About Me: 5’11â€; medium length brown hair; kind of awkward; relatively quiet when I’m in a large group of people; and I have very intense eyes and a bright smile (so I’ve been told, at least)
I moved from the North to a small town in North Carolina the summer after my freshman year in high school. I didn’t have the opportunity to meet that many people besides three girls at my community pool, so when school started again in late August, I entered into their social group. It was a relatively large group with around 18 people, but we all managed to get along pretty well.
Two of the girls in the group, Kate and Vicki, were twin sisters, and they had what everyone described as a “party houseâ€. It had a nicely sized basement and entertainment center, and sat on the edge of a golf course. I heard that this last bit drew much attention around the middle school years when night games of “Capture the Flag†turned into games of…. much more explicit content.
Throughout the school year, I found this out for myself on multiple occasions, whether it be stumbling upon a couple or personally getting up to no good. But one night, in mid-May, when everyone could see the light at the end of the tunnel/school year and wanted things to get a bit crazier, we delved into more publicly risqué options.
My best friend and I arrived at the house around 9 that night, and found it to be occupied by people outside of our regular circle. One of the guys had a sister at a local college, Renee, who I also knew from theatre productions, and she had brought along a few friends. A few people seemed a bit antsy about partying with them, but the more outgoing guys made it pretty lighthearted by throwing out jokes and being obnoxious. Once everyone had loosened up, one of the older guys, Seth, grabbed a full 2-liter of Coke and ushered all of us outside.
We went to our usual meeting place by a pond, which was surrounded by trees so that neighboring windows couldn’t see what we were doing. Seth made all of us sit in a circle, and he placed the bottle in the middle. We groaned. Spin the Bottle? Really? We threw out comments of how that was a game that many of us had long since played and gotten over. He told all of us to shut up, and that there were going to be some new rules. Whoever spun the bottle had to do something to the person it landed on, and the task was assigned by the person who had previously spun the bottle. We still grumbled a bit, but we decided to give it a shot.
Seth called out first, and Vicki spun. It landed on Renee. Seth said that they had to go out in the middle of the fairway and Vicki had to grope Renee’s breasts for 30 seconds while saying “Oh yeah!†in a really loud voice. She immediately turned bright red as everyone started chuckling, and she said there was no way she would do that. The college kids egged her on, and some of the guys kept yelling “Get it!†which earned them a few eye rolls. But after a few minutes of pressuring agony, they went to go complete their task. It went off without a hitch, and they scurried back as soon as time was called.
Next, Renee spun the bottle and it landed on me. Vicki thought for a second and then came up with the idea that Renee had to get on my back and ride me like a good little cowgirl. Some people laughed and others thought it was weird, but we could’ve had worse. So we went out on to the fairway and I let Renee up on my back. She “yee-hawâ€-ed a few times, and I bucked around to make it interesting. She tried to grind a few times, but it just felt weird, so she quickly stopped that. Near the end of our time, I let out the comment that it would’ve been more authentic if she’d had a whip. She gave me a really strange look, and said “Yeah, I guessâ€, but didn’t go beyond that. Great, I thought. Way to try and make a joke and look like a freak. We both walked back, and it was my turn to spin. It landed on a guy that I had talked to a decent amount during the year, James. Renee looked at me for a long minute, and her eyes narrowed at one point before she smiled and said: “You have to tie him up and whip his assâ€. My eyebrows shot up and my mouth dropped open. Seth said “Oh shitâ€, and a few other people were bewildered at my task too. I looked over at James, and he gave me a look like “Yeah, I don’t think soâ€. Renee threw out a few taunts about wanting to feel the burn, and I blushed. Sure, I would do it, but now? With everyone watching? James said that was a bad one, and nothing should cause real pain. Guys started looking at me and chanting “Do it, do it…â€. I said that I’d do it later, but that I didn’t have any materials out here right now. Some people gave me looks suggesting that I wasn’t ever going to do anything like that, but let it go since I was new. James looked relieved, but I felt some embarrassment. I could’ve done it….
Everyone else had a chance to both give out and take punishments, but nothing terribly eventful happened. As we headed back to the house, people were laughing and poking fun at those who had had to do the worst things. I kept my head down until Seth came up behind him. “C’mon, you’ve got this!†he said, and punched me in the arm before running to join up with some others. I didn’t know what to think about that. My best friend came up and told me not to worry about. She said it was stupid after all, and that Renee should’ve thought of a better dare. We all dispersed to separate corners of the house when we finally returned, and I went out to the garage with Kate. She grabbed a few more sodas from a fridge, and as she was finishing up, I noticed something dangling off of a hook. I went over to examine it. The jump rope was in good condition. It was actually made of rope, it was thick, and it had some wooden handles on the ends. I took it down and looked at it more closely, stretching it between my hands. Kate came up behind me. “What are you doing?†she giggled. I turned to give her a smile, and said that I could’ve used this for my game. She gave me a weird look just like Renee’s, and I think that was what sent me over the edge. Who were they to think that I couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do a tie-up? I looked around the garage for a second more, and spotted a tennis racket. It wasn’t a whip, but it’d work as a paddle. I grabbed that and went to find James.
Kate caught up to me with wide eyes. “Are you really gonna do it?†she asked. I questioned her with why I shouldn’t do my part for the game, and she didn’t have an answer for that. We passed Seth and a few other girls, and Seth threw me a wide smile as he saw what I carried. “Yeah, let’s do this!!†he yelled. The girls threw each other stares, but joined my growing following into the house. We also spotted Vicki and Renee on our way down to the basement, and they each gave me a wicked smile. “She’s a freak!†they shrieked. Seth told them to shut up, and he said that I was pretty badass for actually following through. I gave a half-smile up at him, but was inwardly grimacing and wondering if I could actually pull it off. I’d thought of doing it before in my head, but this was real life.
I stopped at the edge of the stairs. I wanted to make sure that James wasn’t facing us because a surprise attack would be a lot easier. I could feel everyone breathing behind me, and Seth jumped up and down like he was set for game day, and then winked at me. That lightened my stress a bit, and when I looked, I saw that James was indeed facing away from us, about halfway across the room. I set the racket down and stretched the rope between both of my hands. I could feel my heart pounding in my ears, and my face felt hot. I took a few deep breaths, and then a giant leap down.
My pounce alerted the guys closest to me of my presence, but I was already past them when they started hooting and hollering. James turned in that direction just as I took a step up on the couch cushions, another on the back, and then finally engulfed him in my arms as I landed. We fell with a thud as some girls screamed, but a circle quickly formed with lots of chanting and yelling as I started to wrap James. He was angry, and his face was red, but I didn’t stop. I got him on to his stomach and sat between his shoulder blades as I cuffed his hands behind him, making a figure 8 loop with the rope. I got on to my knees, still on his back as I reached for his feet. He managed to squirm and throw me down on to the floor, but I had a grasp on one of his ankles. He tried to stop me but his hands were locked, and a foot soon joined them. People started clapping and whistling as I reached across his body for the final foot. I managed to figure 8 that one into the rest as well, and with a secure knot, I was done. I sat up on my knees to find everyone with open mouths and wide eyes. They couldn’t believe it. I could feel my eyes blaze and I smiled with pride. James threw out a few curse words as Seth handed me my racket with a huge smile. I only paddled James twice for I didn’t want to embarrass him too much at this moment in time, but I knew that this party wouldn’t be forgotten for a long time anyway.
That’s all that anyone seemed to talk about the rest of the night, and they kept giving me looks of awe. The quiet girl who tied someone up. Even my best friend looked at me once or twice like I was crazy, but she kept smiling along with me. In fact, I don’t think I stopped smiling all night, much to the dismay of James. I tried to apologize later on, but he didn’t want to hear it. I was proud that I had actually done something that had only been an idea before.
Strangely enough, even though I expected to enter school on Monday morning and be stared at as I walked through the halls, nothing like that happened at all. I later learned that Seth had gotten to everyone and made them swear to keep it a secret just among the people in that party. Apparently, I had gained enough respect for them to actually stick by that. Even today, years later, those friends still come up to me and shake their heads and laugh when they remember that night. My relationship with James fell apart for a bit, but we’re cordial now. Seth and I became great friends for a few months, but as other things began to take up our time, we slowed down into an easy friendship. That’s been my only TUG so far, but who knows what will happen in the future. At least now I know that I’m ready to give it all, and I won’t hold anything back.
