Maybe humiliation itself had become exciting.
I still don’t know.
Around eleven, somebody suggested party games.
I don’t remember who.
There were cards.
Questions.
Dares.
The kind of thing grown adults do after enough alcohol when they want permission to act seventeen.
I stayed near the kitchen island.
Someone dared Jason to call his old boss.
He refused.
Priya had to eat an absurd combination of hot sauce and cake.
Then someone turned toward Melissa.
“Birthday girl.”
She laughed.
“What?”
“Your turn.”
Ryan was nearby.
I saw the idea form before anyone said it aloud.
One woman, Tessa, grinned.
“Kiss someone who isn’t your husband.”
Several people laughed.
Jenna immediately said:
“No.”
Tessa waved her hand.
“It’s a dare.”
“Pick another one.”
Melissa looked at me.
That dangerous little smile appeared.
Ryan said:
“I’m staying out of this.”
He said it while stepping closer.
That detail mattered.
Melissa could have refused.
She did not.
Instead, she looked around the room.
“Michael won’t care.”
The sentence made my skin go cold.
Not because I believed it.
Because she wanted the room to believe it.
Tessa laughed.
“See?”
Someone else shouted:
“Come on, Ryan.”
“It’s her birthday.”
Ryan looked at me.
He had the decency, or performance of decency, to hesitate.
I did nothing.
Melissa lifted her chin slightly.
That was permission.
Ryan leaned toward her.
He did not kiss her mouth.
Maybe that was how they justified it.
His lips touched the side of her neck below her ear.
Melissa placed one hand lightly on his shoulder.
The room erupted.
Not everyone.
Jenna looked horrified.
Jason stopped smiling almost immediately.
Priya looked at me.
But enough people laughed.
Enough people cheered.
Enough people treated my marriage as part of the entertainment.
Ryan stepped back.
Melissa’s eyes went directly to mine.
She smiled.
“Relax, husband. It was only a game… unless you’re upset because he had more courage than you.”
There it was.
Not flirting.
Not stupidity.
Contempt.
The room laughed again, weaker this time.
I looked at the clock.
11:18.
Forty-two minutes.
Melissa watched me.
I smiled.
That confused her.
She had prepared for anger.
Silence was not in her script.
At 11:26, she was whispering to Ryan near the refrigerator.
At 11:31, Jason came beside me.
“You good?”
“Yes.”
He looked toward Melissa.
“That was messed up.”
“Yes.”
“Want me to get him out?”
“No.”
Jason frowned.
“Mike.”
“It’s fine.”
“It clearly isn’t.”
“I know.”
He stared at me.
Then seemed to realize something was happening that he did not understand.
“Okay.”
At 11:37, Jenna found me near the hallway.
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do anything.”
“I laughed for like half a second.”
“You were surprised.”
“I still feel awful.”