The familiar itch spread over my neck as I watched the scene on the other side of the table. Perched high on a lap, Jessica pointlessly tried to pull at the edge of her short black dress that left nothing to the imagination. My boyfriend's lap to be exact. Every now and then he sent me a helpless look. As if that would make it any better. Out of reflex, I reached up to scratch but quickly caught myself. I needed to stop stressing out.
I took a breath and finally realized everyone's gaze was on me. Did—did they notice something?
"It's your turn, Taylor."
"What?"
A red plastic cup was waiting in front of me. There was one for each person. I didn't even know what they'd put in there.
"Truth or Dare," Rosalyn said from my right. Where Jessica was all curves, Rose had the height. Her pointy face was framed by shoulder-length hair, dyed ash blond. The light color horribly clashed with her pale skin, giving her a somewhat sickly look. She'd had beautiful red hair before. Whatever notion had gripped her into turning that into blond was beyond me, but I had my suspicion that it might have been in the form of a different redhead currently happily balancing on top of my boyfriend's legs.
"Oh no." I held my hands up. "I'm not playing."
"Oh, please." Jessica's high-pitched voice cut through the air. "Everyone already agreed."
Apparently, everyone did not include me. Not that she cared.
Shit. I needed an excuse... "I have to drive so I can't drink—"
"Come on, Taylor. Don't be a party pooper," one of the guys said.
"Yeah, Taylor, play or you're gonna have to drink the penalty drink," another guy shouted and pointed at a bottle at the center of the table. The mere sight of the milky brown substance made my stomach churn.
"...fine."
The guys grinned at each other.
"We didn't expect anything less. So, Taylor. Truth or Dare?"
I frowned. "Truth."
"Alright." Jared leaned forward, a cocky smile on his face. "Have you ever wanted to kiss anyone around this table?"
I stared at him. Then I reached forward, picked up my drink, and took a sip.
The guys howled with laughter. Most of them were on the football team. Jared was the star quarterback who thought being the star on the field entitled him to be one outside of it as well.
"You should have asked if she wanted to sleep with you, man."
"No, ask if she's already slept with someone here."
My nails dug into my palms but I managed to keep my composure. I glanced at Chris from the corner of my eyes. His hands, resting on the sides of her legs, reached up to grip her waist as she erupted in another fit of giggles.
Yeah. He definitely resembled someone in desperate need of help.
Chris was pretty close to most of the team. He even lived in the same house. With his easy smile and typical guy-next-door good looks he had always been a bit more low-key. Something I liked about him actually. He hadn't even been on Jessica's radar until he'd rejected her in front of everyone. Until now.
The laughter died down when Jessica leaned toward her friend and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. "Why make a big deal out of it if she's just going to play anyways?" She rolled her eyes.
My stomach clenched. Of course, she would think so. Jessica simply demanded attention. Wherever she went, heads turned, girls' eyes flashed green with envy and boys drooled over her. And if they didn't she would make sure they did. Just like she was doing now.
The prickling sensation intensified and I gritted my teeth. Thankfully their attention moved to the next player but I could still feel Jared's eyes on me. How I wished at that moment that I had just stayed at home. I had a strange inkling this was just the beginning.
And it was. They figured out quickly that I wasn't going to pick dare and with each round, the questions became worse. When was the last time you had sex? Did you ever sleep with anyone in this room? How many guys did you sleep with? And so on. I didn't reply to any of those and instead continued to sip my rum and coke that seemed to contain more rum and less coke every time I needed a refill. I didn't even like rum. Or coke.
"Alright, Jess, truth or dare?" Ben asked.
She flashed a hesitant smile. Most of the girls had picked truth but somehow I knew what she was going to say before she even opened her mouth. "Dare."
The guys hollered and she shot a shy look over her shoulder. With a sinking feeling, I gripped the edges of my chair as one of the guys said, "Pick someone around this table and kiss him for ten seconds."
"What? No!" She started hitting his arm but the corners of her mouth twitched. Then she bit her lip and pointedly glanced around before her eyes fell on Chris. "Well, since I'm already here."
She leaned into him and I froze. In the end, nobody knew Christopher was my boyfriend. It had been a mutual decision to keep our relationship on the down low three months ago. One, I was starting to regret. Still, he was going to reject her? Right?
My stomach dropped as her arms sneaked around his neck and the others started chanting, "Kiss! Kiss!" Like a hymn.
And then her lips landed...on his cheek.
I let out a breath.
Complaints rang out from all around the table but she shrugged and sent everyone a smirk. "You didn't specify where."
That made them laugh. Chris had stiffened but when it was his turn he chose truth which resulted in another row of disappointed groans.
"Alright Chris, do you want to sleep with one of the girls present here?" the guys asked.
For a brief second his gaze flickered to mine but then his eyes were back on Jessica. He paused as if he had to think about it before he replied with a grin, "Yep."
My fingernails scraped over my nape in quick, hard strides until a burning pain finally relieved the itchy feeling.
Shit.
I took a look around. Everyone was watching Rosalyn since it was her turn, with my head down, I slowly edged off my chair and stood up. Immediately, the room tilted and I had to clutch the back of my chair. Okay. I got this.
I was about to leave when Jared snatched my wrist. "Where are you going? It's your turn soon."
I frowned. "I need to go to the toilet."
"If you want to leave you have to drink a penalty drink."
"What?" I shot a horrified look at the center of the table. "I'm not drinking that."
"What do you say guys penalty drink for Tay?" Jared asked into the round and I shrank under the sudden attention. So much for my quick escape strategy.
"Hell yeah, you can't ditch just like that."
"Penalty drink!"
My eyes darted from one person to another, but nobody spoke up for me. I clenched my jaw, wrenched my wrist out of Jared's grasp, reached for my cup which was still half full, and downed it in one go. The liquor burned down my throat.
The guys howled but I had already spun around and walked off.
Or rather tried to.
It was Sunday night but the hallways were packed with college students. The air was thick with the mixed smell of alcohol, sweat, and pot, and my stomach was churning. The last drink certainly hadn't helped. I braced myself against the wall but it took me nearly ten minutes until I finally found an empty bathroom on the second floor.
I just made it before the alcohol hit me hard, and I had to brace myself against the counter. The mirror reflected a tired set of eyes, make-up smudged around the edges.
Carefully, I lifted my long, caramel hair to the side and turned my head. The skin on my neck looked chapped and irritated. My heart sank. I would have to shorten my nails again. I grabbed a wet towel and sighed as it reduced the burning sensation. I should have just stayed at home and played Counter Strike as I'd initially planned instead of letting myself get guilt-tripped into this.
The second I closed my eyes, Jessica was sitting on Chris' lap again. Was I overreacting? These things could happen, right? If you kept your relationship a secret. And I knew Chris was sucking up the attention. It's not like that was a crime.
Somebody knocked on the bathroom door and I started. "Tay, it's me," a muffled voice sounded.
I blew out air. That had to be Christopher.
I quickly threw the wet towel into the shower and swung the door open but instead of blue eyes and a mop of blond hair, I was greeted by dark hair, contrasted by gray eyes and a killer smile that I was sure had worked on many girls before. Jared.
"Hey there." He leaned against the door frame and shot me a confident smile.
"Ah. Sorry, you can go in." I tried to walk around him but his arms stretched out to block me.
"No, I came to check on you. You looked a bit drunk."
I stared at him. And whose fault was that? "I'm fine."
He leaned against the doorframe. "You sure?"
"Positive."
"Then..."
My shoulders tightened. "Yes?"
"Isn't it time to address this?" He pointed between us.
"What?"
He took a step closer and I had to crane my neck. "This. Between us. The chemistry."
That made me pause. The worst part was that he wasn't wrong. Not exactly. Guys like Jared used to be exactly my type. Popular, tall, confident... Had I met Jared two years ago I would have been all over him. But a lot could change in two years. And my preferred choice of boyfriend definitely did. "I think you're drunk."
"Mhm...maybe drunk on you?" His hand reached for a strand of my hair but I quickly stepped back.
I grimaced. What the fuck?
"Why don't we take this somewhere else?"
"Why don't you move aside?"
"I feel like you're going to run if I do that though?" He let out a chuckle.
"I don't know where this is coming from but I don't think we are in this sort of relationship so move aside," I said more forcefully this time.
"I like this hard-to-get thing you got going on but—"
"Taylor?" Christopher's shocked voice interrupted us.
My heart was pounding out of my chest as I quickly stepped around him but stopped short when I saw the look on Christopher's face.
"Sorry, Jared, I wanted to have a talk with her."
Jared looked between us. "Sorry, man...I didn't know you two had something going on."
"Don't worry about it, we don't. But I gotta talk to her about something."
"Sure," Jared drawled and patted Christopher on the shoulder. With one last look at me, he left.
Don't worry about it?
Christopher walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. "Care to explain what I just walked in on?"
My mind went blank. "Wha—I—he just came in by himself—"
"You expect me to believe that?"
"What?"
His eyes narrowed. "You two were flirting all night long. Kinda hard to miss when you are sitting right across me."
"What?" I gaped at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Did you really think I didn't notice?"
"I didn't flirt with him," I said through clenched teeth. "And what about you? Jessica was all over you earlier and you did nothing."
"Don't dodge the question with that!"
"What? It's a legit question."
"Then what was I supposed to do? Push her away?"
I threw my hands up. "Well, yes!"
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's already suspicious that I rejected her in the first place. I did it for us. You were the one who wanted to keep this a secret, so don't throw it back at my face!"
I faltered. Of course, I did. I wouldn't let myself get trapped again. Going through one very public break-up once had been enough, thank you very much.
But did that mean I had to endure this kind of thing? "I think I should leave."
"Maybe you should."
I stared at him wondering for the hundredth time how I got here. Again. In this spot where I was questioning my life choices. Our relationship—if you could even call it that—had been bumpy for a while. So why didn't I walk away?
What even was my type? A walking red flag? Or maybe the real problem with red flags was that I was attracted to them.
With clenched fists, I turned around, opened the door, and ran face-first into a solid chest. Two unfamiliar hazel eyes stared down at me. Without a second thought, I brushed past him and disappeared down the hallway.