It all came down to this. The tension was felt in the air from all who surrounded the two at the table.  Winner gets bragging rights, loser had to pay for pizza.

"C7" I said in a soft voice to my opponent.

"Damn it" I heard him say under his breath. 

I lifted my eyebrows high up on my forehead as the man beside him nodded his head at me. "YES!!" I exclaimed as my friends who were beside me patted me on the back and clapped.

"Fine, whatever. It's just Battleship anyway" my opponent extended his arm across the table for me to shake.

"More like the Battleship match of the century, Gaskarth" I replied, shaking his hand like a good sport, "You better get your wallet ready though." I picked up my bottle of beer and walked away from the table, joining 2 of my best friends in the adjoining room.

"You were so serious there, Jen" Rebecca said.

Julia joined in "yeah I swear I saw sweat on your forehead at one point."

"Hey, I play to win" I said defending myself and clinking bottles with my friends.

An intense game of Battleship wasnt exactly a regular night at our friend Zack's house. He would invite the 7 of us of our close friend group over and we would come up with something to do together almost every Friday night. In total, there were 8 of us: Julia, Rebecca, Hannah, Alex, Rian, Zack, and Jack. Oh and myself, Jen!

Most of us have been friends for a long time. Hannah was my childhood best friend and I knew Alex and Rian from after school music lessons that I started when I was 10 years old. And throughout the years, our friend group has grown. Alex and Rian formed a band, and in came Zack and Jack. Shortly after that, we found out that Rebecca was good friends with Zack and Rian and she became a part of the group. And Julia became close with everyone because she was my roommate in college and became friends with the girls when they visited me.

All in all, we had a very tight group of friends and it was perfect. Us all being in our mid-twenties, it was nice to know that we still had friends to fall back on when other twenty-somethings felt lost and alone.

"Hey" a voice behind me brought me out of my current conversation with Rebecca and Julia. Turning around I was faced with none other than Alex's sad face. I smiled though.

"Aw what's the matter? Poor baby still sour about losing?" I mocked him and cupped his cheek with a hand.

He rolled his eyes and scoffed, "psh, no. I just wanted to tell you that you played a good game back there."

"I know I did" I said confidently.

Alex smiled and let out a small laugh, "I see that somebody's overly confident. Anyways, good game. And I need to ask you something actually."

"Alex no, I'm not gonna kiss one of my best friends just cause you guys think it would be hot"

He laughed again, "no...although that thought is still on the table, just saying. I needed to ask you if you've got a few bucks you could lend me, for the pizza"

"The pizza that you're supposed to buy? I didn't just beat you in Battleship for nothing Alex."

"I know but I just got fired a week ago and I'm kinda tight for cash right now." He looked at me sympathetically.

I let out a deep breath, "fine, I've got $20 in my bag, come on." I decided to cave in, he was my best friend after all and we never let just one person pay for all the food anyway.

I went upstairs to one of Zack's guest bedrooms where I planned on sleeping over that night, and sifted through my bag for my wallet. Once I found it I handed over the cash to Alex.

"You're the best, I owe you one." He said. And usually he would have just taken the money and gone back to whatever he was doing before. But this time he gave me a kiss on the cheek, then left to go back downstairs. Weird. It's not like he hasn't given me friendly kisses before, it's just that he always felt awkward and shy when he had to borrow money from friends. Although he had had a couple of drinks so far and Alex gets friendly when he has a few.

-----------------------------------

Further into the night, a spontaneous dance party erupted in Zack's house. Since we had been drinking already we decided to stay in and just party there.

Somehow Jack had convinced Rebecca to start a wet tshirt contest. And by that, I mean, he dumped a huge bucket of water on her and declared that we have a wet tshirt contest.

After the girls had voted for a winner from the guys, Zack being the obvious winner (hello abs!), it was their turn to pick the girl winner.

Each guy took their turn staring us down and undressing us with their eyes, or as they called it, "judging us". A few times they got handsy, nothing that we're not used to though. Seriously I think our friend group was a little too close sometimes. Alex was the final one to "judge" us. 

He walked up to Rebecca, "nah, your belly button piercing ripped through your shirt, it's a no from me."

He looked at Julia, "okay nice work overall, I like the slight two-pack you've got there girl." Julia sighed and laughed to herself. Alex was playing the whole judge part a little too seriously right now. And he, just like everyone else, was enjoying the constant flow of alcohol.

Hannah ordered Alex to get it over with her. "Well I was gonna say something nice, but since you gave me that remark there, you don't win."

"Well well well, who do we have here?" He said as he stood in front of me. I tried giving a confident smirk. "Jen I'm just gonna say, nice touch with the white shirt, I've got lots to judge on now."

"Oh bite me Alex, how was I supposed to know that Jack would end up dousing us all in water tonight?" I retorted.

Suddenly I began to get cold, the window that was open close to me let in a cool breeze. Oh no not now when everyone's looking at me. Don't. Get. Cold. I clenched my teeth together as I felt it happening and cursed a million times in my head. 

"Wow!" Alex's eyes widened, as did the other three guys, "now I've got even more to judge on!"

"Fuck off, everybody's nipples get hard when it's cold" I said hoping that my cheeks weren't turning red with embarrassment. In hindsight, if I knew they would have done this tonight I wouldn't have worn just a lace bralette under my shirt.

Before I knew it, Alex did something ridiculous. His hands were now grabbing my boobs. I didn't see that one coming.

"Can I help you?" I asked staring at him with a slightly panicked tone in my voice.

"Just making sure they're authentic. Yep, passed the test." He gave me a wink.

He took his hands off me and turned around to talk to the guys. The girls all looked over at me. Not knowing what just happened either, I have them a confused look at mouthed "I don't know" to them.

"Jen!" Jack's booming voice startled the four of us. "Jen and her diamond nips are the winner!" 

I felt embarrassed to say the least but pretended to be excited by chugging an entire bottle of beer. I didn't exactly want to remember being crowned as a wet tshirt contest winner in the morning.

----------------------

Our dance party continued on throughout the night, only now we were all in our damp clothes from our little contest and a little more drunk.

"You're welcome about voting you as the winner before!" Alex shouted to me from across the room.

I walked over to him rather than continuing the conversation from the opposite side of the room. "What do you mean by that? I could've won that without the help of my two friends" I motioned to my boobs as I spoke.

"The guys wanted to pick Julia as the winner but I was like nooope cause Jen's hotter and your nips were showing!" Alex stumbled in his spot a few times. He was definitely more drunk than I was.

"Sure, well thanks for that then" I said sarcastically, taking another drink from my bottle. As soon as I took it away from my mouth something replaced its place. Lips. And I knew those lips because this has happened before when we've been drunk. Alex was drunk and he was trying to slip his tongue into my mouth as he kissed me. I immediately started laughing and pushed him away. I was surprised to see him laughing as well. Drunk Alex got a little too friendly with us many times before.

"What are you so happy about?" I questioned still laughing at his current state.

He was completely hammered, giggling and unable to stand straight for more than a few seconds, "you. You're something special, Jen. Now stop moving around please and let me kiss you again."

I wasn't moving around at all, it was him that was moving around as if he were on a wobbly boat. "Oookay, looks like you're getting tired there Alex. Let's find you a bed to crash out on." I made the call to go and put him to sleep. I placed and arm around him and yelled out to our friends "say goodnight Alex!" I grabbed one of his hands and waved it at them, earning a few goodnight's from the group.

I helped him upstairs and led him to the closest bed from the stairs - which happened to be the room that I had claimed. That's okay, I've had to bunk with Alex before, I'll manage it.

"There," I said as I helped him get under the covers, "that's so much more comfy don't you think?"

"Thanks lovely, come gimme a hug" he said with a crooked smile on his drunken face. I leaned in and threw my arms around him. Although he had been weird tonight, completely due to the alcohol, he was my best friend and I loved him to death and would never deny him a hug.

He kissed the top of my head as I held onto him then quietly asked, "could you stay with me till I fall asleep?"

I thought about it. He's hammered, it should only take a few minutes for him to drift off. So I agreed, sliding into the other spot of the bed only to be greeted by Alex's arms around me.

I laughed, "what are you doing?"

"I told you before," his breaths were already more heavy, sleep taking over quickly, "you're something special Jen."

He held onto me tightly around my waist and laid his head onto my shoulder, with a content smile on his face. A few minutes later he was completely passed out, not before he placed a few small kisses on my shoulder. Once he was asleep, I snuck out of his grip to go back down to everyone else.