Seashells

July 8th, 2006

I ended up going to Sim's house early to help her "get ready". We accomplished nothing but spilling a bunch of popcorn on the floor (and then not cleaning it up).

Since all the popcorn was gone, we decided not to watch a movie at all. It didn't matter because during these types of things, people never paid attention anyway.

For some reason I felt really cold that day. Or maybe it was just Sim's love for air conditioning. Either way, I was wearing sweatpants that day, which is really weird on the island. I wasn't dressing up or anything anyway, because it wasn't a party. Just friends hanging out. I did have my shirt that I wanted to show Matt, though.

Sim and I basically did nothing until you and everyone else got there. Karen was the first to show up and it was awkward. I remember we didn't even really want to invite her but she would have found out about it and caused unnecessary drama. I guess we were really mean to her, but she just wasn't likable.

You showed up next, and you looked at me weird. Then I remembered that I was wearing pants instead of shorts. Just because you did that, when no one was looking, I went to the thermostat and made sure to turn it down.

Halden and Des were the next to show up. They had missed the "rock adventure" we had a few days before. It wasn't much of an adventure, since there was really nothing interesting about the rock once we got there. The climb back was hell with my foot though.

We kind of just sat around in Sim's living room while we were waiting for Matt. He was late, and you said, "See, I'm not the only one!"

Sim said, "But it's different because he's not as lame." She was still going on with her jokes and I was glad to see there was nothing bad between you two, even with your recent breakup. That was because it wasn't serious at all, and I guess that was a good thing.

Matt showed up about fifteen minutes later, so you weren't really even. He burst through the unlocked door and shouted "I'm here!" like he was the main event.

"Gross," you said.

"Hey Matt!" Sim greeted him cheerfully as he walked into the living room.

"Hey slut muffins," he greeted everyone. This was the day he started calling everyone interesting nicknames, though I have no idea what made him start this. He sat down right next to me.

"Hey Matthew," I said, knowing how much he hated his full name.

He ignored that and then looked at my shirt like I knew he would. "OH EM GEE," he said in a ridiculous voice. "GIRL, I LOVE YOUR SHIRT." (Yes, it deserves to be capitalized.)

"I know, it's pretty hot," I said.

"Yeah, considering it's a picture of us."

Everyone looked at my shirt then, including Sim, even though she had been around me for the past few hours. It was weird because she usually noticed things like what I was wearing.

It was a shirt I still have today, and I think I'll put a picture of it in this letter sometime. It featured a toaster and a slice of bread saying "I want you inside me" and "that's hot", respectively. I bought it just because I thought Matt would like it, and he did.

"So, which one are you, Matt?" you said.

"The toaster, obviously."

"But the toaster is the one that's saying 'I want you inside me'?"

"I know. I meant what I said."

I don't remember what happened right after that. We were just talking and catching up, mostly. I remember flirting with Matt a lot and I started liking him a bit then, even though I knew I still liked you. I was kind of mad at you though. Why? For dating Sim. I know it was irrational and it wasn't like I was supposed to control you or anything, but I couldn't help it. And flirting with Matt was kind of my way of getting back at you.

A while later, Matt said, "So Cass, I love the shirt, but you know what?"

"What?"

"It'd look better on the floor. Next to my bed."

This brought a round of laughter and a brilliant idea from Sim (which was actually not brilliant at all). "We should play strip truth or dare. It's a good way to see who are the pussies in this group."

Well, the suggestion had come up at Sim's party the year before and it got rejected, but this year everyone decided to try it. I guess we just really wanted to see each other naked (which didn't end up happening, but still).

The rules were simple - strip if you didn't answer the truth or you didn't complete the dare. Pants had to go first, then whatever else you wanted to take off (a lovely rule made up by Matt).

Everyone tried to keep their clothes on because it was so cold, while I was slightly warmer than them with my pants and all. They didn't know it was because of you and the way you looked at me. At one point Matt ran into Sim's bedroom and came back with one of the blankets from her bed. He then sat down next to me and wrapped the blanket around both of us. I didn't object.

Halden and Des were just like "Matt, you're the man" and Sim was like "GET IT GIRL" and Karen was just uncomfortable looking (as usual). You, however, just looked at us weirdly. I'd like to say it was because of jealousy but I'm not really sure. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't wished it was.

I gave Matt a questioning look and he answered with, "Well, the toaster has to keep the bread warm."

So anyway, in the end, everyone ended up with their pants off and that was usually due to Des and his fucking outrageous dares. No, none of us were going to go and try to initiate phone sex with Jared.

I stuck with truth most of the time until Halden gave me a question about shaving that just made things awkward. Then I chose dare, and lucky me, Des dared me to go and make out with the toilet.

"No fucking way."

You should remember what happened after that. It was kind of embarrassing, actually. Okay, really embarrassing for me. I'm even kind of cringing with embarrassment while writing this, even though I know the secrets are still being kept.

All I'm going to say is... It was a bad day to be wearing my period-stained granny panties.