Becca was filling her glass… again. Wait, was she on her third glass already? This game was dangerous, from both an alcohol consumption perspective and a secret divulging perspective. She was pretty sure as the game went along that the sips she was taking were getting longer with each question, which was a reckless trend to continue.

It was not only the freckled redhead who had wine-reddened cheeks; the whole group was getting red and giggly, almost devolving into the stereotypes of their gender. Juliette groaned at Sarah’s question, shifting awkwardly in her seat knowing she was being called out for her relationship with the X-Leader, but she was not the only one forced to drink. Becca almost felt bad because she was sure this was at least the third time Serena was drinking as penance for kissing her. Meanwhile, Becca drank in memory of her overseas tryst with Gawain, even if she was not going to let the girls know exactly which of the X-Men she knew intimately.

Juliette was calling her out, but for a different answer. Rebecca had been the only one who could own up to loving two people at once, and her friends were calling for story time to begin. Becca groaned, wondering if it was wise to divulge some of her current emotional struggles. ”Mebbe. First, Ah get mah turn, at least. Ne'er hae Ah ever kissed tois people within twintie-fower hoors.” If Becca was going to throw her shame out on the table, she wanted to appreciate that there were still some things on her harlot bingo card she had yet to check off.

Juliette and Sarah both sipped from their drinks, with the latter muttering to herself ”Within an hour honestly, but who’s counting.”

”Mah party girls,” she replied with a grin.

”I mean, I did at least know both those people longer than thirty minutes.”

Becca gasped with faux offense. ”Hashtag-rude,” she replied before giving Sarah an over-the-top wink, which the tanned brunette returned, leading to a back and forth of winks before they fell back to giggling at their own absurdity.

With her turn out of the way, the other three girls were looking to Becca exeptantly, and she knew it was time to come clean with her story. Was relationship talk not one of the staples of a slumber party anyway? The cliché was boy talk, but this was clearly a more progressive party anyway. She sighed but ultimately submitted. ”Sae Ah am nae at th’ point yet whaur Eh’d say Ah loove Nessa. But Ah loch ‘er. Ah really, pure dae loch her.” She knew she liked Nessa, even if she occasionally had to use it as a mantra to make good decisions.

”But… Ah… micht still loove mah ex-girlfriend.” There was a sting in her chest admitting that aloud, and she might have kept it to herself had the encouraging presence of alcohol not aided her forward. ”We kissed again, ‘afor Ah got together wi' Nessa, but Ah almost did it again recently.” The temptation to kiss Agnes again the night she helped her look after a stray kitten was strong, and if it continued to grow, it would be stronger than her.

It was a messy story, but what was she forgetting? Oh, right. ”Also, she’s engaged. Ur maybe nae anymore, we’re nae sure.”

Rebecca took a moment amidst the uncomfortable silence that followed to drink more than half of her glass in one long sip. A fourth glass sounded great.

Well, now. Rebecca also drank at that last question that was clearly aimed at Juliette. Serena idly wondered who she'd gotten with that was on the X team. She would grill Rebecca later, considering she wasn't volunteering the information and Serena knew so many of the members, it was a question that definitely merited considering at the very least.

She giggled at the two of them who drank at the same time. "Hey! She's got some Scottish allure going, alright?" She wasn't as embarrassed, yayyy alcohol, so she laughed along with them for a few moments. She wasn't all that surpised that Juliette had done though, she was definitely one to give off the popular 'party girl' vibe.

She listened intently to Rebecca's story, set her glass down during the silence and moved across the sofa to wrap the redheaded Scot in a very tight, squeeze of a hug with a "We're not judging you, if you wanna talk about any stuff you know I'm almost always around, and I could use distractions from being busy."

She glanced around the room and cleared her throat after looking at them. Wow, they were looking a little red in the face. Heh. Lightweights. "I think we should slow up on the drinks for a bit at least, look how much we've got through, I'd rather we're all lucid for the fun tonight~" She chimed.

The game had been great while it lasted. That much was for certain. Juliette was learning entirely new things about her friends, and they were drinking while doing it. It was really just a shame that the game had the association with being only for those in adolescence.

Sarah’s question had clearly been directed at her. Juliette shuffled in her seat and shot a glare at her friend, pointing out at the question had been far from a fair one. Thankfully, she was not alone in her drinking, as both Becca and Serena were forced to take sips. For Serena, she knew that the blame could be laid on Becca herself, but for the redhead, the story was less clear.

The next question forced Juliette to drink yet again. College certainly been an experience for her; one that involved some… kissing. She raised her glass to her fellow party girl and brunette, Sarah, owning her past as she took a sip.

Rebecca had taken their request for a story to heart and began to share with them. Juliette frowned a little and moved closer to the redhead. Clearly, the tale was closer to heart than the rest of what the girls had shared that evening.

Serena had pulled the girl into a hug, and was telling her that none of them were judging her. Juliette nodded along with the comment and placed her hand on Rebecca’s back, rubbing it comfortably. ”Obviously none of us can take the moral high ground, Bec. If you need to talk, we’re all here for you.” Sleepovers were possibly the best place to share intimate details about relationships.

Juliette agreed with Serena’s next comment as well. They’d had a lot to drink in a short period of time, and it was becoming clear that the game had run its course. She reached down beside her and picked up the bag she’d initially brought with her.

”Alright, Sarah, what’s the verdict? Drunk enough for cosmo, or should we stick to something else? I have movies and nail polish, and I’m sure there are other things we could get into, Serena willing.”

Sarah tried very hard to keep the thought out of her head, but the wine was making it hard and Becca's love life was just something her brain couldn't comprehend enough to censor itself. There's the other plot of the soap opera.

"We've all got something interesting about our lives, Red. No judging going on here." Because she really couldn't judge.

Jules asking about Cosmo actually got a moment's thought from the artist. "I think I'm on my third glass. Maaybe my fourth?" She paused trying to remember how many times she had filled her glass. She knew that they had opened at least two bottles of wine. Serena had brought out some fancy wine. "Yeah I'm thinking we should slow down a bit. But, I am drunk enough for Cosmo!"

Setting her glass down, Sarah stood up and moved over to the redhead of the group. "Pardon me, Hun." She sat down behind her and pulled Becca's hair together behind the Scot. "I might be having a romantic relationship with a convicted felon who I dated years before. Which is also the bad boy I didn't know was a bad boy. Well, didn't know until recently." Separating three strands from the mass of hair, she started making a small-ish braid. She was trying to let the younger girl know she wasn't alone with the strange love life happenings.

It was hard not to feel dirty dealing with thoughts of her ex-girlfriend while Becca had a perfectly sweet, caring girlfriend at home. Nothing had happened to make her unfaithful, but dealing with thoughts of straying was enough to leave Becca wracked with constant guilt.

Maybe she needed the chance to finally just get her problems off her chest. It helped having friends around to support her and remind her she was not a terrible person or bad girlfriend. She was busy looking forward at her knees when Serena came in to hug her, the squeezing catching her by surprise with an, ”Oh!” before she reciprocated. She felt the comforting hand on her back from Juliette and supporting words from all three women assuring her they were here to support and not judge.

Looking to move the evening forward, Cosmo was being proposed, which Becca could get behind. Feeling her guilt receding, the idea of slowing her drinking down was a smart one.

Sarah came over and Becca politely skootched forward to give her new friend some space behind him. She smiled brightly when she realized she was volunteering the space so Sarah could braid with or play with her hair. ”Thes. Thes Ah approve ay.” It did not matter who did it; Rebecca was a sucker for someone playing with her hair, and braiding was close enough as slender fingers ran through to part her wave of red hair.

Becca was not the only one with concerns about her current love life situation it would seem, as Sarah admitted her own issues. ”Hoo unfair tae keep somethin' loch 'at frae ye!” It was her initial reaction, because if she was in Sarah’s shoes, she knew she’d react poorly to finding out her lover had withheld something like that.

Maybe she was not the only one being unfair. She had a habit in the past to quickly get upset by undisclosed information, a la Age of Sebastian Agnes, but that had been a mistake. She had to be reasonable and remember people had their reasons for making decisions, even if she disagreed. ” Sorry. At leest he tauld yoo; 'at is important,” she added, appreciating that Sarah’s mystery man came forward to her willingly. The whole situation reminded her of a recent re-addition to her teaching staff. ”Jules an' Ah wark wi' a bloke fa turned himself in fur things he did. He's back noo, an' he's actually an alright bloke. Hot, tay,” she added absentmindedly.

Returning into the moment, she spoke over her shoulder, ”Ah guess Aj’m sayin’ mebbe yer bad boy micht nae be sae bad?”

Serena was glad that Rebecca had managed to relax a little more, she'd need to have words with Rebecca sometime later and reassure her that regardless of what she did, she'd get no judgement from Serena. And that the blonde would be there with ice cream and more hugs as necessary. She went and grabbed a glass of water and sipped it gingerly, unsure of the direction of the evening.

She really hadn't done with all that much practice for these topics. Feeling a little nervous on the whole cosmo thing she took a seat on the floor on one of the squashy pillows and sat cross-legged, continuing with the conversation a little. She quirked an eyebrow slightly at Sarah. "Really? Wow." She chuckled and then sheepishly added. "I don't really have any interesting stories about romantic partners like that." She admitted.

She nodded in agreement. "You seem to have fairly good judgement, so I'm assuming he's a decent guy?" Serena still found the notion of dating guys to be a bit odd. Girls were just soft.

She blinked at Rebecca's comment and then turned to Becca and Jules. "Wait, who are we talking about? Sam, or someone else?" God, the X-men could be complicated sometimes.

When it came to Sarah's love life, Juliette had a bit of a leg up on the other girls. She already knew most of the details that they were discussing, and she just so happened to know the identity of the man in question.

"Oh god no, 'Rena. Sam's got enough baggage without throwing prison into the mix," she shook her head at the though. She highly doubted that she would have taken being told that her significant other had left her for prison that well. But then again, she'd been told lots of other things by him, so her moral high ground mostly consisted of a sandy overhang.

"Actually, it's the same guy. Nate Holloway. In the day he teaches art at the mansion, and in the night he teaches Sarah a different kind of art," she grinned as she added an innuendo on the end. One of her favourite things about Sarah was how easy it was to make her blush, and how easy she made it to tease her. "Which reminds me, I need to introduce myself to him. I don't think I actually have yet."

While she thought about how she could potentially introduce herself to her friend's boyfriend without scaring the living daylights out of him, she pulled out her phone. She scrolled through for a moment and then decided to share what she'd found with the rest of the class. "Well, Cosmo had a whole lot of nothing on sleepovers, but I found a Buzzfeed article meant for eight year olds?"

She passed the device around to the group to allow them to see the options that the site suggested. Many of them required a lot of prep work, or were really just for kids, but there were a few things that she figured that could adjust for their situation. "Thoughts? We could always choose something quiet and then keep talking like this."

Juliette paused, and then grinned, "I mean, Serena hasn't even dished on Ami yet." although she hadn't been told directly by either of the girls, Juliette had heard through some gossiping mansion girls the grapevine that they were dating, and she wasn't about to let the blonde get away with not sharing.

Sarah giggled at the way Rebecca almost purred while she played with the red strands. She finished one braid and moved on to another by the time Nate was vaguely brought up by the redhead and then confirmed as her significant other by Jules.

>>"Actually, it's the same guy. Nate Holloway. In the day he teaches art at the mansion, and in the night he teaches Sarah a different kind of art.”

Que blushing. And glaring. ”That has not come up yet, thank you,” she pointed the strand of hair at her friend. ”We didn't before. We haven't now.” Juliette then commented on needing to meet Nate. ”He doesn't know who I know at the school,” she shrugged. The idea of Jules meeting Nate was entertaining. She wondered if her friend would let him know of their friendship first or let him fumble.

And now she knew a few others who knew her relationship and worked with her... Boyfriend sounded so juvenile but was probably the correct term. Either way, there were now several people who could ambush Nate. Which might actually be entertaining. ”If you do meet him, please tell me everything. Knowing you, it'll be funny.”

Eight year olds? Sarah giggled. Sounded about right.  But she was kind of having fun braiding Becca's hair. ”I'm good either way. Might be a good time to get pizza or something. Something to help soak up the wine a bit.”

Rebecca’s comment hit the nail on the head, as Juliette ever-so-delicately outed Sarah as the new woman in the art teacher’s life. The revelation had her grinning from ear-to-ear. When she was a new student going through her last semester of high school at the Mansion, Mr. Holloway had started working for the school. He was youthful for a teacher, and undeniably handsome, earning plenty of youthful admirers. She would not have considered herself an admirer; merely an… appreciator of his handsomeness. She was a hormonal teenager, so a wandering eye could be forgiven.

She would, however, reach behind her to the girl braiding her hair, patting a hand on her shoulder. ”Nicely dain, Sarah!” she congratulated, giggling to herself. He was a former criminal, but he was also hot and artistic. A girl could do a lot worse.

Jules was the one who checked on Cosmo and Buzzfeed, but found herself disappointed in what she found. The websites felt like stereotypical staples, but did the girls really need an aid for their night? They seemed to be getting along just fine without silly quizzes. ”Ah agree. Hair, makeup an' gossip? Oooh, an' pizza!” she added in agreement with Sarah. The craving for greasy food almost matched the cravings for sweet and salty snacks.

With the plan in place, Becca could focus on what mattered: smirking and nudging Serena’s shoulder with her shoulder playfully. ”Yes. Ye an' Ami. Dish, lassie! Glad tae hear ye finally gaithered 'at confidence ay yoors,” she added, remembering the supportive conversation they shared, built around the infamous snogging session.

Serena was most definitely glad that Rebecca's momentary crisis seemed to be over. She really didn't want the redhead feeling unhappy on such a fun evening, especially after such a fun game and the lovely wine. Truth be told she was having a fantastic night so far, it was nice to learn more about Sarah too. Interesting relationships all round the group.

Serena blinked and grinned. "Ohhhh, the Art Teacher that every girl in the mansion follows around like lost puppies, no wonder I hadn't seen him in a while." Prison would do that she supposed. But Serena was also a firm believer in redemption, and Sarah seemed to have a fairly level head on her so she was certain that Nate must have turned over a new leaf. And the mansion probably wouldn't have re-hired him otherwise.

She wasn't entirely familiar with the whole hair braiding thing, she just kind of combed and brushed her hair most of the time, and if she wanted it styled she'd go to an actual stylist. As opposed to experimenting by herself. She was raised by two male cops after all, she didn't have that many womanly role models.

"Pizza sounds good, there is a really cute Italian place down the road that delivers, there is a menu around here somewhere." She exclaimed.

Ooookay. She was wondering when that topic would come up. She flashed Juliette and Rebecca looks that were meant to be intimidating but came out as more awkward when combined with the blush that was colouring her cheeks. "It's kind of your fault." She muttered in the direction of Becca.

"She's wonderful." She put out simply. "I can't actually remember the last time in my life that I was this happy."

"Of course not, Sarah," Juliette smirked at her friend and then punched her lightly on the arm. She knew that Sarah was telling the truth, but she was so easy to tease that she couldn't possibly turn the opportunity down. Besides, she wasn't about to judge if the answer had been different. Nate Holloway was an attractive man. There was no denying that fact.

"Pizza sounds excellent," Juliette agreed heartily. Drinking and gossiping was great, but it was certainly better when you weren't doing it on an empty stomach. It wasn't as if any of them were going to suffer with just the absurd amount of food that Serena had put out for them, but adding something savoury into the mix didn't sound like a bad idea.

"I think the menu's over here," she noted and picked up the piece of paper next to her. "Anyone have any burning preferences? Vegetarian? Pepperoni? Pineapple or no?" She addressed the group of ladies around her with an inquisitive glance. Some people were exceptionally specific about what they had and didn't have on their pizza, and she wanted to make sure that everyone was happy. She passed the menu around the circle so that everyone could have a look at it.

Juliette grinned at Serena as she gushed about Ami. She'd only met the brunette once before, but she remembered her being a sweetheart, and she was glad that she made Serena so happy. God knew that the woman deserved it. "That's awesome, Rena. Really. I'm glad that you found someone that makes you happy, even if you didn't kiss her immediately after meeting her."

She then slid off of the couch from her nestled spot in the corner and took a seat on the floor in front of the coffee table. From her bag, she pulled out a handful or so of nail polish bottles and set them down on the table. She grabbed a napkin and a pewter colour and began to apply it carefully. She wasn't really allowed to wear nail polish when she worked at the hospital, but her shifts had been so few and far between in the last while that she figured that she could get away with having it on for a few days.

"Alright, so that was sufficiently cute. Anything else to share, Serena, or should we move onto the next hot topic?"

The wine in Rebecca’s stomach needed doughy, greasy pizza to absorb some of the effect of the alcohol; chips were not going to cut it, and she could already feel herself getting loopy. Pushing the line of getting drunk was dangerous for her historically, leading to a one-night stand with Gawain and a bar fight with some nameless jacka**. In a room with three attractive women, all of whom had significant others, it behooved the impulsive redhead to keep her wits about her.

When ordering pizza with Agnes, Rebecca was always quiet about her aversion to a certain pizza topping, but with Jules, Serena, Sarah, and four glasses of wine, the need to be quiet was less pressing. ”Bleh, nae pineapples, please!” Rebecca did not consider herself a picky eater, but there were some things she could not stand for, and pineapples on pizza were an injustice. ”Anythin' else, thocht if Ah hae a vote, pepperoni an' banana peppers.”

Serena put some blame on Rebecca for nudging her to make a move with Amelia, and the redhead beamed with pride at the role she got to play. She got a good snog with a good friend, and helped said friend find her own happiness. ”Ah’ll gladly claim fault there,” she replied with a smirk.

Jules showed her support for Serena’s new relationship as well, but could not resist another cheeky little shot at Serena and Rebecca’s little introductory snog. Rolling her eyes, Becca grabbed one of the throw pillows from behind her and Sarah, tossing it at Jules’s face unexpectedly, punctuating it with, ”Someain soonds jealoos!”

The attack was not taken quietly by Jules, who grabbed the pillow Rebecca had provided her and stood up. ”That vain, are you? It’s so on!” While she had been enjoying having her hair braided, Rebecca would have to interrupt Sarah by getting up to her feet because Juliette was whacking at her with the pillow. (Admittedly a far more reliable strategy than throwing.

Rebecca shielded herself, giggling like mad until she could find her way to another pillow to defend herself. ”Ye sure ye wanna pick thes fight, Lightnin' Bug?” Maybe it was immature, but it was a sleepover staple, and she hoped the other girls could get on their childish level for a quality pillow melee.

Serena was glad for the supportive amusement of her friends over her girlfriend, she wasn't really used to being a serious relationship, but they seemed to be very happy for her. And it kind of was Becca's fault that it had happened. She'd have to remember to thank her occasionally for that push. It had definitely been needed, and had turned out well.

Sarah seemed to be enjoying herself too, and in short time they were ordering pizza and having a laugh. She was very amused, shaking her head with more giggles. "I'll just order meat feast, spicy lovers and a vegetarian, that kind of covers the whole pallet~" Diplomatic solutions are us. Even if a small part of her wanted to call Rebecca a pizza cretin for not partaking in Hawaiian.

She sipped more wine and raised an eyebrow at Jules and Rebecca, a playful smirk tugging at her lips. "Well who wouldn't be?~"

As the evening descended into more giggles and pillow fighting, Serena finished ordering pizza and may or may not have scooped up ice cubes and dropped them down the back of someone... Multiple someone's tops. And then joined in on the fun. The pizza arrived at some point or other and provided some actual food to go with their wine fueled evening before it descended into further drunken antics.

All in all the evening progressed along that line for a long time, a few more games, some beauty management with hair and nails, little more gossip and plenty more giggles. They ended the evening a closer group of friends than when they began~

((Fin.))