"Ring of Fire!" Sang announced.
Jess and Brick whooped. Everyone else groaned. Nadia came back to the table, a fancy cocktail she had made in her hands.
"Come on, Sang, do you want us to get to Vanish? Last time we played, Jess and Ben couldn't leave the flat, they were so drunk."
Louise grimaced. "Oh yeah, Jess threw up in her bed..."
Jess smiled. "Hell yeah, it was disgusting. That's only because everyone ganged up on me."
Sang smiled as well. "It's true. If Ben and Jess played better-"
"Bullshit!" Jess yelled. "You made that stupid rule that made me drink everytime someone else was drinking!"
"Yeah, and you then made me your mate, so I had to drink every time you did." Ben said, glaring at Jess.
"This is a bad idea." Louise whispered.
"Guys, don't forget, it was only us 5 last time!" Sang gestured towards Brick and Kevin. "This time, we'll be 7! So the amount of punishment drinking is going to be shared."
"I don't think that's how the game works..." Kevin said.
"Anyway, we're doing it. Here..." Sang placed a bowl at the centre of the table. "I've already bought a bowl to mix the drinks in."
Nadia looked at the bowl carefully. "That looks like a fancy bowl, Sang... Are you sure you want to use it for this?"
Sang smiled. "Whatever, it was just a gift from my Grandma. Supposed to be magic, according to her."
"Really?" Brick said in shock.
Jess smiled at him. "You are a bit dumb, aren't you?"
Brick blushed. He was doing that a lot tonight,
"Anyway, rules! I'll explain them to our guests while you guys place the cards around the bowl..." With that, Sang tossed a deck of cards to Louise, who shared them out with the others as they began to place the cards.
"Ok, so here's how it works. Cards go around the bowl. Each turn, we pick a card. Depending on the card, someone has to drink.
"If you get Ace, then it's Waterfall time. You start to drink, and everyone else must keep drinking until you stop drinking. It's a great way to get people plastered.
"Two is You. Pick someone to drink. Three is the opposite, you have to drink.
"Four means all the girls have to drink, because 4 is Whores!"
"OI!" Jess stood up and gestured towards Sang. "We discussed this, 4 is Scores, because we're all hot as fuck and can score with anyone."
Sang rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say...
"Five is the Thumb Master. At some point, you put your thumb on the table, then everyone has to do it. The last person to do it has to down their drink.
Before Sang could continue, Nadia yelled "Six is Dicks so all the boys have to drink!"
"Yes thank you, Nadia. Seven Is Heaven last person to put their hand in the air has to down their drink, then Eight is Mate, choose someone who has to drink everytime you drink. Nine is Rhyme, pick a word and we go round a circle saying ryhmes until someone can't think of one, then they down their drink."
Louise grinned. "Ten is Ben, Last person to touch Ben's face has to down their drink."
Ben groaned. He did not seem to be a fan of that rule.
Sang continued. "Jack is New Rule, it can be anything you want. Nothing is off limits." He smiled. "And I mean nothing."
"If you make a rule that's been done before, you have to down you drink. Makes it interesting." Ben added, smiling shyly.
"Queen is Question Master. Anyone who answers you questions has to take a drink. That's my favourite one, that is.
"And finally, if you draw King, then you pour your drink into the bowl. If you draw the last king, or if you break the circle, then you have to drink it. All of it."
"Ew..." Brick grimaced. "You Brits are nasty."
"Exactly." Kevin said.
"Finished!" Lousie sat down in her seat. "Did you get all that Brick?"
"Oh, I guarantee you, he did not." Kevin said. "But that's OK. If I go first, Brick can go last, and he can pick it up as we go."
"Good idea, Kevin!" Nadia said. "So it will go you, me, Louise, Ben, Sang, Jess and Brick."
Oh wow, Nadia was sitting next to Kevin. They were so close, Kevin could smell her lovely perfume. It felt a little bit creepy to do so, but it would be weird if he turned away, wouldn't it? Whatever.
"Ok, I'll go first..."
With that, Kevin leant forward and grabbed a card.
"Now, I can flip it over now, but that would spoil the surprise." He explained to Brick. "Instead, I'll drag it over to me and take a look..." It was a King! "Hah! Bit boring to start with, but oh well." With that, Kevin poured a generous amount of Rose wine into the bowl at the centre.
As soon as he did, something felt a little off. He felt more... Sensitive, like he could feel the temperature of the room more, the fabric of his clothes more. It was just a little bit, but enough to be noticeable. He hoped he wasn't going down with anything.
Of course, what Kevin didn't realise, and in fact no one at the table realised, was that by using the bowl, this drinking game was going to do a lot more than get people drunk. Anyone who poured drink into the bowl would find themselves changing slowly throughout the night, little by little, with each card drawn. Whether they noticed or not depended entirely on how drunk they got. And as someone who had poured at the very start of the game, Kevin was going to be a lot different then anyone else at the end...
