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They opened the bottle of nonalcoholic champagne and shared it, laughing giddily. Matt tried not to think of the indirect kiss they were sharing as well.
Noticing movement outside, she glanced out the window and saw Jared, watching and filming. She grinned and beckoned for him.
"Jared, c’mon!" She said, smiling.
Jared blinked and then lowered his camera and began making his way around the house to the door.
Owen looked a little uncomfortable.
"He’s a little creepy sometimes." Owen said quietly.
Matt shrugged. "The footage will go great with that celebration montage, for the behind the scenes documentary. And he helped make the movie too, he should get to celebrate with us."
Jared came into Matt’s house through the front door and walked over to them.
"Jared!" Matt exclaimed, offering him some of the champagne, which he accepted. Owen smiled politely.
"Hey, let’s head down to my room." Matt said.
"Yeah, sure." Owen replied.
Jared nodded.
In Matt’s basement, they sat on the couch sharing the champagne and chatting, trying to decide what to watch.
"Let’s do Fargo." Matt said.
"That part at the end is nasty." Owen said.
"It’s totally wicked!" Matt shouted gleefully.
"Yeah, alright, let’s do it," Owen said, smiling up at her.
Jared nodded.
"Oh! Wait, I have a great idea!" Matt said, turning quickly towards the two boys. "We should really celebrate and get some actual alcohol."
"We can’t, that’s illegal. And we don’t know anyone who’d help us get alcohol." Owen said.
"My parents have plenty of old bottles of wine and stuff lying around. It’s collecting dust! We could use that and they wouldn’t even notice." Matt said, excitedly.
Owen thought about it.
"Sure." He said.
Matt grinned, then ran up the stairs.
"Be back in a moment!" She said.
She searched through the kitchen pantry and, lo and behold, found an unopened bottle of wine collecting dust. She grabbed it and dusted it off a little, then grabbed three red solo cups and a bottle opener. She ran back downstairs carry it all, and held it up victoriously for the boys to see.
She walked over and set the three cups out on the table, opened up the bottle, and poured some out for each of them. She set the bottle down and sat down on the couch.
The boys cautiously picked up their cups.
"You’re supposed to swirl it around." Owen said. "To uhm- It’s supposed to help the flavor. "
Matt picked up her cup and swirled it around a little before taking a sip. She grimaced at the unfamiliar and bitter taste.
"Mm. I see why people say it’s an acquired taste." She said.
Owen took a sip and grimaced as well.
"Now let’s start the movie!" Matt shouted.
By the end of the movie, the three of them were feeling the effects of the alcohol they had been sipping throughout. They had been riffing on the movie nearly the whole time, but as the credits rolled they turned to more general convseration, all giggling from the alcohol and the excitement. Jared had begun filming again.
Though the wine was bitter, the feeling of being drunk was nice. Matt could see why people became alcoholics. She felt unusually relaxed. Her body felt warm and tingly and everything seemed funny and she didn’t feel any itching need to escape herself, or any vague despair. She could get used to it.
And Owen- Owen looked nice like this. Relaxed, rambling away with a dopey grin on his boyishly handsome face.
"Do you think Chrissy has ever been drunk before?" Owen blurted out, smiling.
"Yeah, probably. At really cool parties or something." Matt said. "Why do you even like her, man, other than that she’s like, hot and stuff."
"I mean, she’s pretty, she’s cool, and uhhh isn’t that enough of a reason?" Owen mumbled.
Matt giggled. "I- I’ll keep helping you, but I think you should just give up on her. She’s too cool, and she’s mean."
"You’re mean." Owen jabbed back.
"Then maybe I should be your girlfriend." Matt said, giggling. She couldn’t believe what she was saying.
Owen laughed too.
"Hey Owen." Matt said, a terrible idea popping into her head. "Look."
She lifted up her shirt to reveal a bra under it, flashing him. He went beet red and she laughed even harder.
She turned to Jared and let him get a view and film it.
"We can put that in the behind the scenes documentary! People will love it!” She laughed, putting her shirt back down.
"You wear a bra?" Owen asked. "Were you, like, wearing that this whole time just to make that joke?"
Matt realized she had made a mistake.
"I-" She laughed. Owen had come up with an explanation already, given her an out, but- "I mean, I just wear it sometimes. For fun. I dunno."
She didn’t know why she was getting so close to the truth. Bullshitting was second nature to her, but for some reason she was feeling sort of mushy and honest.
Owen stared at her, a little weirded out.
"It’s padded, it’s almost like actual tits. Sorta. I think." Matt said, giggling again. Then, in a jokingly-seductive tone she added, "Wanna feel ‘em?"
Owen went red again. Glancing at Matt’s chest and then back at her face.
"What, do you actually want to?" Matt said, laughing even harder.
"I- This is getting kinda weird." Owen said. "I’m gonna go to the bathroom."
He got up and left.
Matt laughed. "Probably gonna go in there and jerk off."
She relaxed into the couch, trying to stave off her anxiety.
"I could touch them for you, Matt." Jared suggested, grinning awkwardly.
"You wish." Matt laughed.
Owen returned a minute or so later, and sat back down on the couch. He looked sort of anxious.
"You alright, buddy?" Matt asked.
Owen looked at her.
"Matt," he said, quite seriously, "Are you gay? Or like, transgender or something?"
Matt stared.
"Oh, so I’m gay because I wear a bra sometimes for fun, but you’re not gay for staring at my tits and getting a boner." Matt teased, laughing. The warm feeling wasn’t quite enough to drown out her growing anxiety.
"I didn’t- I wasn’t- Matt!" Owen pleaded frustratedly. "I really wanna know. I won’t be mad if you’re gay."
Matt fidgeted anxiously.
"Do you like me?" Owen asked.
"Yeah, obviously." Matt said, in a sudden burst of impulsivity.
"So you are gay." Owen said.
Matt shrugged.
"Or are you transgender? Is that why you wear a bra?" Owen asked.
Matt shrugged again.
"Have you been secretly sabotaging my attempts to get with Chrissy?" Owen asked.
"What? No." Matt said. Then she laughed again. "But I said what I said. She’s a dick, and she’s out of your league."
Owen stared at the ground.
"Matt…" Owen shut his eyes. "You’re drunk. You’re saying this because you’re drunk. Or you’re pranking me."
"I’d pretend to have a crush on you to prank you?"
"I- Maybe? I dunno. You’re a dick too sometimes."
"And you like mean women, huh?" Matt jabbed again, laughing. She didn’t know why she was doing this, digging herself deeper and deeper just for the fun of riling Owen up.
Owen looked at her and the expression on his face was confused and sincere. It pulled at her heartstrings a little.
"C’mon man, don’t get upset." She leaned forward to put a comforting hand on Owen’s shoulder, finding that she felt a little wobbly as she did so.
Suddenly intense, Owen looked into her eyes.
"If you’re not just making fun of me, then kiss me." He said.
Matt faltered. She looked at him, grinning incredulously. She could believe this was happening.
"If not, then let’s all just go to bed." Owen added. "We’re all drunk and being stupid, we should sleep off the alcohol."
"I’ll kiss you." Matt said. She couldn’t back down from a challenge.
Quickly, impulsively, she leaned in and slammed her lips against Owen’s, grabbing tightly ahold of the front of his shirt.
Owen made a startled sound and grabbed onto her shoulders, tense. Slowly, he relaxed into the kiss. Their lips moved against each other, and Matt, again acting on impulse, pushed her tongue out to lick Owen’s lips. Owen opened his mouth, maybe an invitation in, maybe just from surprise, and Matt pushed her tongue inside. It was a strange feeling- very wet, a little gross, and tasting strongly of the wine they had both been drinking.
They pulled each other closer, Matt letting go of the front of Owen’s shirt to instead wrap him in an embrace and Owen putting one hand on the back of her and neck and letting the other wander down to caress her chest.
Jared cleared his throat loudly and the two of them pulled apart quickly. He was watching them intently and filming all of it.
"Delete that." Owen said quickly.
"Wait, don’t! Let’s discuss it in the morning." Matt said.
Jared laughed. Matt and Owen found themselves giggling as well, in the strangeness and awkwardness of the situation.
Matt and Owen glanced at each other, regarding each other in a new light.
"We should talk about all of this when we’re not drunk." Owen said.
Matt nodded, smiling.
"Now let’s go to sleep." Owen said. "It’s probably late."
All three of them slept on the floor on blankets. It felt like camping. As Matt lay awake, she felt the alcohol wear off and the warm comfort be replaced with cold dread again. She had let her image falter, revealed something too earnest and real. Surprisingly, Owen had accepted it. Reciprocated it, even. It felt surreal.
Still, she had let something slip. It was bound to backfire on her somehow.