Griffin smacked the table, his grin huge. “Ah yeah, Justin wants to play! Finally, a rock star who wants to be a rock star.” Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. Leaning in, Griffin told Justin, “It’s super simple. Just talk to girls and collect things. Numbers are one point, condoms five…hotel keys are an instant win. ‘Cause you’re just king if that happens. At the end of the night, we add up the points. The loser gets the tab and then everybody buys the winner a shot.” He looked around the table. “You guys in?”

“Whatever, Griffin,” I muttered, sipping my beer.

Of course, he took that as an enthusiastic yes. “Sweet! I’m gonna start now.” He immediately stood up and walked over to a table full of girls who looked around our age.

Matt shook his head at him, then looked over at me. “Do you think he’ll ever learn that ‘whatever’ doesn’t actually mean yes?”

I smiled around the beer bottle in my mouth. Shaking my head, I shrugged. “Hell…freezing…”

Ignoring Griffin’s game, I spent the bulk of the night just talking and laughing with my friends. But oddly enough, as the night wore on, even though we weren’t really doing anything special, our small group turned into a much larger group, full of girls and guys alike. That tended to happen when we went out. I wasn’t entirely sure why, we just…attracted people.

Before I knew it, it was last call. Hearing those words made Griffin panic. He instantly appeared at our table. “Dudes! We need a winner so he can get his shots!”

Nobody but him—and maybe Justin—had truly been playing his game, but even still…I’d sensed a few things being shoved into my pockets throughout the night, and there had been a couple of brazen girls who’d walked up and boldly handed me their numbers. Because I knew it would piss off Griffin, I’d decided to play along, and I’d accepted them. Pulling out the scraps of paper I’d collected, I counted them out as I set them on the table. “I got six,” I told him.

Griffin stared at my pile with a dazed look on his face. “How? How! You weren’t even doing anything?”

He tossed down his pair of phone numbers. I could tell just by glancing at one of them that it was fake. The letters FU gave it away. Crossing his arms over his chest, Griffin looked at Matt, Justin, and Evan. “Please tell me one of you guys can beat him.”

Matt shook his head. “I got nada.”

Justin smirked. “I got three. Didn’t beat him, but I beat you.”

Griffin glared at him, then turned to Evan. “It’s all on you, bro.”