Chapter 1
Kelly’s soft humiliation
I’m Kelly, and I got way too drunk that night. Me, Lilian, Doug, and Mike share this big, old apartment. It’s cheap, kinda beat-up, but we make it work by pooling our crummy paychecks for rent. We each have a tiny bedroom, but the living room’s where we spend most of our time—pizza boxes, mismatched furniture, and a vibe like Friends or Big Bang Theory, but way less glamorous. More like real life with greasy takeout and boring days. We’re in our twenties, single, stuck in dead-end jobs just above minimum wage. Not beautiful, not brilliant, just regular people getting by.
That night, the guys were out watching some sports game—probably yelling at a TV in a bar somewhere. It was just me and Lilian, sprawled on the couch with Chinese takeout scattered across the coffee table. Fried rice, egg rolls, those little packets of soy sauce everywhere. We’d already gone through two bottles of cheap red wine, and I was feeling it—warm, loose, and bored out of my mind. Lilian got this look in her eye, like she was up to something.
“Let’s play a game,” she said, twirling her chopsticks. “Truth or Lie. You tell me something, I guess if it’s true or made-up. Then I go.”
I laughed, almost spilling my wine. “What, like Truth or Dare, but we’re too lazy to move?”
“Exactly,” she said, smirking. “No running around in our underwear or doing stupid dares. I’ll start.” She sat up, looking all smug. “I stole a car once.”
I choked on my wine. “No way! You? That’s a lie.”
“Nope, true,” she said, grinning like she was proud of it. “I was sixteen. Took it for a joyride. Total dumbass move, but I didn’t get caught.”
“Damn, Lilian!” I said, half-laughing, half-shocked. “You’re a freaking criminal!”
“Shut up,” she said, waving me off. “Your turn.”
I took a sip of wine, thinking. “Okay. I hooked up with my high school math teacher. After graduation.”
Her jaw dropped. “What? That dude with the ugly sweaters? True or lie?”
“Lie,” I said, giggling. “I saw him at a gas station once. That’s it.”
“Lame!” she shouted, tossing a fortune cookie at me. “My turn. I had sex with three guys in one day.”
I stared at her, squinting. “Bullshit. No way. Lie.”
“Lie!” she said, cackling so hard she almost fell off the couch. “God, your face! You totally bought it for a second.”
“Did not!” I said, throwing the cookie back at her. “Okay, my turn.” The wine was making me bold, so I leaned in, dropping my voice like I was about to spill something wild. “I went to this party once. Lost a bet. Had to be naked. Like, completely naked. Only one nude, everybody else dressed. I was serving drinks, and they could… you know, do whatever they wanted to me. It was really intense, and I got really wet in the end and had to jerk off in the bathroom because I was getting so horny!”
Lilian’s jaw hit the floor, but then she burst out laughing. “False! No way in hell you’re that kinky, Kelly!”
I blushed, trying to play it cool. “It could be true!”
“Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “False. But…” She leaned closer, eyes narrowing. “You want it to be true, don’t you?”
“What?” I said, my face burning. “No! It’s just a story!”
“Oh, come on,” she said, smirking like she’d cracked some big secret. “You’ve thought about it. Being all exposed, everyone staring?”
“Shut up!” I said, shoving her shoulder, but I was laughing too hard to sound mad. “You’re the worst.”
