Read part 1 and part 2 of this story.

Nat and Donnie followed Claire down into the basement, where the age of the house was made a bit more clear in the absence of any renovations…or any finished walls, for that matter. Donnie instinctively crouched to avoid some of the rafters in the ceiling, though he likely had a couple inches of clearance. In one corner of the basement was a large TV with a number of old couches arrayed around it; a few people were playing video games while another half dozen or so shouted taunts and encouragement at the screen. Kitty-corner to the digital gaming was the more analog variety; a table tennis table set up with the unmistakable cup triangles of beer pong. There didn’t seem to be anyone actually playing beer pong at the moment; one bored-looking guy was leaning on a refrigerator set up against the wall, nursing a Narragansett and looking bored. When Claire led Nat and Donnie towards the table, he became a bit more animated.

“Hot damn,” he said. “Looks like we’re actually going to get this party started.” Claire rolled her eyes.

“This is Dan,” Claire said. “Dan, this is Nat, and this is Donnie.”

“Drinking Dan, the beer pong man,” Dan said, grinning.

“Please shut the fuck up,” Claire said, an expression on her face somewhere between exasperation and amusement.

“Fine, fine,” Dan said. “It’s been all summer, I’m just excited to get back into the swing of things. What are the teams?”

“Let’s just go boys versus girls, that way each of us has a frosh,” Claire said. Dan shrugged, and Donnie broke off to join him on the opposite end of the table.

“Ever play beer pong, Donnie?” Dan asked.

“It happened a couple times at parties,” Donnie said. “I’m not very good.” Dan chuckled.

“Well, tonight you learn from the master,” Dan said. Claire rolled her eyes, but paused. She turned to Nat.

“Have ‘you’ ever played beer pong?” Claire asked softly. Nat shook her head no. Claire looked over at Dan, who had already cracked two more Narragansetts to fill the cups on the table. Then she looked back at Nat.

“Are you committed to finishing your drink?” Claire asked.

“Not really,” Nat said. “It’s mostly Coke.”

“That’s when it sneaks up on you,” Claire said. She grabbed Nat’s cup, walked over to a utility sink under the stairs, and dumped out what remained of the rum and coke.

“I don’t know how much beer we’re about to drink,” Claire said. “But best not to bet against ourselves any more than we have to.”

“Do we…do we have a chance here?” Nat asked.

“Absolutely,” Claire said. “Dan is all talk, you’ll see.” She grabbed Nat’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze. Dan had finished filling all the cups, and set two cups of water on the sides of the play area.

“Okay, we’re playing pretty simple. No bounces, no fingering, one rerack a side,” Dan said.

“Fingering?” Nat and Donnie asked almost simultaneously.

“You can’t mess with a ball that’s spinning along the rim of a cup,” Claire said. “Usually blowing on it but it’s called fingering.”

“Oh!,” Dan said. “Single rollback, world series rules.”

“If both players sink a cup in a round, they get one ball back and the chance to make a third cup,” Claire said preemptively.

“This is a lot more rules than we played with back home,” Donnie said.

“Still not as nerdy as playing Super Smash Brothers, brother,” Dan said. “Shall we start with a shootout?”

“Works for me,” Claire said. “Let’s have the froshes go first.” Nat and Donnie looked at each other across the table, each holding a ping pong ball. Nat looked hopelessly down at the ball, but saw Donnie setting up to throw the ball in a high arc. With no other guidance and trying not to make a fool of herself, she imitated him.

“One, two, three!” Dan called. The two threw their balls and both landed cleanly in a cup on the opposite side.

“Woo!” Dan barked. “Off to a start here!” A few of the video gamers glanced over at the commotion, but weren’t yet drawn away. Claire picked up the cup that Donnie’s ball landed in and handed it to Nat.

“Nice shot,” she said. “You have to finish drinking that cup before you’re handed another one, so you might want to gain a taste for beer quickly.” Nat gulped. As Claire and Dan lined up for the second round of the faceoff, she took a deep breath and a big swig of the beer. It was…not as bad as she remembered. She swallowed quickly, and took another swig. Thankfully the cups were each filled a little less than halfway up, so her cup was dispatched relatively quickly. Donnie was watching from across the table and gave her an “OK?” look. She nodded, and chuckled. This was not how she imagined the Friday before classes going, not even close.

Claire and Dan looked straight at each other and tossed their balls. Dan got another clean cup, but Claire’s ball bounced off the lip and landed in the middle of the table.

“Damn it!” Claire said, while Dan laughed.

“All right all right,” Dan said. “Our turn first. Donnie, why don’t you go first, then Nat, then me, then Claire.” Donnie nodded and grabbed the ball out of the wash cup, lining up his shot. Claire was slugging the beer and grimacing. Donnie threw another high arc and landed another cup.

“Hell yeah!” Dan said.

“Beginner’s luck,” Claire said. She pulled the ball out of the cup and handed it to Nat. Nat looked down at the second beer. This all happened very fast. She sipped the beer, but before she had a chance to think about it, Claire had pressed a ball into her hand.

“No pressure,” Claire said. “But if you line it up quick you won’t feel the beer hit until after you throw.” Nat looked over at her and saw her grinning devilishly. She shook her head and lined up the shot, just like the first time. And just like the first, sunk a cup.

“The noobs are killing it!” Dan said. He took the cup and the ball, ready for another shot.

The game got a lot less clean after that. Dan’s shot hit a lip and bounced wide, while Claire’s dropped right into the void of the cup Nat had made at the beginning. The game slowed down, a cup or two being sunk a round and both teams in a dead heat. Dan asked for a rerack at six cups, about four rounds into the game. Claire held off.

“Moment of truth time, Nat,” Claire said. “Think you can sink a shot this round, get one of those cups to the side?”

“I…I think so,” Nat said. She hadn’t had to drink more after that second cup, but she was definitely feeling the effects of the alcohol. Still, throwing a ping pong ball seemed easy enough. No one was asking her to drive. She lined up on a lone cup to the left and the back, and gave the ball a toss. It flew lazily across the table and dropped right into the glass.

“Suck it Dan!” Claire said, almost jumping. Nat could see Donnie smirking as Dan lined up his shot. As he was about to let fly, Claire gave Nat a loud smack on the ass, causing Dan to throw the ball much harder than he intended. She caught the ball and looked back at Dan grinning. Nat was beet red.

“Oh, so you’re playing dirty now,” Dan said.

“You’re more than welcome to do the same on your side,” Claire said.

“No you aren’t,” Donnie said. Claire laughed. She turned to Nat.

“Sorry, I wanted to psych him out,” Claire said. Then she squeezed Nat’s ass again. “Besides, I just couldn’t resist.” Nat could feel the heat rising up her neck. Whether it was arousal or an anxiety attack, though, was unclear. Claire sank another ball, now there were four cups on Dan and Donnie’s side.

“Now we want a rerack,” Claire said. “Diamond, please.”

“You got very lucky,” Dan said. “We’re not out of this, though.” Whether it was the yelling, the repetitiveness of the video game, or not much going on upstairs, a small crowd had begun to gather. The game once again slowed down, as fewer cups made each shot progressively more difficult. The intoxication level had slowly ramped up, and Claire had taken to wrapping her arm around Nat’s waist whenever she wasn’t shooting. Nat’s mind was going a mile a minute. Was she enjoying this? What did Claire want to do? What would happen tonight? She thought of Marisa back home…that just made everything more confusing. It was Claire’s turn again; the game was grinding down to the end and there was one cup on each side. Claire made a perfect arc shot and sank the final cup; the gathered partygoers cheered.

“Okay Donnie, redemption time,” Dan said. “You make our last cup, we go into a three cup overtime. We can still win this!” Donnie began to line up his shot, and saw Nat across the table. Claire was clearly focusing on the game, but Donnie could see her arm around Nat’s waist and Nat’s obvious discomfort. For a split second, Nat and Donnie made eye contact. Donnie let the ball go; it went far left and bounced off the edge of the table. The crowd bellowed, Claire whooped, and Dan swore. He held his hand out.

“Can’t win em all, brother,” he said. Donnie shook his hand, nodded, and immediately turned around. Nat had shrunk back from the table, eyeing the stairs. Donnie stood next to her.

“Are you feeling okay?” He said. She shook her head.

“I need to get some air,” Nat said. Donnie glanced over his shoulder to see Claire and Dan playfully trash talking, and quickly shuttled Nat up the stairs. They headed out the front door where the same short guy was still standing.

“Hey guys, are you all right? He said. He was looking at Nat.

“I’m fine,” Nat said. “Just needed to get some air.”

“Drink water, too,” the short guy said. “Hopefully we’ll see you around during the year.” Nat gave a small smile and started walking up the street without saying more.

They walked for a block or two, until it was clear they were out of earshot of anyone on the street.

“Claire, uh, came onto you,” Donnie said. “Pretty hard.” Nat nodded.

“Are you, well, are you gay?” Donnie asked. His question was met with silence.

“Not, you know, that there’s anything wrong with-” Nat cut him off.

“I…don’t know,” Nat said. “Maybe if I knew I wasn’t I could have gotten her to back off.”

“I mean, nothing about that was your fault,” Donnie said.

“I…I guess,” Nat said. “Part of me wanted it, part of me was thinking about where it would go.”

“What did you feel when you thought about it?” Donnie asked.

“Scared,” Nat said.

“Well there you go,” Donnie said.

They got back to the dorm around midnight. It was late enough that some of the other hallmates were already back, and of course some of the timid ones were already in bed. Jenna, the RA, was standing with someone else that neither Nat nor Donnie recognized, but they realized quickly it was another RA and they were standing in the doorway of the bathroom where someone was drunkenly vomiting. They looked at each other and kept walking. Donnie walked Nat to her room; before saying goodnight Nat peeked in. Her roommate was gone; likely out at some other party somewhere else on campus or in their slice of Providence.

“Do you mind hanging out with me for a little bit?” Nat said. “I want to drink some water and have a snack before I go to bed.”

“Sure,” Donnie said. He sat down on the bed as Nat filled her water bottle and grabbed a small bag of Cheez-Its from the care package her parents had left when they dropped her off. She sat down next to Donnie and offered him a cracker, which he took. After crunching for a couple moments, Nat spoke.

“I had a friend at school, Marisa,” she said. “She was an actress, a singer, got leads in all the school plays. She also played in my gaming group. I both didn’t understand and didn’t want to question it because I had a huge crush on her.” Donnie nodded, not having much to say.

“In senior year…something happened,” Nat said. “I suddenly saw a way for us to be together. But it didn’t actually happen. And then I got scared.”

“When did you talk to her last?” Donnie said.

“Graduation,” Nat said. “I…I didn’t know how to approach her over the summer. I just freaked myself out. Badly.” Donnie nodded.

“Maybe text her,” Donnie said. “Doesn’t have to be anything heavy. Just that your orientation was wild and you were thinking of her. Just to, you know, break the silence.” Nat nodded, but said nothing. The two of them sat in silence for a moment.

“…Thanks,” Nat said. “For getting me out of there tonight.” Donnie nodded and was about to say something, when Nat’s roommate swung through the door.

“Oooooooh,” she said. “Am I interrupting something Natalie?” she said, giggling and drunk.

“No, I was actually about to go back to my room,” Donnie said.

“Oh no! I didn’t mean to cockblock!” the roommate said. “We can’t be like that this year!” Nat had not seen her roommate drunk before, and she had a sinking feeling she would again in the near future. Donnie excused himself and walked out the door, but Nat followed to the threshold.

“Would you like a hug?” Nat asked.

“Sure,” Donnie said. They shared a hug, Nat giving Donnie a tight squeeze.

“Don’t be a stranger,” Nat said. Donnie chuckled.

“You neither,” he replied. “Text Marisa!” Nat went to fish her phone out of her purse as she closed the door behind her.