I don’t know what I missed but Evangeline is angry with Annabelle.

Charlie tries to get the two to make up, and he is weirdly a very good negotiator. He takes an empty beer bottle, places it on the mahogany floor, and moves a table out of the way.

“It’s time to play DARERADE,” he announces.

“Oh, Charles not now,” Evangeline says.

“I mean it! We came here to have fun before Anne and I gotta go back! We’re playing DARERADE!”

“What the heck is Darerader? Rader? What?”

“It’s DARERADE! D-A-R-E-R-A-D-E! DARE! It’s like Truth or Dare but without the truth,” Charlie explains.

“Huh. Yeah, why not? Let’s play!”

Now that I want to play, Evangeline wants to play, and then Annabelle joins in and all animosity is lost for now. She gets out her wireless speaker that’s shaped like a duck and tries to find the right song for us to make bad decisions to.

I order pizza and room service brings more wine and I care less about staying sober because this seems like the kind of game one can only enjoy while drunk.

“Since Nick has never played, I’ll explain the rules. First, we need some music, and a deck of cards.”

Annabelle gets out her phone and even has a playlist that is called DARERADE, and I am now invested. No one has a deck of cards, but apparently, I can order one through room service, and in five minutes it arrives with four bottles of wine.

We all sit in a circle around the beer bottle and Evangeline uncorks a bottle of wine and drinks it like it’s the last bottle left in the world. Charlie shuffles the deck of cards and Annabelle appears to be mentally psyching herself up as if she’s about to enter the ring.

“Rule number one of DARERADE. The truth is not allowed. LIE! LIE LIKE A RUG,” Charlie instructs me. “If you say the word truth, even once, you are in trouble!”

“Rule two,” Annabelle says. “The music played must always be the worst songs you can think of.”

“I’m starting to understand why Evangeline needs to be plastered for this,” I laugh.

“Oh, that’s rule three,” Evangeline says. “If you’re gonna skip a dare, you gotta take a drink or you gotta bet.”

“Bet what,” I ask.

“Watch,” Charlie instructs me.

He shuffles the cards one more time and pulls out three spades.

“If you want to skip the dare and don’t want to drink, you need to pull out a card that’s higher than the three and a different kind or is the same kind of card and is a one or a multiple of it.”

“That’s too much math for a drunkard!”

“That’s the point, so drink up you wimp,” Charlie laughs. “If you win the bet then the next person has to beat the bet, or they gotta do the dare.”

“Ok. Ok easy enough. Let’s do this,” I say.

In unison, they all yell out; “One, Two, Three, DARERADE!!!”

Charlie spins the bottle and I immediately regret playing, but it is too late. Annabelle starts the playlist, and it is possibly the worst song I have heard in my life. It sounds like a parrot squawking with heavy metal in the background.

 I wipe my sweaty hands on my sweatpants and have already decided to take a drink, but it doesn’t land on me.

It lands on Evangeline.

“Spit or swallow,” Charlie asks.

“Spitters are quitters,” Evangeline shouts. “Swallow!”

“Jesus, what kind of game is this,” I ask.

“The best damn kind,” Charlie replies. “Spin again Evangeline!”

She spins the bottle, and it lands on Annabelle.

“Spitters are quitters, aren’t they, Evangeline,” she says. “You ready?”

“Bring it.”

“You sure?”

“You sound you’re the one that’s unsure, Anne.”

“Fine. I dare ya to never take a shot for the rest of the game.”

“That’s not fair,” Evangeline shouts.

“You wanna bet?”

“Of course, I wanna,” she scoffs. “Who the hell wouldn’t?”

Charlie grins, shuffles the deck, and gives us all seven cards.  Annabelle puts down one card.

It’s a one of hearts.

What?

Evangeline laughs and puts down two spades.

“You totally threw that, didn’t you,” I ask her.

“Nah. I’m playing the long con,” Annabelle replies. “Watch and learn, weatherboy.”

“You wanna keep going,” Evangeline asks her.

“Oh, I am passing on the pain,” Annabelle replies. “Swap!”

She spins the beer bottle and it lands on me.

Fuck.

She puts down a 9 of hearts.

“Why,” I ask her. “What did I ever do to you?”

“Everything and nothing,” she replies.

Charlie is laughing his weird horse laugh again and I desperately search for a one or three of hearts, but no dice.

“You ain’t got it, do you,” Annabelle asks.

“To tell you the truth-“

“AAAH,” they all yell. “Liar liar pants on fire!”

They point and yell and smack their hands on the floor and I start to laugh nervously.

“What the heck is going on,” I ask.

“You can’t say the t-word,” Charlie reminds me. “You take the dare and gotta take a shot.”

I take a swig from a bottle of wine and sigh.

“What the hell kind of game is this anyway?”

“We made it in high school, we were bored,” Annabelle laughed.

I grumble to myself, and spin the bottle, hoping to get her next. Instead, I got Charlie. He gives me a weird smile and I regret picking him. I turn red and ask him the questions.

“Swallow…or spit,” I say quietly.

“I ain’t no quitter,” he announces. “Bring it on!”

“Fine. You can’t pass any dare for the rest of the game.”

“Okay!”

“What? You ain’t gonna bet that Charles,” Evangeline asks.

“I seen what happened earlier, I ain’t getting anything worse and testing my luck,” he replies.

“What could be worse than what I just gave you,” I ask.

“You really lack imagination for this game don’t you Nick,” Annabelle laughs.

I really do.

The song changes and it sounds like a regular song now. Beautiful wind chimes, a soft jazz introduction, but I am put into a false sense of security. Charlie spins the bottle and it lands on Evangeline.

The song changes to some god-awful noise and I want to jump off the balcony.

“What the hell kind of song is this,” I ask.

“C-Bat,” they all reply in unison.

They don’t explain what the story is behind that, and Evangline accepts the dare.

“Bring it on pretty boy,” she tells Charlie.

He looks at Annabelle, then me, then back at Annabelle and I hope he is unimaginative like me with the dares.

“I dare you to do a handstand.”

“ A handstand? That’s it,” Evangeline says.

“If you can’t do it, you lose,” Charlie replies.

“Of course I can do a hand stand, I used to be a cheerleader.”

She wobbly stands up and Charlie has already won. He knew she would take the dare and lose. She puts the wine bottle on the ground, puts her hands up in the air and takes a huge breath like she is about to dive into a swimming pool.

She puts her hands down on the ground, hoists herself up, and shouts in victory.

“I can do anything! All of y’all can-“

She pauses.

“Evangeline,” Annabelle says. “You can come down now.”

Evangeline makes a noise.

“Oh Christ,” Annabelle. “Eva, get up!”

Evangeline accepts defeat, and slowly brings herself to the ground. She’s in a crouching position and another weird noise escapes her mouth.

I see my deposit evaporate into thin air as Evangeline throws up.

The last time I have felt intense disgust and amazement was when a man on the internet uploaded a video of himself swallowing an eel. Thankfully it is only liquor and water that comes out of Evangeline.

Charlie tries to help and he picks her up, but he holds her by the waist and makes it worse. He drags her to the bathroom leaving a trail.

I run over to the bathroom and Charlie is holding her long hair up while she empties whatever is left into the sink. I stay with her the entire time and Charlie leaves, a bittersweet victory.

“Did I win,” she asks me.

“Yes,” I lie.

“Oh thank good-“

She begins again and I will never play DARERADE ever again.

When the entire ordeal is over with, Evangeline is now asleep in her and Annabelle’s room, and some poor room service woman has cleaned up the hallway and living room.

At least the horrible music is gone, and Annabelle is now playing a different playlist. I can hear the music from the other side of the suite and walk to go meet them.

When I open the door, I find Annabelle sitting on Charlie’s lap. He just got out of the shower, and I feel like I’m interrupting even though this was my suite.

“Can I take a shower,” I ask. “I got some uh..”

“It’s your room, silly,” Annabelle laughs.

I laugh nervously and get in the shower, and the shower helps me sober up a little bit. I get out and realize I do not have a towel.

I open the door slightly and ask for a towel.

“I dare you to walk out here without one on,” Annabelle laughs.

“The games over,” I grumble.

“No, it ain’t,” Charlie laughs.

I don’t know if it’s the alcohol, or maybe I just don’t care, but I open the door and walk out naked in front of the both of them. No one is laughing but they’re staring at my crotch.

I look around the room and find the aloha time towel and start drying myself off. They’re still staring but the more they look the less I mind.

The suite is dead quiet except for the sound of my wet footsteps across the floor towards them.

“W-what are you doing,” Charlie asks.

“Dareer? Dareder? Fuck, I don’t know,” I reply.

Annabelle looks at Charlie, and then she looks at me and then back at Charlie again. She whispers something in his ear and he bites his lower lip.

“You’re crazy,” he tells her.

She ties her hair up in a bun and gets down on the ground on her knees. Charlie’s eyes go wide and he grips the bedsheets, not sure if he should stay or go.

“I ain’t a quitter Charles,” she says. “Are you?”