cigarette ends | ✎

xiii.

Callum winked at him. "I'm always five steps ahead." He then cleared his throat and clapped his hands, as if to get everyone's attention. "Since it's just truth or dare, there's no 'spinning the bottle' involved. We'll just pick someone, and that person will pick another person, and so on. Make sense?"

We all nodded.

"Great. I'll go first. Lacey, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Send your ex a text that you miss them."

"Don't have one," Lacey responded.

I gaped at her. "You don't have an ex?"

She shook her head. "I've been on and off with one guy for a while, but I haven't seriously dated anyone else." There was something in her expression that told me there was more to the story, but I didn't want to push it.

"Alright," Callum sighed. "Do you have an ex-hookups?"

She smiled. "That, I do." She pulled out her phone and we watched as she scrolled and clicked. "'I miss you'," she said as she typed it out. "There. Sent."

Callum grinned. "Great. You go next."

Lacey scoured us all before her gaze landed on Augustus. "Augie, truth or dare?"

He scowled at the nickname. "Dare."

Her smile turned devilish. "Take off your shirt for the rest of the game."

"You're kidding," he deadpanned.

"Does it look like I'm joking? Take it off." She smirked and I could've sworn she glanced over at me for a millisecond.

I ignored the way my heart jumped as I watched him stand and effortlessly slide his shirt off in one fluid motion. I tried not to stare – I really did. But fuck, when did he have time to work-out?

God, he looked...

Shut up.

I continued to ignore him. Continued to ignore how his muscles flexed as he sat down, continued to ignore how delicious his biceps looked as he ran a hand through his hair.

And I ignored the way his gaze fell on me. I ignored the heat behind them, ignored the way his lips parted and the way his eyes darkened.

Emilia. Emilia. Emilia.

My name on his lips. It lived rent-free in my mind. And this view was about to live rent-free along with it.

"You need to give me your work-out routine, Augie, because goddamn." Callum let out a low whistle.

Augustus just chuckled. "Laurent, truth or dare?"

I guess we were back on the last-name basis. "Truth."

"What's your biggest fear?"

I shrugged. "Not making it into medical school."

"Does it really matter that much?"

I gave him a disgusted look. "Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying, if you don't make it into medical school, who cares?"

"I care," I hissed. "I care, because I fucking worked for it."

"No need to get emotional," he chuckled. "But I'm just saying that you might not get in. What will you do then?"

"Not getting in isn't an option, Casen. Unlike you, I don't have daddy's money to bribe my way through college."

He scoffed. "At least I have a dad."