(This spoiler contains physical descriptions of all characters. It's just flavor text and can be easily skipped)
“You sure you have everything you need, Alex?”, my mum asked, as she put her bag into the car. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head amused. “Yes, mum, we have all the beer we need.”
She came back, giving me her playfully stern look. “I guess we do have to lock you up in the attic, after all. I knew a teenager can't be trusted.” The look didn't last long, before we both had to grin. “Have fun”, she said, before hugging me a last time.
I know, as a teenager, I should be ashamed of being hugged and kissed by my mum, but this always seemed silly to me. My mum was great, there was nothing to be ashamed about. Even though I could feel Eric, my best friend, grinning at me.
“Well, I really have to go now. See you on Monday.” She started to get back to the car again, but then stopped and looked up something on her phone. Suddenly, without a word, she turned around and took a picture of me and Eric.
It took me a few surprised seconds, before I managed to complain. “You could have just asked, you know? Do you believe this woman, taking pics of us without asking?”, I said, while turning back to my friend. He put on his horrified face. “Unbelievable, Unforgivable!”
“It's more fun this way! And I needed a picture of you, all dressed up.”
I and Eric chuckled. His relationship to my mum was surprisingly close, for someone who wasn't part of the family. We should have expected that a picture of us would be taken, considering that we normally only wore jeans and t-shirts.
I laid an arm over Erics shoulder, as we watched the car drive away. “I can't wait for the others. Everyone will look so pretty”, I exclaimed, my eyes full of sparkles. The look Eric gave me was one that he needed a lot, when he spent time with me. It was the “I'm so disappointed in you”-look, with the angry brows and the piercing stare. “You seriously need to stop watching My Little Pony. I told you that these pastel colors are melting your brain.”
“You introduced me to the show! Oh, it's so great, and so fun, and the writing is so clever, Mr. I-can't-stop-singing-their-musical-numbers.”
Eric tried to not look too sheepishly, while going inside. I followed him to the kitchen, where we would wait for our friends to arrive.
“You know, you do look great. Nearly like a grown-up”, I teased, but had a hard time not to enjoy the sight. His black tie had a beautiful paisley pattern, a shiny, intense blue.
Erics face became slightly more red, than it was before, but he recovered soon by taking on his pompous pose. “Of course I do. Like always!” He snickered, getting back to his normal posture. “But thanks. I wasn't too happy, when you told me that you expected me to actually dress up for this James Bond party, but it actually feels nice.”
As everything was prepared, we decided to watch some tv, while waiting for the rest of our friends. It didn't take too long for the bell to ring.
Kevin was the first to arrive. I was glad, that Eric was already here, because I had a hard time with this guy. Every group probably has someone like him, who is more tolerated than actually liked, but still tags along all the time. He also tried to bring his other friends, two mean, obnoxious guys, into the group, something that continued to get on everyones nerves.
Neil and Justin, the only couple of our group, were next. They wore the same suit and shirt, with Justin wearing a light blue bow-tie with a light pink pocket square. Neil also wore a bow-tie and a pocket square, but with reversed colors. “You look lovely, guys”, I told them, being answered with a smile.
Shawn arrived a few minutes later. “Hey, where is your tie?”, I asked, already knowing the answer. “I put up with the suit, that has to be enough.” I sighed, but let him in. I knew in advance that Shawn wasn't keen on getting dressed up. I was happy that he had tried at all.
Soon Hunter, and shortly afterwards Peter, arrived. Both were impeccably dressed, one in a light grey and the other in a light blue suit.
Now that everyone was here, the evening could finally start.
We started with a game of Poker. I mainly wanted an evening of chilling with my friends. And having an excuse to make them dress up. We would watch Casino Royale, and I had found something non-alcoholic that, the website promised, tastes exactly like a Martini. So, I told Eric and myself, the theme totally fit.
After an hour, we took a break and the group broke up into smaller parts. Hunter wanted to take a look at my video game collection, so I let him take a look at my Steam library in my room. It was one floor higher. The house was constructed for more people, but my siblings had all moved out by this point, so there was way too much space and more rooms than necessary.
I don't know where the others spent their time, but someone seemed to have had some fun. To get to the stairs, we had to pass another room. We stopped, as we heard something from inside.
Peter was inside, but not in the state I would have expected. He was lying on the floor, grunting and wriggling. His hands were tied behind his back, connected to his drawn-back feet. Additional rope was added at the lower and upper legs, as well as at the upper body, to pin the arms down. Multiple layers of tape were wrapped around his mouth. As his cheeks were bulging, it looked like something was stuck inside.
He increased his struggle, as soon as he saw us, trying desperately to tell us something through his effective gag. I probably should have freed him, but was in shock. Hunter didn't seem to mind what he saw, as he just started to laugh. This made Peter angry, and he tried even harder to get free. But he got nowhere.
When I finally tried to free my friend, Hunter held me by the shoulder. “Wait, wait”, he said, before shouting “Everyone come here, you need to see this!” I threw him a look, but relented. Peter probably had angered someone during the game, and it wasn't unusual to get some payback. No damage in getting a few good-natured laughs, everyone in our group accustomed to that. Peter seemed to disagree, as he, again, intensified his struggle, but he would think differently if our places were switched. I knew from experience.
Soon, the whole group was here and enjoyed the fun sight. I still had no idea who the perpetrator was, but before I could ask, Kevin spoke up. “Well done, Alex. But, uh, why did you tie him up?”
“It wasn't him”, Hunter said. “We were in the other room, the whole time.”
Before I could say something, I caught Erics devious look. My best friend had an idea, how to make this even better. And we knew each other well enough, he didn't need to tell me.
“Welcome to the main event, guys! You didn't think this was just about playing Poker and watching a movie, did you?”
Dramatic pause. Even Peter had stopped struggling, and waited for me to go on.
“Someone in this group is a criminal, and he is tasked with catching the agents. It could be me, it could be anyone else. Except for Peter, the first victim, of course.” I kneeled down, patting the head of my tied up friend. He only answered with a few angry grunts, and some struggling. Plus a red head, as the rest of the group started to laugh again.
“The goal is to find and catch the criminal. Considering that I know who it is, I will not help you find him, but I hope you guys have fun.”
The grins that I saw showed me that I had hit the right nerve. I knew my friends.
“What about Peter? I mean, he already knows, so he can't really play anymore, right?”, Neil asked. I didn't need to think long about that one, there was only one answer.
“Of course, everyone who gets caught has lost the game. And the only way to ensure that they can't spoil it for anyone else, is to make sure that they stay tied and gagged for the rest of it.”
Eric patted me on the back, laughing with joy. Peter, on the other hand, hat started struggling again, and this time it seemed to be panic. But, as before, there was no escape. He grunted and struggled, but there was nothing he could do. Peter was stuck, strictly tied up as he was, for us to free him. And I had just made sure that this would take some time, maybe even a few hours.
I already knew that I would pay for this. But for now, it was fun and exciting. I had just given the perpetrator a perfect excuse to tie up more people. And one of them could easily be me.