Bonfire

The cold hair nipped against her skin and she shivered. Barring herself further into the sweater she had on, she wished she had taken up fire magic.

The place she lived often had weird weather. One day, it was fine. The next? It was freezing.

Her hands shook as she grabbed on tight to the leash she had put Max on. He barked at her expectantly, and she smiled down at him.

“Just a few more minutes bud– Are you excited to play?” She asked. He responded with some more yips.

They came to a stop in front of a gate that was crawling with vines. Greenery seemed to take over the place and infected any cracks it found.

This was the entrance to the pack’s territory, yet she still was uneasy to go through it. It felt like she was walking into an abandoned area, and she did that enough with her job, she didn’t need to do it with her free time.

She took a breath and pushed through the gates. Looking around, her eyes quickly caught who she was looking for.

Around a pit with flames licking out of it, there sat three werewolves. One was Roxann, and the other two were people she didn’t know.

She walked over to where the group was laughing with a shy smile on her face. They all looked over at her.

Roxann got up when she saw her, a bright smile was placed on the werewolf’s face.

“Amalia!” She cheered. “Thanks for coming along.”

Amalia chuckled. “Thanks for inviting me.”

She settled down on one of the logs and looked around. The dude eyed her. “You brought your pup?” He asked. She blushed a bit, “I was told to,” she said, defensive. He responded with a smile.

“Cool! Let me go get the others!” With that, he rushed off.

She was able to learn the names of the other person there, and the one that joined them later.

Piper was the girl’s name, and then Willow was the one's name. The dude, Alex, she had learned was his name, can rush back with two huskies at his feet.

She beamed at the sight before setting her dog down, and letting him lose.

He immediately rushed over to where the other dogs were, and she chuckled as they immediately greeted each other and started to play.

Alex took a seat on the log once more.

“Alright!” He started with a smirk. “Who wants to play ‘truth or dare, drinking addiction’?”

She raised an eyebrow as the rest responded with cheers and whoops.

“Let’s do this!” Roxann shouted as she leaned back and rolled out the cooler.

“Around a lit fire? With dogs?” Amalia asked, “Are you all sure that’s safe?”

“Eh, we’ve been doing it forever,” Alex waved her off. “Besides– Roxann never gets drunk enough to lose her senses– She’ll take care of us.”

“Whole reason she’s the alpha and not that one dude– You guys remember the man who tried to become an Alpha?” Willow piped up, meanwhile, Roxann was glaring at the others.

“I can get drunk any time I please,” she snapped with an eye roll. Amalia chuckled. She rested a hand on Roxann’s shoulder.

“I think it’s sweet.”

Roxann paused when she said that. She was quick to turn away from her and focus on getting a drink, muttering something along the lines of “It’s going to be a long night.”

She frowned, she hadn’t meant to say something to upset her.

Roxann pulled out the drinks, Piper got the cups, and they all set themselves up for what Amalia quickly realized was going to be a messy game.

They were only a few times around into the game and people were already losing their minds.

The rules were that you could either answer to the truth or dare, or you could drink, and people were drinking like there was no tomorrow.

Amalia cheered and giggled as Alex took his dare to jump over the bonfire in full stride. He jumped over it a few times before he sat back down.

“All right!” He cheered, “My turn! Amalia, truth or dare?”

The witch was all giggles, and she had had very little of her drink. Werewolves had higher tolerances than normal humanoid figures, so she assumed that was the reason.

“Truth!” She responded as she leaned to her side. She ended up leaning back on Roxann, who took another gulp of her drink when she did so, her face burning red.

“Alright… Who was your latest ex?” Alex asked. Roxann seemed to perk up at the question.

Amalia felt her dizziness turn down after that. She didn’t really wanna talk about her ex.

“My ex?” She clicked her tongue. “A girl named Emily.”

A wave of interest ‘Ooh’s went through the group. “Ay, yo, Roxann you have a– Oof!” Roxann shoved Piper to the ground. Amalia giggled, even though she had no clue what was going on.

“I’m next~” She sang. “Willow! Truth or dare!” She said as she sipped her drink.

Willow thought for a moment. “Dare!” She stated. Amalia gained an evil smirk on her face. “Sing!” She said with a hiccup.

Willow looked taken aback. “Sing whaaa??” She asked as she tilted her head and her whole body almost went with it. “Anything~ Anything at all!!”

“Alright–” She stood with shaky legs. As she sang, she fumbled to stand and kept going everywhere.

She also added in some of her own words and stuff. By the end of it, everyone was crying and laughing.

She took a bow, “Thank you! Thank– Hic– You very much– Aw, shit–” She then faced planted on the ground.

That brought on another wave of giggles to the group, who were already struggling to calm down.

When they finally were down to just slightly tipsy giggles, Willow turned to Roxann.

“Roxy foxy,” she slurred, “Truth or dare?”

Roxann was drunker than what Amalia expected, her eyes were hazy, and she couldn’t keep still. “Dare! I ain’t no coward!” Her words were jumbled together, and it was as though she had a thick tongue.

Willow smirked. “Kiss the cutest person here!”

The whole group went silent. They were all looking at Roxann, waiting for some type of explosive reaction.

But to everyone’s shock, she just set her drink down and shrugged. “Okay–”

She turned and placed her hand on Amalia’s chin, and before the witch knew it, the other’s mouth was on hers.

Her brain short-circuited for a moment, but it wasn’t complaining.

When they pulled away, her heart was pounding in her chest, and the group was cheering.

Amalia let out more nervous giggles and she looked over to where Roxann was.

The werewolf refused to look back at her.

The night went on for a while, and neither of the two interacted after that.

Amalia didn’t even know if she would remember anything by the morning.

—

As Amalia slowly woke up, she regretted every choice she had ever made.

Her head pounded, and her stomach was a traitor. She dragged herself out of sleep and tried to figure out where she was.

It wasn’t the first time she went through the night drunk and then woke up in a random room– It happened a lot with her ex, but she hasn’t had one of those nights since she left.

She got out of bed and made her way through the random building– She was in some sort of cabin, and Max was there as well, sleeping on her bed.

She remembers a bit now– She went over to Roxann’s wolf tribe for a bonfire night and they started to drink. Couldn’t remember anything after that, though.

She got into the cabinets and searched until she found some magical ingredients.

She took what she needed and blended them up until they were a leafy green smoothie. She took the concoction grabbed her favorite drink and poured some of it, the smooth immediately morphing to be more of that drink.

She took it and immediately started to feel better. She praised her mama, bless her soul, that she was able to learn this hangover cure.

She walked out of the cabin and looked around. She was still in the tribe, and from here, she could see the group she was with before.

She walked over to where the group was and smiled. “How is everyone?”

They were all sitting at a table, Piper and Alex had sunglasses on, Willow was still passed out, and Roxann looked dead. They all groaned at her question.

She chuckled as her head ached and started to quell, “I made some hangover cure– It morphs into whatever drink you have, want some?”

“Yes!” Piper shouted, and Alex groaned. “Not too loud, Pipes.” They all tossed over their respective drinks. Water, coffee, Monster Energy, and some tea.

She poured it in and then gave it back to them. She took a seat next to Alex and sipped her coffee.

She listened as they all started to feel better, and as the conversation drifted to what happened last night, Amalia started to feel awkward.

At first, she didn’t understand why.

Then, the hangover cure did its thing, and she remembered.

The dare, the jokes, and the kiss.

She felt her face heat up immediately. Did Roxann think that of her? Or was she just too drunk to care who she kissed and she was the closest?

She looked over to see Roxann staring at the table, a horrified look on her face, which was currently really red.

She grimaced. It might be time for her to head out.

“Alright,” she announced, “It’s time for me to head home.” Piper pouted at that. “Nooo, stayy, you have the cure to all my issues!” Amalia chuckled as she watched Piper down some more of her drink with the cure inside.

“No, it’s time for me to go– I can’t leave the potions alone for too long,” she stated. Alex snorted. “What? Do they come to life?”

“Yes,” she answered, fully serious. The rest of the group looked at her like she was crazy.

She gathered her pupper, and said her goodbyes before she headed out, sharing an awkward glance with Roxann along the way.

As she left the area, she felt an aching heart.

Why couldn’t that happen on a night when they weren’t drunk?