in the circle who were glaring at each other, fighting it over in their mind as to who would get Yami; Tea and Sakura. Both kept staring at the bottle, then back at each other. Sakura looked as if she would either burst into tears or jump for joy depending on who it landed on.

It slowed and finally stopped, and everybody looked at whole it was pointing at.

Sakura almost leaped up when she saw that it was pointing at her. Kaede could she the delight in her eyes, and saw her trying to hide it.

Kaede looked away as her and Yami kissed. It was okay to kiss in front of people, but Kaede hated seeing people kiss, and hated being watched when she was the one kissing.

After that, it was Sakura's turn. She spun and it landed on Honda (worst luck). Sakura offered him her cheek (well, it is HONDA) and then leant back as far as possible.

Honda spun, and it landed on Ana, who giggled and leant over so he could kiss her. Kaede shuffled over as far as she could to get away from them, and closed her eyes. Only when she almost fell back on Ryou did she look again, and only after they stopped making horrible kissing noises could she relax.

Ana spun the bottle and it landed on Duke (ha, she got all the bad people!). Duke, who had been looking away from the whole affair as if he was wishing to be anywhere but the place he really was ever since the start, jumped when he saw it pointing on him. He looked almost angry, but hid it quickly and took Ana's hand in his and gently kissed it.

Duke spun the bottle and Kaede thought she saw his eyes flick over to where Yuula was sitting. He spun the bottle, and as it begun to slow down, he begun to stare at it desperately. It slowed down, slower, slower, slower, and then stopped.

Everyone gasped and she shrieked. Yuula put her hands to her mouth in shock and embarrassment.

`What! THAT IS NOT FAIR! I DEMAND A REPEAT SPIN! THAT IS SO UNFAIR! WHY DID IT HAVE TO LAND ON ME? Awwwaaaa!' Yuula sulked, and pouted. Duke suppressed a smile, stood up and walked around the circle to her. She jumped up as he came near and tried to run away, but he grabbed her wrist with one hand and turned her around to face him with the other. He put his hand on her cheek, and at this point Kaede turned away. She heard them kiss and then Duke's footsteps as he walked back to his seat. Yuula remained motionless, until Kaiba, who was sat next to her grabbed her hand and yanked her down.

She sat and slowly took the bottle, and spun it. She looked away as she did so, not really caring who it landed on.

But she looked when it stopped spinning, and beamed at Ryou, who it was pointing to. Ryou seemed shocked at how happy she was, but then smiled back at her and walked around the circle. When he reached her, he seemed quite embarrassed to begin with, and blushed. Kaede turned away as she knew he wouldn't want to be watched. She did not hear anything, but knew when Ryou walked back to his seat beside her that Yuula had kissed him. He was smiling as he reached out for the bottle.

When he spun, it landed on Tea and he just kissed her on the hand as Duke had kisses Ana. Tea's landed on Joey, who looked quite uncomfortable. He kissed her quickly and then grabbed the bottle, spinning as hard as possible. It skidded off out of the circle so he had to grab it and spin again. Slower this time, it somehow managed to land on Kaede.

Kaede had been wondering when it would be her turn, and let Joey get up and come to her. He sat down next to her and put his hands on her waist. His lips touched hers and Kaede felt herself drown in his embrace, allowing herself to be smothered by his kiss. But a face swam into her mind and she put her hand on Joey's shoulder so that he would stop. He smiled at her when they drew apart, and Kaede forced herself to smile back. He got up and went back to her place and Kaede pushed herself to spin the bottle, to finish it. She gripped the bottle. Kaiba was the only one who hadn't been kissed, so surely she would kiss him. Did she want to? She looked around the circle and met his eye. Had he watched her kiss Joey?

Kaede spun the bottle reluctantly, and as it slowed down, she felt as though her eyes were being forced to look into Kaiba's. She almost smiled.

It slowed and everyone gasped, except for Kaede and Kaiba. Sure enough, it had landed at Kaiba, and he was staring at her now, waiting for her to come over to him. Sighing, she got up and walked over to him and crouched beside him.

Kaiba looked up at her from where he sat on the floor, and raised his arms to her face. His hands rested on her cheeks, and gently he stroked her skin, then he wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

When she was at his head height, they leaned towards each other and brushed lips. He pulled her even closer to him and she almost fell forwards, but he caught her and pulled her onto his lap, kissing her all the while.

Kaede couldn't think, couldn't reason, couldn't understand probably what was happening. When Kaiba's arms has wrapped around her waist, she had almost collapsed in his arms.

She put her hands on his chest and pushed away from him. She stood up and walked away, not to her place but to the door. `Sorry, I don't feel like playing this game anymore,' she said, opening the door and going downstairs.

She pushed through all the guests and sat down on one of the sofas. She grabbed the nearest glass from someone passing by and down it in one backwards motion. She sat and watched the people dance around her, wishing she could be as carefree.

Someone flopped down onto the sofa next to her. She didn't even need to look around to know it was Joey. He had picked up a glass from somewhere and sipped it quietly, looking at her the whole time.

When he was finished his drink he began fiddling with the glass, turning it over in his hands. Kaede was about to ask him what he was doing when he asked, `So, what was that all about then?'

She turned to face him, indignant. `What do you mean “what was that all about”?' she shouted at him. No one else heard over the volume of the music, but he heard alright.

`That kiss.'

`What about it?'

`Well, why did you do it?'

`We were playing spin the bottle, Joey; it isn't like it meant anything to me,' Kaede looked at him for the first time, and instantly wished she hadn't. He had just seen his girlfriend kissing his worst enemy, and looked as if it had hurt him deep down. His eyes were red and his skin drawn tight across his face.

`It didn't look like just a kiss,' he fought to keep his voice steady. `It didn't look like it meant nothing to you.'

`Well, it did, so just drop it!' Kaede said, standing up. She was about to walk away when Joey grabbed her arm and pulled her onto his lap.

`Kaede, I'm sorry, it's just, I can't stand Kaiba, and after all he has done to us, I couldn't stand it if he took you away from me.' Joey put his arms around her and buried his face in her hair.

`Joey, I am sorry that you think I would do that, because I would never hurt you like that. Please, never think that of me again.' She closed her eyes and hugged his arms to her.

The music changed and on came on of her all time favourite songs. She jumped up and pulled Joey with her. `Come on, this can be your apology for thinking I would cheat on you.'

Slightly happier now, Kaede danced her way through the crowd to find a place for her and Joey to dance among their friends. She soon found Tea dancing with Marc, and danced next to her. Joey joined Kaede and soon it was as if nothing had happened since they had danced together earlier that evening. Kaede closed her eyes and let the rhythm take her.

She felt Joey's hands on her waist and opened her eyes. She smiled at him and he grinned back at her. She leaned forward and kissed him quickly on his lips, then went back to the dancing.

When the song was over, Kaede left Joey to go to request a song to the D.J. But as she neared the sound system, another song flared from the speakers. A girl got up on one of the tables and began dancing in front of everyone. Kaede recognised her immediately as Ana, and smiled, seeing her friend was pissed off her face, and was going to embarrass herself if she doesn't do something to help her.

But Ana raised her arms about her head and moved her hips to the rhythm. Kaede thought it was all going to be okay, until she started singing.

`You think I'm gorgeous, you wanna kiss me, you wanna hug me, you wanna love me,' she sang, her arms raised about her head, dancing raunchily on the table. Kaede noticed she was staring at Honda, who was standing beside the table, staring back at her with an impure look in his eye.

Deciding that she would rather die of embarrassment with Ana than let Ana die of embarrassment alone. She ran through the crowd, pushing people out of her way, all of whom were looking at Ana, some laughing (mostly girls), some drooling over her (MOSTLY guys o.O)

Kaede reached the table where Ana was table dancing and jumped onto it as well, dancing mostly with her hips, and spinning around with her eyes closed, occasionally opening them to make sure that none of the guys were looking up her short skirt.

Joey had followed her to the table, and watched; arms folded, next to Honda, and stared up at her disapprovingly. Soon, Sakura had joined them and all three girls were dancing on the table, surrounded by hordes of boys, being watched in particular by Honda, Joey and Yami.

When the song ended, Joey took Kaede by the arm and helped her down off the table. When she was firmly of the ground, he kissed her quickly and took her by the hand. He leaned her back upstairs into an empty bedroom. It was probably Marc's spare bedroom, because there weren't many personal items in it, but it contained a wardrobe, several very stylist photographs on the walls, an en-suite bathroom and a very large double bed.

Kaede sat on the bed in the room and kicked off her boots, then watched Joey cross the floor from the door to the bed and sit next to her. Smiling, she kissed him gently and moved further onto the bed. She laid her head on the pillows and pulled him closer to her.

He leaned over her and kissed her gently, his hands on her waist. Slowly, she pulled off his shirt wrapped her arms around him, leaning her head on his shoulder, allowing his skin to warm her suddenly cold body.

Kaede pulled back the covers of the bed and wrapped them around her and Joey. Kaede closed her eyes and breathed in his scent, not wanting to open her eyes just in case it was all a dream. She felt his hands move over her body, and she felt herself drowning in his arms, and in his love.

It was there, lying with in his arms afterwards, his head resting on her shoulder as he slept, that she wished that she would never see Kaiba again, because she knew that if she did, she would end up breaking Joey's heart, and she would lose the love that he had for her. Just before sleep came to her, Kaede made a wish. She wished that when eventually she closed her eyes and fell asleep, she would never wake up.

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