Read Online Almost Kings by Max Doty - Free Book Online

pants, a loose t-shirt, and no bra.
    “What are you doing? You can’t be over here!” she said before her poker face cracked and she broke into a big smile. “We were wondering when you’d show up.”
    We walked in to see the team’s other two girls, Emily and Carrie, sitting cross-legged on a hotel bed. They turned and swung their legs over the side of the mattress as we entered. Carrie wore mega-dork Mario Brothers pajamas with matching tops and bottoms. A tiny blonde girl, she must have bought them in the juniors section. Emily had on short-shorts and a baggy sweatshirt, which made it impossible to take your eyes off of her legs. Maybe she really did deserve a seven.
    Kallea sat next to the other girls on one bed, and the two guys and I took the other. I made sure I was across from Kallea, and my legs swung perilously close to hers.
    “I can’t believe we won,” said Emily. “You were, like, amazing Ted.”
    “I knew we’d take it,” said Joel. “We kick ass.”
    “So let’s celebrate.” I pulled the bottle of vodka out of my backpack.
    “Where’d you get that?” asked Carrie, drawing herself back onto the bed in retreat as if the bottle was made of plutonium.
    “You’re my hero,” said Joel.
    “So what?” asked Kallea. “We just get drunk?”
    “We’ll make it a drinking game,” I said. “Truth or Drink. People ask you a question. If you don’t want to answer, you can take a shot instead.”
    “What if you want to do both?” asked Joel.
    “I’m just going to watch,” said Sam, looking uncomfortably at the bottle, and I remembered why I’d never invited him to any parties. The guy was all talk.
    “There’s no watching,” I said. “You’re either in or you’re out. The other hotel room is open if you don’t want to be here.”
    Sam glanced at the three girls sitting across from us.
    “Okay,” he said. “I’m in.”
    Carrie pulled herself forward on the bed and said, “Me too.”
    “Cool.” I broke the seal on the bottle. “I’ll go first.”
    “I’ve got one,” said Joel. “A warm-up. Which of the three girls in this room do you think is the hottest?”
    Kallea wrung her hands in her lap and stared at her feet, unable to meet my eyes.
    “Remember,” said Sam. “Hottest doesn’t necessarily imply hot. As in ‘greater than’, not—”
    I don’t know why I said it. Maybe I was playing Kallea like I’d seen the Kings do with their girls. Maybe I was still afraid she didn’t like me back.
    “Emily,” I said.
    Emily smiled and curled her toes. She looked like a very happy cat.
    “Nice,” said Joel. “First question. First shock of the night.”
    “Shut up, Joel,” said Kallea. She took the bottle from me and drank. “Okay. Me next.”
     
    An hour later, the Vodka was gone, and the game had changed from Truth or Drink to Spin the Bottle. Sam had just taken his turn and forced us all to witness one of the most awkward kisses of all time as he tried to slip Carrie tongue. She made a face like someone had tried to make her lick a bathroom floor and rubbed her lips with her fingers until she was convinced every trace of Sam had been eliminated.
    I put my hand on the bottle and let it spin on the motel floor. It went around once, twice. It started to slow as it went past Carrie then slower still as it rolled by Emily before it finally came to rest on Kallea. She looked up at me and smiled.
    “You guys can go and kiss in the bathroom if you want,” said Carrie. “We don’t need to see it.”
    But Kallea was already climbing over to sit on the bed next to me. She got up on a pillow, sitting cross-legged as I turned my head to face her.
    “Close your eyes,” she told me, and I did.
    The warmth of her breath brushed against my face as she leaned over, and the smell of vodka filled my nostrils. She put a hand against my side to steady herself, and the spot she touched felt like a burn, as if she’d branded me with her fingers.
    Her breath touched my lips, and