Wild Fiction

He wrapped his lips loosely around the neck of the bottle and tilted his head back, taking a large gulp. His eyes watered and he stifled a small burp with his hand before passing the bottle to Rebecca. She turned the bottle in her hands, reading the label. She pressed the mouth of the bottle to her closed lips and sucked out a small quantity of Cava. She repeated this twice, before putting it down and letting out a loud belch. She laughed aloud, wiping the back of her hand across her mouth.
‘This is very good,’ she said looking at the label again and took another sip.
‘Drink properly,’ the author said reaching over and taking the bottle from her. ‘I’m going to show you the difference between how men and women drink. First of all this is how a man drinks from the bottle,’ he said wrapping his lips around the neck of the bottle and letting the Cava glug into his mouth before removing the bottle and swallowing. His eyes glistened as tearing gathered around the edges of his eyelids. ‘Now this...’ his speech was suddenly cut off from an involuntary burp escaping from his throat. He covered his mouth and started again. ‘Now this is how women drink.’ He pursed his lips together and, placing the mouth of the bottle against his them, proceeded to suck the Cava out. He waited for the burp to rise to his mouth before talking. ‘Do you see the difference? Girls suck and blokes drink. This dainty sucking Cava out of the bottle is totally out of character for you. Try it again.’
Rebecca reached over and tugged the bottle out of his hand without saying anything. She tipped her head back, lifted the bottle to her open lips, and poured it into her mouth. Cava cascaded out of the side of her mouth, filling her ears and soaking her hair. It ran down her chin and her neck and under her blouse. She dropped the bottle and spat out a mouthful of Cava with a choking cough. She bent over forward on her hands and knees in the grass. Her body shook and convulsed in a coughing fit. Bubbly Cava mixed with drooling saliva hung out of her mouth in long strands.
The author retrieved the bottle and saved most of it from spilling out.
‘I don’t think much of your way of drinking from a bottle,’ Rebecca said sitting back on her haunches and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. ‘Give me that bottle back.’
The author passed her the bottle and she lifted it to her lips. She sucked out a couple of mouthfuls of Cava and swallowed with a little burp. ‘There’s nothing wrong with drinking it like that,’ she said and took a few more sips before handing it back to the author.