Girls’ Night Out

Maya's first weekend in the new land had arrived and due to the unfortunate events, the harvesting event that was supposed to be today was postponed to next week. Still, the situation was sombre, but Andrea was working all day to convince everyone that the party was going to happen.

Maya had a difficult task, which was the fault of her own — to inform Elena the party was happening right here, in their room, in just a couple of hours.

"I forgot to mention, Andrea's party is at our place tonight," Maya attempted to sound casual, realizing there wouldn't be a better time to tell her.

"What? When did I agree to that?" Elena was surprised, searching her memory.

"Are you okay with it?" Maya asked sheepishly.

"I'm not. Move it somewhere else," Elena waved it off with a hand.

"I can't. I told Andrea I would see you agreed to it. But she had already spread the word that the party was here, so I felt bad telling her no. Besides, it's too late now."

"So you forgot to tell me on purpose," Elena narrowed her eyes.

"What does it matter? You agreed to hang out and our room fits us all."

"I don't like people going in and out of my room."

"It's my room, too. I should have a say in this. You'll survive a few hours, and maybe you'll, god forbid, have some fun. And you can look at it this way: your vodka is going to be closer to you."

"…And available to everyone to serve themselves. I don't like sharing my vodka," Elena pouted.

"I'll buy you a new one," Maya was desperate to make her agree.

"Is Sarah coming?" she asked suddenly.

"Yeah. I think so."

"Okay, then."

Maya didn't expect Elena to agree to this so easily. "You just want to brag to her how much better your room is, now?"

"I should thank her for that," Elena grinned.

"Then, can you clean your mess a bit for tonight?"

"What mess?"

'Is that her strategy? To pretend it doesn't exist. Or is she truly clueless?'

"Can you clean it at least enough, so our guests have somewhere to sit?"

"What's wrong with sitting on the floor?"

"Tell me you aren't serious," Maya was in disbelief.

"Well, you're being too neat! You should mess up your part a bit, so it looks more uniform. Keeping it too pristine only emphasizes my slightly untidy half."

Maya chuckled at her curious retort. 'Slightly was putting it too mildly.'

After that, Elena did make some effort to at least hide her clutter. Although it resulted in her wardrobe and the space under her bed becoming even more cluttered. Maya was satisfied to see this minimal effort. After a week of trial and error, she felt she was starting to understand how to communicate with Elena.

Fortunately, the large party that Andrea had planned fell apart due to unforeseen circumstances. Some confirmed guests even cancelled at the last minute. As a result, only five girls ended up sitting on cushions on their room floor.

"…I tried to invite them both, but Isaac seemed to prefer a guys' night out. Many said it was crazy to have a party right after a funeral. But I planned this party before the funeral was even announced. Maybe it's because it's just us girls hanging out, not a big party…" Andrea continued.

This was the only saving grace in an otherwise awkward setting. Next to her were the quiet Linda, who listened to Andrea's monologue as if it was gospel, and Sarah, who had been eyeing their room enviously since she arrived.

At least they brought some drinks to mix with Elena's stash.

"Sarah said you girls had alcohol…"

Elena was unusually quiet, despite her resources being consumed by guests she didn't wish to entertain. The tension between her and Sarah was noticeable, even without words, following a major argument the day before. Fortunately, alcohol was beginning to loosen them up, leading to casual conversation.

Maya, unaccustomed to drinking much, was taking small sips, concerned about becoming too intoxicated. Anticipating that Elena would likely over-indulge, she thought to remain sober enough to ensure things stayed under control.

After the atmosphere got more laid back and after they had enough of gossip Andrea suggested. "Let's play marry, fuck or kill."

Maya was intrigued, but she never experienced this type of hangouts and didn't know this type of game. Maya and Linda exchanged confused looks, as neither of them knew how to play, while Elena was busy sipping her vodka out of a bottle.

"You need to explain what it means," Linda said.

"It's simple. You choose who you wish to marry, fuck or kill between three guys we specify," Sarah explained.

"It will be super fun," Andrea was excited. "OK, Sarah, who would you marry, fuck or kill between… um… Keith… Your hunter guy—"

"What hunter guy?" Maya interrupted.

"Ooh, Maya doesn't know this story yet," Andrea said, her eyes twinkling. "About her meeting a hunter this summer. It's really good. May I tell it, Sarah?" she asked, clasping her hands in excitement.

Sarah rolled her eyes and motioned to go ahead. Maya was undeniably curious. It was the first chance to have an account of those renowned hunters.

"It was the time of Summer Fair and a carnival was in town. So people would stay out even at night to enjoy festivities…" As Andrea was recounting the story she was getting more and more enthralled. The Summer Fair must've been entertaining. Maya felt unfortunate to have missed it.

"Of course, Sarah attended, going for a midnight stroll," Andrea continued. "You know, the fare was guarded by guards and hunters, so there wouldn't be any incidents, but I guess there are blind spots if you deviate a bit further away… So Sarah was on her way…"

Andrea idly hummed as if she was embodying the story and a person walking.

"When, all of a sudden, a vamp attacked her and snatched her away!" Her gestures were overly dramatic.

"And there was this magnificently handsome hunter that jumped out of nowhere and saved the day… He was like: 'I'll save you, milady' and fought the vampire fiercely and, of course, won. Um… They then had a passionate embrace where they protested their love for each other and he promised he would find her again! But unfortunately, he never did."

Elena burst into laughter. She must've already known this story and Andrea's version amused her, thoroughly.

"It didn't happen exactly like that," Sarah clarified, feeling embarrassed.

"It doesn't matter. The important thing is that, according to Sarah, he is super hot. So just imagine a hot mysterious hunter guy. Like one on those naughty calendars, but holding a sword, or something, instead of gardening tools."

Elena was still laughing and Linda was amused as well.

"And who is the third person?"

"Let's say…" Andrea thought for a second. "Adam Blair."

"I expected you'd suggest the year rep," Maya gave her a cheeky smile.

"No, no. I don't want to share Kasper with anybody."

"Well, that's easy," Sarah said. "I kill Adam, fuck Keith and marry my Hunter."

"You'd marry some random guy you saw once?" Maya was surprised.

"He isn't random. Andrea made it sound over the top, but we really had a moment. He's strong, kind and really understood me. We were connected by fate, like soulmates. He will find me again someday," Sarah sounded so convinced.

Elena sniggered to herself. She appeared not to pay attention to them and was amused by something else, but Maya knew she was just being mean.

"What about you, Elena?" Linda asked.

"Me?" Elena was surprised they wanted her involvement. "Sure, I'll go with it. Tough luck for the hunter guy since they are gone…"

Sarah frowned.

"I guess…" Elena continued. "I'll marry the dead guy, since it is equivalent to marrying no one. Keith, I already fucked, so it would be no fun to choose him, now. So, he has to go," she gestured with fingers cutting across her neck. "And that leaves Adam to fuck."

"What? You'd kill your own boyfriend?" Maya was baffled.

"You're weird as shit," Sarah commented.

"If you don't want Keith, give him to Sarah," Andrea joked.

They laughed. Sarah's laugh was more of a nervous kind.

"I'd rather kill him," Elena said with a hollow persisting smile.

They laughed again.

"Alright, Maya, you're next." Andrea clasped her hands.

Since it was her turn, Maya suddenly got all nervous. "I don't know. I only know Keith personally. Other two not so much," she was trying to avoid answering.

"Imagine the Hunter as a random prince on a white horse," Andrea clarified. "It's what I do. We can't be sure if he ever existed, anyway."

"Endlessly handsome and too perfect for the world," Elena faked swooning.

"He's real!" Sarah argued.

"Okay, okay," Andrea calmed them down. "And Adam's a cute guy from our class; really sweet, extremely smart too."

"Then… umm…" Maya was hesitant. It's just a game. There is no reason to be nervous. "I guess I'll kill this mysterious guy, since we don't know anything about him," she paused before saying the swear word. "…f-fuck Keith, and marry the smart guy."

"Alright," Andrea said.

Maya was feeling extremely insecure, but Andrea's confirmation made her feel better. She realizes she was fearing some kind of judgement from them and sort of expected them to have comments on how she chose wrong.

"You, Andrea?" Elena encouraged them to continue.

"I would actually choose the same as Maya."

"Really?" Sarah was surprised.

"I just have a thing for intelligent sweet guys. Being married to one would be awesome."

"Linda?"

"I would kill Adam, marry Keith and fuck the mysterious guy," Linda was strangely confident for a quiet girl.

"Look at her!" Andrea was intrigued. "The shy ones are the dirtiest. But you're right. The mysterious guy probably has girls throwing themselves at him left and right. He's bound to have some experience. I change my mind. It would be a waste to kill him. I'd fuck him and kill Keith. Sorry, Elena. Oh, wait. You choose to kill him, too." Andrea giggled.

"Alright, guys. We should acknowledge this: Elena is the only person that would fuck Adam," Sarah stated for some reason.

She received a bunch of confused looks.

"And nothing about you is special," Elena answered eerily calm to Sarah's clearly low blow.

"Why are you pointing that out?" Linda asked Sarah.

"Maya and I choose to marry him, so that would also consider fucking him, right?" Andrea tried to deflate this pointless argument before it could escalate.

"That's not how it works," Sarah claimed.

"So you don't sleep with the person you marry?" Linda was confused. They were starting to take the game too literally.

"This conversation took a weird turn," Elena commented and leaned back taking a sip out of the bottle.