Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Spin The Bottle



Connie lived across the street when we started walking to Kindergarten together just two blocks away. Graduating to the middle school, we hoofed the six block walk every day as well; weather didn’t matter because we weren’t getting a ride.

Neither had gone steady with a boy yet, not even close, but we were more than slightly obsessed. Who would be the first one to kiss?

All the “popular” boys had given their I.D. bracelets to all the “popular” girls and everyone knew what that meant… Immediate access to the infamous boy/girl parties to which we had NEVER been invited for two reasons…No boyfriend, Not exactly popular!

The “grapevine” said EXACTLY what went on in the pretty girls’ basements; Spin The Bottle and Seven Minutes. Even the names fascinated us. We were extremely intrigued, curious yet way out of our league. “Wow” was all either one could say. We whispered secret feelings, on our walks to and from school…a desire to see, with our own eyes just what went on in the darkness of “Georgie’s” basement.

Somehow, someway by someone, we were deemed worthy one Friday afternoon.

Expected in our front doors by 3:30, we ran the half-mile home breathlessly hatching a plan. “Just say a quick ‘hi’ to your mom, then let’s go”; an excuse was right at the tip of our tongues. "Going to Kathleen's."

No words could describe how nervous we were seeing the house. Almost backing out at Patti’s front door, we saw a taped note. “We’re in the basement” Duh?

It took a few moments for our eyes to adjust. Kids were everywhere AND they were making out! Smack in the middle of a circle of twenty, or so, was the glass Coke bottle.

Georgie waved us over as someone took a spin. Crawling on hands and knees to the center, a boy and a girl kissed. Suddenly, I had a pit in my stomach and I was beginning to sweat. I touched Connie’s arm and said to everyone, “I’m going to use the bathroom”. Connie said, “I’ll go with you”.

Would you call that leaving a party with grace? Uh, uh. I would call that extremely awkward but unavoidable at the time. I might have been more embarrassed if I’d vomited in the circle.


Think back to your own adolescence. With the perspective of time, try to find the beauty or grace in an awkward adolescent situation, even if there is only a sliver to find.
If you are one of the two people on the planet to make it through your pre-teen and teen years without a single moment of awkwardness, try to write about a situation you observed during that time that seemed awkward for someone else.
400 word limit. 

18 comments:

Arnebya said...

I can't remember how many times I sat there while others played spin the bottle or truth or dare. I was usually just along for the ride, not really belonging there w/the cool kids, but I was friends with the right kids to get into the cool places. The first time truth or dare wound up with a boy unzipping his pants, I excused myself to the bathroom (I just didn't say it'd be the one in my own house).

Gina said...

OH NO!

I was young for my grade in school and not "fast" like some of the older girls. At my middle school...Fast=Popular. I'm not even sure "what" base meant you were fast but I was not even in the line up!

Lindy Phippen Smith said...

Spin the bottle. Was there ever a worse game, maybe pass the orange? Loved the bathroom excuse how many times in our teenage years do we use that excuse? This was a funny read.

VictoriaKP said...

I think racing to the bathroom proved you were smarter than most of the other kids! Ugh! So glad I'm not a teenager anymore!

angela said...

You absolutely took me back to junior high and boy-girl parties and the crazy secrecy that divded those invited and those NOT invited. I absolutely think you got out of there with grace!

While I liked the background information with Connie to show the depth of your friendship, I would have liked to see a little more development into how utterly scared and mortified you felt at the party.

I think it's wonderful how you captured a moment that is likely pretty universal with young girls.

TMWHickman said...

I agree with Angela, I would have liked to read more about your state of mind at the time. You certainly captured the 'forbidden' aspects of the moment! I loved that.

Jack said...

Your story reminds me of the 8th grade camping trip. We played Spin the Bottle and I kissed six or seven girls from school.

I remember pretending that I knew exactly what I was doing, but feeling like they all knew I was clueless.

Gina said...

Thanks, Lindy!

I still use the bathroom excuse to get out of a pickle!

Gina said...

I don't know about smarter but definitely scared! I'm glad I'm not a teenager anymore either.

Thanks for stopping by.

Gina said...

Thanks, Angela.

I agree with you about developing more "how scared and mortified you felt" which would have been easy because we were. That's the fun of these challenges...learning and improving.

Gina said...

I agree with you and Angela as well. Thanks for believing I captured the feeling, scary as it was.

Gina said...

Well weren't you the "man" back in 8th grade. After kissing 6 or 7, you probably got a better idea of what you were doing.

Jack said...

I don't know if I knew any more other than the girls weren't going to scream or run away.

That was a concern because I remember how they wouldn't kiss one of the other boys. I wanted to get out of there because I was afraid that would happen to me, but I couldn't get up and walk away.

Anonymous said...

The taped sign on the door, the darkened room, they all showed the "forbidden". I can imagine the anticipation being replaced by fear and flight.

I would have liked to have seen it play out a bit more, but I know the word limit is tough! :)

Gina said...

That's taking one for the team..just couldn't get up and walk away, huh? Young boys...

Gina said...

It wasn't a pleasant feeling at all! I was a scaredy cat anyway so this just put me over the top!

Somedays I'm thankful for the word limit and other days I could write a thousand plus words.

erin margolin said...

The word limit does make it SOOO tough! I had to cut mine a ton and it still went over a tad. I, like others have said already, would've like to see more into YOU and your thoughts about this. Yet I still remember back to a spin the bottle party I went to and how nervous I was...it was really my first kiss. I was so mortified!

Gina said...

I did not have my first kiss until waaaay later!

The timeframe where I was actually at the party was so short that I don't know how much more I could have written about it. Thanks so much for visiting, Erin!